School books used by Portuguese pupils must begin to address Portugal’s violence against the indigenous populations of its former colonies.
The recommendation is based on a report by a Council of Europe committee that, every five years, assesses racism and intolerance.
Among various problems detected, the report states that, "the Portuguese authorities should strengthen education for human rights and equality," and should, "rethink the teaching of history, especially the history of its former colonies."
According to the Council of Europe, "the role of Portugal in the development and later abolition of slavery," should be included in the teaching, as well as the "discrimination and violence against the indigenous populations of their colonies."
In a year when the controversial creation of a Museum of the Discoveries in Lisbon* has been debated in the media, the report states that, "the narrative of the discovery of the New World must be questioned," including the history of Afro-descendants and gypsies, and that school books should be improved with these objectives in mind while promoting the fight against racism.
Portugal was the leading player in the Atlantic slave trade, its ships estimated to have transported half of the total 12.5 million enslaved Africans. The British were second, trading 3.2 million people.
Portugal has seen itself as a good coloniser, with its colonial practices somehow more cuddly than those of other European countries involved in the mass shipping of humans although there is scant evidence to support this convenient view.
*See: 'Lisbon museum plan stirs debate over Portugal's colonial past'
Comments
Clearly the age-old tenets of the alliance have not filtered down to the current generation... we both have had empires, accepting the wrongs of our forebears is not so hard, or is it...?
"Nurse, the screens!"
MORE BRIXIT' S: I think not, the rest of the European Union is looking on with astonishment and disbelieve at the daily drama that is been dished up in Britain on Britain leaving the EU.
The rest of the European Union can clearly see that British citizens and businesses will be the ultimate losers next March and not the wealthy elite.
The wealthy elite will always have money when the working class people will be struggling to make ends meet and this is the glaring fact which has been dampened down by the Brixit media.
But as so often in politics, it is not the facts which matter, but more the public perception of the truth. At which I maintain that the Council of Europe is not managing its own publicity effectively, since most people, me included, have no idea who they are, where they are, or even why they are.