Foto de Mário Campos Rainha | Actores João Lagarto, Sara Ribeiro, Paulo Mota
Journalist Wilson Ledo interviews the director and director of the João Garcia Miguel Company for Jornal de Negócios about the play "A Plan of the Labyrinth"
1. The Portuguese Colonial War in Africa is a very recent episode. Would you say that's why it's still a taboo subject, little talked about?
It is, in fact, a little talked about subject and, whenever it is approached, the sensitivity of those who have lived through this time is touched on points that are kept either in silence or in an obscurity that is synonymous with discomfort. This feeling - to which it is difficult to give a name - is associated with the lack of tools and places to be able to speak in such a way as to release the tensions that the whole conflict has generated. It is necessary to understand that what is called "the Portuguese Colonial War in Africa" is an episode of a long process of relationship between peoples, between people, which has built a vast world of relationships. It was precisely to create a space for reflection and sharing that we staged "A Plan of the Labyrinth", a profound piece, based on real experiences, which allows us to understand a little more of the intricacies of the Colonial War.
2. This need to debate the theme has arisen through art. Is it a way to restore the truth to a partial historical construction?
When two children are fighting and are interrupted by adults, who ask them how the fight started, or why they are fighting each other, the children accuse each other and say it was the other. This means that our rational thinking in these cases wanes and loses its reason and point of view. The arts are a much more circular system and less of cause and effect. This relationship is not always established as a priority or a value system before a work of art. Truth and lies depend on where the situation is observed and art, by establishing paradoxical readings, allows an approximation where some other values are raised simultaneously. In other words, where the values of guilt and of those who are right appear blurred and are replaced by others such as compassion, or humor, for example. Art is an appropriate means to return to the subject without an associated, immediate judgment. This time is fundamental to be able to reconstruct a partial historical relationship, which then gives access to dialogue and to deepen the healing of wounds that persist.
3. The phrase "Portugal is not a racist country" is common when talking about racial issues. But is Portugal not a racist country when it insists on a version of colonial history in which it is the good colonizer?
This is an image of ourselves that we have to face once and for all. It is an irrational version of us Portuguese and it builds a world that was not, in fact, what happened and what existed. There are many voices that stand up about this posture of ours. It is so common to hear this kind of statement, and every time you try to rebut it, a chorus of protests rise up. Whether they are more expressive or silent this is a barrier that prevents us from grieving and opening our hearts to what really happened. It is obvious that many of our fellow countrymen who have lived there can - to the extent of their personal experiences - harbour this feeling. What is strange is that we need to fight the Spanish invader, who is so close here, for a need to fulfil our desire to be independent and not to apply the same reasoning to those we have dominated for centuries by the force and power of arms. Portugal is a country with racist practices that have led to the suffering and embarrassment of many of the African peoples with whom we have had colonial relations. It is important to have the courage to confront this as a starting point for a reassessment appropriate to the 21st century in which we live. The notion of humanity demands this.
4. Isn't replicating without question the dominant narrative a way to show our ignorance as a people?
Applying the classification of ignorant to a people is an idea in which I do not review myself. I wonder how "people" can be or show ignorance when it comes to emotions or feelings associated with the exploitation of others. That value - feeling the pain of the other as one's own - is the center of what you call our humanity. I do not know where this narrative came from and how it remains operative. I suspect that it was the dominant narrative itself that raised this epithet of ignorance in its defence. However, I agree that not replicating the dominant narratives is a form of self-indulgence and fear before the institution. Replying to what is socially presented as a collective image is in itself something that contradicts the notion that history is made by each one of us as an individual responsible for ourselves and for others with whom we live. I believe that each one of us must ask ourselves about this period of our history and bring it up and into dialogue with others. In our case, we have a project of formation and creation with Angola and Mozambique which is called "African Waves" and which we have kept alive and operational since 2014. And we are bringing these themes into our creations as is the case of this last show, "A Plan of the Labyrinth", which will be presented at the Teatro São Luiz from January 23rd to February 2nd.
5. On the African side, despite the wounds, there have been many movements asking for this clarification of the impact of the Portuguese presence in Africa. On the Portuguese side, not so much: the gaze continues to be that of a colonizer, with the common expression "We were once a big country". Portugal is a country unable to admit this guilt?
It is a long road, in fact, and still to be travelled, so that this history of the future can prove fruitful and balanced for both sides. It's a disconcerting and uncomfortable space that still inhabits us and even grows between us. This idea of greatness with no objective other than the domination of the other implies a difficulty to admit this same guilt. I agree with the question about this embarrassing aspect, which more or less explicitly encourages us, that "we were once a big country". It must have been from this feeling that European empires were born. And then it slipped to the nation states and when all this failed for that idea of a Europe that is a continuation of that feeling of belonging to something big, giant and threatening. Which emerges simultaneously as something protective and sinister. The notion of protecting and developing life as something in which we all participate and are responsible is a value that in this case is put off and removed from its best possibilities.
6. In this collection, is there any particular story that has marked you/they would like to highlight?
There is a feeling of incomprehension that deserves highlighting. Right at the moment of reading the text, the three actors in the play - João Lagarto, Sara Ribeiro and Paulo Mota - and creative people associated with a set of rumours and arguments about the discomfort of some scenes. Racism, moral insensitivity, machismo, abuse of power, exorcism, redemption were concepts immediately raised against the themes presented by the author of the text, Francisco Luís Parreira. The background of the story is a love novel between a white man and a mulatto woman that raises a whole wall of prejudices and questions about tolerance and the image of a society that considers itself as not being racist. The failure of this love is symbolic and drags along a set of reflections that, as here, are very far from being done and from leading to the appeasement of consciences. It is likely that this love between two young people is an attempt to resurrect Africa. Is it still possible to recover our love for Africa and for Africans, our immeasurable desire to be other and different from what we are? Is it still possible to feel and say like Flaubert in a letter to Feydeau in November 1859 about his historical novel Salambô: "Peu de gens devineront combien il a fallu être triste pour entreprendre de ressusciter Carthage! C'est là une Thébaïde où le dégoût de la vie moderne m'a poussé"?
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