Danny Glover: "Cases of racism in the world are more and more obvious"

In an alarming global context in front of outbreaks of xenophobia and racist speeches more and more frequent around the world, Actor Danny Glover went to Argentina to support an initiative to make visible the reality and demands of the country's African descent community.

He did not do it as a Hollywood actor, but as a militant and official goodwill ambbadador of the United Nations International Decade for Afro-descendants, and this is not the first Once he goes to the area. According to him, he has already visited Uruguay, Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela with the aim of Understand the situation of the community in the subcontinent, know their needs and make their demands heard.

"I think what's happening now is that the cases of racism in the world are more and more obvious. However, we must understand this, as the great thinker W.E.B. Du Bois, the question of "color" – and by that, I mean not only the descendants of Africans, but also indigenous peoples, Asians, and so on. This is the big theme of our time"Glover explained to Infobae as part of the presentation of the University Initiative "Core of Afro-Latin American Studies and the African Diaspora", at the Metropolitan University for Education and Work (UMET ).

The date of the event and its visit to Buenos Aires are not occasional: on March 21, the UN designated the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in commemoration of the police mbadacre of 69 people demonstrating peacefully against the apartheid laws in 1960 in Sharpeville, South Africa.

Consulted on the root causes of the problem, Glover developed a brief chronology of the history of racism and said that the question to be asked was at the beginning of the phenomenon. "Racism was born during the Second Industrial Revolution, a process that allowed my country, as well as other countries, to inaugurate what is still known as colonialism and colonialism. which still exists. the problem of race began with conquest. "

One fact about racism in Latin America that he found relevant is that, throughout his visits, he was able to envision a substantial difference in how activist groups approach the problem. . In the United States, there is a deep concentration identity, "In the countries of the region, people of African descent have put more emphasis on the requirement of effective policies, which is a crucial piece for democracy."

Glover arrived in Argentina accompanied by his friend and American activist James Early, a member of the Institute for Policy Studies, Real News Network and the Executive Secretary of the Regional Articulation of Latin American and Caribbean Afri -cores. He was the one who warned in his Huge dangers related to the resurgence of racism in the world and directed against its president, Donald Trump, and several leaders of the region.

"We are witnessing a revitalization of racism, especially in my country, the United States. We can verify this when members of the Republican Party criticize the racism of Donald Trump, members of his own party. Here too, when we observe the anti-immigrant and anti-Latin American policies in the United States. Or when (Jair) Bolsonaro, president of the country that has the largest population of Afro-Brazilians, so-called black and mestizo, attacking African religions with the fundamentalists of the evangelical church. Or we see it in the emergence of fascist movements in Europe, coordinated between them. And all that is relevant, because it's politics that motivates that and other expressions of hatredhe badured.

And he added: "We are living a very dangerous moment and we need to put the racial issue at the center of our speechesdo not single it, but connect it to different aspects of life ".

Both discussed the current situation in Venezuela and, although Glover is a recognized supporter of the governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. On this occasion and in view of the magnitude of what is happening, he must have recognized the crisis.

"In general, I think that the political and economic crisis that Venezuela is going through also affects all its citizens"he said during their consultations on the Afro-Venezuelan community. "But we must think about our origins and support a Venezuelan solution based on the principle of non-intervention abroad", he added.

Glover's visit to Argentina as part of Thursday's activities was an initiative of UMET that aimed to make visible the deep inequalities that affect the 200 million people of African descent on the continent. In this regard, his rector Nicolás Trotta badured that The total amount of scholarships will be awarded to members of these Afro-Argentine groups, who will join the project.

The actor, in this context, highlighted the work of the university and stressed: "Sometimes we are not fully aware, but the present is a historic moment in which we must act, work hand in hand and work to build a more just world. "

Before the presentation of the core of Afro-Latin American Studies and the African Diaspora, Danny Glover was distinguished as Citizen Illustrious of the City of Buenos Aires, a prize that was voted unanimously in the legislature of Porteña. Upon receipt of the acknowledgment, he joked: "When they announced it to me, I thought I was confused with Mel Gibson."