Should the acknowledgement of the large involvement of non-Brazilians capoeiristas today imply a detachment from the Brazilian culture and origins? The ‘internationalisation’ of Capoeira is a complex issue. In many of my talks and workshops, non-Brazilian capoeiristas share their concern about the underlying ethnic hierarchy in the Art. Many say things like: ‘The foreigners will always be treated as second-class capoeristas!” or “No matter how hard I try it’ll never be as if I was a Brazilian”.
I don’t see it that way. That’s why these issues should be figured out in our community before we can claim the effectiveness of Capoeira towards social inclusion within our broader social world. Some of my colleagues and friends believe that the solution would be to regard Capoeira as a global heritage or an international cultural practice. But before you rush into your own conclusions on what the solution might be, I would like you to watch this 10 minutes-long documentary on the internationalisation of the Amazon Forest. This short film was based on Cristovam Buarque‘s answer to an American student’s question about the internationalisation of the Amazon Region. “The youngster asserted that he expected a response of a humanist and not of a Brazilian.” (*)
4CT Note: In case you don’t speak Portuguese (unfortunately there is no English subtitles available), please read the transcript below.
My point here is that while I do agree that the contribution of non-Brazilian capoeiras (with all its onuses and bonuses) is not been acknowledged, I don’t think that such recognition implicates that Capoeira is now ‘international’. In fact, I think that the lesson of the Art-form comes exactly from its capability for bridging and bonding diverse cultures into one sycretic manifestation: A lesson sprung from a specific socio-cultural and historical context in Brazil. Hence, my take on Capoeira cannot disregard this context, neither its lessons. And that’s why I don’t agree with the ‘internationalisation’ of Capoeira, in the sense of stripping it from its Brazilian-ness. But I would like to know your opinion on this matter. If the docco or the translated transcript of Buarque’s answer made you think about the global context in which we practice Capoeira today, please drop me a few lines about your thoughts.
* – Sourced from – http://www.diaplous.org/amazo.htm – on 11/07/10
Transcript from Diaplous.
Note: diaplous has not been able to confirm the story through the Globo Website since its archives are for …subscribers only! However, I quote the article here because I consider it to be a clever response against the fashionable mumbo jumbo of the globalization-free trade argument.
Cristovam Buarque, Professor of the Universidade
Nacional do Brasil, ex-governor of Brasilia, D.F.
As reported in the Brazilian Daily O Globo on the 23rd of October, 2000.
During a recent discussion, in the United States, someone asked my opinion regarding the internationalization of the Amazon Region. The youngster asserted that he expected a response of a humanist and not of a Brazilian.
This was the first time anyone had established the humanist viewpoint as the starting point for my response. In fact, as a Brazilian I would have responded simply against internationalization of the Amazon Region. Even if our governments have not given the attention that this treasure deserves, it is ours. I responded that, as a humanist, realizing the risk of environmental destruction that threatens the Amazon Region, I could imagine its internationalization, just as for everything else that is important to humanity.
If the Amazon Region, from a humanist΄s point of view, has to be internationalized, then we should internationalize the oil reserves of the entire the world as well. Oil is just as important to the well being of humanity as the Amazon Region for our future. Nevertheless, the owners of oil reserves feel it is in their right to increase or decrease oil production and to raise or lower the price. The rich of the world, feel they have the right to burn this valuable possession of humanity. Similarly, the financial capital of the wealthy nations should be internationalized. If the Amazon Region is a natural reserve for every human being, then it could not be burned down by the decision of a landowner or a country. To burn down the Amazon Region is so tragic, as the unemployment provoked by the arbitrary decisions of world wide speculators. We cannot permit that the world΄s financial reserves serve to burn down entire nations according to the whims of speculacion.
Before the (internationalization of the) Amazon Region, I would like to see the internationalization of all the world΄s great museums. The Lourve cannot belong only to France. Each museum in the world is a guardian for the most beautiful works produced by the human genius. It cannot be permitted that these cultural possessions, as the natural posession of the Amazon Region, can be manipulated or be destroyed according to the whims of an owner or a country. Recently, a Japanese millionaire decided to have a painting of a grand master burried with him in the grave. This painting should have been internationalized.
At the time of the meeting, in which this question came up, the United Nations convened the Forum of the Millennium and the presidents of several countries had difficulties in attending due to barriers (they faced) at the border. Therefore, I contend that New York, as the base of the United Nations, should be internationalized. At least Manhattan should belong to all of humanity. Similarly Paris, Venice, Rome, London, Rio de Janeiro, Brazilia, Recife, every city with its own beauty, its own history should belong to the whole world.
If the United States wants to internationalize the Amazon Region, due to the risk of leaving it in Brazilian hands, then we should internationalize all the nuclear stockpiles of the United States. Particularly since they have already shown that they are capable of using these weapons, causing a destruction thousands of times greater than the sad fires taken place in the Brazilian forests.
During their debates, the current U.S. presidential candidates have defended the idea of internationalizing the world forest reserves in exchange for the debt. We could begin to use this debt to guarantee the right of every child in the world to attend school. We could internationalize the children treating all of them, regardless of their birthplace, as a posession which deserves the care and attention of the entire world. Even more so than the Amazon Region. When the world leaders attend to the world΄s poor children as possessions of Humanity, they will no longer permit that these children work when they should be studying, that they die when they should be living.
As a humanist I accept to defend the internationalization of the world. So long as the world treats me as a Brazilian, I will fight so that our Amazon Region will be ours. Only ours.
March 15th, 2002
First of all we need to do NOT TRUST USA foreign political approach : they always have their aims in their own interests.
So Brazil HAS to protect the Amazon at whatever the costs are, without compromise with such monsters as the rich-power americans are.
Then, as the Louvre and the other Museums could be visited by all the humanity without affecting the contents, so the Amazon could be only visited ,not touched or exploited by anybody in the world.
The same for Capoeira: the Mestres, descendants from Pastinha and Bimba, have the responsability to let us know the Art, without affecting it. When they will pass their knowledge and culture to the next generation of Capoeiras they will have to choose carefully, very carefully.
It must be a selection and as not brazilian we have to undergone a certain process, we have to accept it. But everybody has his own brain and he/she could say “yes ,this is right or not”.
When the slaves founded themselves chained to the bottom of the ship, they had to make no difference among themselves , even in the case that ,before ,in Motherland Africa they belonged to other tribes and may the were enemies.
AXE” e Vigilancia
Vovo’