Bamidelê – Organization of Black Women, Paraíba State

The mission of Bamidelê is to contribute to the elimination of racism and sexism, as well as to promote debates and actions to strengthen identity and self-esteem, especially for Black women, culminating in the struggle for effective human rights advocacy and enforcement.

The association conducts educational activities and social mobilization with Black women, youth, teenagers, and children in the urban and rural areas of Paraíba, in addition to developing actions to counteract the mechanisms involved in the production and reproduction of ethnic/racial, gender, and sexual prejudices and discrimination, by means of campaigns, social control of public policies, workshops, seminars, chat circles, health fairs, and political empowerment of Black women.

The institution also promotes activities for sustainable development in the quilombos (communities of descendants of escaped slaves) and rural areas, supporting such action as rural extension technical assistance, agricultural activities, handicrafts, and herbal remedies.

Bamidelê struggles against the invisibility of the Black population and the denial of racism, a legacy of Brazil’s deep roots in a slaveholding and large-landholding tradition, combined with a patriarchal, sexist, and racist model of domination in the Paraiba society.

A practical effect of this reality occurred in 2008. The Black movement in Paraiba suffered a defeat in the system of racial quotas for enrolling in the Federal University in Paraíba. Reinforcing the opinion of the elites, the local media came out against the quotas project through editorials and opinion articles claiming that quotas for the Black and socially vulnerable population were an error.

The Project

The project Strengthening the Struggle Against Racism in Paraíba seeks to increase the visibility of the struggle against racism and discrimination towards the Black population, raising the awareness of leaders in the women’s movement, social movements, and other civil society actors to build alliances in the struggle to guarantee the human rights of Black men, women, children, adolescents, and youth and promote racial equality.

Alliances will be developed with other social movements through a training process consisting of five workshops (with 25 participants each), debating the following topics: Ethnic and Racial Identity; History of the Black Population; Health (with an emphasis on black women’s vulnerability); Social Control of Public Policies; Policies to Promote Racial Equality; Education and Law 11.645/08, making the teaching of African History and Afro-Brazilian Culture mandatory in the school curricula.

The training process will conclude with a seminar (for 100 participants) focusing on public policies for the promotion of racial equality, targeting representatives of the Black movement, social movements, public administrators/managers, legislators, and university faculty and students.