The bananalisation of racism

[EDITORS’ NOTE: Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, commonly known as Neymar, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Spanish club FC Barcelona and the Brazilian national team. When his teammate Dani Alves ate a banana thrown at him by a racist fan in Spain, Neymar launched an Internet campaign against racism. It might have looked like a spontaneous response to the abuse meted out at Alves, but in fact it was a carefully choreographed campaign planned in advance by his PR team.">

I do not like to write articles in the heat of the moment, but I think that, in this instance, the article will be full of emotion regardless, because the issue has gone too far. First, we need to clear up a few things about this story, because it is not as simple as it seems. For now, what we do know is that the idea came from Neymar’s father, who I believe also handles business matters for him. According to Guga Ketzer, partner and vice-president of the creative agency Loducca, who is in charge of the campaign and also helps Neymar with publicity, “Neymar’s father called us and asked us to think something up. The idea emerged that the best way to deal with prejudice is to use it”.

Furthermore, Guga Ketzer is trying to make the campaign a bit more palatable by renaming it the “movement”. Maybe even in order to ride the coattails of the idea of a black movement. According to him, the campaign (created by the agency, together with Neymar’s staff) does not contain any advertising elements, as they are not selling anything. But I know a lot about advertising, having worked in the sector for over 13 years, and that is exactly the principle of advertising agencies: to sell something while convincing people you are just trying to do them a favour. It is clear that they are selling their client’s image as the poster-child for anti-racism in the upcoming World Cup, since it has been widely publicised that the Cup’s official motto will be: “World Cup For Peace and Against Racism”. I certainly would applaud Neymar and his father’s attitude if, rather than going to an advertising agency (what if they paid or were paid for the campaign or what if it was done on exchange for greater visibility?) they had looked to institutions or people that have an understanding of the anti-racism struggle. Or if they had used the footballer’s high profile to put the agency at the service of one of these institutions. Because what happened on the pitch that day is evidence of a wider problem, and there can be extremely dangerous consequences for those who take the fight against racism seriously and not just at a time where it gives greater visibility.

Activist Douglas Belchior explains: “Racism is a very serious thing. We are currently seeing a staggering increase in violent racism in Brazil. These alienating and depoliticised reactions from athletes, artist, opinion-shapers and policy-makers have a clear objective: to cover up the real meaning of racism that ranges from throwing bananas onto a football pitch all the way to black genocide which is still happening all around the world.”

He is right. And it is this depoliticised attitude of Neymar’s propaganda agency which has been gobbled up by people who have little understanding of racism because it does not hurt them directly, that generates “concepts” and certainties such as those of the campaign’s partner and creative president: “We have found that the best way to combat racism is to ridicule racists”. In other words: for centuries that group of incompetent black people, which has been searching everywhere for a way to combat racism, still hasn’t discovered the highly modern technique of using the ridicule, to which they are victims on an almost daily basis, against their attackers. Or even: “It is a very Brazilian way of dealing with this. You have a problem? Well then, give it here and let me eat it (…) It is a beautiful thing.” Yes, it really is beautiful to see another white man saying who is Brazilian and who is not, because what so many black movements, which Brazilians are a part of, really want is to have to swallow more racism. But that, according to Guga Ketzer, is our destiny: “It is like being a kid and having to deal with a nickname. If you get really worked up about it then it will definitely stick. That is the reason why our idea is not to run away from the fight, but to face up to it and swallow the problem.”

Quite frankly, I find myself wondering whether it hadn’t been decided beforehand that the next player to be thrown a banana would eat it, because the whole thing strikes me as very orchestrated. It may just be my own paranoia of course, but the use of the word “swallowing” in the speech seemed a little rehearsed… And then there is the throat and the stomach! They won’t be Guga Ketzer’s, that’s for sure. Because, for this campaign, he is offering up the service of his brain only in order to solve the problem for us once and for all: “The best way to put an end to prejudice is to get rid of the word. From there came the idea of using a person eating a banana as a symbol to express this.”

