In search of a theory for supporting resistance to predatory neoliberalism in the 21St Century
| Autor | Suranjit Kumar Saha |
| Cargo | Swansea University, United Kingdom |
| Páginas | 115-137 |
115
IN SEARCH OF A THEORY FOR SUPPORTING RESISTANCE TO PREDATORY NEOLIBERALISM IN THE 21ST
CENTURY
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
IN SEARCH OF A THEORY FOR SUPPORTING RESISTANCE TO PREDATORY
NEOLIBERALISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Suranjit Kumar Saha
Swansea University, United Kingdom
IN SEARCH OF A THEORY TO HELP THE RESISTANCE TO PREDATORY NEOLIBERALISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY
!"#$%'(This text deals with the search of fundamentals to the south-south research about the key-problems of the
! "#$%#&'(%)#*"+,$(%-&(.&+& % /&+%0&!*1,$2(1+"&/("10& ("0 "3&4$#51$#5,-&,/(&!+$%&6* -,$(%-7& $.&,5 &% (1$8 "+1&(",5(0(9& $%&
its various forms is to be effectively challenged and if the predatory policies resulting from it should be reverted. It starts of
the perspective that is necessary an alternative paradigm of development, clearly enounced, which reinforces the national
identity in Latin America, India and the rest of the world in development.
Such paradigm should favour the construction of mix and inclusives cultures able to create the sense of solidarity among
great masses located in extensive areas with the objective to unblock, free and mobilize resistance against the predatory
neoliberalism in the 21st century
)*+,-$."' Neoliberalismo, resistance, national identity
EM BUSCA DE UMA TEORIA PARA AJUDAR A RESISTÊNCIA AO NEOLIBERALISMO PREDATÓRIO NO SÉCULO XXI
/*"01-'&:&, 9,(&,"+,+&0+&8*-'+&0 &.*%0+! %,(-&2+"+&+&2 -6*$-+&-*1;-*1&-(8" & (-&&2"(81 !+-;&'5+< &0+-&'(%)#*"+=> -&
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0+&2 "-2 ',$ 0 &0 - %
identidade nacional na América Latina, Índia e o resto do mundo em desenvolvimento. Tal paradigma deve favorecer a
construção de culturas mistas e inclusivas capazes de criar senso de solidariedade entre grandes massas situadas em
9, %-+-&D" +-&'(!&
2%3%4$%"5&6%4*' Neoliberalismo, resistência, identidade nacional
Recebido em 21.11.2013. Aprovado em 06.01.2014.
116 Suranjit Kumar Saha
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
7( 89:/;<=>?;'(what kind of future are we looking
for and how do you get there?
What we are seeking here is a solid foundation
for South-South research on the key issues of the
! "#$%#& '(%)#*"+,$(%-& (.& +& % /& +%0E& 5(2 .*11J&
multipolar, global order. And if Stiglitz’s belated
'(%' "%&+8(*,&$% 6*+1$,JE&+., "&+&1(%#& $%%$%#-&+,& ,5 &
World Bank, crafting precisely the policies which had
8 %& 9+' "8+,$%#& ,5(- & < "J& $% 6*+1$,$ -E& $-& +%J&
indication, at least a section of the social science
fraternity of the capitalist centre, may be expected
to begin raising doubts about the absolute veracity
of the currently dominant neoliberal doctrine. If
that happens, and if the researchers of the South,
including those of Southern origin but based in the
northern universities and institutions, can stay on
course in focussing attention on the problem of
$%'" +-$%#&$% 6*+1$,$ -&8 ,/ %&+%0&/$,5$%&'(*%,"$ -E&
socially as well as spatially, and on the essentially
predatory nature of the neoliberal doctrine, then and
only then a real beginning could perhaps be made in
rolling back those rampant forces which are currently
ripping apart the very fabric of life for the vast majority
of the world’s population. Whether that majority is
KKL&("& KML&("& NML&("& OML&!+J& 2+",1J&0 2 %0&(%&
,5 & %*+%' -& (.& ,5 &)#*" &(.& -2 '5E& 2+",1J&
on the varying shapes of the Gini-curves in different
-('$ ,$ -E&2+",1J& (%& +" +& -2 '$)'&/+J-& '1+-- -& +%0&
-('$+1&'+, #("$ -&+" &0 )% 0& +%0&,5 &/+J-&$%& /5$'5&
they interact with each other.
We also need to highlight the centrality of two
tasks if the neoliberal orthodoxy in its various forms
is to be challenged effectively and if the predatory
policies stemming from it are to be rolled back.
First is the creation of an alternative narrative of the
history of global development from the perspective
of the survivors of all forms of colonial oppression
from the 15th century onwards, including genocides,
mass slaughters, policy-engineered famines,
forced migrations, planned impoverishments of
1+"# & - ',$(%-& (.& 2(2*1+,$(%-E& +%0& #"(, -6* 1J&
*% 6*+1&" 1+,$(%-&(.& 1+8(*"& +%0& ,"+0 & -*-,+$% 0&8J&
'( "'$< &2"+',$' -3&P5$-&%+""+,$< &% 0-&,(&" Q ',&,5 &
concrete experiences of successive generations of
the peoples of Africa, Latin America and Asia from
the 15th century onwards during the long histories
of colonial expansion and consolidation by European
powers. This narrative must capture not only the
myriad forms of resistance mounted by the oppressed
societies but alco the immensely complex dynamics
of reconstitution, adjustment, accommodation that
these societies went through because of the the
violent contact with the forces of colonialism.
Only such a narrative can provide a solid
foundation for an overarching alternative paradigm of
development which is urgently needed to counter the
debilitating effects of the currently dominant neoliberal
orthodoxy. This orthodoxy, aided by its tendentious
+%0& 2"(1$)'& *-+# -& (.& '(!21 9& '(%(! ,"$'& +%0&
-,+,$-,$'+1& , '5%$6* -E& 5+-& ,5$-& .+"& -*'' --.*11J&
obfuscated and thus hidden the real dynamics and
the nature of forces orchestrating the processes of
impoverishment and deprivation from the gaze of the
-*.. " "-E&,5 &2"(< "8$+1& KKL3&& RJ& 0($%#&,5$-E& $,& 5+-&
also drained the will, and prevented the organisation
(.& " -$-,+%' & 8J& ,5$-& KKL& +#+$%-,& ,5(- & 2" 0+,("J&
forces managed by a small but powerful minority.
Much of its power is derived from the ignorance
of its victims about the real causes of their suffering.
Only an alternative paradigm of development, clearly
enunciated in plain and easy to understand language,
can help remove this blindfold of ignorance from the
eyes of the people, bringing to their clear gaze the
line of causation which springs from the wilful actions
of this minority. Once this happens, the power of this
minority will rapidly turn into its vulnerability and
fragility. This awareness will create the motivation
+%0&" +0$% --& $%&,5 &"+%ST-& (.&,5 & KKL&,(& ("#+%$- &
resistance against the forces of predation and a
good chance for that resistance to be successful.
In this paper I only attend to this task
perfunctorily because doing this well will take a lot
more time and space than what is available while
2" - %,$%#& +&2+2 "& $%& ,5 & - !$%+"3& &P5$-& )"-,& ,+-SE&
though important, is however only a precursor to
the second task which is about putting intellectual
power to the service of supporting resistance to
% (1$8 "+1$-!E&+%0&5 12&8*$10$%#&-(1$0+"$,J&(.&,5 &KKL&
for achieving that purpose.
The second task, therefore, must involve
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(.&,5$-& % /& 2+"+0$#!E&$3 3&2(-$%#& ,5 & 6* -,$(%&who
are we and what kind of future are we seeking?
/$,5& " #+"0& ,(& ,5 & 6* -,$(%& (.& %+,$(%+1& $0 %,$,J&
in Latin America, India and indeed in the rest of
the developing world. The building of composite
and inclusive cultures which can create a sense
of solidarity among large masses of people over
extensive areas and thus unblock, unleash and
mobilise irrepressible energies of resistance against
injustice and repression therefore has to be a critical
part of this process.
2 THE QUESTION OF INEQUALITY
2.1 Global contours of inequality
In a paper published recently, Bourguignon
and Morrisson has shown that inter-country income
$% 6*+1$,J&+'"(--& ,5 &/("10& 5+-&8 %& -, +0$1J&"$-$%#&
."(!&+&1 < 1&(.&M3U&&V$%$&'( .)'$ %,&$%&WNXM&,(&+"(*%0&
0.66 in 1980 but has been slowly but steadily
falling since then as a result of the global spread
of industrialisation and technological development.
This trend, however, says nothing about the long-
, "!&5$-,("$'+1&2"()1 -&(.&$%,"+;'(*%,"J&$% 6*+1$,$ -3&
117
IN SEARCH OF A THEORY FOR SUPPORTING RESISTANCE TO PREDATORY NEOLIBERALISM IN THE 21ST
CENTURY
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
In most countries for which data is available,
5(/ < "E& $%,"+;'(*%,"J& $% 6*+1$,$ -& 0 '1$% 0& ."(!&
their peaks in the 1920s to their lowest points in late
1970s and early 1980s and have been steadily rising
again since then (BOURGUIGNON; MORRISSON,
2002). Between 1980 and 2010, intra-country income
$% 6*+1$,$ -&5+< &"$- %&$%&+11&,5 &!+Y("& '(%(!$ -&/$,5&
,5 & 9' 2,$(%& (.&R"+F$13& I,&5+-&"$- %& 8J&(< "& OML&$%&
,5 &Z5$%+&+%0&[*--$+E&8J&(< "&XML&$%&\]E&V "!+%JE&
India, UK, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic,
Paraguay, Nigeria and New Zealand, and by lesser
amounts in most of the rest of Europe, Japan,
Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Canada, Mexico,
Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala
+%0&4(%0*"+-3&I,&5+-&.+11 %& 8J&^L&$%&R"+F$1E&8*,& ,5 &
1 < 1-& (.& $% 6*+1$,J& $%& +11&_+,$%&`! "$'+%& '(*%,"$ -E&
including Brazil, have historically been, and continue
to be much higher than almost anywhere else in the
world; in fact so much higher that they are a different
league altogether.
