Early this Friday night (13), one hundred French and Brazilians gathered at a gala at the Hotel InterContinental in Paris to celebrate the bicentennial of Brazil’s Independence with a membership dinner costing 210 Euros (about $1,110) per person. Members of the Alerta França Brasil group went to protest and delivered a letter to the Brazilian ambassador to France.

Early this Friday night (13), one hundred French and Brazilians gathered at a gala at the Hotel InterContinental in Paris to celebrate the bicentennial of Brazil’s Independence with a membership dinner costing 210 Euros (about $1,110) per person. Members of the Alerta França Brasil group went to protest and delivered a letter to the Brazilian ambassador to France.

The invitation was clear: “The Franco-Brazilian Gala Night on the occasion of the Bicentennial of Brazilian Independence, under the patronage of Luiz Fernando Serra, the Brazilian Ambassador to France…” followed by the names of the French nobility. , Liens Hors Frontières (something like Vineyards Without Borders) and Le Lys de France (Lily of France, the lily is a symbol of the French monarchy).

Despite this, Ambassador Luiz Fernando Serra said: RFI does not host the event: “Yesterday we celebrated the bicentennial of Independence with a concert at our Embassy. Today we celebrate with this gala dinner, an initiative of the Liens Hors Frontières association. I’m invited. I’m the only one here who doesn’t pay for dinner. This is not my initiative – on the occasion of the bicentennial – and there is no public money here”, stressed the ambassador.

Protesting peacefully in front of the hotel, the two members of the small group managed to enter the Opéra hall, where the cocktail, the first stage of the gala night, was held, with the sound of bossa nova.

Florence Poznanski, the person in charge of Latin American affairs for the French Parti de Gauche (Left Party), was one of those who managed to get a few minutes into the private party, and together with historian Marcia Camargos, Alerta França Brazil. They gave the ambassador an envelope with an open letter, questioning the enterprise and revealing the contradictions of this meal, which exceeded a thousand reals, with “unemployment, hunger, misery rife under the management of their bosses”.

They asked the ambassador why the bicentennial of Independence (September 7, 1822) was celebrated on the day of the Abolition of Slavery (with Lei Áurea on May 13, 1888) at a white-only party.

When asked by Florence why she had no Afro-descendants in the noble hall, Serra replied that only one person could be invited: “I am the ambassador of Brazil, not of a race. The Abolition of Slavery, but another day to celebrate. “, said Luiz Fernando Serra.

“Next time you come in with an Afro ancestry. Come to the embassy and let’s talk about it, but come with an African ancestry. I don’t know if you know, but my great-grandfather was abolitionist,” concluded Serra.

After leaving the hall, they gave interviews to the authorities. RFI to explain the action.

“My presence here is out of anger at how atrocities are reproduced out of ignorance and contempt. We can even believe that the election of May 13 was accidental, because it is a commercial party, but if it is, it is a shame. Because the ambassador representing the Republic of Brazil cannot ignore the importance of this history,” he said. .

“Also, inviting only whites and then saying, unfortunately, that blacks can’t pay because the price is too high and only he can be invited is a huge insult to how citizenship should be thought of. So how does this happen in this Bolsonaro government? Structural racism is reproduced by these actions.” .Our role here is to raise that voice. We have to keep going because we are on the eve of a very important election in Brazil and we have to raise the voice of these people who were oppressed for four years. The years of the Bolsonaro government,” he concluded.

Historian Marcia Camargos of Alerta França Brasil questioned what they had to celebrate with the situation in Brazil and why they celebrated their bicentennial four months ago, exactly on the day of Abolition. “He told me it was a big coincidence, because today is a festive date, Abolition Day. I asked him if the most important day for blacks would be November 20, the death day of Zumbi dos Palmares, and he said no. That princess isabel is more than Zumbi dos Palmares. He was a more important historical figure,” he said.

“Obviously it was the party of the whites, the elite and the aristocracy. In short, it was the party of whites and nobility that celebrated the bicentennial of Independence on May 13, four months ago. I had the opportunity to hand-deliver the letter. These questions,” Marcia said.