racismo e coragem civil

Vi um vídeo das agressões à porta da discoteca Urban. Só um, e fiquei com uma dúvida: no meio de todos aqueles assistentes, algum chegou mais perto e gritou "eh, lá! Parem com isso! Vou chamar a polícia!", ou algo assim?
Ou limitaram-se a filmar, e a fazer comentários chocados para as pessoas que tinham ao lado?
A coragem para ajudar, agora é só via facebook?

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Fiz esta pergunta no facebook, e responderam-me o que se segue.
(todas as frases seguintes são copiadas ou são resumos de comentários no meu facebook)

- Quem se chegasse perto também apanhava;
- Num caso destes, o melhor é chamar a polícia do modo mais discreto possível, não vão os "seguranças" reparar no acto e começarem as represálias;
- Também não convém filmar de forma muito ostensiva;
- Há conivência e protecção por parte da polícia, pelo que não vale a pena chamá-los (este caso da Urban, por exemplo: o piquete da PSP chamado ao local só registou a ocorrência 36 horas depois, após o protesto/inquérito da chefia ao ser confrontada com a mediatização do vídeo);
- Portanto: nos dias que correm, só depois de o caso andar no facebook , no youtube ou no instagram é que as autoridades actuam;
- Chamar-se a polícia numa situação destas é o lado para os seguranças dormem melhor. Eles estão habituados a cenas com a polícia, a maior parte tem amigos na polícia, e alguns até são ou foram polícias. Eles não têm medo de nada e têm razão para não ter medo. O pior que lhes acontece é uma pena suspensa e uma palmada na mão. Isso para eles é uma medalha. Se forem mesmo presos então, tornam-se realmente temidos. São lógicas completamente maradas e eu não aconselho ninguém a meter-se nesses assados, nem chamo covardia às pessoas não irem lá apanhar porrada "solidária".
Outra coisa completamente diferente, e que faz realmente efeito, é, como se fez, fechar aquilo... tirar as licenças aos donos e aos seguranças, ir-lhes ao bolso...


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Pequeno intervalo para tirar conclusões: num país que acredita não ser racista, há discotecas que não deixam entrar pessoas devido à cor da sua pele, e toda a gente sabe mas continua a frequentar esses lugares. Num país que afirma que a violência é um monopólio do Estado, os seguranças privados sentem-se à vontade para agredir brutalmente as pessoas a quem recusaram a entrada, e quem as queira socorrer. Num país que acredita ser um Estado de Direito, as pessoas assistem às brutalidades sem fazer nada porque temem apanhar também, e partem do princípio de que não vale a pena chamar a polícia, porque os polícias estão feitos com os seguranças.

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E agora?
Na impossibilidade de resolver de raiz o racismo, os esquemas entre polícias e seguranças, a mentalidade dos seguranças e as lacunas do Estado de Direito, sugiro simplesmente que seja obrigatório haver câmaras e gravadores de voz à entrada de todos esses clubes (e agarrem-me, que estou quase a propor quotas para pessoas não brancas). Se houver queixa de alguém por não ter podido entrar, a autoridade competente vê as gravações de imagem e som para averiguar os critérios dos seguranças e a justeza da decisão tomada em relação àquele cliente. Se a queixa for justificada, tanto o estabelecimento como o segurança são penalizados.

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Ou outra solução qualquer. Mas é preciso fazer algo, porque os relatos que se seguem deixam bem claro que é preciso agir com urgência e determinação. Isto é uma vergonha e é absolutamente inaceitável.

