Invisibilidade do racismo e as lutas antirracistas a partir dos estudos da UNESCO de 1950

O presente artigo apresenta as lutas antirracistas e resistências do povo negro brasileiro tomando como ponto de partida as indicações do Brasil como exemplo positivo de convivência harmoniosa entre as raças, conferidas pela Organização das Nações Unidas para Educação, Ciência e Cultura (UNESCO), nos anos de 1950. Utilizando, especialmente, a pesquisa bibliográfica das obras de Thales de Azevedo, Florestan Fernandes e Oracy Nogueira, que participaram diretamente dos estudos da UNESCO, constata-se um quadro permanente de invisibilidade do racismo presente nas estruturas do Estado brasileiro e aspectos históricos sobre as questões raciais ainda por resolver. Destaca-se, ainda, que, para estudar as questões raciais no Brasil, é imprescindível abordar também as lutas contra o racismo. Palavras-chave: Racismo, Democracia racial, Resistências ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to present studies on race relations in Brazilian society that analyzed the indications of UNESCO in Brazil as a positive example of harmonious coexistence between races. However, there is a permanent invisibility of racism present in the structures of the Brazilian State and historical aspects of racial issues still to be resolved. The methodology used was the documentary research of three authors who participated directly in the studies. It is also noteworthy that studying racial issues in Brazil is essential to address also the struggles against racism. Keywords: Racism, Racial democracy, Resistance

Du Bois and Brazil

In this article, I discuss Black transnational solidarity and liberation in the Americas by analyzing the historical relationship between W. E. B. Du Bois and Brazil from 1900 to 1940. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Du Bois was studying, writing, and publishing about Brazil. He was interested in creating international solidarity and cooperation among Black people. However, Du Bois (as well as other African Americans) promoted the idea that Brazil was a place without racism, a racial paradise. This idea served as a basis for a theory that oppressed Afro-Brazilians—the myth of racial democracy. In this article, I explore Du Bois’s relationship with Brazil, highlighting possible reasons why Du Bois engaged with the myth of racial democracy. In addition, I argue that this historical event teaches us that an Afro-diasporic liberation project must seriously consider global and material inequalities among Black people.

Public Debt in South Africa

After four decades of racial segregation, South Africa transitioned to a non-racial democracy in 1994. Inevitably for a country with segregationist labour market policies for so long, South Africa is also one of the most unequal countries in the world. In order to take an overview of government debt in South Africa, this chapter looks at macroeconomic performance but also at how the political regime characteristics and inequality have interplayed with government debt during the 1970–2016 period. The data suggest that economic growth correlates negatively with debt and that democracy correlates positively with debt. In addition, the data do not suggest that democratic maturity is already associated with lower debt nor that the outgoing apartheid-era National Party bequeathed the young democracy with high debt. Encouragingly, the data do suggest that inequality and public expenditure on education correlate positively with debt, which suggests that the democratic government has the median voter in mind when creating debt and also that part of the debt is being invested in human capital formation.

Constitutionalization of National Minority Rights in BRICS Countries (Brazil, India and Russia)

On the basis of comparative law, this paper analyzes the issues of national minorities in three BRICS member-states (Brazil, India and Russia), and considers the directions and trends of the constitutionalization of national minority rights in these states. The authors argue that the coordination of the interests of industrial companies, regional communities and national minorities, alongside the establishment of common standards between BRICS are vital in order to ensure the sustainable growth of the economies of its member-states. The main comparison criteria are as follows: the understanding of the term “national minority” in different jurisdictions; the delimitation of powers of federative and regional authorities; a list of national minority rights; and instruments of representation and legal protection of national minorities. In regards to Brazil, this article focuses on the impact of the historic concept of racial democracy on contemporary policy on the issues of national minorities. For India the focus is on case law of the Supreme Court on minority issues, and for Russia the focus is on the protection of indigenous “small-numbered” peoples. The authors conclude that the direction of the constitutionalization of national minority rights differs dramatically in Brazil, India and Russia. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a common understanding of the purpose of such constitutionalization, which is namely, to preserve the identity of such minorities in the process of their gradual involvement in modern economic structures and national processes.

