Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa mentioned on Tuesday his nation ought to apologise and take accountability for its function within the transatlantic slave commerce, the primary time a frontrunner of the southern European nation has prompt such a nationwide apology.
From the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, 6 million Africans had been kidnapped and forcibly transported throughout the Atlantic by Portuguese vessels and bought into slavery, primarily to Brazil.
But to date Portugal has hardly ever commented on its previous and little is taught about its function in slavery in colleges.
Rather, the nation’s colonial period, which noticed international locations together with Angola, Mozambique, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor in addition to components of India subjected to Portuguese rule, is usually perceived as a supply of delight by most Portuguese.
Speaking at Portugal’s annual commemoration of the 1974 “Carnation” revolution, which toppled the nation’s dictatorship, Rebelo de Sousa mentioned the nation ought to transcend simply an apology, although he didn’t supply up any specifics.
“Apologising is sometimes the easiest thing to do: you apologise, turn your back, and the job is done,” he mentioned, including the nation ought to “assume responsibility” for its previous to construct a greater future.
Paula Cardoso, founding father of the Afrolink on-line platform for Black professionals in Portugal, mentioned Rebelo de Sousa’s remarks had been “symbolic” however essential as they introduced the difficulty to the desk.
“(But) I would have liked to hear something more concrete from the president,” Cardoso instructed Reuters. “To have some impact, these reflections…have to be accompanied by measures and commitments.”
Reparations and public insurance policies to struggle inequalities attributable to Portugal’s previous had been important, Cardoso mentioned.
Rebelo de Sousa made the remarks after Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was in Portugal on his first go to to Europe since assuming the workplace, addressed the Portuguese parliament. Brazil gained independence from Portugal in 1822.
He mentioned the colonisation of Brazil additionally had optimistic components, such because the unfold of Portuguese language and tradition.
“(But) on the bad side, the exploitation of Indigenous people…slavery, the sacrifice of the interests of Brazil and Brazilians,” he mentioned.
Europe’s prime human rights group beforehand mentioned Portugal had do extra to confront its colonial previous and function within the transatlantic slave commerce with a purpose to assist struggle racism and discrimination at present.
Source: www.anews.com.tr
