Page 99 - ARTE!Brasileiros #58

for the anCient greeks, at one point the inventors How many blacks are called today to attend universities in front of the mirror), the dictatorship of the majority is [PAGE 10]
of the democratic experience, speaking Greek was with scholarships or to participate in public notices, still a dictatorship.
enough to be considered Greek or at least not to be socio-educational or vocational projects in Portugal? After Particularly the coaches and youtubers, those who
considered barbaric. At a certain period in the history independence, Brazilian royalty assumed slave control more broadly “swim a stroke” in the sea of ignorance
of that country, democracy was linked to speech and, until its end in the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889. and authoritarianism, are those former “experts” who [PAGES 11 ANd 12]
therefore, to the capacity for persuasion. Being a citizen, What responsibility did the heirs of the Luso-Brazilian royal appeared on tv to shape the “being-informed” and
however, was already something more complex, because family or the governments that succeeded them in the first its sociability. They taught how to behave, how to be
it was a concept associated with decision-making that and second republic attribute to themselves in relation to clean, that is, they taught everything from how to
affected the course not only of fellow citizens as a whole, the entire Afro-Brazilian exploratory period? previously treat ingrown toenails or get rid of dandruff, to how [PAGES 13 to 15]
but also of the ruling class and its ability to perpetuate indigenous and the period of later abandonment? In other the poor could get rich just by investing in the stock
its privileges. Economic power, since the ancient Greeks, words, the Portuguese and Brazilian governments and market! The same industry that, through advertising,
therefore, took care that those who took the decisions that others were directly responsible for slavery and for the intimidates the social being says it will save him from
affected everything and everyone were exactly the actors lack of social reparation for the damage caused by it to intimidation. Perhaps one of the crass examples is
coming from an elite: a race of people who would defend their descendants. how some women are forced to stuff themselves with
their conflicting and, not infrequently, contradictory Giving space to endless debates, the mainstream goodies and at the same time are forced not to be fat;
interests. private inpolis (city), that is, in the political world. media is against reparation because it questions the who creates fatphobia is who creates gluttony and
On the other hand, in the historical moments when existence of historical violence, naturalizing it in everyday invents that happiness “can be within your reach: just
the elites autocratically or oligarchically led everyone’s life. But Afro-descendants would be innocent if they click here”. The world of supposed ease is one of the
paths to chaos or to the brink of destruction, these were expected this reparation from the mainstream media or most tyrannical worlds possible. Post-truth applied
the periods in which the nefarious presence of instances the Brazilian State or, even worse, from the Portuguese to the internet has the same objective that advertising
that wanted to be above politics became more evident. In government. But young people of African descent have had on television: to form passive, docile, submissive,
Brazil, too, a certain Afro-descendants thrown under the shown themselves to be aware of this due to the great moldable internet users within the spectrum of “content
rug due to the shame that slavery meant to the country’s discontent they have been showing on social media. consumers”.
history, once hidden, today is open to everyone’s light They know that historical racism has found ways to In the clash between “expectation versus reality”
via the internet, advertising and media, helping us, perpetuate itself and that the widening of the social gap (turned into a meme to be swallowed in the universe of
ambiguously, to to see concrete democracy as the only and the creation of marginality also creates the illusion the acceptable), the huge difference between the title
light at the end of the late capitalism tunnel. of superiority in certain groups that feel differentiated and thumbnail of the video slots and their true content is
The ancient Greek decline, which the historian of or above the law – this is still a thorn in the side of the naturalized, turned into a joke, assimilated and accepted
philosophy Will Durant called the “suicide of Greece,” was future of democracy in the country. as “the bones of the trade”. In the publicized society the
linked to the decline of freedom and democracy. During Pushing blacks into marginality, a racist tactic that means has become the end, the middle class dream is
the second Athenian Empire “grave denunciations used worked for a while, is not only dysfunctional today, no longer to have a house and a car, but to have your
to be imputed to the most prominent bankers, and the but also turns in a big wave against those responsible recommended video, your post viral, your life exposed
people regarded them with the same envy, admiration for marginalization. The expansion and deepening of to the greatest number of people. So it is possible to be
and displeasure with which the poor favored the rich at all citizenship is a citizen’s duty; indeclinable attitude of recommended, have your post go viral and be able to
times. The substitution of movable wealth for immovable those who live in society. The right to be, the right to restart the vicious cycle that will not lead most content
wealth produced a feverish struggle for money, and the exist, the right to come and go, among so many others, “creators” and their (consumption)followers anywhere,
Greek language had to invent the words pleonexia, to are always rights that are always questioned by marginals not even, sometimes, the monetization on one side or
classify this appetite for ‘more and more’ and another, or those considered “marginals of the time” from time the entertainment on the other – just a waste of time
chrematistikê, for the ferocious conquest of fortune. to time. The expansion and deepening of the citizenry and an increase in general authoritarianism. As a rule,
Products, services and people were increasingly judged will necessarily move every “stray sheep” into the social with the nosy invasion of The legal basis for processing
in light of money and property. Fortunes were made body because, simply and logically, there is no human is our legitimate interest to promote our products and
and disposed of with unprecedented speed, and were outside of their gender, just as there is no human outside of services. – which practically prevent taking a single step
lavished on all sorts of extravagance, in an exhibitionism politics – even if they are excluded from all rights. Access on any website without capturing valuable personal
that would have scandalized the Athens of Pericles.” to culture, health, science and the arts, access to public information from internet users – and with the current
(dUrANt, 1957, p.148) thought means human right: access to information and form of Google search, among others – increasingly
Equality before the law, direct participation in the human production, access to education, food, work and targeted, commodified and minimized, because it
course of the nation, as well as the legal guarantee of leisure, etc. it simply means being human. no longer delivers free and without any monetary
exposing, discussing and voting their opinions in public The marginalized are dehumanized. He has space intermediation of any kind - the internet that was once
assemblies are not only the highest level of democracy, in life, however limiting and limited, but his access the space of freedom is today the cookie addressed to
but access to it is the highest level of what is to be a to social well-being, to total cultural production is the dragon and we are the ones who feed it, unaware,
citizen. Those who are excluded from equality, whether restricted or blocked by the absence of the space he with our clicks full of excitement.
