Priest Antonio Vieira | Lisbon | Portugal
The statue of the
Portuguese priest António Vieira has been contested and object of
debates since its implementation in 2017. Some call him indigenous
anti-slavery reporting that he fought for Brazil indigenous rights.
Others portrait the priest as a selective pro-slavery showing
evidence through the Rosario sermons that he considered black people
inferior predicting slavery as their only fate. Although Lisbon
population is divided in relation to the priest, it seems that the
majority agrees that the statue is indeed racist. The
statue portrait an evolutionist narrative, with a specific hierarchy
between figures, in which Indigenous figures are in inferior,
infantile position in relation to their white “master”. The
statue iconographic configuration induces a white paternalistic
narrative to the public in which native Indians are portrait as naive
and dependent on the white man. The fact that the statue was
implemented in 2017 and not in the sixteen century might show how
Portugal is still behind many nations in terms of dealing with its
own colonial narratives and its structural racism.