2.2 Inequality in the US
Ever since the stock market crash of 2008,
$% 6*+1$,J&8 #+%& ,(& ! "# & +-&+& !+Y("&$--* & $%&,5 &
public consciousness and policy circles in the US,
as indeed in much of the rest of the world. Joseph
Table 1 - Z(%,(*"-&(.&$% 6*+1$,$ -&$%&,5 &/("10T-&!+Y("& '(%(!$ -
Countries No. of
billionaires
in 20131
L&(.&V?C&
owned
by the
billionaires1
Gini in
1980 or
nearest
year2
Gini in
2010 or
latest year2
L&"$- a
fall in
$% 6*+1$,J&
between
1980 and
2010
GDP share
of the
poorest
WML3
GDP
share of
the richest
WML3
Income gap
8 ,/ %&WML&
richest and
WML&2((" -,&
(multiples)
US 442 10.5 0.301 0.386 28.2 1.9 29.9 15.7
China 122 2.6 0.234 0.415 77.4 1.8 32.0 17.8
Russia 110 18.6 0.251 0.451 79.7 2.8 31.7 11.3
Germany 58 7.2 0.244 0.321 31.6 3.2 22.1 6.9
India 55 10.9 0.314 0.394 25.5 3.8 28.3 7.4
Brazil 46 6.2 0.553 0.520 - 6.0 0.8 42.9 53.6
UK 37 4.0 0.270 0.335 24.1 2.1 28.5 13.6
Japan 22 1.3 0.300 0.329 9.7 4.8 21.7 4.5
@-0$&*"'(Forbes (2013), Bastagli, Coady and Gupta (2012) and UNDP (2012).
],$#1$,FT-&" ' %,&8((S&(%&$% 6*+1$,J&$-&.('*- 0&+1!(-,&
entirely on the nature and causes of deepening
$% 6*+1$,J& $%&,5 &\]E& 2+",$'*1+"1J& -$%' & ,5 & '"$-$-& (.&
1998. It shows that the so-called success story of the
capitalist democracy is after all not a success story
at all and the much celebrated American dream is
in fact fast turning into an American nightmare for
its poor and middle classes. The book’s point of
departure is this:
In America the share of national income
#($%#& ,(& ,5 & ,(2& 3MWL& b-(! & W^EMMM&
.+!$1$ -c&5+-& "$- %&."(!& Y*-,&(< "& WL&$%&
WKNM&,(& +1!(-,& UL&%(/& def& ,5+,&$%& ,5 &
period of recession, from 2007 to 2010,
median wealth – the wealth of those in
the middle fell by almost 40 percent […]
[and] All the wealth accumulation in this
country has gone to the top. (STIGLITZ,
2013, p. 11-12).
In much of the book, he draws on various
sources to present a whole lot of facts to highlight the
9, %,&+%0& %("!$,J&(.&#"(/$%#&$% 6*+1$,J&$%&,5 &\]&
society. In 2007, the average income of the richest
M3WL&/+-&XXM&,$! -&5$#5 "& ,5+%&,5 &+< "+# & (.&,5 &
2((" -,&KMLE&*2&."(!&(%1J&+"(*%0&UML&$%&WKOK3&?*"$%#&
the same period, the average income of the richest
WL&$%'" +- 0&."(!&Wg& ,$! -&,(& gX&,$! -E& " 1+,$< &,(&
,5 &+< "+# & .("&,5 & 2((" -,&KML&b]PIV_IPhE&XMWic3&
The wealth gap between the two groups also widened
from 131 times in 1983 to 225 times in 2007. Of the
total stock of wealth arising out of capital gain between
WKOK&+%0&XMMOE&NNL&5+0&+''"* 0&,(&,5 &,(2&WLE&KL&
,(&,5(- &8 ,/ %&,5 &,(2XL&+%0&gLE&+%0&(%1J&iL&,(&
,5 &8(,,(!&KUL&b]PIV_IPhE&XMWic3
The fundamental malaise was this: America’s
concentration of wealth at the top was a result of rent
!!"#$%&'$()*+#$%& ,-$-.-)/&.0-12 , and not, as is
often touted by the apologists of neoliberal capitalist,
created as fruits of enterprise and hard work. As
regards the often repeated suggestion that the
problem will be resolved eventually by the markets,
his response is very clear:
[…] markets don’t exist in a vacuum.
They are shaped by our politics, often
$%& /+J-& ,5+,& 8 % ),& ,5(- & +,& ,5 & ,(23&
(STIGLITZ, 2013, p. 14-15).
He argues that the US is currently trapped in
a two-strand mutually interlocking and reinforcing
mechanism, both of which stem from deeply
%," %'5 0& '(%(!$'&$% 6*+1$,$ -&$%&,5 &-('$ ,J3&P5$-&
is how it works:
118 Suranjit Kumar Saha
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
[…] societies with more economic
$% 6*+1$,J& , %0& ,(& 5+< & !(" & 2(1$,$'+1&
$% 6*+1$,JE& -2 '$+11J&/5 %&$,&" +'5 -&,5 &
outside levels found in the United States
and a few other countries. And with a
political system that allows the rich to
9 "'$- &-(&!*'5&$%Q* %' E&$,T-&2 "5+2-&
no surprise that taxes on the rich are
as low as they are. […] (also) much of
,5 & $% 6*+1$,JE& -2 '$+11J& +,& ,5 & ,(2E& $-&
related to rent seeking. Rent seeking is,
on average, destructive […] (STIGLITZ,
2013, p. 33).
The language he uses in some places of the
book seems like the language of the radical left. He
alleges that the US macroeconomic policy and its
Central Bank look like designed “[...] by and for the 1
percent [...]” (STIGLITZ, 2013, p. 298) and suggests
that the US may have
[...] become like one of these disturbed
places (e.g. Egypt, Tunisia, Libya,
Yemen, Syria and Bahrain), serving the
interests of a tiny elite. (STIGLITZ, 2013,
p. 360).
Where governments are toppled or seriously
challenged by street uprisings or civil wars.
Stiglitz is indignant about the current state of
$% 6*+1$,J&+%0&$%Y*-,$' &$%&,5 &\]j&,(&5$!&$,&" 2" - %,-&
a moral degradation.
Something wrong happened to the
moral compass of so many of the
2 (21 & /("S$%#& $%& ,5 & )%+%'$+1& - ',("&
and elsewhere. […] Capitalism seems
to have changed the people who were
ensnared by it. […] [It] is failing to
produce what was promised, but is
delivering on what was not promised –
$% 6*+1$,JE&2(11*,$(%E&*% !21(J! %,E&+%0&
most important of all, the degradation of
values to the point where everything is
acceptable and no one is accountable.
(STIGLITZ, 2013, p. 47).
These are brave and radical words. But the
way forward he suggests, comprising an economic
reform agenda and a political reform agenda, will
not even begin to replace the present system with
+%(,5 "&'+2+81 & (.&2"(!(,$%#& 6*+1$,JE&.+$"% --&+%0&
fair play, the three fundamental values espoused
by him or “[...] ensuring that the political process is
more responsive to the concerns of the 99 percent.”
(STIGLITZ, 2013, p. 358). The two agenda’s have no
, ,53&P5 J&'+%&8 &$!21 ! %, 0&(%1J&$.&,5 &"$'5 -,&WL&
can be made to realise that their fate, in the long term,
$-&,$ 0& *2& /$,5&+& 8 ,, "& 0 +1&.("& ,5 & (,5 "&KKL3& R*,&
why should a class of people so securely entrenched
in a political system and in its institutions geared to
delivering to it a lion’s share of incomes and wealth
that the economy produces, ever want to understand
any such thing? Only a credible challenge to its
privileged position in the institutions of economic and
political power mounted by a credible mobilisation of
,5 &KKL&("#+%$- 0&+%0&-2 +"5 +0 0&8J&+&-,"(%#&+%0&
well-structured leadership of the masses can make it
feel insecure and countenance change. Stiglitz does
%(,&-+J&5(/&,5 &KKL&/$11&!(*%,&,5$-&'5+11 %# 3
He presents the frightful vision of a class-
divided society in which the haves live in secure
gated communities with access to all good things in
life, living side by side with the have-nots who live
in insecurity, only limited access to education and
healthcare and in hopelessness. If nothing changes,
,5$-&%$#5,!+" &/$11&8 '(! &+&" +1$,J&$%&,5 &\]&$%&).,J&
years, he says. But he is wrong; this nightmare is
already staring the US and the rest of the developed
/("10&$%&,5 &.+' 3&P5 &WL&0(&%(,&- !&,(&!$%0&$,&+%0&
+" &" +0J& ,(& 1$< & /$,5&$,3& P5 & KKL& 0(&%(,& J ,& S%(/&
how to get out of it; nor does Stiglitz tell them how.
P5 J&5+< &,(&1((S& 1- /5 " &,(&)%0&+&"(+0!+23
Stiglitz may not have suggested a credible
way out of the present nightmare of hopelessness
,5+,&,5 & 2((" "&!+Y("$,$ -& )%0&,5 !- 1< -&$%&+'"(--&
the world, but the fact that a former functionary of
the World Bank and a former chief economic advisor
,(& C" -$0 %,& Z1$%,(%& $-& %(/& , 11$%#& ,5 & KKL& (.& ,5 &
world so convincingly that the capitalist system
and the democracies powered by it have nothing to
offer them except more of the same or even worse,
is a harbinger of hope in itself. It helps in dispelling
the myth that the ills of the present day capitalist
0 !('"+'$ -& '+%& 8 & )9 0& 8J& 2+,'5/("S& " 2+$"-3&
Without dispelling this myth completely, a serious
6* -,& .("& +& % /& -J-, !E& +%0& +&!(8$1$-+,$(%&(.&,5 &
people towards achieving it, cannot begin.
ABC( 8D*E0%3F#+(FD(#6*(=)
Towards the very end of its 13 year long tenure
$%& (.)' & bWKKO& ,(& XMWMc& \kT-& _+8(*"& V(< "%! %,&
+22($%, 0&+&l+,$(%+1& I% 6*+1$,J&C+% 1&$%& ] 2, !8 "&
2008 which published its report in January 2010,
known widely as the Hills Report (GOVERNMENT
INEQUALITIES OFFICE, 2010a). It discovered
,5+,&,5 & 5(*"1J& /+# -& +"% 0& 8J&,5 &,(2& WL&(.& ,5 &
employees were 17 times higher than those received
8J& ,5 & 8(,,(!& WL& +%0& g3i& ,$! -& 5$#5 "& ,5+%& ,5 &
! 0$*!&+%0&,5+,&,5 &!+#%$,*0 &(.&,5 - &$% 6*+1$,$ -&
have become considerably worse over the
# % "+,$(%E&$3 3& -$%' &WK^W3& I% 6*+1$,$ -&5+0& -,+", 0&
to rise particularly since 1979 (GOVERNMENT
INEQUALITIES OFFICE, 2010a), which is when
m+"#+" ,&P5+,'5 "&,((S&(.)' &+-&,5 &C"$! &m$%$-, "3&
It further discovered that in the matter of income
$% 6*+1$,JE& \kT-& 2(-$,$(%& /+-& +!(%#& ,5 & /("-,& $%&
Europe (4th in a list of 22 European countries; only
C(",*#+1E&C(1+%0& +%0&I,+1J&)#*" 0& < %&/("- & ,5+%&
the UK) (GOVERNMENT INEQUALITIES OFFICE,
2010a).