above or below the law – either by coercion or by their would naturally have in the political economy. But even No better metaphor for the huge waste of browsing
own will excluded from political participation or those if there is rationality in the identification that there is time on smartphones than the idea of using the finger on
who are socially, physically or psychologically minimized an indifference between economic power and political the small screen to “wipe the ice” and work as “clickers”
to the point of not being able to expose, discuss and power in a country with slaveholding bases, we live in a for free for billion-dollar companies that finance world
vote on their opinions in public – are outcast, barred type of formal democracy that illusively suggests that authoritarianism. The idea of being a product for sale
from citizenship, alien to what it means to be a citizen. any citizen has access to political participation only by is not in line with the idea of living or working under a
In the democratic system of consumers, with the voting, which is not the truth. democratic system and a republican regime. If what is
exception of tax evaders, those who are taxpayers who Let’s still think about blacks with economic power. I am presented as entertainment becomes addiction, work or
assume their responsibilities as citizens, regardless not referring to black musicians or company technicians manipulation, we are talking about a disease of the end of
of skin color, origin or social status, tend to be called whose purchasing power guarantees them access to an era and not the beginning of another – because there
citizens . At the limit, even when it comes to population entry-level cars from major automakers. I am not even would be no future without a light at the end of the tunnel.
of groups in extreme poverty, they make up the country’s referring here to black producers of major events or those Being thrown into the midst of the current dispute
economy when they participate in the circulation of who have pursued a career in medicine, law (especially between mercantile interests and public interests,
goods, purchases and sales or provision of services, criminal law), engineering or who have had access to Afro-descendants and their advocates, now armed
making up a percentage of the economic framework, technical jobs in multinationals and who have made with their smartphones, have emerged as a consistent
even though they often do not have any percentage. in them able to access their SUvs with payment on time. phenomenon on the internet. However, contradictorily,
political participation. and pickup trucks—in short, I don’t mean the middle- due to the great angry force of the search for rights
Marginalized people are coerced not to participate in class Negro. I am referring to those high-performance through social networks, as a “light at the end of the
public debate. However, even they and their ancestors players who as soon as they become millionaires “whiten”, tunnel”, they seem to want to exercise democracy, instead
helped to build the set that forms the State, the market evade taxes, defend class interests, but who continue of passively accepting “wiping ice” in the face of the
and society. The homicide rate of blacks according to the to be called “monkeys” in Europe or despised by judges, emergence of social changes. that they require. The
Atlas of Violence (IPEA-2021), for example, indicated that or even reduced to objects by women who are similarly perception of Afro-descendants on the internet, in this
the number of deaths by homicide was around 77% in 2021 reduced to objects by them. The economic power of sense, has become fertile food for the exercise of virtual
(this same data, in 2008, was around 64, 55%). Being black these athletes does not absolve them of their blackness citizenship, promoting a boiling point at this exact moment
means being twice as likely to be murdered in today’s – especially in places where they cannot hide behind of democratic descent, also fueled by the internet.
Brazil. However, even with this so-called “genocide”, their supposed heroism. Black humanization in a “white Those who were called to participate in the
according to IBGE data, 54% of the population is black. world” is an aspect that goes beyond formal democracy mercantile world and were excluded from citizenship
This number may be even higher considering that these and economic power. To be black is to be a pariah within and consumption now also distrust those who call them.
data are collected through self-declaration and a large your country, but also outside of it. Those who, through their black conscience, have come
part of Afro-descendants have not yet come out as That is why the expressions of multiculturalism with to realize that being called to consumption means only
mestizos or blacks. its internet upheavals, unofficial surface spelling reforms, being a “consumer” will deny this participation in their
For those who doubt the need to repair the slavery infantilisms, “witch hunts” or “cancellations” of medieval own way in this sphere where everything has a price,
process that officially lasted about 400 years, we launch spirit, attempt at self-foundation of political correctness, everything is bought, everything is sold. On the contrary,
the following reflection just to stay in the professional carnivalesque identity and the word wars and swearing this newly inserted subject knows that black inclusion
and educational fields: the Portuguese kingdom was are just the end of the tunnel, not expressions of end-of- in the mercantile world makes him one more among
directly responsible for the black and indigenous the-tunnel democracy. other commodities. For this reason, he has also used his
Brazilian enslavement; millions of people were enslaved Even though the (bad) brought up and (bad) educated own ability and originality to find ways to assert himself
from around 1530 until Brazil’s independence in 1822. youth on the internet (informed only by Facebook, Twitter, in the public sphere as a citizen and reject the label of
They prohibited Africans and their descendants from Instagram etc., and by the pseudo-sages who post videos mere consumer of products aimed at Afro-descendants.
learning to read and write, and even poor whites, since on any subject in exchange for likes and superchats on Regardless of the methods that will be used for the
the Portuguese never opened a single university in Brazil. youtube) feel like the majority “ empowered” (narcissus real social insertion of Afro-descendants, this insertion
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