CIAD II celebrates Abdias de Nascimento as living symbol against racism

The Second Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora (CIAD II) has celebrated Abdias de Nascimento as a strong symbol in the fight for African dignity and for the need for Africans from all over the world to build bridges and fight together racism and oppression.

The Brazilian writer and former Senator, Abdias de Nascimento, described by Afro-Brazilians as “the vanguard in the fight for Afro-descendants rights in Brazil”, who attended CIAD II, was celebrated for having carried out, during all his life, the fight for the dignity of black people in Africa and the diaspora.

In 1988, he initiated a Brazilian draft Constitution that, for the first time in Brazilian history, highlighted and recognised the existence of racism in Brazil. That was a turning point in Afro-Brazilians struggle for the recognition of racial discrimination and the fight for racial equality and more recently for affirmative actions in some educational and economic sectors.

The location of CIAD II, Salvador de Bahia (North-East of Brazil), is highly symbolic for two reasons: Brazil is considered as the second homeland of Blacks after Africa, since it hosts the largest population of Black people outside Africa. The city of Salvador was the first point of entry of millions of Africans during the slave trade but also the place where one of the strongest revolt of slaves has taken place. Thus, it’s from historical, emotional and epistemologic perspectives that reflexions on tighter linkages between Africans and Africans in the diaspora were discussed.

<< Back to main