NHS: inequality and incorporation

As chief executive Simon Stevens ends his stint at the helm of England’s National Health Service (NHS), a Black health activist takes a critical look at the direction of travel on racial equality under his leadership. He argues that ‘racial democracy’, i.e., ethnic representation or diversity, has displaced the rooting out of racialised injustice and inequality. Using the example of the health service, he reveals just how the struggle against racism in institutions has been reduced under neoliberalism to a mechanical mathematics of inequality. While, simultaneously, long-discarded eugenicist and biological arguments are making an unwelcome comeback, and the ‘hostile environment’, ushered in by New Labour when Stevens was a health adviser, takes its toll on migrants and refugees.

Racial Democracy and Black Victimization in Brazil

The main objective of this study is to quantify racial victimization differential between Blacks and Whites in Brazil, focusing on homicides and physical assaults. Combining socioeconomic data from the Brazilian Household Survey with data from the Mortality Information System, we apply the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition to isolate the racial discrimination component from the social indicators correlated with homicides and physical assaults. Findings indicate that only part of the victimization differential between Blacks and Whites is explained by structural attributes. A significant portion of this differential (at least 40%) for both homicides and physical assaults persists as evidence of racial discrimination. In addition, both for homicides and physical assaults, a more discriminatory scenario is observed in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, regions historically characterized by higher social inequalities and violent mortality.

The legacy of Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd in Zimbabwean public life history

This article investigates the contribution of white liberal politics of an ex-missionary New Zealander, Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd (from 1953 to 1958), on the development of Southern Rhodesia towards becoming an independent state. It outlines the contribution he made towards the progress of black Zimbabweans in a number of spheres. It arouses interest in contemporary Zimbabwean religious and political discourses. Todd held a hybridity of roles in transitional politics from the blunting settler racism to the sharpening of African capability on multi-racial democracy important for our debate on the decolonisation of southern Africa. He was a rhetorically gifted radical paternalist who adopted reformist policies to advance both the African cause and his prophetic vocation. He suggested technocratic solutions that could reorganise and diversify political and economic options.Contribution: This study uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) on the wider literature on Todd’s biography and African policies in view of his Christian vocation towards changing conditions of socio-economic, political-religious and technological-technocratic solutions to contemporary African independence. He was a man of his times living and working in an increasingly problematic context guided by the Christian principles in which he was reared. He is the ‘father of faith’ in the Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (COCZ), and leaves us pedagogical lessons on human security, gender equality, church governance and human well-being that require review within the contemporary Christian fraternity.

Do racismo na escola a uma escola contra o racismo: reflexões a respeito do cenário brasileiro

