With the aim of making visible the experiences of Afro-descendant peoples amidst the pandemic, was held the online forum “Afro-responses against racism in the context of Covid-19”, organized by the International Anti-imperialist, Afro-descendant and African Cumbe, and broadcast through the Zoom and YouTube digital platforms.
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, intervened through a phone call during the videoconference, noting that “racism is the son of slavery, of colonialism, it is impressive; our full solidarity with the fight against racism”, he affirmed.
«I reiterate our full solidarity and accompaniment to the families of the victims of racist police brutality, to the family of George Floyd», said the Head of State during his participation in the forum.
Regarding the relevance of this space to strengthen the Afro-descendant union, the President of the Republic expressed that «this meeting is the continuation of the initiatives that we have taken to articulate the struggles of social movements, for justice, against racism, against colonialism and oppression», he said.
In this sense, Maduro pointed out that “the Venezuelan people has too much strength and conscience; They have not been able, nor will they be able to defeat us, this is a people who are standing, that is why from Venezuela we extend all our solidarity to the fight for equality, for a better and new society», said the President of the Republic.
Contrasting with the situation that is being lived in countries of this hemisphere such as the United States and Brazil, where racism and economic interests prevail before human life, the national president reiterated that «In here no one is charged a single penny, all (Covid) tests are being performed for free, from the moment people are tested until they are discharged», he said.
President Nicolás Maduro explained that “we have done more than 1.073.000 tests, we have an average of 35.781 tests per million inhabitants. We have made an immense effort to detect the virus and to give treatment to all of our people», he emphasized.
The struggle continues:
This journey of reflection had the participation of leaders from more than 40 countries, being a space for articulation that reproduces the liberating practice of the Cimarrón (Maroon) men and women of the world, and which have become more acute due to the COVID-19 pandemic. .
For Venezuela intervened the vice president for the Development of the Social and Territorial Area, Aristóbulo Istúriz, who participated in the session from the headquarters of the Ministry of People’s Power for Education: “Once again, people of African descent today unify; Today we need unity, we have to continue fighting, we have to support the insurrections and the uprisings in all the countries where there is a reaction».
«We cannot ignore what is happening in the world, the death of George Floyd raised a great mobilization (…) We condemn the violation of human rights by the Trump government against the African-American population, we demand all international solidarity, and we express our solidarity», he asserted.
«Conquest and colonization constitute a historical fact of the current international order, and the order of power that mark societies to this day», said the sectoral vice president.
For her part, Roraima Gutiérrez, general secretary of the International Afro-descendant Cumbe, asserted that «united we are a force, and the system knows this, we are not only united by the problem of racism that occurs in the US, because racism occurs all throughout the Americas, in Europe, in many parts of the world. Go notice how in recent times the people of the Dominican Republic were repressed for protesting against racism, that is why, based on these reflections, we must advance to defend our rights and the fundamental right to life».
Similarly, Gutiérrez highlighted the historical element: «We can remember what was experienced at the end of the 18th and 19th century, when an army of Africans and Afro-descendants defeated the army, at that time one of the most powerful, such as that of Napoleon Bonaparte, in a Caribbean territorial space in 1804, where Africans and Afro-descendants achieved unity. We are an impressive force and the system knows it, the system that mutates forms of discrimination and racism knows this very well, that we are a powerful force and that is why it is betting on disintegration, that is why it is betting on weakening us; that is why we, we, are called to unity, to the unity of forces», she argued.
Piedad Córdoba, former Colombian senator and advisor to the International Afro Cumbe, added that «The Cumbe is a very important space to advance as Afro-descendants, because it opens up the possibility of working together with other countries».
In this sense, former Brazilian senator Dulce María Pereira commented «this pandemic exposed all the reality that it has as data, for example, a 56 percent of the black population is outside the education system, and this is something of an extraordinary impact because we have close to 22 million Brazilians who do not have access to quality water», she said.
«One of our first actions has been to show this route of the pandemic, to demand specific data on the Covid-19 from the government», concluded the Brazilian social fighter.
At the closing of the presentation in the videoconference, the Sectoral Vice-President Aristóbulo Istúriz read an excerpt from the poem “I can’t breathe”, written by Antonio Bencomo in honor of George Floyd and published in the Cuatro F newspaper.
