Boaventura talks about its cancellation at the Center for Social Studies
247 - The Portuguese sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos affirmed, in an interview with TV 247, that he was a victim of the so-called cancel culture, which led him to disconnect from the Center for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra, in Portugal, an institution of which he is a founding member. He resigned after alleging irregularities in the investigation process into allegations of sexual and moral harassment made by a group of investigators.
"I disconnected from CES because cancel culture came into my center," he said. Boaventura vehemently denied the allegations and criticized what he called the "cancellation industry." According to him, the complaints were never formally presented to any official institution. "I was never the subject of formal complaints," he said.
During the interview, the sociologist accused international NGOs of financing smear campaigns against him and stressed that the investigation at the CES did not follow the principles of the rule of law. "I was the victim of lies from an agency that claims to be public, but is funded by international NGOs, which promote cancel culture," he said.
Boaventura classified cancel culture as a form of lynching and an instrument of political dispute. "The cancel culture does not allow the contradictory. The goal was to eliminate me," he said. He compared his situation to that of Brazilian jurist Alysson Mascaro, arguing that both faced accusations without legal support.
For the sociologist, cancellation is a selective tool and is being used to discredit left-wing intellectuals. "Cancel culture is a culture of lynching, which has affected left-wing figures. We are in a political struggle," he said. He also described the phenomenon as a kind of "new McCarthyism at the service of the international extreme right."
Boaventura also criticized the social and academic changes that, according to him, have made the environment more hostile to dialogue. "In the past, I could tell that a woman was beautiful. Today, I can't take it anymore," he said, attributing the tightening of social rules to competition in academia. "We are in a society in which there is a lot of competition in the academic and scientific area."
The sociologist ended his participation by stating that he will continue to act as an independent intellectual, even without institutional ties. He announced that he has already called the courts to contest the charges and defend his honor. "Legal actions are ongoing," he concluded.
Read the interview here
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