Gabriel Mitha Ribeiro | |
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Member of the Assembly of the Republic | |
Assumed office March 29, 2022 | |
Constituency | Leiria |
Personal details | |
Born | Gabriel Sérgio Mithá Ribeiro 23 September 1965 Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Mozambique |
Citizenship |
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Political party | Chega (since 2019) |
Other political affiliations | Social Democratic Party (2004–2019) |
Alma mater |
University of Lisbon ISCTE-IUL |
Occupation | Politician |
Profession | Historian, 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.
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]
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]
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]