While Spanish colonial America was developing great leaders who inspired millions to dream of freedom, Brazil’s resistance was sporadic. Any uprisings were swiftly crushed by the military. Many slaves escaped and hid in communities protected by isolation and vegetation. These were known as Quilombos. Most however were hunted down and destroyed. There was no one to fight for them. Even the Christian religion did not offer sanctuary to the Africans. In fact all the clerics of religious orders and priests possessed their own slaves. Slavery ran so deep in Brazilian society that anyone with a little money owned a slave. Widowed women were known to rent their slaves out in the cities. Most free African men owned slaves. Even slaves were known to have slaves of their own. We’re talking slavery to the core.
And zero education for the masses. By the time independence is negotiated by the elite of Brazil, the Portuguese and the British in 1822, 85% of the population is illiterate, unable to read a newspaper or government decree. 90% of the population lived in rural areas, under the mercy of large landowners4. They depended on them for everything from protection from the police to medical attention, not to mention food, a roof and inevitably one day, a coffin. This was the veil that hid the simple truth behind the relationship of the masses to the elite: They were exploited en-mass.
A nation was born, but very little changed for many. Slavery continued until 1888, when finally the elite heeded to English calls for abolition. By then the number of slaves had decreased from over 1 million in 1822 to 723,000. They were set free overnight.
The democracy that ensued since independence was a farce. The masses were coerced to vote in open elections for the party chosen by their protectors, or exploiters. Later the vote began to get bought for food or shoes, but the illiterate were always banned from voting.
So here we have it: Few families known as oligopolies own most of the land; three products, coffee, sugar and cotton make up over 80% of exports, 90% of the population living in rural areas and 85% of the population illiterate and excluded from the right to citizenship. Welcome to a free and independent Brazil, it’s the year 1888.
1 Indios do Brazil, 3rd edition, by Julio C. Melatti.
2 Cidadania no Brasil, o longo caminho, by Jose Murillo Carvalho p. 20.
3 Cidadania no Brasil, o longo caminho, by Jose Murillo Carvalho p. 18.
4 Cidadania no Brasil, o longo caminho, by Jose Murillo Carvalho p. 32.
5 Cidadania no Brasil, o longo caminho, by Jose Murillo Carvalho p. 47.
6 Research paper published on the internet by Lillian Fessler Vaz & Berenstein Jaques
No comments:
Post a Comment