1. Connor McCreesh (link)

2. Ruben Murray, no facebook:

I usually do not overshare on Facebook but this must be said.
This is an open letter addressing an act of violence and racism that my family, my friends and myself were victims of.
On the night of August 12th, I was attacked outside the K Urban Beach club in Lisbon, Portugal. I was choked then kicked multiple time in the head and ribs by four men with my little sister watching. When my sister tried to intervene she got pulled away by the hair and bruised. Two other male friends were attacked when filming the situation and confronting the assailant, and one female friend was handled violently. The assailants were the security of the club. We did not represent a threat to anybody, we were just seeking answers and we got our taste of the extent of racism and biases ingrained in our society. In this post, I will describe the series of event that lead up to the incident and what followed, along with my own point of view on the situation.
After a night of bar hopping in the Bairro Alto, my friends and I attempted to go to a nightclub called the K Urban Beach on the docks of Santos. I was familiar with this club because my senior year of high school I went there with a group of friends and was told I needed to pay 350 euro to get in, while my friends got in for free. I am black and they are white. After refusing to pay nor to leave, I was physically kicked out with my friends still inside. At that time, I had a pretty big Afro and was wearing African print pants, so I justified their response by thinking this was not your usual clubbing attire. I went to this club for a second time in December 2016, this time in “acceptable” clothing, but we were still asked to pay $350 to get in. The last time I tried was the night of August 11th, with two of my best friends, my sister, and my sister's friend. The reason why I decided to try again is unknown: maybe I wanted to trust my white friend who told me it was a lot of fun when he got in two years ago, maybe I wanted to show my little sister that I too could “roll” with the gang, or maybe I wanted to prove to myself that it was not my color that always kept me at the gate.
That night, we briefly waited in line, and in front of us a group of four white men, wearing white button ups, got in. We were a diverse group: my sister and I are mixed with impressive hair, one of my friends is black Caribbean and the other is Portuguese, and my sister’s friend is white. When we got to the bouncers, we were told it was a private party and we had to pay $250. We were exasperated and frustrated. It's a basic act of frustration that bouncers are supposed to deal with in a calm manner to de-escalate a potential violent situation. We told them their decision was clearly racist. After exchanging harsh words, I tried to get everyone to turn around and leave, but my Portuguese friend and my sister’s friend stay, contesting their decision. I walked away with my sister and my other friend. We turned around to tell my friend it was not worth it and we saw him getting punched in the face by one of the bouncers. We rushed to help. Their reaction was automated and weirdly organized: at least eight bouncers lined up between me and my friend who was getting beat up. I tried to get to my friend but got punched in the stomach by a raging, white bouncer. I heard a scream to my right, and saw that my friend had fallen to the floor and appeared to be convulsing - he has asthma and had been in a chokehold so I immediately rushed over to him. One of the bouncers kneeled and was about to continue punching my friend who was on the floor in a semi-conscious state When I pushed him away, I immediately felt something tightening around my neck: I was put in a chokehold by one of the bouncers. Once I was unable to retaliate, I was put on the floor and punched and kicked in the face and the ribs while I was trying to catch my breath. Thankfully I was able to protect my head with my elbows but they got in at least six successful jabs to my face and four on my ribs, and I have carpet burns on my elbows from being dragged on their “red carpet.” My sister and her friend, thinking they wouldn’t be handled violently, rushed to stop the situation. My little sister was dragged by her hair for several feet and handled very violently, as was her friend. I have never seen in my life women being handled so violently. After they were done with me, I managed to stand up and take pictures, but they deliberately flashed their flashlight at our phones to make the photos blurry. I later found out my friend was put in a chokehold in the first place for filming the beginning of the situation. Their quick resort to violence, their organization, and their attempt to prevent photo documentation indicates that this behavior was tactical, rehearsed and commonplace. The scene was so violent, two young women we did not know called the police. When the police came, they told us the only thing we could do is file a report to the police station the following day, but we all know there is never justice in those cases. One of the bouncers even approached them, not intimidated, to tell them the police officer could come inside talk to the director of the nightclub, his casual behavior jarringly different from the violence he had just committed against us.
These 8 bouncers wanted to hurt us/ This was not an interaction between drunk people and normal respectful bouncers, it was five young adults and teenagers trying to party in Lisbon, and a team of racist, violent bouncers. These animals wave the image of our bruised faces like trophies, therefore I will not share a photo of my mine.
Two days before the incident, I was called a racist by a friend because I used the notion of race in a discussion. "I don't see race," she said. I saw the consequences of not talking about the racial problem in our world when I felt the bruises on my ribs, the bumps on my head and the pain around my neck. Violence against people of color is often perceived as a myth for a lot of people, and it is even as a person of color it is hard to realize that this is still real. Why? Because it's 2017, and we might be more privileged than our parents, so we tend to forget about it when we aren’t usually faced with violence To my white friends, to those stronger than the oppressed ones, we will stand up but please do too. Please call out the people around you for perpetuating racism, in public or in private. Call out your racist family members, do not let people get too comfortable. But don't be aggressive, talk first, explains why this behavior is wrong. This is 2017, this shouldn't happen anymore.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Let's get justice. I’m glad I am still here to fight another day.
Here are links where you can put horrible reviews to this club. Google K Urban Beach and write the worst review. Here is some other place where you can write reviews.
https://www.tripadvisor.fr/Attraction_Review-g189158-d73740…
https://www.yelp.fr/biz/urban-beach-no-title
I have reached out to other people who have a similar experience in the day preceding ours. We are trying our best to shed light on this club’s horrific behavior.