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ABSTRACT
This article analyzes the impact of racial anti-discrimination law in Venezuela. Its shows how the preventive frame of the Organic Law against Racial Discrimination and its implementation by the National Institute against Racial Discrimination has limited capacities to identify, prosecute, and eradicate, structural and everyday forms of racism in Venezuela. By examining the Cine Citta case–prompted after the establishment published a digital job advertisement on the Internet that explicitly requested employees with ‘white skin’ – this paper reveals the unexpected role of social media actors for activating anti-racist legal mechanisms. It argues that digital media users can effectively contribute to the typification of cases of racial discrimination and in turn exert public pressure on state institutions to sanction racism. Although these actions were temporary, the relative anonymity of social media users allowed them to evoke the symbolic power of anti-discrimination laws and to create a diverse and contingent anti-racist digital community. This paper contributes to regional debates on alternative modalities for implementing racial anti-discrimination legislations within multicultural states.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Jean Muteba Rahier for translating this article from Spanish to English. We are also grateful for the feedback received from the members of the Observatory of Justice for Afrodescendants in Latin America (OJALA), the three peer reviewers, from Afro-Venezuelan social movement activists, and from INCODIR functionaries.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The role of ideologies of mestizaje in denying and obscuring the presence of racism in the nation has been well analyzed in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America (Hale Citation1999; Montañez Citation1993; Moreno Figueroa Citation2010; Rahier Citation2003; Wade Citation2005; Wright Citation1990).
2. This work is based on an exploratory study carried out between September 2017 and January 2018 in Venezuela. At INCODIR we interviewed functionaries about their typification of racist incidents and the number of cases they have handled. Activists of the Afro-Venezuelan movement were asked about their perceptions of the LOCDRA and INCODIR, and about their perceptions of the Cine Citta case. We also surveyed media outlets such as digital newspapers, webpages, Facebook, and Twitter posts published after the incident. We identified texts mentioning the Cine Citta incident, and we coded the following topics: (a) anti-discrimination laws; (b) tropes on racism, mestizaje, and race; and (c) voices evaluating the incident.
3. In the first semester of 2017, massive protests were led by sectors of the opposition in Venezuela, because the Supreme Court of Justice had decided to take away the immunity of opposition parliamentarians. The opposition also demanded new elections, the freedom of political prisoners and access to humanitarian aid. The Public Ministry reported the killing of 124 people, of which 46 were presumably perpetrated by state security forces, 27 were executed by members of armed collectives, and nine victims were members of the security forces (ACNUDH Citation2017, 11). These events, which included the shooting of protesters, their arrests, the burning of people, and physical and verbal aggressions, among other things, not only highlighted the existence of political violence, but also the presence of racism, intolerance, and classism in Venezuela.
4. Many scholars have examined the relationship between multiculturalism and neoliberalism and its demobilizing and regulatory effects on social movements in Latin America (Hale Citation2002; Postero Citation2005). Charles Hale argues that neoliberal multiculturalism in Latin America is a cultural project ‘[…] stating which rights are legitimate, and what forms of political action are appropriate for achieving them […]’ (Citation2002, 490).
5. The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela had the objective of reestablishing the Republic according to the Bolivarian precepts of democracy, sovereignty, internal development, popular participation, and social inclusion. Chapter VIII of the Constitution recognized ample collective rights to indigenous peoples.
6. The Network of Afro-Venezuelan Organizations was founded in June 2000 by members of cultural, agricultural, ecological, educational, religious, and land organizations. These organizations shared the purposes of overcoming racism, achieving legal recognition, and struggling against the structural exclusion of Afrodescendant peoples in Venezuela.
