Black Brazil seeks a better future

D

Darth Garth

Executive Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2004
Messages
6,207
Reaction score
268
A university named after a 17th-Century rebel slave leader in Brazil is at the forefront of a controversy over the country's complex racial identity.

Brazil has more people with black ancestry than any other country outside Africa. But there are very few black people in the higher echelons of society, including government, Congress and top posts in the civil service and armed forces.

Black people remain socially disadvantaged in Brazil. Last year, a UN Development Programme report found that a huge economic gulf existed in the country between the black and white population.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5357842.stm

and

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/719134.stm

It seems we are not the only ones grappling with such social issues.
 
So what are there demographics like? Are the blacks there a minority... I would guess so, I always thought of Brazilians as sort of.. tanned.

Never really seen a black brazillian.
 
Selected quotes from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Brazil
By the time the first European explorers arrived, all parts of the territory were inhabited by semi-nomadic Indian tribes, who subsisted on a combination of hunting, fishing, gathering, and agriculture...

It is generally accepted that Brazil was first discovered by Europeans on April 22, 1500, by Pedro Álvares Cabral, though this is contested by some. The country was then gradually settled by Portuguese who sought to escape poverty, and by nobles who were granted colonial privileges by the Crown. Colonial administration in the next two centuries was based upon a system in which favored individuals received title to huge blocks of land called capitanias; many of these dominions eventually became present-day Brazilian states...

At first, settlers tried to enslave the Indians as labor to work the fields. (The initial exploration of Brazil's interior was largely due to para-military adventurers, the Bandeirantes, who entered the jungle in search of gold and Indian slaves.) However the Indians were found to be unsuitable as slaves, and so the Portuguese land owners turned to Africa, from which they imported millions of slaves...

Africans became a substantial section of Brazilian population, and long before the end of slavery (1888) they had begun to merge with the European Brazilian population through miscegenation and mulatto work rights.
Click to expand...

The history of Brazil is remarkably similar to that of RSA. We had the indigenous people, the settlers came and conquered the land. They tried to use the locals as labour but they were too lazy. They then imported slaves. The country was then dominated by remnants of the settler people.

Surely then the solution should be the same, Tibby?:D :D
 
Last edited:
oooohhh! Here comes the affirmative action train! Hoot Hoot! HOOOOT!!!!
 
I've seen a few programs on these hierarchical south american countries - including mexico - indigenous population (never mind black people) - have less social hierarchy - depending on the colour of your skin - purity of spanish blood.

But racism is all over the world: Italy - north and south (north think they are superior to the south - they are whiter!) - or even the irish conflict (of then) - essentially racist in allotment of resources, etc. Even the israel conflict - racist - even though they are all the same colour.
 
tibby.dude said:
A university named after a 17th-Century rebel slave leader in Brazil is at the forefront of a controversy over the country's complex racial identity.

Brazil has more people with black ancestry than any other country outside Africa. But there are very few black people in the higher echelons of society, including government, Congress and top posts in the civil service and armed forces.

Black people remain socially disadvantaged in Brazil. Last year, a UN Development Programme report found that a huge economic gulf existed in the country between the black and white population.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5357842.stm

and

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/719134.stm

It seems we are not the only ones grappling with such social issues.
Click to expand...

explains why the country is struggling too...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X