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'
