The scars of a colonial and slave past

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By MAURO JUNIOR GRIGGI*

More than a legacy of past practices, racism presents itself as a dynamic phenomenon, capable of adapting to new configurations of power and production

1.

Discussing the reality of slavery, even if shrouded in taboo, in fact implies unveiling the masks of neoliberalism, in the face of confrontation with the dictatorship of capital. Could this be a way to overcome historical scars? Even in the light of a scenario of domination, the search for subterfuges that allow this imperial tradition and ethical superiority to collapse paradoxically manifests itself as an attempt to transgress such constraints.

The confluence between the construction and persistence of a system of exclusion, which has lasted for almost four centuries, perpetuates an idiosyncratic and anti-meritocratic debate in the 21st century. When we view racism as a system of oppression, it is indelible to recognize the depth of its roots in the relations of production and power that structure modern society. These defining and submerged features constitute the substrate for the maintenance of this oppressive system.

From the perspective of Karl Marx's historical-dialectical materialism, such a structure is not natural or eternal, but the result of a historical process that accompanies the consolidation of the capitalist mode of production, the fulcrum of the present day. By analyzing the emergence and maintenance of racism from this perspective, it becomes possible to understand how class relations, the accumulation of wealth and economic exploitation are inseparable from racialization and reactionism.

Modern racism emerges as an ideological justification for the exploitation of African and indigenous peoples in the colonial system that once dominated masses and repressed nations. From the sixteenth century onwards, nascent capitalism depended on practices such as slave trafficking and forced labor, which were fundamental to the primitive accumulation of capital, as pointed out by Karl Marx in The capital.

Racialization, in this context, is not just a byproduct, but a tool to legitimize such exploitation. With the consolidation of industrial capitalism and, later, neoliberalism, racism began to operate in a more sophisticated manner, adapting to new forms of invisible exploitation and domination. The precariousness of work, urban segregation, and state violence against racialized bodies exemplify how the racial system continues to function in contemporary capitalism.

Em The reverse of the skin, Jeferson Tenório exposes this dynamic by narrating the life of a black man marked by structural violence and exclusion. The work highlights how racism is not just an individual issue, but a systemic phenomenon that conditions the possibilities of existence and resistance. The protagonist, through his experiences, reveals how skin color becomes a social marker that defines who is worthy of rights and who is destined for marginalization. Black movements around the world have historically confronted these structures, from the quilombola revolts to the contemporary struggles for equality and racial justice.

The hypocrisy of the elites and the fragility of Brazilian institutions are a faithful portrait of a colonial and imperialist system that mutilated bodies in the name of the narrative of the superiority of the “white man”. This situation, combined with identity politics, masks a past of barbarity and domination, outlining it in a structured way in the current century, through meritocratic theories and ideologies that perpetuate the marginalization of peoples and ethnicities that have been oppressed for centuries.

2.

The colonialist condition played a crucial role in the genesis and perpetuation of racism. Over the centuries, the process of colonization, led mainly by European powers, was structured not only as an economic enterprise, but also as an ideological practice that justified the exploitation and subjugation of peoples. In this sense, racism can be understood as an ideological superstructure that reflects and sustains a material basis of economic exploitation.

This approach considers that a society's ideas and values ​​are deeply rooted in its material conditions of production and social reproduction. Thus, racism is not an isolated prejudice, but an essential tool for the consolidation of the global capitalist system in its early days. The transatlantic slave trade, for example, was fundamental to the early accumulation of capital, dehumanizing non-European peoples as a tool to maximize profits and, at the same time, providing ideological justifications for the maintenance of such practices.

A hypothesis that problematizes this scenario is presented in the essay Critique of Dualistic Reason, by Francisco de Oliveira, when pointing out how wage compression transfers the gains from the increase in surplus value to the accumulation pole, and not to consumption. Francisco de Oliveira argues that the income of the middle classes derives from the technical-institutional demands of the global industrial structure and not from class or color prejudices. However, it is possible to counter-argue that, although the accumulation of capital seems neutral in relation to skin color, capitalism accumulates mercantile meanings that directly guide social integrations and, indirectly, the living conditions of individuals.