And there we have it, guys. Plain and simple. Here it is one more time: the best way to put an end prejudice is to get rid of the word. From there came the idea of a person eating a banana as a symbol to express this. This concept is nothing to laugh about because the case is a serious one. Thousands, maybe even millions, of people have bought into this idea that they are doing something relevant and decisive for the antiracism cause by putting up photographs of themselves eating a banana. I wonder whether Ketzer asked his black employees (yes, they are always called in to validate the opinion of their white boss, in a kind of corporate version of “I have black friends”) what they thought about the idea?

Ideas… I recently took part in a meeting with President Dilma. We were summoned practically at the drop of a hat, through the SEPPIR (the Department for the Promotion of Racial Equality), but none of us there really knew the reason for the meeting. Basically, the president had summoned activists from black movements together for a meeting. And that was all. Douglas Belchior and Ana Paula Magalhães Pinto have written articles about their experiences at the meeting. At the time, I too thought about writing something, but I confess that other projects and even the hope that things would play out differently led me to put the idea on the back-burner. Because, deep down, I really wanted to believe that the Cup could be an opportunity to do some important work against racism. There were promises of new meetings and opportunities for us to actively participate in the development of the campaign that was in place. Whether or not those meetings took place, I cannot say. If they had, I do not think that I would have participated because the initial meeting left me with a bad taste in my mouth, especially when I thought about all of the barbarities that had taken place in order for the World Cup to happen in Brazil. But Neymar’s campaign, which is supported by Dilma, made it clear to me that if there is a “World Cup against Racism”, then I am against it. Both the World Cup and the campaign. I want to make it clear that I will continue to give my wholehearted support to the SEPPIR, which has accomplished so much under such unfavourable conditions, but I find it absurd that the department is treated as a mere accessory in the presidency and the Ministry of Sport’s marketing game. Whether there will be a campaign against racism in the Cup should be an issue for SEPPIR, not for the Ministry of Sport.

The idea that we heard about at the meeting from President Dilma is that the adopted slogan will be “World Cup For Peace And Against Racism”. I cannot help but wonder which racism and which peace she is talking about, because judging by the rhetoric surrounding the campaign, the fight will be left in the hands of players, soccer officials and media and business opportunists who have never seriously been interested in the issue, as well as the Prime Minister, the armed forces and foreign mercenaries. I am speaking solely on the issue of racism here because it is the issue on which I am best informed. Some of the key figures at play at this stage are:

1. The Ministry of Sport, headed by Aldo Rebelo.
According to the president, it was Rebelo’s idea to fight against racism and to proclaim peace by displaying videos with Brazilian and foreign personalities in the stadiums before matches. He also seems to have had the idea to have players come on to the pitch, carrying banners and flags denouncing racism and supporting peace. So nothing out of the ordinary here; nothing that strays from the usual smoke and mirrors. It is important, as well, to remember the conversation that Rebelo had with Minister Luiza Bairros when they met in 2012 to discuss plans for the Cup.

Luiza Bairros summarised: “ We are focusing on the demand for the creation of job opportunities for black men and women, as well as the creation of anti-discrimination observatories, an idea which came from Bahia and that we hope to spread to all the cities hosting the 2014 World Cup”. (…) “At the same time, pertaining specifically to the Cup, the observatory will also do all it can to provide for celebrations in all the host cities, which would benefit from the participation of popular artists and cultural groups”, she added.

It seems to me that the minister’s suggestions have not been listened to. It seems to me that Aldo Rebelo has even forgotten all about that meeting, because he told President Dilma that the idea to do something against racism during the Cup was entirely his own. His interest strikes me as being, at the very least, in contradiction with his usual trajectory in relation to the interests of the black population. Or, rather, typical of his habit of not listening to us. When a number of black movements were fighting the presence of racism in Caçadas de Pedrinho (Pete’s Hunting), a book for children and teens distributed by the government, Aldo Rebelo was against us.