119
IN SEARCH OF A THEORY FOR SUPPORTING RESISTANCE TO PREDATORY NEOLIBERALISM IN THE 21ST
CENTURY
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
The British newspaper Guardian had produced
a detailed analysis of the data presented in the Hills
[ 2(",3& I,& -5(/ 0& ,5+,& ,5 & 2((" -,& WL& $%& R"$,+$%&
received an income of £5,668 annually, whereas the
richest 99th percentile received £99,360 or 77.5 times
!(" 3&`-&.("&,5 &,(2&WLE&$,&-$!21J&-+$0&,5+,&sky is the
limit, but provided the example of Stephen Hester,
the chief executive of the RBS bank who received an
annual income of £1.2 million. The gap between the
poorest and the richest in life-time net worth is even
#" +, "3&P5 & 2((" -,& WL& 5+0& +%& +< "+# & % #+,$< &
net worth of £ -3,844 and the second percentile
a net worth of £1,421, whereas the richest 99th
percentile had an average net worth of £2,574,327.
The net worth of the 99th percentile was thus 1822
times greater than the net worth of the 2nd percentile.
n$,5&" #+"0& ,(& ,5 &,(2& WLE& ,5 &-SJE&+#+$%E&/+-& ,5 &
limit (SCRUTON et al, 2010). It was against this
background of mammoth disparities that the report
had provided this sombre conclusion:
Much of what we have described in
this report shows the way economic
advantages and disadvantages reinforce
themselves across the life cycle, and
often on to the next generation. […]
intergenerational mobility appears
lower in societies such as ours which
+" & !(" & *% 6*+13& `& .*%0+! %,+1& +$!&
of those people with differing political
2 "-2 ',$< -& $-& ,(& +'5$ < & o 6*+1$,J& (.&
opportunity’, but doing so is very hard
when there are such wide differences
in resources which people and their
families have to help them develop their
,+1 %,-&+%0&.*1)1& ,5 $"&0$< "- &2(, %,$+1-3&
(SCRUTON et al, 2010, p. 403).
The report had stressed the centrality of
greater “[…] progressivity of the tax system and the
1 < 1&(.&-('$+1&- '*"$,J&8 % ),-& +%0&,+9&'" 0$,-3p&$.&+&
2(1$'J&/ " &,(&- S&,(&+00" --&,5$-&S$%0&(.&$% 6*+1$,J&
(SCRUTON et al, 2010). The Labour Government
got defeated shortly after the publication of this
report in the general election of May 2010. But there
is very little evidence to suggest that it would have
" +11J& 0(% & +%J,5$%#& -$#%$)'+%,& ,(& 0 +1& +%J& ,5$%#&
-$#%$)'+%,& ,(& 0 +1& /$,5& ,5$-& #"(/$%#& $% 6*+1$,J& $%&
the British society or if it indeed would have seen
it as a problem. The current Conservative Party-led
government will certainly not do anything about it.
`& - '(%0& " 2(",& (%& 2(< ",J& +%0& $% 6*+1$,J&
in the UK was also published in the same year by
,5 & $%Q* %,$+1& +%0& 2" -,$#$(*-& $%0 2 %0 %,& ,5$%S&
tank, Institute for Fiscal Studies (INSTITUTE FOR
FISCAL STUDIES, 2010a), which used the same
sources of data as the UK government report did. Its
analysis focused on the period 1979 to 2009, which
roughly corresponded with the three successive
Conservative Party governments (1979 to 1997)
followed by the three successive Labour Party ones
(1997 to 2010). It found that during the 18 years of
Conservative rule, the annual average income of the
"$'5 -,&6*$%,$1 &"(- &8J& X3UL&+%0&,5+,&(.&,5 & 2((" -,&
6*$%,$1 E&8J&(%1J&M3NLE&$3 3&,5 &.("! "&#" /&,5" &,$! -&
faster. During the Thatcher period (1979 to 1990), the
gap was even bigger - the growth rate of the richest
6*$%,$1 & /+-& i3^L& +%0& ,5+,& (.& ,5 & 2((" -,E& M3gLE&
i.e. the income of the richest grew nine times faster
than the poorest. The performances of the three
_+8(*"(< "%! %,-&/ " &!$9 03&?*"$%#&,5 &)"-,&,/(&
Labour governments (1997 to 2005), the incomes of
,5 &2((" -,& 6*$%,$1 & "(- & !*'5&.+-, "& ,5+%& ,5 J&0$0&
during the preceding Conservative governments, but
during the third Labour government, the incomes
(.&,5+,&6*$%,$1 &+',*+11J&. 113& ?*"$%#&,5 & ,5" &_+8(*"&
governments taken together, the average annual
$%'(! -&(.& ,5 &"$'5 -,& 6*$%,$1 & -,$11" /& .+-, "&,5+%&
,5 &2((" -,&6*$%,$1 j&W3NL&+#+$%-,&W3^L&bIl]PIP\Pq&
FOR FISCAL STUDIES, 2010a). Looking at the
5$-,("$'&," %0&(.&$% 6*+1$,JE&,5 &" 2(",&+1-(&.(*%0&,5+,&
,5 & (< "+11& $% 6*+1$,J& 5+0& -5(,& *2& ."(!& 0*"$%#& ,5 &
P5+,'5 "(< "%! %,E& ."(!&+&V$%$& '( .)'$ %,&)#*" &
of 0.25 in 1979 to 0.33 in 1990, fell slightly during the
early part of the Major period but rose again to 0.33
8J&,5 &.+11&(.&,5+,(< "%! %,&$%&WKKO3&P5 &$% 6*+1$,J&
kept rising under Tony Blair’s Labour Government
too and stood at 0.36 in 2008 (INSTITUTE FOR
FISCAL STUDIES, 2010a). During the period of the
three Labour Governments between 1997 to 2010,
5(/ < "E&,5 &+8-(1*, &2(< ",JE&0 )% 0& (%&,5 &8+-$-&
(.&+&2(< ",J& 1$% &)9 0&$%&" +1&, "!-&+,&^ML& (.&WKK^;
97 median income, after accounting for housing cost,
5+0& 0 '" +- 0& ."(!& XU3iL& ,(& Wi3^L& bIl]PIP\Pq&
FOR FISCAL STUDIES, 2010a). Neither of the
two major political parties in Britain thus seemed
committed to seriously addressing the issue of
$% 6*+1$,JE&8*,&_+8(*"&0$0&- !&,(&!+S & ..(",-&,(&"(11&
back absolute poverty.
]5(",1J&+., "&+--*!$%#&(.)' &$%&m+J&XMWME&,5 &
new Conservative-led government had announced in
its budget sweeping changes in the country’s tax and
8 % ),&-,"*',*" & /5$'5&$,& '1+$! 0& ,(&8 & progressive
(GOVERNMENT INEQUALITIES OFFICE, 2010b).
However, a detailed analysis of these changes
undertaken by the IFS (2010b, p. 1 e 6) clearly
established that
[...] the overall effect of the new reforms
announced in the June 2010 Budget
is regressive, whereas the tax and
8 % ),& " .("!-& +%%(*%' 0& 8J& ,5 &
previous Government for introduction
between June 2010 and April 2014 are
progressive.
During the 2010-2014 period these reforms
are designed to further reduce the incomes of the
2((" -,& ^ML& 5(*- 5(10-& +%0& .*",5 "& $%'" +- & ,5 &
$%'(! -&(.& ,5 & "$'5 "&gMLj& ,5 & 2((" -,&6*$%,$1 & /$11&
be hurt the most. The present Conservative-led
120 Suranjit Kumar Saha
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
government is thus on course to reverse even the
modest gains made during the previous three Labour
governments in ameliorating absolute poverty.
2.4 Inequality in Latin America
I% 6*+1$,J& $%& _+,$%& `! "$'+& 5+-& +1/+J-& 8 %&
5$#5 "&,5+%&,5 &" -,&(.&,5 &/("103&I%&WKNME&,5 &V$%$&)#*" &
for Argentina was 0.376, which was remarkably low for
Latin America but still much higher than all the countries
of Europe and North America. From then onwards
it rose constantly for the next twenty years, reaching
a peak of 0.483 in 0.483, from which point it started
0 '1$%$%#E&" +'5$%#&M3gX&$%& XMWM3&I%& R"+F$1E&$% 6*+1$,J&
has always been much higher than Argentina, and
indeed than all the rest of Latin America and the world.
Its peak at 0.588 was in 1990 and remained around
,5+,&)#*" &*%,$1&XMMME&-$%' &/5 %&$,&0 '1$% 0&-(! /5+,&
until reaching 0.52 in 2010. Even after this decline,
$% 6*+1$,J&$%&R"+F$1&$-&-,$11&!*'5&5$#5 "&,5+%&$%&`"# %,$%+E&
Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and
Venezuela. In 2010; only Bolivia, Colombia, Haiti,
Table 2 - Z(%,(*"-&(.&$% 6*+1$,$ -&$%&_+,$%&`! "$'+
Countries No. of
billionaires
in 20131
L&(.&V?C&
owned
by the
billionaires1
Gini in
1990 or
nearest
year2
Gini in
2010 or
latest year2
L&"$- a
fall in
$% 6*+1$,J&
between
1990 and
2010
GDP share
of the
poorest
WML&$%&
20103
GDP
share of
the richest
WML&$%&
20103
Richest to
Poorest
gap in
2010
Brazil 46 7.7 0.588 0.520 - 11.6 0.8 42.9 53.6
Mexico 15 11.5 0.511 0.516 1.0 1.4 37.2 26.6
Chile 14 17.9 0.537 0.506 - 5.8 1.5 42.8 28.5
Peru 10 10.6 0.514 0.468 - 8.9 1.4 36.1 25.8
Colombia 5 8.6 0.483 0.558 15.5 0.9 44.4 49.3
Argentina 5 2.2 0.442 0.422 - 4.5 1.5 32.3 21.5
Venezuela 3 2.8 0.399 0.412 3.3 1.2 33.2 27.7
Uruguay 0.404 0.423 4.7 1.9 34.4 18.1
Paraguay 0.393 0.489 24.4 1.0 41.1 41.1
Ecuador 0.573 0.467 - 18.5 1.4 38.3 27.4
Bolivia 0.509 0.551 8.3 0.5 43.3 86.6
Nicaragua 0.543 0.500 - 7.9 2.6 31.5 12.1
Panama 0.535 0.495 - 7.5 1.1 40.1 36.5
El Salvador 0.505 0.446 - 11.7 1.0 37.0 37.0
Costa Rica 0.422 0.485 14.9 1.2 39.5 32.9
Honduras 0.494 0.538 8.9 0.4 42.4 106.0
@-0$&*"' Forbes (2013), Bastagli, Coady and Gupta (2012) and UNDP (2012).
