First, I want to apologize for writing this letter in Portuguese (in case you are an American), I am here just temporarily and my English is too poor to express myself with clarity and precision.
Last month (November of 1996), I received very unpleasant and sad news. I learned that a capoeirista died during an event of group ABADA in Brazil. This capoeirista was also a member of this group and he was indeed a perpetrator and a victim of ABADA's violence. For the second time the violence of this group has taken away a person's life. Yet they insist in saying that "they promote efficiency, not violence".
As an alert call, I want to request to all capoeiristas of the world, not to tolerate such arrogance! This is a group that has expanded in a disorganized manner, with only the intention of competing and crashing smaller groups, simply as an attempt to prove they are the best.
They are rapidly destroying the spirit of capoeira. No matter where they are, the energy and atmosphere of the environment always becomes tense, due to the inhibitions imposed by them, through violent and aggressive acts that are not characteristic of capoeira. I.e. Wrestling, immediate revenge, dirty strikes, and fist punches. Lets not deny that capoeira as a fight is equipped with such resources for the purpose of self defense. However such resources are not part of the capoeira game, much less part of the etiquette of the roda.
These inhibitions do not impose fear on the capoeiristas, but instead discourage them and make them discontent in having to constantly deal with such negative energy. As an example of this, I and many others have witnessed situations where individuals of ABADA confronted masters of renown or their students by challenging them and using inappropriate language and disrespectful attitudes. The growth process of this group was mainly by intimidating unassisted capoeiristas (often geographically isolated), followed by an invitation to join the group and from that point support would be offered to the new members.
Not being aware of the price to be paid by their involvement with this group, many capoeiristas who today are part of group ABADA, find themselves without options to leave, due to the fact that the rest of the capoeira world avoids relationships with anyone who has participated in the ABADA philosophy.
For that reason or for being weak-willed, these individuals dive blindly into this fascist system and start to believe that they represent the unique truth of capoeira in the world.
On the subject of philosophy, a basic ethic of this group is that anyone who has problems with any of ABADA's people, will also have problems with all the other members regardless of who is right or wrong, who makes sense or not! As you all can notice, this is the same philosophy of street gangs here in the USA. They mark themselves with tattoos and a different belt system, they persecute and attack the ones that do not belong to their group. They intimidate the rebels of their own group who protest against internal injustices. They worship one leader as the powerful one and so on. Besides that, they now have competition amongst themselves and they are putting at risk the integrity and the life of beginners in their group who for one reason or another (i.e. lack of information or option) have become involved with them and get contaminated by the brainwashing system imposed by their leaders who present their rules as if they were the golden key to the only "true capoeira" .
It is crucial that we who believe in the fundamentals of capoeira as an instrument against oppression and abuse, and as a tool towards personal growth, protest against this behaviors of the group ABADA.
Protest could take many forms according to the circumstance, yet something must be done! I do not accept individuals of this gang in my events. I don't ever go or send any of my representatives to their events. Whenever I can, I educate the people interested in being potentially new capoeira students to go and look for healthier environment. I continue to support playfulness; relaxed attitude, good sense of humor, diversity of styles and games, camaraderie, and respect. All this without of course forgetting the traditions, rituals and even the efficiency of our art, but never admitting violence.
I request that you also help us and somehow protest against the spread of the group ABADA that is in my opinion, the worst thing that could have happened to capoeira since its existence.
I thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Respectfully
I, Jerônimo Santos Da Silva, started playing Capoeira from the age of 13 in Manaus, Amazon region in Brazil. After a few years of a "volta do mundo" traveling through the world in 1987 I arrived in Sydney and introduced the art and rituals of Capoeira in this continent. After reading the Protest against the Abadá Capoeira group at the Capoeira Mandinga's HP, I would like to put forward my opinion on the matter.
I believe that we should play Capoeira in a way that dissipates the violence disrupting our communities. This type of segregation in ANY community tends to promote gang or class warfare. The support of a few, in deference to the exclusion of many. I also don't believe that we should focus this kind of protest in a single person or a peculiar Capoeira group. Therefore, if the name of the group is "A-Ba-da or aN-go-La" to me and to the people in general it sounds the same Capoeira any way. Yet, the ignorance and the social violence that stems from this seems to be a dominant characteristic of the human being.
Take for example the social REALsituation of Brazil: stre$$s, where segregation and baderna (conflict) reflect the way people are playing and living Capoeira. This poor "real" situation is a mirror of the games that emerge when Capoeira is promoted as a disorganised sportive martial art sport. There is lot of talk about the technique of Capoeira sport and martial art, yet few responsible and professional capoeiristas to fight with Capoeira for the development of the community.