Here, we were objecting to the racism present in Aunty Nastácia being called a coal monkey. Here we have it: monkey. A term which he has only now begun to see the problem with? Aldo Rebelo is a fervent defender of Monteiro Lobato, a racist who regrets, amongst other things, that we have not had a Ku Klux Klan in Brazil: “A country of mestizos, where the white man does not have the power to organise a Kux Klan [sic">, is a country which is lost to higher causes (…) One day the Ku Klux Klan will be vindicated;. if we had a defence of this order, which keeps the blacks in their place, and today we would be free from this plague of the Rio press- the little mulato playing the white man’s game and always in a destructive way because black miscegenation destroys constructive capacity”.

It is Lobata that Aldo Rebelo paid tribute to by putting forward the idea of having a national Saci Day, and it was Saci that Aldo Rebelo wanted to be the official Cup mascot.

So, as you can see, we really are proponents of action against racism, aren’t we?

2. Neymar’s father
Neymar’s father was the one who demanded the campaign be started in the first place, and he must have approved it too. I understand and empathise with the pain of a father seeing their son become a target of racism. Especially when that son does not see himself as black, which is true in Neymar’s case. But a long time has passed since these racist attacks against him took place. Is it really only now that it has become important to do something about it? Apparently so, opportunism, or a tantrum in order to prove themselves right in another high-profile case involving Neymar and Alexandre Pires, in the King Kong music video.

3. President Dilma
The president- from whom we would like to see a lot more involvement in important causes for the black population, such as those described in Douglas Belchior’s article- supports the Loducca campaign and even sent out a tweet that hovered dangerously close to the territory of racial democracy: “We will show that our strength, in football and in life, comes from our ethnic diversity and that we are proud of it. #CopaSemRacismo (#RacismFreeWorldCup)”.

No the Cup will not be racism free. Unless the discovery is made that bananas contain antiracist properties. Our good old racism will continue during and after the Cup, even if it does not show itself during the games. We want to be heard and respected but not only when FIFA demands it. Racism is a crime! It is highly symptomatic of the impunity of this dangerous and unacceptable crime- I repeat, unacceptable crime- that the head of state supports a campaign which, instead of seeking punishment for a crime which many Brazilians are targets of each day, encourages the consumption of bananas. Does the honourable president have any idea of what she has done? Racism in Brazil is a crime, Madam President. A felony. Imprescriptible. A crime! The years and years of fighting it took by black movements for racism to be considered a crime, in a country which reluctantly and in fits and starts is just starting to admit to being racist, all goes down the drain when its president thinks that it is enough to “punish” criminals - I repeat: criminals- with the “daring and powerful response” (as she said in one of her tweets) of eating a banana! Why doesn’t she just tear down the judiciary and penal system and set up banana plantations throughout the country, preferably with some black people doing all the work of planting, harvesting, picking and eating. Overseen, of course, by the Ministry of Agriculture, as it was in the time of slavery.

Maybe there is still enough time to test this strategy during the Cup? And then we could export this innovative technology to all of the participating countries so that they too can combat racism? Lookie here, Luciano Huck! A great investment opportunity! Because he too, is running down the flanks:

4. Luciano Huck
He appears to have been very important in the promotion of the campaign, with his millions of followers on Twitter. Attempting to make some money off of someone else’s pain, as he and his blond-haired family never have been nor will be targets of racism, Huck quickly peeled Andy Warhol’s banana (or was the t-shirt, like the whole campaign, just ready and waiting for an “opportunity?), appropriated the motto of the advertising campaign and used two white models to trample on our cause and sell R$ 69,00 t-shirts. The website advertises that the t-shirt is being sold in a section called “Camisetas do Bem” or “Good t-shirts”. I shudder every time I see the word “good” associated with anything related to racism, because, if you didn’t know, “The Good Citizen” was the name of the main newspaper published by the Ku Klux Klan. Those people, underneath their hoods, saw themselves as good citizens. Luciano Huck, just like the majority of those join this campaign that encourages the impunity of the crime, most likely considers himself to be a good citizen. In the fight against racism, armed with a righteous banana.