4(%0*"+-&+%0&r+!+$'+&/ " &!(" &*% 6*+1&-('$ ,$ -&
than Brazil. Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela are
,5 &!(-,& 6*+1& -('$ ,$ -&$%&,5 & '(%,$% %,E& 8*,& < %&
,5 - & +" &!*'5&!(" & *% 6*+1& ,5+%& ,5 & 0 < 1(2 0&
countries and most of Asia (BASTAGLI; COADY;
GUPTA, 2012).
C(
As the tide of consciousness was spreading
across the world about the predatory nature
of neoliberal capitalism and about the fact that
unregulated market forces necessarily generate
$%'" +-$%#& 1 < 1-& (.& $% 6*+1$,JE& /5$'5& $%& ,*"%&
produces mass poverty and misery, the defenders
of this defunct system also started gathering force to
capture the high moral ground of the public opinion
space. Janet Daley writing in Sunday Telegraph
exhorted the Tory supporters to make it clear that
capitalism contain
[...] the vices of human beings (like)
#" 0E& - 1)-5% --& +%0& 0$-5(% -,JE&
but also the virtues (of) creativity,
industriousness and courage (and)
provides all the wealth that there is for
public services and government funding.
(DALEY, 2010).
All arguments against free market economics
are just “[...]cheap, hysterical taunts [...]” and take the
form of a “[...] relentless torrent of pointless abuse
[...]” hurled against “[...] capitalism, the banks and
speculators [...]”, none of which will “[...] stand up to a
moments examination [...]” (Daley, 2010). Making the
case for capitalism should have seemed a bit like a
foolhardy rant at a time when papers were reporting
that 2,800 bankers, precisely the people who had
triggered the economic crisis in 2008, were taking
home more than a million pounds each in bonuses,
when the Lloyds chief, Eric Daniels was awarded
£2.3 million in bonus on top of his £1.1 million salary
121
IN SEARCH OF A THEORY FOR SUPPORTING RESISTANCE TO PREDATORY NEOLIBERALISM IN THE 21ST
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+%0& /5 %& ,5 & 2((" -,& ^ML& (.& ,5 & R"$,$-5& 2 (21 &
were getting even poorer because of the deliberately
designed pro-rich policies of the Conservative-led
#(< "%! %,E&)#*" -&'$, 0&$%&P" +%("&bXMWWc3&R*,&,5+,&
did not deter the defenders of the system.
The Economist, the widely respected British
weekly which is regarded as the principal reasoned
voice of capitalism in the country, published a special
report in defence of the rich in April 2009 (THE
ECONOMIST, 2009a). In this report, it picked up the
two terms deserving and undeserving rich earlier
used in an article by Prasad et al (2009). They were
+00" --$%#&,5 &6* -,$(%&/5J&,5 &/5$, &/("S$%#&'1+--&
in the US voted for Bush in overwhelming numbers
despite his known pro-rich policies and the answer
they found was the following:
Wealth, in and of itself, does not threaten
+& '+%0$0+'J3& R*,& oo*%0 - "< 0TT& / +1,5&
does. Our respondents perceived Bush
+-& 2+",& (.& ,5 & oo0 - " "$'5TTs,5(- &
whose mannerisms suggest that they
are able to see the true human worth of
< "J(% s/5$1 &,5 J&-+/&k ""J& +-&2+",&
(.& ,5 & oo*%0 - " "$'5TTs,5(- & /5(&
believe their elevated social position
makes them superior to others, or who
see money as an end in itself. (PRASAD
et al, 2009, p. 251).
The Economist believed that ordinary people
made the distinction in a different way. The deserving
rich were the entrepreneurs, those who set up big
companies like Microsoft and Apple, the undeserving
ones were the traders, brokers and fund managers
(.&,5 &)%+%'$+1&- ',("3&R*,&$,&-,"$< -&,(&!+S &,5 &'+- &
that neither really merits the term undeserving and
,5+,&% $,5 "&-5(*10& 8 &,+9 0&("& )%+%'$+11J&2 %+1$- 0&
in a hurry and it warns:
]6* F &,5 & "$'5&*%,$1& ,5 & 2$2-&-6* +SE&
and the juice goes out of the economy.
[…] The rich are the easy target. But
when you punch them, you usually end
up punching yourself in the nose. (THE
ECONOMIST, 2009b, p. 11).
In 2011, The Economist (2011a; 2011b)
publishes another report on the rich who it calls
global leaders. It offers various arguments to
assuage ordinary people’s growing revulsion against
,5 & /$0 %$%#&$% 6*+1$,$ -& 8 ,/ %& ,5 & "$'5& +%0& ,5 &
2(("3&P(&-(! & 9, %,"(/$%#&$% 6*+1$,J&$-&$%
because “Modern technology favours the skilled (and)
educated men now tend to marry educated women.”
(THE ECONOMIST, 2011a, p. 11). It provides data to
show that disparities are indeed galling.
P5 &"$'5 -,&WL& (.&+0*1,-&'(%,"(1& giL&(.&
,5 & /("10T-& +-- ,-j& ,5 & / +1,5$ -,& WML&
5+< &NiL& def& #$ ,5 !&+& 1(,& (.&-+J&
in funding businesses, charities and
politicians. (THE ECONOMIST, 2011b,
p. 6-7).
`%0&J ,&$,&+"#* -&,5+,&$% 6*+1$,J&-5(*10&%(,&Y+"&
us because in most cases “[...] the rich have earned
their fortunes [...]” and because “[...] talents are
rewarded [...]” (THE ECONOMIST, 2011b, pp. 8-9).
After all capitalist democracies provide opportunities
to people of humble backgrounds like Barack
Obama to rise to the top. In these democracies:
“Cash seldom buys political power. What counts
are ideas and the ability to inspire.” and this the
rich are in the best position to provide and do (THE
ECONOMIST, 2011b, p. 10-12). The elites, no matter
how rich, serve the masses. It goes to great lengths
in seeking to dismiss Wilkinson and Pickett’s (2009)
,5 -$-& ,5+,& !(" & 6*+1& '(*%,"$ -& .+" & 8 ,, "& (%& +&
whole range of economic and social indicators. The
" 2(",T-&" '(!! %0+,$(%& .("& 0 +1$%#&/$,5& $% 6*+1$,J&
is this: “[...] governments need to keep their focus
on pushing up the bottom and middle rather than
dragging down the top.” (THE ECONOMIST, 2011a,
p. 12). In other words, do whatever you can, but do
not touch the wealth of the rich.
In October 2012, The Economist published a
,5$"0&" 2(",& (%& ,5 &-,+, & (.& $% 6*+1$,$ -&$%& ,5 & /("10&
which too presented a case for not hurting the
interests of the rich too much, but this time in a much
more nuanced way:
def& -(! & ! +-*" & (.& $% 6*+1$,J& $-&
good for the economy. It sharpens
incentives to work hard and take risks;
it rewards the talented innovators who
drive economic progress […] (but now)
$% 6*+1$,J& 5+-& " +'5 0& +& -,+# & /5 " &
$,&'+%& 8 &$% .)'$ %,& +%0&8+0& .(""(/,53&
(THE ECONOMIST, 2012a, p. 13).
Because (big income gaps)
[...] can bar talented poor people from
access to education or feed resentment
that results in growth-destroying populist
policies. (THE ECONOMIST, 2012b, p.
4).
It warns:
Too often high-tax welfare states turned
(*,& ,(&8 & $% .)'$ %,& +%0& *%-*-,+$%+81 3&
V(< "%! %,& '*" -& .("& $% 6*+1$,J& 5+< &
sometimes been worse than the disease
itself. (THE ECONOMIST, 2012b, p. 6).
The three-strand strategy it recommends
,(& 0 +1& /$,5& ,5 & 2"(81 !& (.& $% 6*+1$,J& +'"(--& ,5 &
world also seeks to protect the interests of the rich,
2+",$'*1+"1J&,5 &o0 - "<$%#T&"$'53&P5 &,5" &-,"+%0-&+, 7&
(i) greater transparency in the government to deal with
crony capitalism, (ii) more targeted welfare spending
(iii) tax reforms which do not “[...] punish the rich but
122 Suranjit Kumar Saha
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
"+$- &!(% J&!(" & .)'$ %,1J&+%0&2"(#" --$< 1J3p&bP4q&
qZ:l:mI]PE&XMWX+E&23&Wi;Wgc3&I,&+22"(%#1J&6*(, -&
from the Nobel-prize winning neoliberal economist
Robert Lucas Jr. (2003, p.12) who had said:
Of the tendencies that are harmful to
sound economics, the most seductive,
and in my opinion the most poisonous,
$-&,(&.('*-&(%&6* -,$(%-&(.&0$-,"$8*,$(%3
The ferocity of the right’s counterattack must
not be underestimated, the nature of which Monibiot
bXMWiE&23&X^c&-,+, -&-(& 1(6* %,1J7
It is no longer enough to own the land
and most of the capital, to own the media
and – through the corrupt system of
party funding – the political process. To
" $%-,+, &q0/+"0$+%& 1 < 1-&(.&$% 6*+1$,JE&
the feral elite must seek to reverse the
political progress that has been made
since then. This means dismantling the
tax system, which redistributes wealth. It
means ditching the rules that prevent the
powerful from acting as they please. […]
This conservatism does not care whom
it hurts. It will not […] contemplate the
slightest check on its own self interest.
All else can burn.
4 THE QUESTION OF IDENTITY
As the Irish political scientist Benedict
Anderson (1983, p. 15) has argued in his widely read
book Imagined Communities, a nation is always
an imagined community and not a primordial or an
eternally constructed entity.
