The Ministry of Racial Equality (MIR) launched this Monday (12), in Rio de Janeiro, a new campaign that aims to highlight the contribution of black culture to carnival and combat discrimination and violence. With stickers and fans, the idea is to remind people that offending someone based on the color of their skin is an act of racial insult, as well as warning that stereotypical costumes, such as “crazy deniers” and indigenous people”, do not fit in with the festivities.
“There is no longer room for derogatory fantasies about black culture, Afro religions, black characters, much less black women. This is no longer possible,” he told Brazil Agency the ministry’s Secretary for Combating Racism, Tiago Santana. “This is not the type of carnival culture that Brazilians want,” he added. The campaign, according to him, is to confront direct aggression and insults, but without forgetting that black themes and aesthetics, such as hair, are not a “laughing piece”.
In 2026, MIR intends to expand the campaign that circulated on digital media in 2025. With the same name, “Without racism, carnival shines brighter”, the action will take place at street carnival, dances, blocks, samba school parades and Sapucaí itself, in Rio de Janeiro. Actions are also planned in Bahia and in the 30 municipalities that joined the Vivent Black Youth Program.
The educational material will be released between next Saturday (17th) and the last days of the festival, with the aim of also encouraging victims to register complaints through Dial 100, the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship or the Ombudsman’s Office of the Ministry of Racial Equality, at e-mail: [email protected]. The two bodies can provide support and help formalize complaints in official bodies, such as police stations.
According to the secretary, the government’s orientation is to combat racism. “The practice, the act of reporting, of creating conditions for [a discriminação] does not happen and, once it does happen, creating measures so that there is some type of punishment is the fundamental pillar of support for the National Racial Equality Policy”, he explained.
The main difference of this edition, in the city of Rio, is the partnership with Liga RJ, the entity that organizes the parades of the samba schools in the access group, the so-called Gold Series. The entity promised to distribute the material in technical rehearsals and presentations in Sapucaí. On February 13th, when the competition begins, the ministry will parade with a banner, distributing the pieces, alongside activists, leaders and people linked to samba schools. “We will signal to those possible racists that they are not invisible and that we will put pressure on them so that, if they commit any criminal act, they will be held accountable and punished,” Santana stressed.
With the measure, The secretary of the department also intends to give visibility to the construction of carnival by black people, who founded the first schools. “Today there is a process of whitening, of erasing the black presence at Carnival. So, when we fight racism, we also face this internal disruption”, he highlighted. In recent years, the fact that a large part of the judging panel for the Rio school parades is white has raised debate on this issue.
Minister Anielle Franco said, in a statement, that the party is a time of fun, but also of respect. “We launched this campaign to care for and respect the black hands of those who make things happen and also have fun at the greatest show on earth”, he highlighted. “Carnival is culture, art, resistance and resilience”, he added, about this year’s campaign, which expanded its presence in the country.
The ministry hopes that other institutions will join the effort and circulate the material, both at carnival events and in the media and social networks, expanding the reach of the message.
