Note from BW of Brazil: If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time you know that the representation of inclusion of black Brazilian women in the mainstream media has been one of the major reasons for the very existence of this site. Women of visible African ancestry are regularly under-represented or excluded altogether in the Brazil’s entities of mass communication. This was one of the main issues on the agenda of the Third Annual CONAPIR conference that took place over a three day period this week in the nation’s capital city of Brasília. While it is of course too early to measure the results of this conference, the dialogue, trade of ideas and the possible implementation of laws are long overdue and a step in the right direction.
Black women want to ensure communication policies in the Third CONAPIR
By Angelica Basthi
How do you stimulate an agenda for women and the promotion of racial equality in the media in Brazil? How does one think of communications policies starting from topics such as technological convergence, regulatory marks and universal access? What is the relationship between the politics of communication, black women and III CONAPIR?
To guarantee answers to these and other issues, a group of black communicators (journalists and activists in the area of communications) from the five regions of the country have been in the nation’s capital city of Brasilia since last Sunday.
They arrived with the aim of sensitizing around a thousand delegates of the III Conferência Nacional de Promoção da Igualdade Racial (Conapir or Third National Conference of the Promotion of Racial Equality), which takes place November 5-7 at the Centro de Convenções Brasil 21 (Convention Center Brazil 21). The members understand communication as a strategic priority to be addressed by the policies of the Secretaria de Promoção da Igualdade Racial (Seppir or Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial Equality) and other government agencies.
The idea is to solicit the support of the delegations for political strategies of communication discussed during a meeting of black women held in São Paulo in August. The goal, based on the communication platform of black women, is to strengthen the debate that has been constructed by the delegates in the states.
“The charter does not allow creating new proposals, but it’s always possible to add a term or a concept,” says Nilza Iraci, president of Geledés – Institute of Black Women and one of the articulators of the meeting.
Strategies
The group will make several actions to dialogue, especially with the proposals of the GT 8 (Communication) of sub-theme 2 entitled Políticas de Igualdade Racial: avanços e desafios (Policies of Racial Equality: advances and challenges), which integrates the axis Estratégias para o desenvolvimento e enfrentamento ao racismo (Strategies for the Development and Facing Racism). “In addition, we’re doing a differentiated jounalistic coverage of the event, seeking to highlight how the issue of women is addressed. For this, we have created a page on Facebook and Twitter to ensure greater visibility,” explains Mara Vidal of the Patrícia Galvão Institute.
Among the institutions represented in this group in Brasilia, are: Pretas Candangas, Centro de Estudos das Relações de Trabalho e Desigualdades (CEERT or Centre for the Study of Labor Relations and Inequalities); SOS Corpo – Institute Feminista para a Democracia (SOS Body – Feminist Institute for Democracy), Coletico Leila Diniz (Leila Diniz Collective)/Articulação de Organizações de Mulheres Negras Brasileiras (AMNB or Articulation of Black Brazilian Women); Centro Feminista de Estudos e Assessoria (CFEMEA or Feminist Center of Studies and Assessoria); Instituto Flores de Dan (Flores Institute of DAN); Cunhã – Coletivo Feminista (Cunhã – Feminist Collective), the o Núcleo de Jornalistas Afro-Brasileiros do Rio Grande do Sul e as Comissões de Jornalistas de Igualdade Racial de Alagoas (Center for Afro-Brazilian Journalists of Rio Grande do Sul and Commissions of Journalists of Racial Equality of Alagoas), the Federal District, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (COJIRA AL, DF, RJ and SP), linked to the Unions of Journalists of the respective states.
This action has the support of the Fundo de Igualdade de Gênero da ONU Mulheres (FIG or Fund for Gender Equality of the UN Women) and of the Fórum Permanente de Igualdade Racial (Permanent Forum on Racial Equality (FOPIR/Ford Foundation).
Source: Portal Áfricas
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