Unified Black Movment and politics

on the possibility of apprehending militants as political protagonists (1978-1988)

Abstract

“There were 20.000 people around to see 2.000 people been beaten” said militants who were present at the public act which launched the Unified Black Movement (MNU). It would hardly be different, after all the public demonstration against the situation experienced by African descendant occurred in 1978 during the military dictatorship and this behavior could easily be framed as criminally subversive activity. So is it valid to seek to understand what inspired those two thousand? What is the political role they tried to occupy or seek to achieve? To understand these and other questions the article aims to understand the MNU as a political category and study it in the field of New Political History, endorsed by readings of René Rémond. Even though there are no conclusive answers, the intention is to disseminate and promote the debate on the action of a portion of Brazilian society that seeks visibility for their historical problems.