The Day of the Black Consciousness

Mestre Jogo de Dentro singing a Ladainha at his workshop at the Volta Por Cima / Cordão de Ouro Centre in Brasília in 08-2005

Since the 1960s the Day of the Black Consciousness in Brazil is celebrated on the 20^th of November. At this day, in 1695, the last leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares – Zumbi, was executed by the slavish establishment.

Palmares was the largest Quilombo in Brazil, composed by several small villages and one main city. Palmares “comprised runaway African slaves, creoles born in Palmares, free people captured in raids, and Amerindians¹” (Taylor; 2005:106). Jewish and Muslins were also part of the minorities compounding the Quilombo.

For almost the entire 17^th century, Palmares challenged the colonial rule establishing a parallel government with developed economy, agronomy and social network (Moura; 2004: 347-52).

The 20^th of November was chosen by the Brazilian Black Movement over the 13^th of May, the day of the Abolition of Slavery, to celebrate the Day of the Black Consciousness, for they believed that the celebration of the 13^th of May did not acknowledged the struggle of the Black people to achieve freedom in Brazil accordingly, and over estimated the actions of the Princess Isabel, a white women, as a benevolent abolitionist.

To this date there is no proof supporting empiric myths or academic thesis of Capoeira as an empowering martial form within the canhembos and quilombos, as opposed to the more accepted theories of its urban birth. However, what makes the celebration of the 20^th of November important to practitioners of all ethnicities all over the world is the rebellious attitude contrary to slavery; the association of the term ‘capoeira‘ with cultural expressions of resistance throughout history; and the premature sense of otherness fostering the intercultural experience within the hinterlands and quilombos.

These are concepts more broadly accepted amongst scholars, and, nevertheless, tributary to the construction of narratives liaising the socio-cultural and political expression of minorities to Quilombos and Canhembos. These concepts also contribute to the understanding of the origins of Capoeira and how practitioners relate their practice with their lives in a context of global oppression, exploitation and mass migration.

The hinterlands embodied the cross-bred spirit in many ways; starting with the inter-ethnic miscegenation amongst different African nations. Their capital influence over the foundation of the Brazilian cultural amalgam is undeniable. However inter-ethnic interplay amongst these different African nations and Whites, Negríndios², Brasilíndios³ and Ameríndios forging the Brazilian people from the hinterlands were also common.

Counteracting the oppressive and acculturative strategies of the colonialist scheme, the enslaved Africans and their descendants safeguarded their myths, rhythms, religiosity and cultural characteristics forging a great deal of the Brazilian ethnicity. Yet, as Ribeiro notes it, in Brazil the Africans contributed to the formation of Brazilianity inasmuch they were affected by the Tupi and Lusitanian matrices (Ribeiro; 1995: 114).

Nevertheless, they contributed to the Brazilian intercultural legacy overcaming their own ethnic rivalries and producing in Brazil a new representation of the African cultures, uniting and reinforcing different principles and peculiarities from different nations without loosing their ancestry.

From Canhembos and Quilombos Blacks and Amerindians installed an ‘animist alliance’ (Queiroz; 2003), forging in the hinterlands the primal ethno-cultural Brazilianity; upholding mythic, rhythmic, religious and cultural values from both matrices.

The intercultural formation of Palmares, resembles a lot the history and formation of Capoeira. Both situations bears universal particularities still very pertinent to today’s societies. A world in which the ruling system continues to oppress not only the Black people of all nations, but all its minorities as well. A world in which the multinational companies and its neo-liberal lobby melts down national borders and leave people from all over the world excluded within their own countries.

Male and female [Brazilian] Black workers still live an unequal reality: lower wages, higher unemployment, and inferior general conditions of life and future expectations to their sons in relation to other workers. The racial prejudice lasts as a heritage transmited by the sugar-mill owners to the capitalists. The richness produced by the slave-work it is in the origin of capitalism in Brazil, and the super-exploitation of waged work has in this legacy one of its pillars” (Dias; 2009)

As Dias notes the social reality of Brazilian Blacks, it becomes evident that the ‘racial democracy’ in Brazil today is a myth. However, “ [it] is possible”, as it says Darcy Ribeiro, “but only if practised together with the social democracy”. The Brazilian scholar explains that:

Or there is democracy for all, or there is no democracy for anyone, because to the oppression of the Black, condemned to the dignity of the freedom fighter; corresponds the disgrace of the White in the role of oppressor within their own society” (Ribeiro; 1995: 227).

References:

Dias, J. (2009) Zumbi and Palmares belongs to us. In Revolutas. Accessed on November 20, 2009. From www.revolutas.net

Moura, C. (2004). Dictionary of Black Slavery in Brazil. SP, Brazil: Editora da Universidade de São Paulo.

Queiroz, C. V. (2003). Arquitectônica, intercultural, herança e síntese de modernidade (re)voluta, ou aforismos sobre a ética no espaço, Unpublished Doctorate Thesis – Universidade de Brasília. Centro de Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil.

Ribeiro, D. (1995). O Povo Brasileiro: A Formação e o Sentido do Brazil [The Brazilian People: The Formation and Meaning of Brazil]. São Paulo: Schwarcz LTDA.

Taylor, G. (2005). Capoeira: The Jogo de Angola from Luanda to Cyberspace. CA, USA: North Atlantic Books

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