The day before another classic against Internacional, Grêmio announced actions with the organized General of Grêmio. The objective, says the club, is “to raise awareness and prevent more and more acts of racism in stadiums”.
The measures should be implemented as of this Saturday’s game (19), for the semifinals of the Campeonato Gaúcho, at the Beira-Rio stadium, home of the rival.
The same place where Grêmio fans were recorded singing chants considered racist, ten days earlier, returning to an old topic in Rio Grande do Sul football — the use of the word “monkey” to refer to the Colorado fans.
In a video posted on social media, Grêmio fans present at the stadium sing: “Cry, filthy monkey, who never beat anyone”.
Among the measures announced by Grêmio are the distribution of material to raise awareness of fans who go to the stadium and video monitoring.
Also according to the club, Geral will re-record all songs with “terms not accepted by current society” and produce “tracks against racism”, in addition to other actions that should be presented in the next games.
“In this way, Grêmio reinforces its commitment to the theme, with the intention of making football a place of peace, union and respect for others”, says the club.
Although part of the crowd tries to justify the use of the term “monkey”, explaining the origin of its adoption and trying to keep it away from a racist connotation, another sector and the club itself reject the use in any context today.
This week, Grêmio was denounced by the Attorney of the TJD-RS (Court of Sports Justice of Rio Grande do Sul) for the episode in the last Gre-Nal.
Prosecutor Alberto Lopes Franco understood that there was a violation of article 243-G of the CBJD (Brazilian Sports Justice Code), which provides for punishment for the practice of “discriminatory, contemptuous or outrageous acts, related to prejudice due to ethnic origin, race, sex , color, age, condition of elderly person or person with a disability”.
“If there used to be space for that, today it doesn’t exist anymore, including on the part of Grêmio”, he told Sheet.
The FGF (Federação Gaúcha de Futebol) says that it “refuses racism in all its forms of manifestation” and follows the case with the competent authorities.
According to initial investigations by the club, the song would have been pulled before the start of the match and the arrival of the Geral do Grêmio band or the leaders of the organized.
In a note, Geral also states that she was not inside the stadium, saying that the band or the group’s rags (fabric flags) do not appear in the images. “Grêmio Geral repudiates and is against any kind of prejudice”, says the text.
After episodes of racism linked to Grêmio fans — the best known of which was the cursing aimed at goalkeeper Aranha, in 2014, at the time a Santos player —, the club invested in actions and even created a regulation preventing the Geral band from using corners with “monkey”.
The organizer says that “years ago, it removed the word ‘monkey’ from the songs and materials that represent the crowd”.
“It is important to emphasize that the song was not led by the General, but by fans who were used to the old songs”, said the crowd in a message sent to the report.
Other Grêmio fans also manifested themselves on the networks, but demanding action from the club in addition to the note of repudiation released.
“The end of racism in stadiums requires firm attitudes on the part of club managers, but, historically, little or nothing is seen in this regard in Brazil,” said Grêmio Antifascista.
“There is no more time for notes of repudiation or debates about the origin of expressions. Fighting racism in the practical sense of the time is to immediately eliminate the use of the expression monkey or macacada in the lyrics of the songs that insist on echoing in the stands and other sectors”, published Tribune 77.
The group spreads images of personalities that are part of the history of the tricolor association throughout Porto Alegre, such as the player Tarciso Flecha Negra, the composer Lupicínio Rodrigues and the supporter Bombardão, all of them black, in addition to posters with the phrase: “Love Grêmio, fight racism”.
Journalist and writer Léo Gerchmann, author of “Somos Azuis, Pretos e Brancos” (L&PM, 2015), believes that the subject is complex in the context of the Gre-Nal duo.
The historical justification for referring to the Colorado fans with the word “monkey” for a while, he recalls, was the fact that some fans hung from trees to watch the team’s games, in the old Eucaliptos Stadium. Later, Grêmio members began to say that it was a reference to imitations made by the Colorados.
“This message arrives as racist because today the word monkey has a racist connotation. At the same time, Inter adopted this monkey thing as a mascot, and this makes Grêmio feel supported to say he is a mascot, like the pig from Palmeiras , and keep doing it”, he explains.
“The grêmio who sings this is stupid, because, in addition to singing something that is racist, he should know that he is doing something against the club itself.”
Known as “Gaúcho da Geral”, state deputy Juliano Franckzak (PSD) defends that the fans are not racist and that racism is a problem for the whole of society – he remembers the star on the flag, which represents Everaldo, the only Grêmio player in the national team. three-time champion in 1970.
“The measures taken against racist acts are still very timid and insufficient, whether in football or in the courts,” he says.
“The solution involves individual punishment, in addition to strong investment in campaigns for inclusion, education and equality. I don’t believe in punishing the club or the fans in general.”
Alexandre Bugin, vice president of Grêmio’s Deliberative Council, says that the club has been campaigning to change its image since the episode with Aranha, but in 2019 it brought together departments to assemble a structure that went beyond them.
Bugin, who is also coordinator of Clube de Todos, a project against racism and intolerance with fans, employees and the general public, also says that the club is working on including a chapter on the fight against prejudice in its statute, with clearer penalties.
“What’s the long-term goal? It’s that the prejudiced, racist person feels embarrassed to be in the club environment,” he says.
“We are going to intensify campaigns and activities and we are going to focus more on the issue of chants, to show that they have an offensive character”, he says.
The vice president of social relations at Internacional, Cauê Vieira, says that the appropriation of the figure of the monkey by the Colorados themselves is a way of “mitigating the power of the prejudiced narrative”.
“The appropriation of the symbol at no time removes the intention and criminal attitude of those who use it to offend and segregate”, he emphasizes.
For Marcelo Carvalho, executive director and creator of the Observatory of Racial Discrimination in Football, the discussion around the use of the term “monkey” seemed to have advanced, but the episode confirmed that the chants have returned.
“Football isn’t getting boring because you can’t offend a person anymore, there’s no boring crowd that wants to seal it. We’re talking about something that people complained about for many years and didn’t have space. Today, they have space, opportunity, and are heard”, he evaluates.
“On the other hand, there is a significant portion of reactionary, racist, homophobic people who complain that football has always allowed them to be that way, and they want to continue. Football needs to send a strong message, that it is not a place where people can express hate. It starts with hate speech and ends with physical violence that we are also following.”
The Gre-Nal played on March 9 was rescheduled at the end of February, after the Grêmio bus was stoned – player Mathias Villasanti was injured.
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