I& 2"(2(- & ,5 & .(11(/$%#& 0 )%$,$(%& (.&
the nation: it is an imagined political
community – and imagined as both
inherently limited and sovereign. […]
In fact, all communities larger than
primordial villages … are imagined.
Communities are to be distinguished,
not by their falsity/genuineness, but by
style in which they are imagined.
The Czech philosopher, Ernest Gellner (1964,
23& W^Kc& 5+0& +1-(& 0 )% 0& ,5 & '(%' 2,& (.& %+,$(%+1&
identity in similar terms: “Nationalism is not the
awakening of nations to self-consciousness: it
invents nations where they do not exist”.
Anderson traces the origin of nationalism
to the two medieval cultural systems of religious
'(!!*%$,J& +%0& ,5 & 0J%+-,$'& " +1!3& 4 & $0 %,$) -&
three religious communities - Christendom,
Islam and the Han Chinese Middle Kingdom,
glued together respectively by the three classical
languages of Latin, Arabic and the Han Chinese
ideographs. Interestingly, he fails to include the
evolution of the Hindu religious system cemented
over an extensive territory by the common language
of classical Sanskrit, which according to a whole
range of Indian historians of the left, including
Kosambi, Thapar and Sharma, had provided the
basis of the Indian national consciousness in pre-
Christian times. After the gradual decline of the
" 1$#$(*-& $%Q* %' & (< "& ,5 & !+-- -E& 2+",$'*1+"1J&
post-Renaissance, the dynastic realms like the
House of Hapsburg and the Bourbons provided
points of reference for imagining identities in Europe.
In India, the dynastic realms like the Mauryas (332
BC-185 BC) and the Guptas (320 AD – 554 AD)
would have played the same role, but this would
extend the historical timescale of the emergence
and maturation of similar processes there several
centuries before they happened in Europe. With the
rise of what Anderson (1983) calls print-capitalism
in Europe in the 16th century and as “By the
17th century languages in Europe had generally
assumed their modern form.” (FEBVRE; MARTIN,
1958, p. 477), the old solidarities tied to religious or
dynastic consciousness began to fragment into a
larger number of newer national identities based on
these modern languages, standardised by the print
media. This language-based ethnicity continues to
be the rubric of European nationalism to this day.
The key is the way this imagination or invention
is done and the historical context in which it is done.
As is often the case:
[…] it is imagined as a community,
because, regardless of the actual
$% 6*+1$,J& +%0& 921($,+,$(%& ,5+,& !+J&
prevail in each, the nation is always
conceived as a deep, horizontal
comradeship. Ultimately it is this fraternity
that makes it possible, over the past two
centuries, for so many millions of people,
not so much to kill, as willingly to die for
such limited imaginings. (ANDERSON,
1983, p. 16, emphasis added).
This is where the problem lies in the
imagination of nationalism crafted by the dominant
'1+-- -3&I!+#$% 0&$%&,5$-& /+J& +&o%+,$(%T& 8 '(! -&+&
fraternity which bonds together the dominant classes
and the exploited masses within a territorial unit in
a shared consciousness of solidarity. This kind of
'(%-'$(*-% --& )1, "-& (*,& ,5 & +/+" % --& (.& 0 2&
divisions of interest between the two sides of society,
those who exploit and those who are exploited, which
exists in each capitalist society, as indeed existed in
pre-capitalist societies as well. Once this false idea of
solidarity takes roots in the minds of the exploited, the
0(!$%+%,&'1+-- -&)%0&$,& +-J&,(&!(8$1$- &,5 &!+-- -E&
and use them as cannon fodder, in wars of aggression
against other nations. In such wars, no matter which
side wins, it is always the dominant class which
appropriates the lion’s share of the gains, while the
masses of both sides absorb the lion’s share of the
cost of war, including casualties and deprivations.
123
IN SEARCH OF A THEORY FOR SUPPORTING RESISTANCE TO PREDATORY NEOLIBERALISM IN THE 21ST
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R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
But the progressive scholars anywhere,
particularly in developing countries, must not let the
dominant classes get away with imagining national
identity in this way. Scottish political scientist Tom
Nairn (1977, p. 41) points to this alternative way of
constructing this concept:
The arrival of nationalism in a
distinctively modern sense was tied to
the political baptism of the lower classes
[…] nationalist movements have been
invariably populist in outlook and sought
to induct lower classes into political life.
In its most typical version, this assumed
the shape of a restless middle-class and
intellectual leadership trying to stir up
and channel popular class energies into
support for the new states.
Engels, in a letter written to Karl Kautsky on 7
February 1882 had this to say about the primacy of
national independence for the building of socialism:
One of the real tasks of the Revolution
of 1848 […] was the constitution of the
suppressed and scattered nationalities
of Central Europe, provided they were
at all viable and provided especially that
they were ripe for independence. This
task was accomplished by the executors
of the revolution, Bonaparte, Cavour
and Bismarck for Italy, Hungary and
Germany in accordance with the then
prevailing conditions. [...] It is historically
impossible for a great people even to
discuss internal problems of any kind
seriously, as long as it lacks national
independence. […] An international
movement of the proletariat is possible
only among independent nations. […]
So long as Poland is partitioned and
subjugated, therefore, neither a strong
socialist party can develop in the country
itself, nor can there arise real international
intercourse between the proletarian
parties in Germany, etc, with other than
émigré Poles. (KAUTSKY, 1935).
Nationalism of the masses is thus a very
different thing than the nationalism of the elite. But
unlike Nairn, nationalism of the masses can also
be constructed as an instrument of mobilising them
across the boundaries of the existing states for
creating larger geographical units of solidarity rather
than breaking up the existing states into smaller
fragments on narrow, ethnic, linguistic, racial,
religious or sectarian lines. In the context of the
contemporary world, and particularly contemporary
Latin America, Engel’s perception of nationalism
seems to be better suited for playing the latter role
than the former one. What I am arguing here is
for supporting popular movements for trans-state
solidarities of the working classes across large
# (#"+25$'+1& +" +-& 1$S & _+,$%& `! "$'+& .("& )#5,$%#&
the oppressive policies emanating from the core of
neoliberal capitalism.
5 WHICH THEORIES?
5.1 Liberation theology
Catholic Church in Latin America has built up
+&5+11(/ 0&,"+0$,$(%& (.&+',$< 1J&)#5,$%#& .("&,5 &"$#5,-&
of the oppressed and marginalised in society. It has
done so by not only reinterpreting Christian theology
as a moral force for providing support to struggles of
resistance against the forces of oppression including
the state, but also by its clergy standing shoulder to
shoulder with the most deprived and marginalised
sections of people in their struggles to secure their
rights, often carrying huge risks of death at the hands
of the oppressors.
The Vatican itself had provided legitimacy and
doctrinaire support to this radical role of the Church
by the presentation by Pope Paul VI of his encyclical
Populorum Progressio at the Second Vatican Council
on March 26, 1967. In this document, Pope Paul VI
characterises as less than human conditions the
unacceptable contradiction between
[...] the material poverty of those who
lack the bare necessities of life, and the
moral poverty of those who are crushed
under the weight of their own self-love.
(POPE PAUL VI, 1967, p. 21).
`%0&$0 %,$) -&
[...] oppressive political structures
resulting from the abuse of ownership
or the improper exercise of power,
from the exploitation of the worker or
unjust transactions’ as factors causing
this. He argues that Christian scripture
[…] teaches us that […] the earth truly
was created to provide man with the
necessities of life and the tools for his
own progress, it follows that every man
has the right to glean what he needs
from the earth (and therefore) created
#((0-& -5(*10& Q(/& .+$"1J& ,(& +113& bC:Cq&
PAUL VI, 1967, p. 22).
He then proceeds to condemn the
contemporary state of global capitalist system in no
uncertain terms:
However, certain concepts
def& 2" - %,& 2"(),& +-& ,5 & '5$ .& -2* "&, (&
economic progress, free com petition
as t he guiding norm of eco nomics,
and privat e ownership of the mean s
of production as an abso lute rig ht,
having no limits nor concomitant
social obli gations. This unbridl ed
124 Suranjit Kumar Saha
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
liberalism paves the way for a
particular t ype of tyr anny, […] for it
results in the "int ernational imperiali sm
of mon ey. "(26) […] [ This] type o f
capitalism, as it is comm only called,
has given r ise to hardships, unjust
2"+',$' -E& +%0& ." +,"$'$0+1& '(%Q$',-& , 5+,&
persist to this day. (POPE PAUL VI,
1967, p. 2-27).
P5$-& /+-& ,5 & )"-,& ,$! & $%& 5$-,("J& ,5+,& ,5 &
Vatican had taken such a clear political position
against capitalism, and this had to have a strong
and far reaching impact on the social and political
consciousness of an overwhelmingly Catholic
continent as Latin America.
Shortly after this historical event, the Second
Conference of Latin American Bishops (SCGEL) was
held in Medellín, Colombia, from 11 to 18 August
WK^N&b$,-&)%+1&0('*! %,&/+-&$--* 0&(%&^&] 2, !8 "&
1968), in which the assembled bishops of the
continent took a stance which was even more radical
than that of the Populorum Progressio. It attacks the
very essence of neoliberal capitalism, i.e. the right of
private ownership of the means of production by the
business enterprises.
The system of Latin American business
enterprises, and through it the current
economy, responds to an erroneous
conception concerning the right of
ownership of the means of production and
the very goals of the economy. A business,
in an authentically human economy,
does not identify itself with the owners
of capital, because it is fundamentally a
community of persons and a unit of work,
which is in need of capital to produce
goods. A person or group of persons
cannot be the properties of an individual,
of a society, or of the state. (SECOND
CONFERENCE OF LATIN AMERICAN
BISHOPS, 1968, p. 10).
It upholds the rights of peasants and workers
to organise in unions and secure social, economic
and political rights:
[…] the peasants' and workers' unions,
to which the workers have a right,
-5(*10& +'6*$" & -*.)'$ %,& -," %#,5& +%0&
power. […] They ought to exercise their
right of being represented, also, on the
social, economic, and political levels,
where decisions are made which touch
upon the common good (SECOND
CONFERENCE OF LATIN AMERICAN
BISHOPS, 1968, p. 11).
I,&,+1S-&+8(*,& ,5 &% 0&.("&_+,$%&`! "$'+&opd333f&
liberating itself from the neo-colonialism to which
it is bound’ through the solidarity and struggles of
its people.” (SECOND CONFERENCE OF LATIN
AMERICAN BISHOPS, 1968, p. 13) and about the
existence of internal colonialism within the countries
of the continent, which it characterises as:
q9," ! &$% 6*+1$,J&+!(%#&-('$+1&'1+-- -7&
especially, though not exclusively, in
those countries which are characterized
by a marked bi-classism, where a few
have much (culture, wealth, power,
prestige) while the majority has very little.
