Racism in Portugal
Encyclopedia
Portugal
has been for centuries an ethnic homogeneous country with non-significant populations belonging to other races and cultures. An anti-discrimination law was published on 28 August 1999. It prohibits discriminatory practices based on race, colour, nationality and ethnic origin. According to the Portuguese Constitution, also discriminatory practices based on sex, race, language, origin territory, religion, political and ideological convictions, instruction level, economical situation, social condition or sexual orientation are prohibited.
are a southwestern European
population, predominantly Mediterranean and Atlantic Europe
an. The earliest modern humans
inhabiting Portugal are believed to have been Paleolithic
peoples that may have arrived in the Iberian Peninsula
as early as 35,000-40,000 years ago. The Neolithic
colonization of Europe from Western Asia and the Middle East
beginning around 10,000 years ago reached Iberia, as most of the rest of the continent although, according to the demic diffusion
model, its impact was most in the southern and eastern regions of the European continent.
Starting in the 3rd millennium BC
as well as in the Bronze Age
, the first wave of migrations into Iberia of speakers of Indo-European languages
occurred. These were later (7th and 5th Centuries BC) followed by others that can be identified as Celt
s. Eventually urban cultures developed in southern Iberia, such as Tartessos
, influenced by the Phoenicia
n colonization of coastal Mediterranean Iberia, with strong competition from the Greek
colonization.
The Romans
were an important influence on Portuguese culture
, considering the Portuguese language
itself derives from Latin
. Other influences included the Phoenicians/Carthaginians (small semi-permanent commercial coastal establishments in the south before 200 BC), the Vandals
(Silingi
and Hasdingi
) and the Sarmatian Alans
(both migrated to North Africa
, while some were partially integrated by the Visigoths and Suevi), and the Visigoths and Suevi (including the Buri
, permanently established in the early 5th century), along with, in the period of the Al-Andalus
, minor numbers of Arab
s, Berbers
, Saqaliba
and Jews who also settled in what is today Portuguese territory
. The Muslim
Moors
, mainly Arab
and Berber
people in origin, and the Christian Mozarab
s, were assimilated by the newly-founded Kingdom of Portugal
in the 12th and 13th centuries, after the conquest of the southern lands, including Lisbon
, the Alentejo and the Algarve.
Portugal has been since then an ethnic homogeneous country with very small populations belonging to different races and cultures. Just sporadic foreign persons were visible and they were well treated despite their ethnicity, except during the period of Catholic Inquisition
. However, miscegenation
happened outside mainland Portugal, among Portuguese
males (whites) and black females from Africa
. Starting in the 16th century, large scale miscegenation with female Amerindians and black slaves in the Portuguese Empire
's South America
n territories, and also with black natives in Portugal's Africa
n territories, was experienced since the beginning of the Portuguese Age of Discovery. This major wave of open miscegenation throughout the Portuguese Empire
was coined Lusotropicalism
.
Like the other countries of the southern Mediterranean, Portugal has witnessed a new phenomenon since the 1974 Carnation Revolution
and the end of the Portuguese overseas empire: beyond the condition of country of emigration, it became at the same time a country of immigration. There was a very large flow of African immigrants, particularly coming from the former Portuguese colonies in Africa (collectively known as PALOP countries). Since the 1980s Portugal has seen a steady increase in foreign residents, and comparing these figures with the data on Portuguese emigration, one can see that in the same period immigration started to exceed emigration.
Immigration to Portugal
before 1980 involved different groups (mainly Europeans and South Americans, in particular Brazil
ian immigrants), and a different socio-economic integration, than the immigrants who came to Portugal after that date (predominantly Africans).
If until mid 1980s the population of non-European origin (either Portuguese or foreign nationality) is rare and does not present particular problems of integration into the Portuguese society, revealing a great capacity of adaptation, thanks to its will to assimilate and the notion that they were foreigners, and privileged links with the ethnic communities of origin, after the mid 1980s, the same situation is no longer visible. To this contributes the increase of foreigners in Portugal with minor job qualifications and less economic resources, while with the progressive integration into the European Union
a great phase of economic growth started and the demand for labor increased. The 1980s also saw racist attacks against immigrants by skinheads and the far-right National Action Movement
, a fringe movement.
