Carrefour threatens to sue authors and university of book about racism

Posted June 29, 2021 · June 29, 2021

This work is about a research of professors at University Zumbi dos Palmares about the death of João Alberto Freitas in 2020 november in a store of the group in Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil.

The group Carrefour threatened to sue the responsibles for the book "Case Carrefour, Private Securite and Racism: Lessons and Learnings" that will be released this tuesday, 29 by the University Zumbi dos Palmares and FENAVIST (National Federation of Security and Transport of Valuable Items Companies).

The piece of work, writen by the researchers Susana Durão and Josué Correira, is based on a research on the murderer of João Alberto Silveira Freitas in november of 2020 by the security guards in a store of the Carrefour group in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. The crime happened on the eve of National Day of "Black Consciousness" and had repercussion in Brazil and abroad.

In an e-mail to the rectory (deen?) of the university, the juridic manager of the group, Danilo Bonadio Bonfim, claims that the book "contains grave imprecision and mistakes", The executive points that the title of the book associates the name of the Carrefour Group to racism, he states that the book uses internal documents that belong to the group that were made available only to FENAVIST in a private meeting and states that the work has "information in desharmony with the veracity of facts and claims that do not reflect the position of Carrefour Group towards what had happened".

"The Carrefour Group, finds itself entitled to seek criminal responsability of everyone involved and seek criminal and repatory measures about all the losses that may happen" concludes Carrefour's Head Director in the e-mail. The Group Carrefour didn't respond to the"Veja team" about the case.

According to José Vicente, deen of Zumbi dos Palmares University, the book has three cornerstones: the analysis of what was published about the case in over 200 press outlets, consultation to public security managers about the case and interviews with young blacks from antiracist movements."What they are doing is censorship. The book is a scientific research, it doesn't have to please anyone. We're going to publish it whether they like it or not. And we also are going to defend ourselves" he states. About the Carrefor reference, he says the case was cited on the title because it was the way the case was known in the news coverage. "We don't talk about the Carrefour Group having or not a racist position, we talk about the facts that happened" tells the professor.

https://veja.abril.com.br/blog/maquiavel/carrefour-ameaca-processar-autores-de-livro-sobre-caso-de-racismo-na-rede/