(SECOND CONFERENCE OF LATIN
AMERICAN BISHOPS, 1968, p. 13).
And further elaborates it in the following way:
Without excluding the eventuality of
wilful oppression, these forms manifest
,5 !- 1< -& !(-,& ." 6* %,1J& $%& +&
lamentable insensitivity of the privileged
sectors to the misery of the marginalised
sectors. […] these groups […] (often)
characterize as subversive activities
that attempt to change the social system
which favours the permanence of their
privileges. […] some members of the
dominant sectors occasionally resort to
the use of force to repress drastically any
attempt at opposition. It is easy for them
,(&)%0&+22+" %,&$0 (1(#$'+1&Y*-,$)'+,$(%-&
(anti-communism) or practical ones
(keeping "order") to give their action
an honest appearance. (SECOND
CONFERENCE OF LATIN AMERICAN
BISHOPS, 1968, p. 3).
This position of the Catholic Church in Latin
`! "$'+& / " & -((%& , -, 0& 8J& ,5 & 8+2,$-!& (.& )" &&
when military dictatorships and the US supported
right-wing regimes in various Latin American
countries began resorted to cruel repression to crush
all forms of organised resistance by the poor and the
marginalised. The liberation theology that emerged in
_+,$%&`! "$'+&0$0&$%0 0&." 6* %,1J&$%,5 - &,/(&
documents for the doctrinal legitimacy of its pro-poor
activities, but its real legitimacy in the eyes of the
masses stemmed from its active and fearless support
in the organisation of prosecution of resistance to the
repressive actions of these regimes.
Liberation theology arose out of a growing
unease that the Catholic clergy in Latin America felt
/$,5&,5 &-5('S$%#& 2(< ",J&+%0& -('$+1&$% 6*+1$,J&,5 J&
saw all around them and the person who provided
the main body of theory and intellectual power to
it was Gustavo Gutiérrez, a Peruvian theologian
and linguist. This is how he described the source
of his inspiration: “Real Christian love is founded
on commitment to a more just society and action
to bring it about.” (GUTIÉRREZ, 1971, p. 278). He
further says that the
[...] challenge in a continent like Latin
America does not come primarily from
the man who does not believe, but from
the man who is not a man, who is not
125
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recognized as such by the existing social
order: he is in the ranks of the poor, the
exploited; he is the man, who scarcely
knows that he is a man. (GUTIÉRREZ,
1974, p. 69).
4 & *% 6*$ +,,"$8*, -& +11& ,5 & $11-& (.& ,5 &
continent to capitalism which is “[...] only system
that really exists in Latin America, save Cuba.”
(GUTIÉRREZ, 1983, p. 113). In his book Teología
de la Liberación he says that reforms that leave
capitalism in place without seeking a radical
transformation of its socioeconomic structure will
achieve nothing, that development strategies being
pursued in Latin America are not viable because
they are all embedded in the existing system
of international capitalism, that a truly liberating
society cannot be reached by capitalist means. In
The Power of the Poor in History he reiterates this
2(-$,$(%& 0 )%$,$< 1J& +%0& !(" & 81*%,1J7& tZ+2$,+1$-,&
development is of its very nature detrimental to the
masses.” (GUTIÉRREZ, 1983, p. 85).
In the large corpus of his writings, he makes
no effort to conceal the fact that, apart from Christian
theology, the other main sources of his inspiration are
Marx, Che Guevara and the Peruvian Marxist José
Carlos Mariátegui. In his search for new insights in
history, he advocates:
[…] the change from the capitalist mode
of production to the socialistic mode;
that is to say, to one oriented towards
a society in which persons can begin to
live freely and humanly. They will have
controlled nature, created the conditions
for a socialized production of wealth,
0(% & +/+J& /$,5& ,5 & 2"$ +'6*$-$,$(%&
of excessive wealth, and established
socialism. (GUTIÉRREZ, 1971, p. 20).
He argues that a necessary precondition for
,5 &+'5$ < ! %,&(.&-*'5&1$,JE&-(1$0+"$,J&
and participation is a transition from private to social
ownership to the means of production (GUTIÉRREZ,
1971), he admires Mariátegui as an outstanding
scholar in the pursuit of the search for a creative and
indigenous socialism and because he remains true
to “[...] the central institutions of Marx [...]” as well as
,(&td333f& +&*%$6* & 5$-,("$'+1&" +1$,J&d333fp&bV\PIu[[qhE&
1971, p. 56). He approvingly refers to Che Guevara to
show that utopian thinking can be a guide to praxis and
that socialism has to involve not just a new economic
structure and a new kind of social consciousness
(GUTIÉRREZ, 1971). He advocates the elimination
of the private ownership of the means of production
because that is the basis of an exploitative and class-
divided society and because by appropriating the
means of production “[...] the masses appropriate
their own political management [...]” and “[...] their
0 )%$,$< &." 0(!&d333fpE&+%0&,5$-&1 +0-&,(&+&% /&-('$+1&
consciousness (GUTIÉRREZ, 1983, p. 37-38).
:% &(.&,5 &$'(%$'&)#*" -&+!(%#&,5 &1$8 "+,$(%&
theologians and activists in Brazil was Dom Pedro
Casaldáliga, who became widely known as the red
bishop (BRANFORD; GLOCK, 1985, p. 140). I dwell
here on his life and work in a little more detail than
on others of this school because I believe that he
provides a basis for the writers of the left to liberation
theology a little more seriously than has been the
case so far.
He was ordained the bishop of the interior
Amazônian diocese of São Félix do Araguaia on
the 23rd of October of 1971. This diocese was twice
the size of Portugal, where nearly all the land was
organised in huge estates owned by extremely rich
landowners and where rural landless workers were
made to work on these estates under various forms
of coercion and where indigenous communities lived
under constant threat of invasion by land speculators
(grileiros), loggers (madeireiros) and big estate
owners (latifundiários). There he dedicated his life
in supporting the struggles of these marginalised
people against the violent oppression they faced.
He sought to concientise these people and spread
his message of hope amongst them by a copious
output of pamphlets and poems, in which he freely
mixed Christian imageries with what many regarded
as revolutionary, subversive and even Marxist ideas.
Here is an extract from one of his pamphlets:
Our Church is against the latifúndio and
against slavery and for this reason it is
persecuted by the Masters of Money,
Land and Politics. Neither sharks
(landowners) nor exploiters, nor traitors
to the people have a place in our church.
For no one belongs to the People of
God if he crushes the Sons of God.
(BRANFORD; GLOCK, 1985, p. 141).
Here is one of his poems written in 1972 taken
from a collection of poems published under the title of
Me Llamarán Subversivo (They Call Me Subversive):
Me llamarán subversivo, y yo les diré; lo
soy Por mi pueblo em lucha, vivo; con mi
pueblo en marcha, voy.
Tengo fe de guerilloro y amor de
revolucíon Y entre Evangelico y cancíon,
-*."(&J&0$#(&1(&6* &6*$ "(
]$& -'+%0+1$F(E&2"$! "(E&6* !@& 1&2"(2$(&
corazón al fuego de esta Pasión, cruz
de su mismo Madero.
Inicito subversión contra el Poder y el
Dinero.
v*$ "(& -*8< ",$"& 1+& _ J& 6* & 2 "
al Pueblo en grey Y el gobierno en
carnicero.
(Mi Pastor se hizo Cordero, Servidor se
hizo mi Rey.
They will call me subversive, and I'll tell
you; who I am By my people in struggle,
I live; with my people, I will.
126 Suranjit Kumar Saha
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
I have faith of the guerrilla, and love
of the revolution And between the
Evangelical and the song, I suffer and I
say what I want.
I.&I&-'+%0+1$- E&)"-,&I&8*"%&!J&(/%&5 +",
I%&,5$-&)" &(.&2+--$(%& (.&5$-&Z"(--&(.&,5 &
same wood.
I encourage subversion against Power
and Money.
I want to subvert the Law that turns the
2 (21 & $%,(& +& Q('S& (.& -5 2& `%0& ,5 &
government into a slaughterer.
(My Shepherd became a Lamb, my King
became a servant. (CASALDÁLIGA,
1972).
Predictably big landowners had mounted
a campaign to have Dom Pedro expelled from the
country and this was vigorously taken up by most of
the media. In 1977 Edgardo Erichsen, the director
of the powerful Globo TV and radio network, at that
time closely allied with the military dictatorship, had
launched this virulent attack against the bishop:
It seems that the bishop has exchanged
5$-& '"*'$)9& +%0& "(-+"J& .("& ,5 & 5+!! "&
and sickle, his prayer book for the
thoughts of Mao Tse-tung, his priestly
piety for violence and that he is only
waiting for the right moment to exchange
his cassock for a guerrilla’s uniform. Of
some left-wing priests it can be said that
they light one candle to God and the other
to the devil. But for Bishop Dom Perdro
Maria Casaldáliga, the least that can be
maintained is that he lights both candles
to the devil. (BRANFORD, 2013).
In 1985 he travelled to Nicaragua to express
solidarity with the Sandinista government and with
the priests who were increasingly becoming targets of
assassination by the US-supported contra guerrillas.
The visit had invited a swift rebuke from the Vatican. In
2003 he resigned from his post of bishop but decided
to stay on in São Félix do Araguaia, ignoring the
Vatican’s advice to leave the area. In January 2013 he
was reported to be in hiding because of death threats
from the local landowners (BRANFORD, 2013;
DIARIO ..., 2004; ESCRIBANO, 2002; VIDAL, 2006).
One of Dom Casaldáliga’s associates and
fellow priests murdered by the police on 11 October
1976 was João Bosco Penido Burnier at Ribeirão
Cascalheira in the State of Mato Grosso. He, along
with Dom Casaldáliga, was interceding with three
policemen who were beating up two peasant women,
when one of the policemen delivered a blow to his
face and then shot him dead (MAIA, 1981). It was the
period of the dictatorship of Ernesto Geisel, probably
the cruelest period of the repression of the rural
workers and landless peasants in modern Brazilian
history, when the police and military personnel
enjoyed a general sense of immunity for their acts,
including killings. The killer of João Penido was never
prosecuted.
