Members of the Brazilian Black
Movement staged a demonstration Friday at the Convention
Centre of the Brazilian State of Bahia, venue of the
just-ended second Conference of Intellectuals from Africa
and the Diaspora (CIAD II), demanding racial equity in their
country and the adoption of a law on social quotas for
students.
In a petition, the demonstrators said official data showed
that four generations of blacks and persons of mixed race had
the lowest school enrolment rate, the poorest salaries, and
were denied access to health care services with housing
conditions very poor compared to their White and Asian
counterparts.
Citing statistics from the Institute of Economic and Applied
Research (IPEA), the Black Movement, which groups several
associations involved in the fight against racial discrimination,
predicted that without a deliberate State policy it would
Blacks some 30 years to catch up with Whites in school
enrolment in the country.
It denounced the Brazilian academic system for allegedly
encouraging social exclusion with black lecturers accounting
for less than one percent of teachers in the country’s
public universities, a paradox for a country with a 45.6% black
population.
The Movement, which submitted its petition to Culture Minister,
Gilberto Gil, said a legislation on quotas “should be understood
as the Brazilian State’s coherent and responsible answer to the
different international legal instruments it has adhered to.”
The 1969 UN Convention for the Elimination of all forms of
racial discrimination and the 2001 Durban Plan of Action, which
emanated from the third world conference to combat racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance were among the legal
instruments cited by the group.
The Movement noted that the application of quotas in the last
four years had contributed to the creation of a network of
specialists and a data bank that will facilitate the
implementation, at the national level, of a legislation
on quotas.
Salvador – 15/07/2006