Since the 1990s, along with a boom in construction
, several new waves of Ukrainian
, Brazilian, people from the former Portuguese colonies in Africa and other Africans have settled in the country. Those communities currently make up the largest groups of immigrants in Portugal. Romanians, Moldovan and Chinese
also have chosen Portugal as destination. A number of British
and Spanish people also have chosen Portugal as destination, with the British community being mostly composed of retired pensioners and the Spaniards composed of professionals (medical doctors, business managers, businesspersons, nurses, etc.). Illegal immigration is a major concern and is often associated by the public opinion with several levels of criminal activity and crime importation, despite second generations with Portuguese Nationality are more violent and tend to have a greater than average percentage of criminals. Although being rare and involving in general very low levels of physical violence, racism is usually related with ethnicity rather than nationality, with black people being the most common target of those kind of criminal behaviour or discrimination, after the Romani people. Members of the Romani people in Portugal are known as Ciganos (Iberian Kale), and their presence in the country goes back to the second half of the 15th century. Early on, due to their socio-cultural differences and nomadic style of live, the Ciganos were the object of fierce discrimination and persecution. The number of Ciganos in Portugal is about 40,000 to 50,000 spread all over the country. The majority of the Ciganos do not have today a nomad style of life, rather concentrating themselves in the most important urban centers, where from the late 1990s to the 2000s, major public housing
(bairros sociais) policies were targeted at them in order to promote social integration. However, this population is still characterised by very low levels of educational qualification, and high unemployment and crime rates. The Ciganos are the ethnic group that the Portuguese
most reject and discriminate against, and are also targets for discriminatory practices from the State administration, namely at a local level, finding persistent difficulties in the access to job placement, housing and social services, as well as in the relation to police forces.
and xenophobia
. A typical feature is the positive complicity expressed and the accepted similarities between Africans and Portuguese as well as the absence of assumed and declared racist attitudes. Existing research has also made visible the role played by the mass media in the reproduction of discourses of antiracism, particularly when the press is dominated by some specific thematization, such is the case regarding the European Year Against Racism. In this case, the issue of racism even deserved being commented by specialists in the different analysed newspapers. This positive role can also be transmitted through advertisement campaigns aiming the fight against racism and the promotion of tolerance or the benifts given to non ethnic Portuguese people.
was a major source of discontent, and sentiment that Portugal was becoming increasingly unsafe since the country turned a destination to several thousand emigrants after 1990, led to the dismissal of Internal Administration Minister Fernando Gomes in the early 2000s on the heels of gang violence that made headlines. Along with the gang crime wave, which involved large groups of youths, many of them descendants of immigrants from the former Portuguese colonies who live in several neighbourhoods around Lisbon, wreaking havoc on commuter train lines and robbing gasoline (petrol) stations, the country was also shocked by attacks on nightclubs, and a rise of violent crime
related with local and international organized crime which includes a number of gang
s particularly active in Greater Lisbon and Greater Porto areas. A large proportion of convicts by violent crime are foreigners and many people tend easily to blame immigrants or ethnic minorities for that type of crime.
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
has been for centuries an ethnic homogeneous country with non-significant populations belonging to other races and cultures. An anti-discrimination law was published on 28 August 1999. It prohibits discriminatory practices based on race, colour, nationality and ethnic origin. According to the Portuguese Constitution, also discriminatory practices based on sex, race, language, origin territory, religion, political and ideological convictions, instruction level, economical situation, social condition or sexual orientation are prohibited.
History
The Portuguese peoplePortuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
are a southwestern European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
population, predominantly Mediterranean and Atlantic Europe
Atlantic Europe
Atlantic Europe is a geographical and anthropological term for the western portion of Europe which borders the Atlantic Ocean. The term may refer to the idea of Atlantic Europe as a cultural unit and/or as an biogeographical region....
an. The earliest modern humans
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
inhabiting Portugal are believed to have been Paleolithic
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
peoples that may have arrived in the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
as early as 35,000-40,000 years ago. The Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
colonization of Europe from Western Asia and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
beginning around 10,000 years ago reached Iberia, as most of the rest of the continent although, according to the demic diffusion
Demic diffusion
Demic diffusion is a demographic term referring to a migratory model developed by Cavalli-Sforza, that consists of population diffusion into and across an area previously uninhabited by that group, possibly, but not necessarily, displacing, replacing, or intermixing with a pre-existing population...
model, its impact was most in the southern and eastern regions of the European continent.