Another key proponent of liberation theology is
Hélder Câmara. He was born in Fortaleza, Brazil and
served as the Archbishop of Olinda and Recife from
1964 to 1985, which was the period of military rule
in that country. Responding to the Brazilian right’s
constant refrain that those demanding social justice
+%0&"+$-$%#&$--* -& (.&2(< ",J&+%0& $% 6*+1$,J&+" &Y*-,&
Marxist agitators, Câmara had responded with these
unforgettable words:
Quando dou comida aos pobres
chamam-me de santo. Quando pergunto
2("& 6* & 1 -& -w(& 2(8" -& '5+!+!;! &
de comunista (When I give food to the
poor, they call me a saint. When I ask
why the poor have no food, they call me
communist). (ROCHA, 2000, p. 53).
His philosophy and doctrine is outlined in his
.+!(*-& 8((S& ]2$"+1& (.& x$(1 %' & bZym`[`E& WKOWc3&
In this book he argues that injustice in all its forms
is the central issue of humanity in the contemporary
world, it is the basic violence, Violence No. 1. This
attracts Violence No. 2, e.g. violent struggles of the
oppressed for a more just world, which in turn attracts
Violence No. 3, the State’s violent repression of these
struggles, often in the name of anti-communism.
In this context he points out “[...] monolithic and
obsessional anti-communism is responsible for
!+%J&+8-*"0$,$ -3p& bZym`[`E&WKOWE& 23&igc3& r*-,$' &
is also essential for maintaining peace because
[...] a peace based on injustice – the
peace of a swamp with rotten matter
fermenting in its depths – we may be
-*" &,5+,&,5+,&2 +' &$-&.+1- 3&bZym`[`E&
1971, p. 32-33).
He acknowledges Gandhi as a prophet and
argues that a true response to all three different
kinds of violence is “[...] the violence of the peaceful:
1$8 "+,$%#& !("+1& 2" --*" 3p& bZym`[`EWKOWE& 23&
55). This will be achieved by building a worldwide
movement called Action for Justice, which must
include not only Catholics, but people of all religions.
The time has come when each religion
must rediscover, in its sacred texts,
the truths capable of encouraging the
human development of the outcasts of
the modern world and of arousing the
'(%-'$ %' -& (.& ,5 & "$'53& bZym`[`E&
1971, p. 71).
It must also reach out to atheists because
[...] when you meet people for whom the
love of God involves human love, your
atheism will give way to respect (and) to
-J!2+,5J3&bZym`[`E&WKOWE&23&NMc3
127
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Populorum Progressio and the ideas of Latin
America’s Liberation Theology, which to a degree was
inspired by it, had found very little acknowledgement,
much less acceptance, in Catholic church hierarchies
in North America and Europe, a fact not entirely lost
on the Latin American thinkers, when the US bishops
issued their Pastoral Letter on economic issues
entitled Economic Justice for All in 1986, generally
talking about poverty and injustice, without identifying
those structures of the economy which gave rise to
,5 !E&$,&'+! &$%&.("&) "' &+%0&81*%,&'"$,$'$-!&."(!&,5 &
Latin American clergy:
Capitalism can be more or less immoral; it
can never be more or less moral. You do
%(,& 1$!$%+, &,5 &. "('$,J&(.&,5 &/(1.&8J&)1$%#&
down its teeth … It is just as impossible to
create a moral market system as it is to
build a Christian brothel. (BOFF; BOFF
apud MCGOVERN, 1989, p. 139).
Similarly Archbishop López Trujillo (apud
MCGOVERN, 1989, p. 19) of Colombia had also
said: “We are convinced that capitalism is a human
failure.”
m'V(< "%& '1 +"1J& $0 %,$) -& ,5 & " +-(%& /5J&
liberation theology must always be the cause
of a fundamental schism between the Catholic
Churches in Latin America and Western Europe/
North America:
One reason liberation theologians opt
for socialism stands out above all others:
their abhorrence of the prevailing capitalist
system. If, as many liberation theologians
stress, capitalism cannot be reformed to
meet the basic needs of the poor or to
give them true participation in society, then
socialism seems to be the only real option.
(MCGOVERN, 1989, p. 139).
It was of course anathema to the North
American and Western European wings of the
Catholic Church hierarchy to countenance any
criticism of the fundamentals of capitalism.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (2004), a
conservative German cleric who was elevated to the
position of Pope in 2005, stated categorically that
liberation theology
[...] constitutes a fundamental threat to
the faith of the Church … (while) At the
same time it must be borne in mind that
no error could persist unless it contained
a grain of truth.
He laments that
[...] it affects (Christian) theology in its
basic constitution […] alters all forms
of church life: the Church’s constitution,
liturgy, catechesis, moral options.
(RATZINGER, 2004).
Furthermore, in his view, it pronounces
Christian theology as
[...] not practical; i.e. not essentially
political (therefore) idealistic and thus as
lacking in reality, or else it is condemned
as a vehicle for the oppressors’
maintenance of power.
We shall only survive this crisis if we
succeed in making the logic of faith
+%& 6*+11J&'(!2 11$%#& !+%% "&
and in presenting it as a logic of reality[,
he says].
In other words, he cautions Catholics not to
allow this threat or this crisis to overwhelm them,
and to remain steadfast in their faith in the Church’s
centuries’ old conservative practices which never
6* -,$(% 0& $%Y*-,$' & +%0& $% 6*+1$,J& b[`PhIlVq[E&
2004).
A more balanced appreciation of, and a degree
of support to, liberation theology has come from some
Catholic clerics from the North, among who are Peter
Burns of Scotland and Arthur McGovern of the United
States. Burns (1992) agrees that liberation theory has
generally taken a left-wing, but not a purely Marxist,
2(1$,$'+1&2(-,*" E&+%0& +"#* -&,5+,E& #$< %&,5 &-2 '$)'&
historical situation of Latin America, that stance
/+-& 6*$, & Y*-,$) 03& R(,5& '+2$,+1$-!& +%0& , "' "$-!(&
(Third Way) had become thoroughly discredited in
that continent and socialism therefore was a logical
'5($' 3&4 &2($%,-& (*,&,5+,&V*,$@"" F& 5+0&-2 '$)'+11J&
rejected the Stalinist kind of socialism way back in
1971 (BURNS, 1992). He leaves no one in any doubt
about his position of strong support with regard to the
liberation theology:
My fear is that liberation theology will be
coopted (seduced?) by the theological
establishment, and have all its potential
for threatening the existing order of things
,+! 0&("&0"+$% 0&(*,&(.&$,&$%&'(%- 6* %' 3&
This fear will be realized much more swiftly
if liberation theology ever capitulates
to the current ideological hegemony of
capitalism, and forsakes the search for
+%& +*,5 %,$'E& / 11;0 )% 0& +%0& . +-$81 &
alternative. […] At this crucial turning point
in ideological history, to leave the poverty-
stricken masses of the Latin continent to
the not so tender mercies of a resurgent,
triumphalistic global capitalism, and to bow
before the idol of free-market economics,
would be a tragic act of betrayal. (BURNS,
1992, p. 515).
m'V(< "%T-&-*22(",&$-&+&1(,&!(" &6*+1$) 03&4$-&
core argument is that liberation theology is not all that
threatening to the capitalist system and therefore need
not cause much alarm. After all what its proponents
favour is only “[...] a system that truly represents
the vast majority of the people [...]”; “[...] a socialism
/$,5(*,&,5 &0 )'$ %'$ -&(.& 9$-,$%#&-('$+1$-,&'(*%,"$ -&
128 Suranjit Kumar Saha
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
[...]” (MCGOVERN, 1989, p. 124). Its programme is
not likely to be any more radical land reform in favour
of peasants, a mixed economy comprising state,
collective and private enterprises, high priorities to
food security, medical care and education, full political
democracy, a free press and a freedom of religion.
Such a programme should not worry anyone in the
capitalist world (MCGOVERN, 1987).
Alistair Kee (1990), a Marxist theologian
from Scotland, criticises liberation theology from an
entirely different perspective. He says that:
Latin American theology of liberation
is widely assumed to be too Marxist:
in reality it is not Marxist enough. It is
." 6* %,1J&'"$,$'$F 0&.("& $,-&*%6* -,$(% 0&
acceptance of Marx: on a closer
inspection there are crucial aspects of
Marx’s work which it simply ignores.
(KEE, 1990, p. 9).
According to Kee (1990), liberation theology
failed to pay enough attention to three core criticisms
of religion by Marx that (i) it encourages adaptation
to, and reconciliation with, unjust social systems; (ii)
inverts ontology to justify and legitimise unjust social
arrangements; and (iii) uses an ideology which is
designed to promote societal false consciousness.
Kee argues that liberation theologians have
failed to understand how the oppressors invert
ontology for securing and justifying and their own
status and making people believe that the suffering of
the poor is predestined. This inversion is embedded
in their failure to recognise that:
[…] [the] knowledge of God does
not come through a religious sphere,
through religious actions, intentions
or attitudes. The radical nature of the
divine transcendence is not that God
exists in another ontological dimension
inaccessible to human beings, but that
V(0& '+%%(,& 8 & (8Y ',$) 0E& '+%%(,& 8 &
+22"(+'5 0& 9' 2,&,5"(*#5&,5 &6* -,&(.&
justice. (KEE, 1990, p. 205).
5.2 India’s subaltern and Dalit literatures and
their relevance to Brazil and the wider world
In the 1980s, a group of left-leaning Indian
historians started writing the histories of a series of
peasant uprisings across the country against the
British colonial rulers and their Indian collaborators
/5$'5&5+0&,+S %&21+' &$%&" #*1+"&." 6* %'$ -&."(!&,5 &
1730s onwards. What they were seeking to do was
to produce an alternative historiography of struggle
+%0& '(%Q$',& /5$'5& 1((S 0& +,& +'5& $%0$ '+- &
not through the eyes of the dominant classes who
controlled and managed the apparatus of repression
but sought to capture the perspective of those who
resisted them and rebelled against them. They were
aware that the primary source documents of history
are always written and handed down to posterity
by the dominant classes. They understood that an
alternative historiography in which the masses and
not the elite are the drivers of the narrative could only
be written by re-reading and re-interpreting the same
documents in the light of a new hermeneutics and
ontological repositioning of the writer. The principal
authors of this school of writing were Ranajit Guha
(1982; 1983) and many others (CHATTERJEE, 1983;
DASGUPTA, 1985; SARKAR, 1985; HARDIMAN,
1987). The core driving force of the subaltern theory
is this:
[…] parallel to the domain of elite politics
there existed throughout the colonial
period another domain of Indian politics
in which the principal actors were not
the dominant groups of the indigenous
society or the colonial authorities but the
subaltern and intermediate strata in town
and country – that is the people. (GUHA,
1982, p. 4).
