Racist Militia Attacks in Portugal and the Far Right-Wing Discourse: How dominant narratives regarding race still manage to find their way out in the present day

In the past week, on the 3^rd of May, an organized group of people formed a racist and xenophobic militia to invade homes and attack immigrants in the city of Porto. The attacks were addressed to their psychical integrity and the destruction of their homes. Even though people were abused in their safe space, and some had to receive hospital treatment, a basic search in the Portuguese social media posts regarding this news, reveals us how the dominant far right-wing narratives and “white ignorance”, as Charles Mills (1997) called it, are prevalent in the common white people discourse.

Dominant far right-wing narratives do not hide in these posts. Apparently harmless, the comment users justify the behaviors of the xenophobic group, in order to bring safety and peace in Bonfim, Porto, where apparently, some attacks and robberies have been performed by immigrants. This discourse seems to be clearly legitimatized by the right-wing parties. Indeed, the leader of the “Chega” political party, André Ventura, reacted to such racist acts with a clear dismiss of the situation, mentioning that, while the “portuenses” did not have any reaction from the government in regards to the alleged robberies performed by migrants, when it comes to attacks to migrant communities they intervened very quickly.

André Ventura further mentioned “We can’t have a government that only sees one part of the story.” With this statement, we then ask to Chega’s leader, what part of the story, so far, didn’t the government hear? Because, if we look critically into the Portuguese narratives, the Age of “Discovery” is still portrayed in school manuals, monuments and in the Portuguese discourse as something to be proud of, systematically denying that we gained power and privileges by exploitation other people’s land and on slavery. The Commission for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination does not performing any activities since October 2023. The high number of complaints motivated by prejudice and xenophobia in 2022, in comparison to a low number (19,8%) of sanctioning or other type of procedures to aggressors, is glaring (CICDR, 2022). Moreover, ethnical minorities in Portugal still face disadvantages in accessing to the health, education and labor sector, living in more precarious situations than their white peers (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2018). Therefore, we again ask, what part of history remains systematically invisible to government and society?