In the same way that something said after “I’m not racist, but…” is racist, so is this campaign, and they are trying desperately to convince us that it is not. This campaign is vapid, idiotic, superficial, opportunistic, frivolous, disrespectful and criminal. It reinforces stereotypes and blocks dialogue because, for all its success, nobody really wants to engage with the issue. Are you feeling offended while reading this article, because you truly believed in and bought into the campaign? Go and take it up with Loducca, Neymar’s father, Luciano Huck, President Dilma, the people who have not taken the attempts at dialogue that black movements have been trying to establish for decades, seriously. If we had been able to have this dialogue, one of the things that would have to be understood is the difficulty of shedding the racist connotations imbued in such symbols. The banana is a racist icon, used by racists to call black people monkeys. It is not up to an advertising agent to declare, all of a sudden, that it is no longer a racist icon, as though it can just be changed with the flick of a wand. This magical thinking has already been attempted many times throughout the years with racial democracy.

We all know that that method has not worked, and people throwing bananas on the pitch, and shrieking and gesticulating like monkeys, is proof of this. It cannot be denied. A comparison, albeit it a low level and lacking one I know, could be make with the use of the swastika symbol. I use it as an example because it is a necessary one, which helps to put things into perspective. I wonder whether Luciano Huck would have the nerve, for example, to sell t-shirts stamped with a swastika, a symbol imbued with Nazism / racism, because another advertising agent and football player say all of a sudden that eating swastika shaped cookies and taking selfies of yourself eating them is the best way to reverse the meaning of the word, erasing its history and ending antisemitism? Exactly. I’d like to see that. Just like I would like to see a different head of state saying that its Jewish citizens, who had been offended and humiliated by someone directing a Nazi salute and “Heil Hitler” chant at them, that, instead of demanding punishment, the daring and powerful thing to do is to pretend to “swallow” the humiliation?

What happened to Alves (to whom I offer my complete solidarity) could have provoked a productive discussion, if it had not been leached off of by this unfortunate campaign and if it had been followed by a discussion that was a little more self-aware and consistent. You can tell how unprepared most of our athletes to deal with racism, especially when you compare their actions to those of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team. The guys protesting against the racist statements of the team’s owner, yes the owner, not a fan- gathered together on centre court before the start of the match, took off their uniforms and put their t-shirts on backwards, hiding the team logo.

In fact, it is shameful to have to make such a comparison, especially considering the fact that racism is not even a crime over there. And it is even more shameful for us to see President Obama’s response to the statement. The president publicly condemned the incredibly racist and offensive statements, saying: “We constantly have to be on guard on racial attitudes that divide us rather than embracing our diversity as a strength. The United States continues to wrestle with the legacy of race, slavery and segregation. That’s still there — the vestiges of discrimination. We’ve made enormous strides, but you’re going to continue to see this percolate up every so often. And I think that we just have to be clear and steady in denouncing it, teaching our children differently, but also remaining hopeful that part of why some statements like this stand out so much is because there has been this shift in how we view ourselves.”

Meanwhile, we have a president who is more concerned with cheering on internet users who dance over our pain and trivialise our struggles by eating bananas. Because she thinks that highlighting our shared ancestry with primates is going to stop racists, who do not admit to or even know hat they are racist, from being racists. All this on the eve of the World Cup, in which we hope to show the world that we are a model example of anti-racism.

If we as a people, and I do not mean just as Brazilians but as thinking and acting human beings with causes that are dear to us (racism and peace amongst other things), do not want to be shamed even further, then it is time for us to take the reigns of this campaign. We can no longer leave it to the people who are in charge and who pretend to reflect upon the problem, and to plan, and to worry about it and to try to solve it, while all they are really doing is sweeping it under the rug. How about us coming together to form a realistic and denunciatory campaign, and raise the level of this discussion?

* This article was translated from Portuguese for Pambazuka News by Rosemary Amadi.

* THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR/S AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM

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