TO OBTAIN AND DEFEND THE RIGHTS OF AFRO-DESCENDANTS, THE POLITICAL WILL OF LEADERS IS ESSENTIAL

interview with Deputy José Chalá Cruz, Ecuador

Abstract

José Chalá Cruz is a well-known Afro-Ecuadorian leader who is also recognized in the Afrodescendant social movement in Latin America. He is an anthropologist. In this interview he talks about his contributions to the creation of ethno-racial legal instruments in favor of Afro-Ecuadorians, such as the Law of Collective Rights of the Afro-Ecuadorian People (2006), the articles of recognition of the rights of the Afro-Ecuadorian people in the Constitution of 2008, the Executive Decree No. 60 on affirmative actions, among other bills. Chalá analyzes the context in which these ethno-racial legal instruments have been designed and adopted from three personal perspectives: as a social activist, as a government official, and as a legislator in the National Assembly. For Chalá, there is a difference between what the texts of the laws say and reality. That is to say: here we are before, as Achille Mbembe (2016) would say, the necropolitics of necro-neoliberalism, where the peoples who are subjects of collective rights, affirmative actions, and reparations are not really seen despite the legislation that we achieved. “This the big difference”.

Key Words: Afro-descendants, Collective Rights, Anti-discrimination laws, Neoliberalism, Necropolitica.