INSTITUTE FOR THE RESEARCH OF BLACK CULTURE

INSTITUTO DE PESQUISA DA CULTURA NEGRA (IPCN)

Address: Avenida Mem de Sá, 208, Centro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Themes: State Racism and Black Resistance
Translated from the Portuguese by Lara Norgaard

In the early 1970s, the military regime grew increasingly concerned about the political-cultural articulation of black Brazilians, which culminated in the foundation of the Unified Black Movement in 1978. The State of Rio de Janeiro was the birthplace of many of these initiatives, some of which the political police monitored. On October 20, 1976, the Rio de Janeiro Aeronautical Center for Intelligence and Security (CISA-RJ) filed a document under the topic “Black Racism in Brazil.” It described the proliferation of Cultural Associations, groups that named the spread of black culture in Brazil as their objective, in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo:

Cultural associations primarily work to recruit members of the black race. They often organize lecture series about supporting black culture in Brazil. The lecturers take care not to speak directly about politics, but they condition listeners to accept the existence of veiled white racism in Brazil (Arquivo Nacional, Cisa: AMA_ACE_109622/76_CNF I/4).

The Cultural Associations referenced in this report that acted in Rio de Janeiro were: the Institute for the Research of Black Culture (IPCN), seen as responsible for coordinating all work related to the support for black culture in the State; Black Culture of Brazil, the activities of which were carried out by Lélia Gonzalez; the Apache Group, Center for Brazil-Africa Studies (CEBA/São Gonçalo); the Olokum Baba Mim Group; Calçadão de Caxias; and Adega Pérola in Copacabana, all of which were identified as meeting places for “radicals.” Because of the central role that the military regime itself gave to IPCN, we reference the repression against all of the black cultural associations in the State of Rio de Janeiro in this Institute.

Januário Garcia, a member of the IPCN’s board of directors, recounts:

We fought against the military dictatorship, but on one condition. We wouldn’t follow the left because they didn’t understand us. […] The left always thought the following: No, you have to be part of the overall struggle so that after the dictatorship falls, you can fight for your specific issues. Or, we’re going to have the proletariat revolution, and with the proletariat revolution […] But we weren’t even categorized as human, black people weren’t even in that category […] so how could we be part of the proletariat revolution? […] The left never understood our struggle. And the left was never our ally, never. […] The left always thought we were out of touch with their struggle against dictatorship. We didn’t believe in democracy without racial equality. So, we came up against the left and against the right. We were isolated, but we knew what we wanted. We knew what we wanted to achieve (Januário Garcia, depoimento concedido à CEV-Rio em 2 de maio de 2015).

The dictatorship monitored the IPCN many times. On these occasions, the reports and investigations categorized the organization not only as the group coordinating black resistance in the State of Rio de Janeiro, but also as an entity working towards “organizing the masses” in favelas by forming capoeira groups and preparing to send a delegation to the Reunião Internacional de Negros (which was to take place in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1977). A document from April 25, 1977 (Arquivo Nacional, Cisa AMA: ACE_109622/76_CNF_I/4, p. 32), shows that the IPCN received $85,000 dollars in monetary support from an unknown foreign entity.

A report from May 18, 1977 is document that characterizes the IPCN in the greatest detail (Arquivo Nacional, Cisa AMA: ACE_109622/76_CNF_I/4, p. 32). The document indicates that it was not possible to confirm that the institute had received the referenced $85 million; it highlights the legal nature of IPCN, naming its board members and founders, describes the activities that this cultural association carried out, and indicates some of the entities that collaborated with IPCN (for example, the Brasil África Chamber of Commerce, the Rio de Janeiro Art and Folklore Museum, the Center for Afro Asian Studies, the Quilombo Recreation Club for Black Art and Samba, and the Afoxé Filhos de Gandhi dance group). The agency’s discomfort with IPCN’s actions is explicit in the following statement:

The logic of the IPCN is a rupture from so-called black history in Brazil. They try to demystify significant historical events for the understanding of Black Culture (May 13, for example) in terms of how those events are discussed. This is now creating the idea that the abolition of slavery was an obligation, and not an act of charity on the part of the system (APERJ: DGIE_296, p.264).