Starting in the 3rd millennium BC
3rd millennium BC
The 3rd millennium BC spans the Early to Middle Bronze Age.It represents a period of time in which imperialism, or the desire to conquer, grew to prominence, in the city states of the Middle East, but also throughout Eurasia, with Indo-European expansion to Anatolia, Europe and Central Asia. The...
as well as in the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, the first wave of migrations into Iberia of speakers of Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
occurred. These were later (7th and 5th Centuries BC) followed by others that can be identified as Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
s. Eventually urban cultures developed in southern Iberia, such as Tartessos
Tartessos
Tartessos or Tartessus was a harbor city and surrounding culture on the south coast of the Iberian peninsula , at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. It appears in sources from Greece and the Near East starting in the middle of the first millennium BC, for example Herodotus, who describes it as...
, influenced by the Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n colonization of coastal Mediterranean Iberia, with strong competition from the Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
colonization.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
were an important influence on Portuguese culture
Culture of Portugal
The culture of Portugal is the result of a complex flow of different civilizations during the past Millennia. From prehistoric cultures, to its Pre-Roman civilizations , passing through its contacts with the Phoenician-Carthaginian world, the Roman period , the...
, considering the Portuguese language
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
itself derives from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. Other influences included the Phoenicians/Carthaginians (small semi-permanent commercial coastal establishments in the south before 200 BC), the Vandals
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
(Silingi
Silingi
The Silings or Silingi supposedly were an East Germanic tribe, probably part of the larger Vandal group. According to most scholars, examples Jerzy Strzelczyk, Norman Davies, Jerzy Krasuski, Andrzej Kokowski, Henryk Łowmiański, the Silingi may have lived in Silesia...
and Hasdingi
Hasdingi
The Hasdingi were the southern tribes of the Vandals, an East Germanic tribe. They lived in areas of today's southern Poland, Slovakia and Hungary...
) and the Sarmatian Alans
Alans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
(both migrated to North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, while some were partially integrated by the Visigoths and Suevi), and the Visigoths and Suevi (including the Buri
Buri (Germanic tribe)
The Buri were a Germanic tribe mentioned in the Germania of Tacitus, where they initially "close the back" of the Marcomanni and Quadi of Bohemia and Moravia. It is said that their speech and customs were like those of the Suebi...
, permanently established in the early 5th century), along with, in the period of the Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
, minor numbers of Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
s, Berbers
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
, Saqaliba
Saqaliba
Saqaliba refers to the Slavs, particularly Slavic slaves and mercenaries in the medieval Arab world, in the Middle East, North Africa, Sicily and Al-Andalus. It is generally thought that the Arabic term is a Byzantine loanword: saqlab, siklab, saqlabi etc. is a corruption of Greek Sklavinoi for...
and Jews who also settled in what is today Portuguese territory
Geography of Portugal
Portugal is a coastal nation in southwestern Europe, located at the western end of the Iberian Peninsula, bordering Spain...
. The Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
, mainly Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
and Berber
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
people in origin, and the Christian Mozarab
Mozarab
The Mozarabs were Iberian Christians who lived under Arab Islamic rule in Al-Andalus. Their descendants remained unconverted to Islam, but did however adopt elements of Arabic language and culture...
s, were assimilated by the newly-founded Kingdom of Portugal
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal's general designation under the monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910...
in the 12th and 13th centuries, after the conquest of the southern lands, including Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, the Alentejo and the Algarve.
Portugal has been since then an ethnic homogeneous country with very small populations belonging to different races and cultures. Just sporadic foreign persons were visible and they were well treated despite their ethnicity, except during the period of Catholic Inquisition
Portuguese Inquisition
The Portuguese Inquisition was formally established in Portugal in 1536 at the request of the King of Portugal, João III. Manuel I had asked for the installation of the Inquisition in 1515 to fulfill the commitment of marriage with Maria of Aragon, but it was only after his death that the Pope...
