00:00With Brazil's National Racial Equality Conference less than two months away, municipal governments
00:06are rushing to make sure they can send delegates from Brazil.
00:10Our correspondent Brian Mir has more.
00:14The Brazilian government has announced that the first national conference of racial equality
00:18in six years will take place in August.
00:21Like other conferences, including health, education in cities, this requires a series
00:26of municipal and state councils to be established, where delegates from social movements and
00:31unions are elected to participate nationally.
00:34With less than two months left, all three levels of government are working together to organize
00:38local councils.
00:39We're here in Alagoas, in the municipality of Unao dos Palmares, to participate in the formation
00:45of the Municipal Racial Equality Council.
00:48It is an important process because we believe it's fundamental for strengthening democracy
00:52and promoting racial equality in Brazil.
00:55This week, government representatives converged in Unao dos Palmares to inaugurate its council,
01:01which is symbolically important, as the town sits on a location where, during the 15 and
01:061600s, 30,000 formerly enslaved people, led by King Zumbi and Queen Dandara, created an independent
01:13nation of ten towns and villages, which successfully resisted Portuguese aggression for over a century.
01:21Today's visit to Unao dos Palmares was to inaugurate the Municipal Racial Equality Council.
01:26This is the state's third municipal council, and it's symbolically important because we
01:31are in the land of Zumbi.
01:32It's an area that is very important for Alagoas and for Brazil.
01:38Zumbi's birthday is the most important national holiday for Brazil's black movements.
01:44The decision for three levels of government to converge in the county where he reigned is
01:49viewed as a strategic move to raise awareness for other municipal governments across Brazil
01:53to organize their racial equality councils.
01:59For all the representation of this land, the cradle of freedom, the land of Zumbi and Dandara,
02:05who dedicated their whole lives to freedom and racial equality.
02:09The town of Unao dos Palmares will now continue this struggle more effectively.
02:14The establishment of our council today validates our history.
02:21Since the national delegates will have a level of deliberative control over government policy,
02:27participation in the council system represents an important advance in democracy deepening.
02:32Brian Muir, Telesur, Unión dos Palmares.
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