At the heart of this economic determination, racial orientation emerges as a historical construction, albeit multifaceted and partially autonomous in relation to the material conditions of production. In this context, the overexploitation of the labor of racialized bodies was a strategy to compensate for the losses of the ruling bourgeoisie in its relations of dependency. Finally, works such as those of Machado de Assis and Jeferson Tenório are configured as testimonies and denunciations of these dynamics, revealing inequalities and promoting reflections on social transformation. Racism, by imposing pain and suffering based on pseudoscientific theories, not only perpetuates a backward and conservative mentality, but also maintains the current slave-owning and repressive belief system.

3.

Another factual point to consider in the maintenance of contemporary racism is the concise action of the State's ideological apparatuses. These apparatuses, which include institutions such as the media, the educational system, religion and the legal apparatus, are responsible for disseminating and consolidating certain ideologies that reinforce the domination of social groups over others. In the context of racism, these mechanisms act to naturalize racial subordination, transforming it into a seemingly indisputable social “truth.”

This social fragment is essential in Jean-Paul Sartre's theory of existentialism, particularly his conception of freedom and responsibility, which offers a profound perspective on how ideologies sustain racism and are fundamental to identity. For Jean-Paul Sartre, human beings are condemned to freedom, that is, the human condition is marked by the possibility of choosing, acting and defining oneself based on one's own choices. However, in the socio-interrelational context, this freedom is limited by the historical, social and cultural conditions in which the individual is inserted.

In the case of the structural system of racism, these historical conditions manifest themselves through ideological apparatuses that impose a worldview that distorts the freedom and dignity of human beings in a way that is absent from the condition of being equitable in social, political and existential terms. Jean-Paul Sartre argues in detail that society creates a “signification machine” that imposes identities and values ​​on individuals.

In this sense, the ideological structure of the State not only shapes the consciousness of individuals, but also pushes them to conform to social norms that devalue certain existences, such as those of black people. Racism, therefore, can be seen as a form of existential alienation, in which the individual is reduced to a racial stereotype, denying him or her subjectivity and authentic freedom, making oppression a social construction that involves the objectification of the other.

Within this material reality, the racist subject “sees” the other not as a free and unique being, but as an object determined by their race. This process of objectification prevents the other from realizing themselves as a subject, limiting their freedom. Institutions such as the educational system and the media reinforce this objectification by perpetuating distorted and dehumanizing views of marginalized populations.

Opening a parenthesis within this, for the actions of authoritarian governments and guided by what is known as the “myth of racial democracies”, but, when analyzing that white men, within this system of social domination, never, and are not dominated, decorating the existence of this practice considered in contemporary molds of Reverse Racism, erases from history a past of suffering, segregation and apartheid. Can we therefore call this Democracy?

I believe that this answer is already ready in the current situation, as the European and colonialist actions of governments maintain this crude reality of racism today. Consequently, Jean-Paul Sartre not only theorizes the emergence of an inexorable movement, but also points to the possibility of transformation. Freedom, although conditioned, is never completely annulled. The individual always has the capacity to transcend the limitations imposed by these ideological apparatuses, although this requires a continuous and collective effort.

The fight against racism, therefore, is not only a fight against external institutions, but also a fight for the reconstruction of one’s own subjectivity and the affirmation of human freedom in its fullness. This transformation requires breaking with the values ​​that society has imposed, recognizing, as Jean-Paul Sartre teaches us, that “man makes himself,” and that this is only possible when one challenges the objectification of the other imposed by racism.

The State, by perpetuating objectification and denying the freedom of others, contributes to the maintenance of a system that limits the possibility of an authentic and full existence for those who are racially marginalized. Overcoming racism, in this sense, requires a radical transformation of the material and ideological conditions that shape our perceptions and social practices.

That said, when we look at racism as an essential cog in the functioning of capitalist structures, we can see the complexity of its social, economic and cultural ramifications. More than a legacy of past practices, it presents itself as a dynamic phenomenon, capable of adapting to new configurations of power and production. Its persistence is not just a reflection of historical conservatism, but an active component in the maintenance of structural inequalities, reinforcing both the relations of exploitation and the symbolic mechanisms that naturalize these hierarchies.

In view of this, any attempt at social transformation must go beyond palliative solutions and confront the material and ideological conditions that perpetuate this oppressive logic, recognizing that the fight against racism is also a fight to redefine the bases that sustain contemporary power and production relations.

*Mauro Junior Griggi is a computer technician at the Federal Institute of Mato Grosso – Rondonópolis unit.

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