. However, miscegenation
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
happened outside mainland Portugal, among Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
males (whites) and black females from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Starting in the 16th century, large scale miscegenation with female Amerindians and black slaves in the Portuguese Empire
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
's South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
n territories, and also with black natives in Portugal's Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n territories, was experienced since the beginning of the Portuguese Age of Discovery. This major wave of open miscegenation throughout the Portuguese Empire
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
was coined Lusotropicalism
Lusotropicalism
Lusotropicalism or Luso-Tropicalism was first coined by Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre,to describe the distinctive character of the Portuguese imperialism in several lectures, and is a belief and movement especially strong during the António de Oliveira Salazar dictatorship in Portugal ,...
.
Like the other countries of the southern Mediterranean, Portugal has witnessed a new phenomenon since the 1974 Carnation Revolution
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
and the end of the Portuguese overseas empire: beyond the condition of country of emigration, it became at the same time a country of immigration. There was a very large flow of African immigrants, particularly coming from the former Portuguese colonies in Africa (collectively known as PALOP countries). Since the 1980s Portugal has seen a steady increase in foreign residents, and comparing these figures with the data on Portuguese emigration, one can see that in the same period immigration started to exceed emigration.
Immigration to Portugal
Immigration to Portugal
As of 2007 Portugal had 10,617,575 inhabitants of whom 332,137, or 3.13%, were legal immigrants .Today, many Brazilians, Eastern Europeans , as well as Africans, are making Portugal their home.-Immigration:Portugal, long a country of emigration, has now become a country of net immigration, and not...
before 1980 involved different groups (mainly Europeans and South Americans, in particular Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian immigrants), and a different socio-economic integration, than the immigrants who came to Portugal after that date (predominantly Africans).
If until mid 1980s the population of non-European origin (either Portuguese or foreign nationality) is rare and does not present particular problems of integration into the Portuguese society, revealing a great capacity of adaptation, thanks to its will to assimilate and the notion that they were foreigners, and privileged links with the ethnic communities of origin, after the mid 1980s, the same situation is no longer visible. To this contributes the increase of foreigners in Portugal with minor job qualifications and less economic resources, while with the progressive integration into the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
a great phase of economic growth started and the demand for labor increased. The 1980s also saw racist attacks against immigrants by skinheads and the far-right National Action Movement
National Action Movement
Movimento de Acção Nacional was a short-lived nationalist organisation in Portugal.Formed in 1985, the group drew most of its membership from neo-fascist groups, and became associated with street violence against immigrants. Although it was avowedly a cultural organisation the MAC soon developed...
, a fringe movement.
Since the 1990s, along with a boom in construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
, several new waves of Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Brazilian, people from the former Portuguese colonies in Africa and other Africans have settled in the country. Those communities currently make up the largest groups of immigrants in Portugal. Romanians, Moldovan and Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
also have chosen Portugal as destination. A number of British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
and Spanish people also have chosen Portugal as destination, with the British community being mostly composed of retired pensioners and the Spaniards composed of professionals (medical doctors, business managers, businesspersons, nurses, etc.). Illegal immigration is a major concern and is often associated by the public opinion with several levels of criminal activity and crime importation, despite second generations with Portuguese Nationality are more violent and tend to have a greater than average percentage of criminals. Although being rare and involving in general very low levels of physical violence, racism is usually related with ethnicity rather than nationality, with black people being the most common target of those kind of criminal behaviour or discrimination, after the Romani people. Members of the Romani people in Portugal are known as Ciganos (Iberian Kale), and their presence in the country goes back to the second half of the 15th century. Early on, due to their socio-cultural differences and nomadic style of live, the Ciganos were the object of fierce discrimination and persecution. The number of Ciganos in Portugal is about 40,000 to 50,000 spread all over the country. The majority of the Ciganos do not have today a nomad style of life, rather concentrating themselves in the most important urban centers, where from the late 1990s to the 2000s, major public housing
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
(bairros sociais) policies were targeted at them in order to promote social integration. However, this population is still characterised by very low levels of educational qualification, and high unemployment and crime rates. The Ciganos are the ethnic group that the Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
most reject and discriminate against, and are also targets for discriminatory practices from the State administration, namely at a local level, finding persistent difficulties in the access to job placement, housing and social services, as well as in the relation to police forces.