7. Cimarronaje institucional is a practice embraced by Afrovenezuelan organizations to gain spaces of mobilization within local and national state institutions (García Citation2013; Ruette-Orihuela and Arias Citation2017). It involves creating commissions, offices, and networks within local and national state institutions in order to advance agendas of visibility, resistance, and social inclusion targeting Afrodescendant people. Organizations also identify potential government allies, while also placing key activists within these new institutional spaces in order to access and mobilize information and resources. Participation within state institutions is recognized as legitimate by the Afro-Venezuelan movement, as long as the basic principles of the ethics of cimarronaje are sustained: resistance against slavery, racial discrimination, and social exclusion. It also consists in resisting co-optation and maintaining a sense of solidarity towards the concrete demands of Afrodescendant peoples.
8. In December 2018, a tax unit in Venezuela was equivalent to 17 Bolívares Soberanos. According to the Central Bank of Venezuela, the exchange rate of each Bolívar Soberano for 2 January 2019 was 638,18 Bs.S per 1 USD. Thus, the estimated penalty would be around $1,33.
9. A pre-legal analysis consists in the examination of the elements to determine whether or not there exists a situation of discrimination.
10. The expression coño de madre is usually used as a verbal affront addressed both to women and men to indicate the bad intention of a person.
11. During the initial stage of INCODIR’s existence, Afrodescendant activists were part of the board of directors and also of the three regional directorates established in Miranda State. However, after two years, the Minister of Popular Power for Internal Relations, Justice, and Peace appointed a new INCODIR president. This was, someone who did not belong to the Afrodescendant Movement and who is known for following the main directives of the minister. Although some activists remained as advisors in INCODIR, their participation in decision-making processes was significantly limited.
12. Orlando Figuera was publicly burned and killed by a group of protesters in May 2017. The act was ‘viralized’ through the media and social networks, an action that subsequently prompted the approval of the Constitutional Law against Hate, for Peaceful Coexistence and Tolerance in November of that same year; see: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-40007635.
13. Cine Citta sells ice-cream and imported groceries at extremely high prices. Some factions of the opposition rumored that the place is owned by someone linked to the government, who has access to the foreign currency necessary to import these products. In contrast, some supporters of the revolution see this place as an example of the speculation of the commercial sector and their implications in promoting ‘economic war.’
14. Art. 19 established mandatory training of workers on the prevention and eradication of racial discrimination. Art. 20. orders the placement of a poster against racial discrimination.
15. See: https://www.facebook.com/cinecittacaracas/?hc_ref=ARS5KgqU-ZqSPl-7G1xQ3rIXWZs4LmwiPj9jeIHcMEw5fIE_j8FzrySgga1IZXmIkgo (accessed 4 December 2018).
16. See the discussion of ‘racial innocence’ in the introduction to this special issue.
17. A similar process occurred with the Organic Law for the Rights of Women to have a Life without Violence (approved in 2007) which has been difficult to implement.
18. It is symbolic because the very existence of this law stands for the recognition of racism in a country that has constantly denied its existence. This achievement is also political, as it shows the resilience of the Afro-Venezuelan movement for seeking spaces of participation and mobilization within the state, in spite of their persistent exclusion.
19. The election of the National Constituent Assembly took place on the 30 July 2017. For the government, the main objective of the Assembly is to call for a national dialogue in order to ensure peace. However, the opposition does not recognize this Assembly as legitimate because the initial call was not consulted with the citizens, mechanisms for ensuring universal vote were suppressed, political parties were not allowed to present candidates, and there were no valid audits, among other irregularities (Colina and Vanolli Citation2017).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Dayana Rivas Brito
Dayana Rivas Brito is an independent scholar who is currently researching the intersection of race, emotion, passion, and anti-discrimination political ethnography. Her interests have focused on exploring the epistemological potential of passions in order to understand how they shape racial inequalities, social structures, and power.
Krisna Ruette-Orihuela
Krisna Ruette-Orihuela is a Research Associate at the Geography Department in Loughborough University, UK. Her work currently examines anti-racist and peacebuilding strategies among Afrodescendant, indigenous, and peasant communities in Colombia. Her research practice involves comparative political ethnography among ethno-racial movements in Venezuela and Colombia, focusing on their negotiations with multicultural (post)neo-liberal states.