The irony of the situation is that the competitive aspects and "clas$s- ifications" of modern Capoeira were never really a part of the early slave Warrior Dance Ritual. Rather, they officially began in the 1930's with mestre Bimba and his Regional way of living and promoting the ritual of Capoeira as a sport and not well promoted by the new generation of so-called "masters" of Capoeira and their groups. Therefore, the liability for the growing of violence inside of modern Capoeira games in [part] is of responsibility of all capoeiristas. Then we could also blame the Brazilian government for the other [part] of it. But, each people, each capoeirista ($lave?) has the government and the master that deserves in the ring of Life — a roda de Capoeira?!
I truly mean no disrespect for those capoeiristas who are practicing the Capoeira Regional or any other self proclaimed traditional Capoeira style nowadays, but I do recall that Bimba's Regional fighting system of survival did not helped him (Pastinha and many other $laves...) from dying in poverty and been discriminated. But in masters' Bimba's special and historic situation, as an outstanding fighter and innovative capoeirista with a revolutionary instinct (he was committed to the PC or the Brazilian Communist Party), he gave life to his dreams and created the modern system of Capoeira we now call as Regional to magnify our unique culture and art form. Yet his great ideal has taken a wrong way! To put it bluntly, let's not forget or deny that it was also the mestre Bimba, Pastinha and other like-minded "Mestres de Capoeira" (often graduated in ignorance and misery by our sly social master system!) the responsible who started singing and playing the ladainhas of "Rambo & Bruce Lee boy" and promoting the competition in between the Capoeira groups in our modern rodas de Capoeira. Nowadays many young capoeiristas are blindly following in their traditional master footsteps fighting with Capoeira only to prove who is the godfather EGO of the capoeira/chicken run. After the historic moment, when the Capoeira Regional style was "graduated" by the master system as a Brazilian National Martial Arts Sport (of such Negroes and illiterate poor from the favelas/slums?!) capoeiristas followed their lives along with President Getulio Vargas's "new" military way in the 1940's and the modern sly Global master system nowadays is polluting the mind of many capoeiristas in exchange for a useless "CoLLorido/Color full" belt and martial graduations. The government is now fooling the capoeiristas and the Brazilian community (again) with their "malícia" tricks and lies by performing "the jogo" using this so-called REAL game of bureaucracy they promote to welcome the year 2000 — ?!
How many capoeiristas are now following the model of turncoat mestre Judas and continue betraying the offspring of nonconformist $lave warrior Zumbi and the great social ideals of the Palmares community?! Do we really need to devoutly follow a particular style or master of Capoeira (a mestre?!) making further "religious and military" distinctions about right ways and wrong ways in our already overtaxed belief systems?! Can't we cease praying boring old ladainhas for dead masters and gods and start playing REAL Capoeira with our hearts and help the living masters to survive their oppression NOW? Should I remind you that many of our old "mestres" and their families in modern Brazil still don't have "bread and butter" at home? A decent life? Such questions should be part of our daily Capoeira training my brothers and sisters!
Capoeiristas, let's fight with Capoeira against racism and social oppression instead of fighting Capoeira against each other. Let's update our Capoeira styles and educate our capoeiristas by uniting our Quilombos (groups) to face the real life enemies: greed, violence, misery and oppression. Let's educate our capoeiristas and update our Capoeira games to face the challenge of the (Olympic?) year 2000 and confront the tricks & kicks of our social high-tech system. Let's fight with Capoeira to help educate our illiterate and misguided brothers and sisters everywhere and to assist the poor communities. Particularly, for me, those oppressed $LAVES of our disorganised Brazilian nation. It would be good for us to see the Real outcome of our work with Capoeira being performed everywhere for the benefit of all people.
Dear friends, camaradas, I have registered my commitment to stop the leaking of violence throughout our ritual, but I disagree with the methods of fighting against the group Abadá or any other Capoeira group. Fighting the names of individuals or groups is no more the way forward then the fighting taking place within and amongst them and us! So I begin to wonder if are real mandingueiros playing the game in the present roda?! If so, where's our mandinga and malícia skills?!
Finally, I salute and give my Axé to all capoeiristas who're playing the $lave Ritual with ideals and dreams like Zumbi: the right to own and buy land, food and education for all. Capoeira means freedom and joy!
Capoeirísticamente,
JERÔNIMO
SANTOS DA SILVA
Jerônimo
Capoeira = Profesional Master Capoeirista
Bonitinha <[email protected]>
My daughter (Pedrita) <http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stadium/1964/> practices Capoeira after 3 years and I am very happy with her performance in all the aspects. I believe you don't have the real knowledge of what people are saying about the ABADÁ Group. I participate with Pedrita in all batizados, encontros, classes etc., and never saw any act of violence to happens there. I am very proud of her and the Grupo Abadá. TheMestrando Capixaba (master capixaba) loves the kids and they love him. I hate violence!!
Regards
José
Sérgio <[email protected]>