Mia Couto declares herself against reparations from the colonial period that are a form of “blame” – Current Affairs

“What we want from history is exactly that what is historical truth not be erased, but that it not be the basis for any feeling of blame. There doesn’t have to be blame on today’s generations for things that were done in a completely different historical context”, said Mia Couto.

For the writer, “reparations make sense” if they are “discussed not on the basis of any feeling of historical guilt” and “on the basis of what African countries” – because “Brazil can have its own stance” – “they consider it worthy and legitimate to build a bridge made in the present”.

“I think that the issue, for example, of debt, of the current debt, may be a current issue, but not in the sense of going back in history to blame or victimize any of the sides”, he insisted.

Last week, preceding the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, recognized Portugal’s responsibility for crimes committed during the colonial era, suggesting the payment of reparations for past mistakes.

“We have to pay the costs. Are there actions that were not punished and those responsible were not arrested? Are there goods that were looted and were not returned? Let’s see how we can repair this”, said Marcelo at a dinner with foreign correspondents in Portugal, quoted by Reuters agency.

“I don’t like the term reparation, I like the term more in the sense of building something that takes into account that there was a history. Yes, a story that hurt, but doing it in a joint way too”, pointed out, in her turn, Mia Couto.

The writer said he defended the creation of a Slavery Museum, which would make “more sense” to stay in Brazil or Portugal, but as “an example of something that was built with everyone, with everyone’s participation”.

“The design of a museum and then the execution of the museum would be thought of together, because history is not that simple, so done in black and white. There was also complicity on the African side, there were internal hands that participated”, he explained, ensuring that historians from Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe “have things to say about this”.

In Portugal, Chega asked for an urgent debate to be scheduled in parliament so that the Government can clarify whether the attribution of possible “compensation to former colonies” is being considered.

The political party led by André Ventura accused the head of state of betraying the Portuguese and asked Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to retract his statements.

“Probably, President Marcelo’s statements were stilted. Because today everything takes advantage of the point of view of polarizing the debate and then the debate is no longer a debate, because it is a set of accusations and defenses. But I think he himself had the opportunity to explain what he intended to say with that and, for example, working on forgiving the current debt, yes, it is a current thing”, defended Mia Couto.

For the Mozambican writer, the celebration of the 25th of April revolution in 1974 “cannot be done with erasures”.

“The 25th of April was not just the result of a group of captains who rebelled in Lisbon, but it was the result of the struggles that African countries carried out, it was the result of something that also tends to be forgotten: it was resistance anti-fascist movement within Portugal, which began years and years before, and which led to thousands of people who were also victimized”, he concluded.