Teaching Race in Venezuela

"Afro Descendents cannot talk about democracy in countries in which racism exists." I'm not calling any names.

Abigail Elwood

At the International Afro-Descendent Conference hosted by Venezuela last weekend, Humberto Brown of the Global Afro-Latino and Caribbean Initiative (USA) stated that “Afro Descendents cannot talk about democracy in countries in which racism exists.” The conference was hosted by The Afro-Venezuelan Network and the Ministry of Information and Communication May 6-8 in Caracas. The aim of the conference was to ensure that in the process of creating Latin American unity, the inclusion of historically oppressed sectors (composed mainly of indigenous and Afro-descendent groups) is not overlooked. Participating in discussions were panelists from Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Colombia, among others, as well as a delegation from the US-based Trans-Africa Forum.

Discussions focused on ways to promote inclusion and visibility for Afro-descendents, to be achieved through both state and grassroots initiatives. Proposed mediums through which this inclusion could be obtained were the institutional recognition of Afro-descendents in the Bolivarian Revolution (Indigenous peoples are formally recognized in the constitution of 1999 but Afro-descendents are not) and the continued and full participation of Afro–descendant communities in policies that affect them. This participation in the creation of a new “Bolivarian” education syllabus is especially important because state and community-based strategies for institutionalizing the participation of Afro-descendant communities in Venezuela meet in the classroom.

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