O presente artigo tem por objetivo apresentar ponderações a respeito da maneira como o racismo evidente e manifesto em falas e comportamentos de indivíduos na sociedade brasileira contribui para a negação da humanidade e o apagamento de sujeitos em função de seu pertencimento étnico-racial, levando-se em consideração o importante papel que a escola deve desempenhar a fim de combater quaisquer formas de preconceito e discriminação, principalmente produzindo ações que se tornem eficazes já nos primeiros anos do Ensino Fundamental. Para se atingir tal objetivo, utilizou-se como metodologia a pesquisa de caráter qualitativo, com delineamento exploratório, a partir do objetivo definido, e de procedimento bibliográfico com coleta de dados em textos já publicados a respeito do tema e dispostos em materiais impressos ou em meios digitais. O resultado a que chega com o escrito aponta para a necessidade do fortalecimento de práticas pedagógicas e de ações de conscientização para o enfrentamento de grave problema persistente na sociedade brasileira, na qual uma parcela ainda tem insistido na via da negação do racismo e na existência de uma democracia racial. Extraindo-se por conclusão a constatação de que a escola precisa abraçar sua missão social e permitir a efetivação de políticas educacionais incisivas e que se tornem eficazes para a formação de indivíduos dispostos ao diálogo e não ao conflito que apenas alimenta o abismo de ignorância caracterizador de uma sociedade que se tem mostrado, ao menos em parte, indisposta a enfrentar e resolver seus dilemas mais agudos.Palavras-chave: Racismo. Escola. Sociedade brasileira.From racism in school to a school against the racism: considerations about the Brazilian sceneABSTRACTThis article has by aim to present comprehensions about the way racism exposed and manifest em speeches and individual behaviors in Brazilian society contributes to the denial of humanity and the obliteration of some persons by their ethnic recognition, in considering the essential role of the school in this matter struggling any kind of prejudice and discrimination, mostly producing actions with substantial effectiveness mainly in the Elementary School. To achieve that objective, it was made use as methodology the research of qualitative type and exploratory basis with bibliographic procedure of data, accessing texts about the subject in books or digital media. The result of the discussion shows that it is needed the strengthening of pedagogic practices and actions of conscientization to face this chronic problem still existent in the Brazilian society, in which some individuals have insisted in the denial of the racism and in the reality of some kind of racial democracy. Considering by conclusion that it is through the school, assuming its social goal, the consolidation of educational and strength policies will be realized in the process of building persons opened to the dialogue but not to the conflict who only feeds the abyss of ignorance that it is a strong attribute of a society that has sadly revealed itself, at least some individuals, unable to face its major dilemmas.Keywords: Racism. Elementary School. Brazilian Society.Del racismo en la escuela a una escuela contra el racismo: reflexiones a respecto del panorama brasileñoRESUMENEste articulo tiene por objetivo presentar algunas consideraciones a respeto de la manera como el racismo claro y manifiesto en hablas y comportamientos de los individuos en la sociedad brasileña ha contribuido para la negación de la humanidad y el apagamiento de los sujetos en razón de su identificación étnico-racial, sabiéndose que la escuela tiene inevitablemente un papel muy importante a desempeñar en el combate a todas las formas de prejuicio y discriminación, principalmente produciendo acciones que sean eficaces ya en los primeros años de la enseñanza elemental. Para llegarse al cumplimiento de lo objetivo descrito se hace aplicación de metodología con investigación cualitativa, de carácter exploratorio, a partir de dicho objetivo, y de revisión bibliográfica acerca del problema con acceso a textos disponibles en línea o libros. El resultado alcanzado con este escrito muestra que es fundamental avanzar en el fortalecimiento de prácticas pedagógicas y de acciones para la tomada de conciencia mirando el enfrentamiento de uno grave problema mucho presente en la sociedad brasileña, en la cual una parte aún se posiciona por la negación del racismo y por la creencia en una democracia racial. Por lo tanto, una de las conclusiones es la constatación de que en Brasil la escuela necesita abrazar su tarea social y permitir la realización de fuertes políticas educacionales que se tornen caminos viables para la formación de individuos dispuestos al dialogo y jamás elijan el conflicto que sólo alimenta el abismo de ignorancia como marca de una sociedad que se tiene hecho ver, en parte, poco lista a enfrentar y solucionar sus dilemas más severos.Palabras clave: Racismo. Enseñanza Elemental. Sociedad Brasileña

Improvising Reconciliation

Improvising Reconciliation is prompted by South Africa’s enduring state of injustice. It is both a lament for the promise, since lost, with which non-racial democracy was inaugurated and, more substantially, a space within which to consider its possible renewal. As such, this study lobbies for an expanded approach to the country’s formal transition from apartheid in order to grapple with reconciliation’s ongoing potential within the contemporary imaginary. It does not, however, presume to correct the contradictions that have done so much to corrupt the concept in recent decades. Instead, it upholds the language of reconciliation for strategic, rather than essential, reasons. And while this study surveys some of the many serious critiques levelled at the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1996-2001), these misgivings help situate the plural, improvised approach to reconciliation that has arguably emerged from the margins of the cultural sphere in the years since. Improvisation serves here as a separate way of both thinking and doing reconciliation. It recalibrates the concept according to a series of deliberative, agonistic and iterative, rather than monumental, interventions, rendering reconciliation in terms that make failure a necessary condition for its future realisation.