Text 13224, 213 rader
Skriven 2005-06-01 20:45:34 av Stephen Hayes (5:7106/20.0)
Ärende: Biko inspires Brazilians
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* Forwarded (from: SAFRICA-CULTURE) by Stephen Hayes using timEd/2 1.10.y2k.
* Originally from Steve Hayes (8:8/2003) to All.
* Original dated: Wed Jun 01, 06:26
BBC - May 25, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4552119.stm
BLACK BRAZILIANS LEARN FROM BIKO
By Alejandra Martins
BBCMundo.com
STEVE BIKO sought to set black South Africans free from oppression and he died
for it.
He probably never imagined that 30 years on, his message would be setting free
the minds of young men and women thousands of kilometers away, in Brazil.
The STEVE BIKO INSTITUTE in Salvador, the capital of BAHIA state, aims to help
black Brazilians achieve what many never dared to dream of - to enter
university.
Brazil boasts some of the best universities in Latin America, but passing the
country's tough university entrance exam, the vestibular , is not an option for
most black Brazilians.
They make up almost half the country's population - far more than that in Bahia
state - and the majority live in poverty.
"Here in Bahia, 70% of the population is of African descent, but more than 80%
of those who graduate from university are white, so you can see clearly there
is a situation of exclusion," explains Lazaro Passos, a young mechanical
engineer who is the institute's project coordinator.
REDRESSING THE BALANCE
Mr. Passos says the poor quality of state primary and secondary schools means
black students end up with only a remote chance of passing the vestibular.
Many white students, on the other hand, not only grow up in the private school
system, but can also afford expensive one-year courses that prepare them for
the exam.
Paradoxically, it is mostly these students who secure the coveted places in
Brazil's federal universities, which are funded by the federal government and
charge no fees.
The BIKO INSTITUTE aims to redress the balance, offering cheap courses to
prepare black students.
"BIKO is a reference for us because of his activism as a student, and above
all, because he saw education as a weapon against oppression", explains Mr.
Passos.
The institute's T-shirts bear BIKOS words: "The most potent weapon in the hands
of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."
The message has changed the lives of hundreds of students, like young mother
Karina de Souza, who attended a course at the institute and is now a university
student specializing in literature.
"We grow up seeing only white people having success as professionals. We learn
at history lessons in school that black people were brought as slaves, and all
they left as a legacy is traditional foods, and dances like samba or capoeira,"
she says.
"Here at the BIKO institute we learn about many blacks who succeeded through
education."
All the students at the BIKO institute attend lessons in "citizenship and black
consciousness", where they learn about great black Brazilian engineers such as
ANDRE RREBOUCA or TEODORO SAMPAIO.
"Black people need to learn about these figures and many others. It is part of
the process of raising their self-esteem," says Mr. Passos.
"We realized if we don't work at this very deep level, students never aim to be
doctors, or engineers, because they believe they can only apply for less
prestigious courses."
BAHIA was at the heart of the slave trade that shaped Brazilian history. It is
estimated that four million slaves were sent across the Atlantic to shed their
sweat and blood in the fields of Brazil, eight times the number of slaves
shipped to the US. Their legacy is alive in every corner of BAHIA.
'APARTHEID'
"Brazil was one of the last countries to abolish slavery in 1888 - you can
imagine how this system molded society. Even now, the black population is
suffering the consequences," says Mr. Passos.
Students at the institute come from poor backgrounds and most of them are the
first ever in their family to aim for university.
"My mother worked very hard washing clothes, selling food on the street. She
couldn't finish primary school, but made sure all her kids completed secondary
education. I was working from an early age, helping my mother," says Karina.
George Oliveira's future also changed thanks to the BIKO institute. When he
arrived there he had abandoned his studies and was working, like everyone else
in his family, as a cook.
Today he is studying economics at university. He is convinced his country has
to overcome what he says is a disguised form of apartheid.
"There are no laws here saying this place is for whites only and that place is
for blacks only, but if you go to the rich neighborhoods you see whites and if
you go to the slums you see mainly blacks.
"Even in the media, the soap operas seem to depict life in Europe rather than
Brazil."
The education ministry acknowledges that the exclusion of black students is a
serious problem in Brazil.
ELIEZER PACHECO, president of the National Institute of Educational Research,
says:
"Poverty in Brazil has a color, and that color is black. That is why the
Ministry of Education has been strongly defending the introduction of quotas
for black students at university. Even though universities are autonomous
according to the constitution and there is a lot of resistance, some
universities have started adopting this system."
EMPOWERMENT
The BIKO institute enrolls about 300 students a year, of whom about 35% enter
university.
Deep down the message remains like a delayed time bomb: education is the
answer.--Lazaro Passos
I put it to Lazaro Passos that this is a low success rate.
"Students come here after 11 years of bad schooling, often with their
self-esteem at rock bottom. We reach out to human beings and that's what
matters. We always leave our mark.
"Often we meet former students who after many years are back at their studies.
Deep down the message remained like a delayed time bomb: education is the
answer".
The legacy of Steve Biko has empowered people like Karina and George.
Karina is making sure her five-year-old son grows up proud of being black.
George, the first of his family to enter university, wants to become a
professor.
For Lazaro Passos, what is at stake is not only the future of students such as
George, but the development of Brazil.
"If there are no black students at university then we are excluding minds that
could be thinking up a new and more competitive Brazil," he says.
"It's not only a loss for the black population, but for the whole of this
country.
If blacks don't have access to university then Brazil is excluding 45% of its
own people."
) BBC MMV
************
SEE ALSO:
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY:
STEPHEN (BANTU) BIKO: MARTYR OF THE BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS MOVEMENT: SOUTH AFRICA
http://africanhistory.about.com/library/biographies/blbio-stevebiko.htm
QUOTES: STEPHEN (BANTU) BIKO:BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS LEADER
http://africanhistory.about.com/od/bikosteve/p/qts_biko.htm
STEVE BIKO AND INFORMAL & COMMUNITY EDUCATION
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/biko.htm
************
BIKO, STEVE: I WRITE WHAT I LIKE: Selected Writings. Edited by Aelred Stubbs,
C.R.
Introduction by Malusi and Thoko Mpumlwana. Preface by Desmond Tutu.
240 p. 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 1978, 1996, 2002 Paper CUSA $17.00sp 0-226-04897-7
Spring 2002
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/14833.ctl
"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the
oppressed."
Like all of STEVE BIKOS writings, those words testify to the passion, courage,
and keen insight that made him one of the most powerful figures in South
Africa's struggle against apartheid. They also reflect his conviction that
black people in South Africa could not be liberated until they united to break
their chains of servitude, a key tenet of the Black Consciousness movement that
he helped found.
The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
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