A report (0594/19/AC/78) from July 25, 1978 outlines the process of monitoring cultural associations:

In 1976, Intelligence Agencies were alerted to the proliferation of Cultural Associations, groups aimed at spreading black culture in Brazil, in the States of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (Arquivo Nacional, AMA: ACE_2671/82_CNF I/I, fl. 01).

In another passage, it becomes explicit that one motivation of this control lay in the possibility that the left would appropriate this black cultural engagement. The report signals that: “instigating racial antagonism is a useful means for subversive-terrorist organizations to achieve their goals” (Arquivo Nacional, Cisa.AMA: ACE_109622/76, CNF, I/). This refers to the Brazilian urban guerrilla group MR-8’s use of race in their slogans, which included: “against racist education,” “against racial discrimination,” and “for a real racial democracy.”

The regime encouraged other actions against IPCN beyond surveillance. Feliciano Preira, a Black Movement activist, described how the Department of Political and Social Order (DOPS/GB) ransacked the IPCN building. Similarly, Carlos Alberto Medeiros testified to the Rio Truth Commission that the IPCN was invaded at various points in time and documents were stolen. “It was another way to say we’re here. It was a kind of warning.”

The Central Agency of the National Information Service (SNI) produced and compiled a set of documents, which it then sent to the heads of the SNI (CH/SNI). The nearly 400 compiled pages prove the regime’s control over what they called Cultural Associations for the spread of black culture in Brazil as well as over the Black Soul Movement, referenced in the Renaissance Club memo (Arquivo Nacional, Cisa.AMA: ACE_109622/76_CNF, I/4). They emphasize the alleged connections between cultural associations and the Senegalese ambassador through the diplomat Edmond Roques King. There are allusions to the appropriation of racial topics by organizations such as the MR-8. ¹ The individuals with subversive histories named as infiltrators into the black movement include Ricardo de Carvalho Duarte, Carlos Alberto Vieira, Olímpio Marques dos Santos, and Carlos Alberto Medeiros. Also set apart are those responsible for spreading ideas that challenged the existence of racial harmony in Brazil, including Maria Beatriz do Nascimento and Abdias Nascimento. ²

The military repression targeted cultural associations’ channels for denouncing racism, as these were seen as possible threats to internal security, as they might supposedly cause negative psychological warfare. The regime saw a connection between the fight against racism and the destabilization of order – beyond the possibility the cause might be appropriated by communist propaganda and ultimately fortify leftist militancy, as seen in MR-8’s use of anti-racist slogans. Another concern was that these movements might be the result of foreign influence or meddling that, beyond perturbing internal order and manipulating the “naïve” masses, could create an “anti-Brazilian” movement abroad.

1. Segundo a Informação 580/19/AC/78: “Da mesma forma, para as organizações subversivo-terroristas o acirramento de antagonismos raciais é um meio útil a seus propósitos. A publicação clandestina “INDEPENDÊNCIA OPERÁRIA”, porta-voz do MR-8, em seu n.28, edição de Jul. 77, instiga claramente a revolta racial com ‘palavras de ordem’ como ‘contra a educação racista’, ‘contra a discriminação racial’ e ‘por uma autêntica democracia racial’. Preconiza, também, a introdução, nos currículos escolares, da disciplina ‘História do Negro’, além da criação de um periódico noticioso exclusivamente da ‘Comunidade Afro-brasileira’ (Arquivo Nacional, CISA.AMA: ACE_109622/76, CNF, I/4, p. 17).
2. Abdias Nascimento é retratado pela Informação 580/19/AC/78 (Disponível no Arquivo Nacional: AC ACE 109622/76, CNF, I/4, p. 46) como “Racista brasileiro, negro, fundador e diretor do antigo Teatro Experimental do Negro”. Esteve sempre na mira do regime. A Agência Central do SNI produziu longo documento sobre os antecedentes de Abdias em 24 de agosto de 1978, através da Informação 0673/19/AC/78 que destaca sobremaneira a atuação do pensador fora do Brasil, notadamente suas possíveis relações com Cuba. Nesse sentido é paradigmática a passagem, às folhas 04 e 05 do documento: “Em sua colaboração para o livro ‘MEMÓRIAS DO EXÍLIO’, no ano 1976, com a finalidade de difamar o BRASIL no exterior, defende a tese de que existe perseguição racial no BRASIL, e que o negro precisa se impor como raça” (Arquivo Nacional: AMA_ACE_2671/82_CNF I/I.)