2019 got off to a bad start in Portugal. In January, the leader of a far-Right group – who had spent 12 years in prison for his role in a racist murder and other hate crimes – was invited to speak on one of Portugal’s most popular TV talk shows. On air, he argued that the country needs a new dictator.
Two weeks later, a video of police violence in Bairro Jamaica, a predominantly Black neighbourhood in Lisbon’s suburbs, went viral. The next day, hundreds of mostly Black demonstrators protested in the city centre against racist police violence. The police responded with rubber bullets.
Tiago Lila and João Caçador, musicians and activists in a group called Fado Bicha (roughly translated: ‘Queer Fado’), told me they could not stay silent. Lila took a classic Portuguese song and rewrote its lyrics to challenge the violence around them. Caçador picked up his electric guitar.
