Xenorracismo: a face do preconceito contra imigrantes

Abstract

The current international migration phenomenon is marked by the intensification of South-South migrations ― shaped by the increasingly vigorous movement of migrants between (and towards) the countries of the South, and Brazil stands out among the countries that have entered the flow route. Despite (and because of) this intensity, non-white immigrants (black, brown or indigenous) are repeatedly disqualified and treated as inferior ― not only in our country, but also in it ― victims of what has become known as xenoracism. Sivanandan (2001) and Fekete (2001), international references in the fight for migrants’ rights in Europe, inspire reflections on this new concept: a xenophobia that carries the full burden of historically constructed racism. This reality, which is increasingly evident and fed on a daily basis, far from being recent, has roots that go back to the colonial period. As part of the Thematic Project Observatório das Migrações em São Paulo (NEPO-UNICAMP), this research aims to reflect on the xenophobia practiced in the Metropolitan Region of Campinas-SP, using 76 semi-structured interviews with international migrants living in Americana-SP between the end of April and mid-August 2022. Violence is perceived in the life experiences of the research participants. The aim is to reflect on them in order to understand them more deeply and critically and thus fight against them. Non-white migration requires intervention and dialog with the receiving society so as not to intensify xenoracism, but what we are currently seeing, with the resurgence of the extreme right and the consolidation of neo-fascism, are deliberate attacks on non-white migrants by considerable sections of the population and by government representatives. To grasp this reality, we put the magnifying glass on the Metropolitan Region of Campinas-SP, more specifically Americana-SP. Because we are all migrants ― because we migrate, since this is always a possibility, or because migration has shaped the history of our families, with blood ties or not ― this study also becomes self-reflection. Reflecting on migratory processes means thinking about ourselves and fighting for a fairer world.