Africa and Diaspora Post - CIAD II Edição/Edition - Ambiente ...

without biases and with the object of integrating
the insights gained from the Black movement in
Brazil into the policies of Africa and of its Diaspora
as contributor to the quest for human rights, cultural
plurality, and human diversity.
The history of Africans in this part of the world,
in Brazil, is one of humanity’s most important
heritages, dealing with the full spectrum of struggles
for equality and recognition.
In this case, we must keep in mind that the
African Diaspora which exists in the capital and in
the interior of the state of Bahia is the result of the
arrival of forty-two per cent of all of the Africans
brought from the original continent and who, during
more than three hundred years, came to Brazil
where they were enslaved and that, over time, they
came to represent seventy-seven per cent of the
state of Bahia and eighty-two per cent of the inhabitants
of Salvador who, despite the harsh realities of
a brutal caste system marked by racial and religious
intolerance, were the settlers and producers of a
cordial and affectionate civility.
We are contributing to the rebirth of an almost
prophetic ancient idea of liberty, equality, (and)
brotherhood solemnly affirmed by the members of
the revolutionary movement of the Búzios Revolt in
1798. The time must come for our liberty, the moment
in which we will all be brothers. In this sense,
CIAD II was a part of this moment of encounter of
the past with the present and the encounter of the
joys and pains with the liberty and the equality that
we have so wanted to see happen in Africa and in
Brazil.
João Jorge Santos Rodrigues is a writer, with a Bachelors
Degree in Pre-Law from the Catholic University of Salvador, a
Masters in Law (UNB); president of Olodum; member of the
Steering Committe of Palmares Foundation; ex-Director of the
Gregoidio de Mattos Cultual Foundation; ex-President of the
Federation of Afro-Carnival Entities of Brazil
3 A Grande Refazenda, África e Diáspora Pós II CIAD
Temos neste caso que levar em conta que a diáspora africana
existente na capital da Bahia e no Recôncavo é resultado
da vinda de 42 % de todos os africanos tirados do continente
original e que vieram para o Brasil durante mais de trezentos
anos para serem aqui escravizados e que ao longo do tempo,
ao fim e ao cabo, se transformaram em 77% da população do
Estado da Bahia e 82 % dos moradores de Salvador, tendo
sido os colonizadores e produtores de civilidade, cordial e
afetuosa, numa sociedade brutal, de castas e marcada pela
intolerância racial e religiosa.
Fizemos renascer uma antiga idéia de Liberdade, Igualdade
e Fraternidade, quase profética dos membros do movimento
revolucionário da Revolta dos Búzios de 1798 que afirmava
de forma solene: “Há de chegar o tempo da nossa liberdade,
o tempo em que seremos todos irmãos”. Desta forma a II Ciad
foi parte deste tempo de encontro do passado com o presente e
das alegrias e tristezas com a liberdade e a igualdade que tanto
sonhamos ver acontecer na África e no Brasil.
*João Jorge Santos Rodrigues é presidente do Olodum; ex-diretor da Fundação Cultural Gregório de
Matos em Salvador; fundador e integrante da Coordenação do Conselho de Entidades Negras da Bahia e
presidente da Federação dos Blocos Afros do Brasil