CHEGA is back in the ‘headlines’ this week after its youth arm (Juventude CHEGA) took part in “the nation’s largest educational fair” with a stand that pushed the party’s vehement anti-immigration’ narrative.
The stand was decorated with a backdrop proclaiming: “This is not Bangladesh, but it seems like it”.
Accompanied by a map of the country showing the percentage of births to immigrants in different areas (and headed by the message: ‘Smile, we are being substituted’ – a reference to the ‘Great Replacement conspiracy theory’) there was further information on the percentages of the national population that believe measures should be in place to limit/ control the situation – and even references to Socialist figures (former prime minister António Costa and former Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos) as being responsible for the ‘lack of control’ regarding immigration.
The ‘Futurália’ fair only ran for four days (and ended yesterday) – but CHEGA’s participation upset multiple entities, not least SOS Racismo which has demanded a “public statement from the organisers” of the event which was ‘supported’ by the Ministry of Education.
SOS Racismo is insisting on rules for future fairs of this nature, to “prevent the dissemination of hate speech and extremist propaganda in educational contexts” – and calling on the Commission for Equality and against Racial Discrimination to carry out an analysis of the content displayed by CHEGA.
FCSH, the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the NOVA University of Lisbon, was equally affronted by the messages on display. It has written to organisers stressing that “at an event dedicated to education and attended mainly by secondary school students, NOVA FCSH considers it crucial that opportunities for interaction between institutions and young people take place in an environment consistent with the values that underpin healthy coexistence and respect for the dignity of all people.”
The faculty said that the type of discourse promoted “associates entire groups of people with a social or cultural threat, constituting racist rhetoric”.
The Institute of Social Sciences (ICS) at the University of Lisbon has also written to the Futurália organisation, explain reports, citing the risk that the stand might use the event as a platform to disseminate “discriminatory messages”.
“The defence of political plurality cannot mean tolerance of racist discourse that undermines people’s dignity and equality,” wrote members of the ICS Management Board.
Lusa adds that it has sought a response from Futurália itself, but did not get one before the fair ended.
Source material: Observador/ Público/ SIC Notícias/ Lusa
