Statement against the genocide of Black Africans and expressing a position on the murder of Moïse Kabamgabe

We write this statement without the illusion that it will be the last manifesto against the Black-African genocide in Latin America. It is the commitment of CLACSO Working Group Bodies, Territories, ResistancesAs we assert in our collective constructions, the struggle for life and the look towards ancestral strategies and existences, beyond the colonial time that persists.

For this reason, we come, collectively and together with the words of the African students at UNILAB-Campus Malês, to express and make public a death signed by the black African genocide in Brazil: the murder of Moïse Mugenyi Kabagambe, carried out on January 24, in a kiosk where he worked, in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro.

Moïse was a 24-year-old Congolese man who, while seeking payment for the days he had worked at the kiosk, was brutally murdered by three men in front of passersby who filmed the scene without intervening. Only now, a week after his murder, are official authorities and much of the press beginning to report on his death, often disrespectfully, twisting words to suggest motives and justifications for his killing.

We understand that issuing a statement through this medium is also an invitation to the academic, theoretical, and political community committed to the urgent and necessary social changes. These transformations are impossible without an anti-racist stance from everyone. Let us no longer treat the genocide of Black Africans and Indigenous peoples as mere research topics, but rather let us get involved and take responsibility for acting in all spheres of life. Let us fight against the murders, the silencing, and the ever-increasing actions against Black African families and communities throughout the continent and the world system. This statement joins the actions mobilized by the various sectors of the Black Movement in Brazil and around the world, in solidarity. It is a critical call to rethink our inaction in the face of the daily advance of structural racism, the murders, and the systematic erasure of ongoing anti-colonial alternatives.

Below we share the manifesto of the Association of Students and Friends of Africa (ASEA), regarding the murder of Moïse Mugenyi KabamgabeWith this, we conclude this statement.

We report that on February 5, 2022, national and international mobilizations took place to raise awareness of this theft of black African life in the world.

February 8th 2022
CLACSO Working Group
Bodies, territories, resistances

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ANNEXED
STATEMENT OF CONDEMNATION FROM THE ASSOCIATION OF STUDENTS AND FRIENDS OF AFRICA (ASEA) – São Francisco do Conde, Bahia, Brazil.

São Francisco do Conde – Bahia, February 3, 2022.

It was through social media and the press that the Association of Students and Friends of Africa (ASEA) sadly learned of the episode of the barbaric murder by Moïse Mugenyi Kabagambe, The Congolese man who lived in Rio de Janeiro from 2012 until January 24, 2022, when he was brutally and inhumanely deprived of the right to enjoy his life.

The murder occurred at one of the kiosks in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, when the victim was trying to collect payment for work provided to the establishment two days earlier, for which he had not received his salary.

This episode, tragically and deeply regrettably, enters our memory as yet another case of grave human rights violations against migrants residing in Brazil. We must remember the socio-racial profile of those who have historically been victims of this type of violence.

Although there are international regulatory frameworks and national laws through which Brazil has committed to guaranteeing the rights of refugees – see the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees/1961 and the Migration Law/2017 itself – episodes of this type continue to constitute permanent threats to the full enjoyment of the protection that Moïse Mugenyi Kabagambe sought and judged that he had found in Brazil.

With the full and equal integration of communities and human values ​​among our essential pillars, we reiterate:

1. The vehement condemnation of the act that ended the life of Moïse Kabagambe;
2. The sum of our voices to the calls for justice from the authorities. Both at the national and international levels, acting for fair and legal support for family members;
3. We extend our solidarity to the entire Congolese community residing in Brazil, with a statement of deep condolences and demands for justice for the family members.
4. We recall and encourage the need for all societies to participate in the immediate and incessant fight against each and every form and motivation of discrimination, seeking the best and greatest possible human coexistence among peoples.

This statement expresses the position of the Working Group Bodies, territories, resistances and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.