The State University of Campinas publicly repudiates racist statements made by a student from another educational institution, during a presentation by the Indigenous Philosophy Study Group held on August 19, at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences, within the scope of the activities of the Open Doors Unicamp (UPA) event.
Unicamp reinforces its commitment to the process of inclusion of indigenous peoples and people in its community, already expressed in its access and permanence policies, as well as in the incessant search for the expansion and improvement of these mechanisms.
Campinas, August 21, 2023
Dean of Unicamp
Read note from the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH)
Read note from the Institute of Language Studies (IEL)
Readdown, the note from the Executive Directorate of Human Rights (DeDH) about the episode.
Unicamp against racism: letter in response to the events of the 19th
Last Saturday, August 19, 2023, the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) held, as every year, the event called Unicamp de Portas Abertas (UPA). On this occasion, the University's teaching, research, extension and administration units presented the activities carried out in their environments to thousands of students and other external members.
One of these activities consisted of exhibition of works by the Indigenous Philosophy Study Group, held at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH). During the discussions, a person from outside the Unicamp community present in the room began to utter racist speeches, directed at indigenous peoples. The person stated, among other things, that indigenous people "are bums", that they smoke "a pipe of marijuana", and are therefore "potheads", and that "Indians should adapt to society" and stop speaking "languages that nobody understand".
The statements clearly fall within the crime of racism (offenses made against a group of people of the same race/ethnic group) and also highlight the ignorance and bad faith of the person in question. There were indigenous people present in the room, but they were not the only ones directly affected. The offenses affect other indigenous students at Unicamp and other indigenous people in the country, as well as the entire Unicamp community and everyone who cares about building a society free from racist attitudes like this. When asked about his speeches, the person said that he had only exercised his “right of expression”. The individual right to express divergent opinions should, however, never justify an offense against human dignity.
The Executive Directorate of Human Rights (DeDH), through its Advisory Committee for Academic Inclusion and Participation of Indigenous Peoples (Caiapi), thus expresses its complete repudiation of what happened and informs that it is supporting the taking of legal measures to that there be an exemplary punishment for the person responsible and that all other appropriate measures be taken in response to the crime committed.
Finally, we want to reiterate that we believe in the importance of the presence, at our University, of people belonging to traditional peoples, with their knowledge, precisely in order to expand the possibilities of opening Brazilian society to all forms of knowledge.
Executive Board of Human Rights (DeDH)
Advisory Committee for Academic Inclusion and Participation of Indigenous Peoples (Caiapi)
