Gabriel Mithá Ribeiro

Portuguese teacher and politician
Gabriel Mitha Ribeiro
Member of the Assembly of the Republic
Incumbent
Assumed office
March 29, 2022
ConstituencyLeiria
Personal details
Born
Gabriel Sérgio Mithá Ribeiro

(1965-09-23) 23 September 1965 (age 58)
Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Mozambique
Citizenship
  • Portugal
  • Mozambique
Political partyChega (since 2019)
Other political
affiliations		Social Democratic Party (2004–2019)
Alma materUniversity of Lisbon
ISCTE-IUL
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionHistorian, author, journalist

Gabriel Sérgio Mithá Ribeiro (born 23 August 1965 in Mozambique) is a Mozambican-born Portuguese professor, historian, author, journalist and politician.

Since 2022 he has been a deputy in the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal for the Chega party and representing the Leiria constituency. He was also a vice-president of Chega.

Biography

Early life and education

Mitha Ribeiro was born in 1965 in the colony of Mozambique which at the time was governed by Portugal. His father was a Catholic and his mother came from a Muslim background. He is primarily of African descent with some Indian and Syrian ancestry on his mother's side.[1] Mitha Ribeiro emigrated to Portugal in 1980 following the independence of Mozambique and settled in Pombal. He is married to a Portuguese national with whom he has a son. Mitha Ribeiro studied a history degree at the University of Lisbon followed by a master's degree and a PhD in African studies at ISCTE-IUL.[2][3]

Professional career

He worked as a teacher of history and Africanist studies before becoming a columnist for Observador.[4] Mitha Ribeiro has also written a number of books and academic articles discussing Portuguese, Mozambican and African colonial history.[5] He has also commented on Portuguese current affairs in essays and articles. In his writing, he has argued that racism as a concept makes no sense in the twenty first century and that racial prejudice mostly disappeared following the end of colonialism.[1] He instead advocates that the terms Racial Relations and Interracial Relations be used instead.[6] He also argues that Portuguese schools should change the way they teach about colonialism and show pupils positive examples from chapters of European colonialism in Africa.[3]

Political activity

Mithá Ribeiro was a member of the Social Democratic Party for fifteen years before joining Chega in 2019.[3] He has been noted by the media as a prominent ethnic minority member of the party and for his rapid rise within Chega, having become a parliamentary deputy, the author of the party's program ahead of the 2022 Portuguese legislative election and being appointed a vice-chairman of the party.[7]

During the 2022 legislative election, he stood in the Leiria constituency and was elected to the Assembly of the Republic. [8] After his election, he was nominated as Chega's candidate to stand for vice-president of the Assembly of the Republic, with Chega becoming eligible to nominate a candidate due to being the third largest parliamentary group, and after the Assembly rejected Diogo Pacheco de Amorim's candidacy. However, the other parties also rejected Mithá Ribeiro for the position.[9] At a press conference following the decision, Mithá Ribeiro stated "If a person is black and is on the left, he is treated with dignity or at least with some dignity. If a person is black and is politically neutral tends to be erased from institutions. If a person is black and is on the right, they are treated, excuse the force of expression, as blacks are treated"[10]

In the Assembly, Mithá Ribeiro sits on the committees for education, schools, energy and the environment.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b "Ventura mais 11: quem é quem no novo grupo parlamentar do Chega". Expresso (in European Portuguese). 2022-01-31. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  2. ^ Redação (2022-01-30). "Chega elege Gabriel Mithá Ribeiro, vice-presidente do partido, em Leiria". Região de Leiria (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  3. ^ a b c Guerreiro, Catarina; Claudino, Henrique Magalhães (2022-01-31). "Só há uma mulher nos deputados do Chega. E é antifeminista". CNN Portugal (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  4. ^ Observador. "Gabriel Mithá Ribeiro". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  5. ^ Gabriel Mithá Ribeiro, CEI-IUL
  6. ^ Quem é Gabriel Mithá Ribeiro? Ex-PSD e Vice Presidente do Chega, Chegano, 14 de Abril de 2021
  7. ^ Contra “conspirações”, Ventura lança Pacheco de Amorim para “vice” da AR, por Maria Lopes, Público, 3 de Fevereiro de 202
  8. ^ "Ao minuto: direção do PSD apanhada de surpresa pelos resultados, PS ainda sonha com a maioria". CNN Portugal (in Portuguese). 2022-01-30. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  9. ^ "Cotrim Figueiredo e dois candidatos do Chega chumbados para vice-presidentes da Assembleia da República". Observador (in European Portuguese). 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2022-04-03.
  10. ^ "Rejeitar-me é de alguma forma a rejeição de um moçambicano que assumiu a identidade portuguesa". A reação de Gabriel Mithá Ribeiro (in Portuguese), retrieved 2022-04-12
  11. ^ Redação (2022-04-16). "PSD, PS e Chega questionam Governo sobre Hospital das Caldas". Gazeta das Caldas (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-04-23.