Laws
Law number 115 of 3 August 1999 introduced the legal recognition of immigrant associations as well as the technical and financial State support for the development of their activities. The High Commissioner gives this recognition for Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities to those associations that wish to be recognised as such, as long as they fulfil the appropriate conditions foreseen in the Law. These recognised associations may have the following rights: to participate in the definition of the immigrants policies; to participate in the legislative processes concerning immigration; to participate in the consultative bodies, in the terms defined by the law; to benefit from the right to public speech on the radio and television. Since the introduction of the law, already 25 immigrant associations have been legally recognised. The associations can be of national, regional or local scope, according to the number of members each association claims to have: that is, the number of associated members will determine if an association can be considered as being of local, regional or national range. An anti-discrimination Law was published on 28 August 1999. It prohibits discriminatory practices based on 'race', colour, nationality and ethnic origin. Article I states that the objective of this law is to prevent and prohibit racial discrimination in all its forms and sanction all acts that violate a person's basic rights or impede the exercise of economic, social or cultural rights for reasons such as nationality, colour, 'race' or ethnic origin. This Law also provides for an Advisory Committee for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination. Presided by the High Commissioner for Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities, the Committee is responsible for promoting studies on equality and racial discrimination, supervising enforcement of the law, and making legislative proposals considered suitable for the prevention of all forms of discrimination. The law number 20, of 6 July 1996, introduced the possibility for immigrants, anti-racist and human rights associations to assist in a legal action against discrimination, together with the victim and the Prosecution, i.e. to formulate an accusation and to introduce evidence into the penal processRacism and the media
Portugal, as a new country of immigration since after the Carnation Revolution of 1974, has been witnessing the growing importance of all the issues related to the phenomena of racismRacism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
. A typical feature is the positive complicity expressed and the accepted similarities between Africans and Portuguese as well as the absence of assumed and declared racist attitudes. Existing research has also made visible the role played by the mass media in the reproduction of discourses of antiracism, particularly when the press is dominated by some specific thematization, such is the case regarding the European Year Against Racism. In this case, the issue of racism even deserved being commented by specialists in the different analysed newspapers. This positive role can also be transmitted through advertisement campaigns aiming the fight against racism and the promotion of tolerance or the benifts given to non ethnic Portuguese people.
Racism and violent crime rise
CrimeCrime in Portugal
Crime in Portugal is characterized by low levels of gun violence and homicide, compared to other developed countries. Crime statistics are compiled annually by the Portuguese Ministry of Internal Administration and the Polícia de Segurança Pública which represents crimes reported to the police.The...
was a major source of discontent, and sentiment that Portugal was becoming increasingly unsafe since the country turned a destination to several thousand emigrants after 1990, led to the dismissal of Internal Administration Minister Fernando Gomes in the early 2000s on the heels of gang violence that made headlines. Along with the gang crime wave, which involved large groups of youths, many of them descendants of immigrants from the former Portuguese colonies who live in several neighbourhoods around Lisbon, wreaking havoc on commuter train lines and robbing gasoline (petrol) stations, the country was also shocked by attacks on nightclubs, and a rise of violent crime
Violent crime
A violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, as well as crimes in which violence is the means to an end, such as robbery. Violent...
related with local and international organized crime which includes a number of gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
s particularly active in Greater Lisbon and Greater Porto areas. A large proportion of convicts by violent crime are foreigners and many people tend easily to blame immigrants or ethnic minorities for that type of crime.
See also
- LusophobiaLusophobiaLusophobia is a hostility toward Portugal, a nation occupying the west of the Iberian Peninsula in south-western Europe, its Portuguese people or the Portuguese language and culture. Like Lusitanic, the word derives from Lusitania, the Ancient Roman province that comprised what is nowadays Central...
- LusotropicalismLusotropicalismLusotropicalism or Luso-Tropicalism was first coined by Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre,to describe the distinctive character of the Portuguese imperialism in several lectures, and is a belief and movement especially strong during the António de Oliveira Salazar dictatorship in Portugal ,...
- Portuguese InquisitionPortuguese InquisitionThe Portuguese Inquisition was formally established in Portugal in 1536 at the request of the King of Portugal, João III. Manuel I had asked for the installation of the Inquisition in 1515 to fulfill the commitment of marriage with Maria of Aragon, but it was only after his death that the Pope...