‘Repair is recognizing what history has denied us’
Portugal needs ‘to pay the cost’ of slavery and other colonial-era crimes, the country’s president Marcelo da Sousa declared at a recent dinner with foreign journalists. ‘The country takes full responsibility for the wrongs of the past and that those crimes – including colonial massacres – had costs.’
‘Are there goods that were looted and not returned? Let’s see how we can repair this. Acknowledging the past and taking responsibility for it is more important than apologizing. Apologizing is the easy part, you turn your back and the job is done.’
The president’s remarks came after the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk added his voice to the African and Caribbean countries calling for reparations to be made over slavery and colonization at the UN Forum on people of African descent in April.
The head of State further defended that Portugal has the ‘obligation’ to ‘lead the ‘reparation process’ to the countries that were colonized. He noted that this process does not have to go through ‘paying compensation.’ Reparations could be made by cancelling the debts of former colonies or introducing credit lines, financial packages or special cooperation programmes.
Portugal’s new centre-right government severely disapproved the president’s suggestion of slavery reparations, declaring that ‘ there was and is no process or programme’ for paying reparations for the Portuguese colonial past. The government’s line is and will be: deepening mutual relations, respect for historical truth and intense and close cooperation, based on the reconciliation of brotherly peoples.’
The president’s comments elicited above all strong criticism from rightwing and far-right parties in Parliament. Paulo Núncio, the leader of the Christian Democrats (CDS) and junior partner in the Democratic Alliance government, said ‘his party does not need to revisit colonial legacies and reparation duties.’ André Ventura, the leader of the far-right Chega party went even further by calling the president’s behaviour ‘a betrayal of the Portuguese people.’
The minister of Racial Equality of Brazil Anielle Franco on the other hand warmly welcomed the forceful statement of the Portuguese president and called for concrete actions and payment of reparations for past mistakes.
Her declaration was fully supported by the Marielle Franco Institute and the Centre for Labor Relations and Inequalities Studies. ‘The Portuguese expansion is inseparable from slavery. The absolute absence of positioning on the part of Portugal, and the lack of concrete measures of reparation to the Brazilian black population for the profound damage caused by enslavement and transatlantic trafficking are faults that need to be remedied.’
Meanwhile, the Angolan historian Alberto Pinto considers it ’impossible and even absurd’ to make a calculation today of the tragic costs of history. ‘It is better to teach the history of Africa in schools. Knowledge about the history of slavery is important. Returning assets, asking for forgiveness or paying debts are things common people do not think about, that only has to do with certain political interests.’
Epsy Campbell Barr, former Costa Rica vice-president and chairwoman of the UN Forum for people of African descent, agrees that it should be mandatory to teach the history of slavery in schools, but disagrees with regard to repairs. ‘Repair is recognizing what history has denied us.’
Enjoy your week Aproveite a semana (pic Público/Sapo)