This domain in India has also been very
diverse; ethnically, occupationally, spatially and in
terms of the multiplicity of castes. Despite this, it has
+1/+J-&+'6*$" 0&+&'(%-'$(*-% --&(.&,(# ,5 "% --E&(.&
sharing a common interest, of class, through a
[...] notion of resistance to elite
domination … (which) followed from the
subalternity common to all the social
constituents of this domain. (GUHA,
1982, p. 5).
I,&5+-&+1/+J-& 0 "$< 0&$,-&-," %#,5&+%0&)#5,$%#&
spirit “[…] from the condition of exploitation.” (GUHA,
1982, p. 5) its diverse subaltern classes had been
subjected to in various ways.
Gramsci (1971) was an important source of
inspiration for the subaltern writers, particularly his
use of the concept of negation in the rise of class
consciousness among the subordinate classes. He
writes:
The lower classes, historically on the
defensive … can only achieve self-
awareness via a series of negations, via
their consciousness of the identity and
class limits of their enemy. (GRAMSCI,
1971, p. 273).
Therefore, when they close ranks and unite in
solidarity to rise in revolt against the authority of the
dominant classes, that is the moment when they take
,5 &)"-,&-, 2&,(/+"0-&'1+--&'(%-'$(*-% --E&
d333f&! " 1J& +-& ,5 & )"-,$!! "& (.& -*'5&
consciousness, in other words, merely
as the basic negative, polemical attitude.
(GRAMSCI, 1971, p. 273).
129
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This is the lesson that the subaltern writers
were seeking to draw when they were focusing so
such meticulous attention on the details of so many
uprisings and insurgencies of the peasants and
aboriginal communities against the British rulers and
their domestic collaborators in colonial India.
But as Guha (1983) has clearly shown, the
insight gained through these studies need not only
be used to illuminate the events of the past, but also
to shed light on the pathways to the future. Because,
[...] if the task of historiography is to
interpret the past in order to help in
changing the world […] (then) such a
change involves a radical transformation
of consciousness. (GUHA, 1983, p.
336).
This insight does not need to be limited to
India. It may have lessons for all the peoples across
the world who are struggling against the elite-
dominated system which can only guarantee to the
KKL&$%'" +-$%#1J" +, "&$% 6*+1$,JE" +, "&$%Y*-,$' E&
worsening poverty and hopelessness.
The problem of theorising the emergence
of class consciousness in this way is that the
product essentially becomes localised and spatially
fragmented and therefore it becomes extremely
0$.)'*1,& ,(&,"+%-.("!&$,& $%,(& +%& (< "+"'5$%#& %+,$(%+1&
consciousness. The basic framework for achieving
this task is however available in India’s own ancient
history. The Vishnu Purana (Book 2, Chapter 1,
verses 31 and 32), a Hindu religious text which is
variously dated between the years 275 to 400 of the
Z5"$-,$+%& '+1 %0+"E& 0 )% -& ,5 & , ""$,("$+1& 9, %,& (.&
India and its national identity thus:
Therefore, O thou of Puru's race, cherish thy
exalted son born of Queen Sakuntala and because
this child is to be cherished by thee even at our word,
therefore shall this thy son be known by the name of
Bharata (the cherished).The country that lies north
of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is
'+11 0& R5z"+,+!j& ,5 " & 0/ 11& ,5 & 0 -' %0+%,-& (.&
Bharata (WILSON, 1840).
Most foreign scholars living outside India may
not know this, but India is a name given to it by the
R"$,$-53&I%0$+%-&-,$11& " . "& ,(& ,5 $"&'(*%,"J&+-& R5z"+,&
and not India, as the Germans refer to theirs as
Deutschland and not Germany.
Ancient sages who wrote Vishnu Purana
imagine here a national identity which transcends
the subcontinent’s myriad pluralities and fragmented
local identities. This they did by means of a
creative mixture of mythology and territoriality. This
$!+#$%+,$(%& 5+-& -,*'S& )"!1J& (< "& ' %,*"$ -& $%& ,5 &
collective memory of the Indians in the shape of this
powerful visualisation of Mother India as a concrete
reality. The imagery was vividly used by Bankim
Z5+%0"+&Z5+,, "Y &$%&5$-& 2$'&/("S&(.&)',$(%E&`%+%0&
Math, written in 1822 and by Rabindra Nath Tagore
in his poem Bharata Teertha written in 1910 to
inspire the Indians during their long-drawn struggle
for independence.
There is some evidence that India’s subaltern
theory has had an impact, albeit very limited, on
the Brazilian thinking regarding identity. But this
impact has found its expression in a very curious
way. Gazi Islam, based at the Instituto de Ensino
e PesquisasE& ]w(& C+*1(E& )%0-& +& '(!!(%& #"(*%0&
between subaltern theory and anthropophagy. He
believes that anthropophagy is “[...] the most potent
and durable metaphor in modern Brazilian Culture.”
and suggests that “[...] [it] can complement subaltern
and orientalist perspectives.”, pointing out, at the
same time, that across the world, it has had “[...] a
rich history mediating relations between the civililized
core and the barbarous peripheries.” and that
[...] alleging cannibalism was a form of
o(,5 "$%#TE& ."+!$%#& +%& 9(,$'& -('$ ,J& $%&
barbarous terms to establish self-other
boundaries. (ISLAM, 2011, p.1).
The Brazilian anthropologist Maria Almeida
Candida Ferreira (2002a; 2002b) argues that
+%,5"(2(25+#J& $-& +%& +.)"!+,$< & "+,5 "& ,5+%& +&
defensive metaphor because it ídevouring European
culture. In a similar vein, the American anthropologist
Shirley Lindenbaum claims that:
Adopting a cannibal identity transformed
+& ,+8((& $%,(& +& ,(, !& +%0& " 0 )% 0&
anthropophagic primitivism as a positive
/$,,J& +%0& - 1.;" Q ',$< &'"$,$6* &
of colonialism. (LINDENBAUM, 2004, p.
493).
Whichever way one looks at anthropophagy
as a metaphor for a hybrid culture and ethnicity, and
whatever positive construction one seeks to confer
on it, it would seem that in every case of contact
between the Europeans and the indigenous non-
European peoples, it puts the former in a civilising
role and the latter as peoples without histories
needing to be civilised. This is not the message
which either the Subaltern Literature of South Asia or
the Orientalist construction of history by Edward Said
seeks to convey.
I am not sure if the anthropophagy is a helpful
metaphor for approaching the issue of identity in
Brazil or even useful as a medium of progressive
hermeneutics anywhere. It may be the case that
Gilberto Freyre’s (1933) highly sexualised account
of social contacts between Brazil’s various racial
identities and Darcy Ribeiro’s (1995) concept of
cunhadismo will provide more progressive, more
humanising, and therefore, better intellectual
."+! /("S-& .("& 0 )%$%#& ,5 & %+""+,$< & (.& R"+F$1T-&
social formation and its composite identity than
the metaphor of anthropophagy (FREYRE, 1933;
RIBEIRO, 1995).
130 Suranjit Kumar Saha
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
India’s Subaltern Literature no doubt makes
a valuable contribution to the development of an
alternative non-elitist post-colonial theory. We need
to recognise, however, that there also exists a
2+"+11 1&-,"+%0&(.&o-*8+1, "%T&1$, "+,*" &/5$'5&5+-&5+0&
a much greater impact on the political mobilisation of
the underprivileged classes in India. This strand is
known as the Dalit literature and has been inspired
8J&,5 &2(1$,$'+1&+',$"
like Jyotirao Phule (1827-1890), Bhimrao Ramji
Ambedkar (1891-1956), Periyar E.V.Ramasamy
(1879-1973) and Kanshi Ram (1934-2006). Unlike
the authors of the subaltern literature, nearly all
of whom are Bengali speaking Brahmins and
Kayasthas, belonging to the upper echelons of the
Hindu caste hierarchy, the Dalit writers are all from
the lowest fringes of Hindu society, mainly from
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, but
more recently, from other parts of India as well.
Bengalis are conspicuously absent from this school
of authors. The word Dalit in all Indian languages
means the oppressed and the main focus of the
Dalit literature is the historicity of struggle of the
oppressed castes within the Hindu society against
a governing structure monopolised by the people
belonging to the Hindu upper castes. The essence of
,5 &?+1$,&2"(Y ',&$-&,(&" 0 )% &I%0$+%&5$-,("J&."(!&,5 &
perspective of all of India’s oppressed people, where
the main oppressors are not only the colonialists but
India’s own caste hierarchy.
LBC( IF3!*$#-( H$*+$*M(
H0$#%.-'( what do they have in common with
India’s subaltern and Dalit theories
Freyre acknowledges the mixed-race origins
of the Brazilian identity but romanticises it as a
harmoniously evolving process.
The majority of our countrymen are the
near descendents either of masters or of
slaves, and many of them have sprung
from the union of slave-owners with
slave women. (FREYRE, 1933, p. 12-
14).
This process of the fusion of races and union
of cultures in Brazil is said to have evolved without
race hatred, unlike the United States, because it “[...]
had been softened by the hot climate and by the
effects of a miscegenation that tended to dissolve
such prejudices.” (FREYRE, 1933, p. 12-14).
Interpreting the Brazilian society of the 1930s and
1940s in the light of this synthetic principle he judges
that it has been moving in the direction of a broad
democratization tending “[...] to mollify the interclass
and interracial antagonisms.” (FREYRE, 1933, p. 12-
14). His characterisation of the relationship between
the whites and the blacks in Brazil during the period
of slavery as one of the most harmonious unions
of culture with natureE& - !-& ,(& 8 & +& #"(, -6* &
historical amnesia.
Ribeiro’s (1996) conceptualisation of Brazil’s
'(!2(-$, & %+,$(%+1& $0 %,$,J& 0 )%$, 1J& !+"S-& +%&
advance on that of Freire. He looks at the process
straight in the face:
n & 5+< & +"$- %& (*,& (.& +& '(%Q* %' E&
a collision, and a melting pot of the
Portuguese invader with plains- and
forest-dwelling índios (aboriginals) and
with African blacks, both groups coerced
into slavery. (RIBEIRO, 1996, p. 19).
Sometimes, what he says seems to be too
good to be a true, simply a projection of his wishful
aspiration:
More than a simple ethnicity, however,
Brazil is a national ethnicity. […]
Brazilians are integrated into a single
national ethnicity, constituting in that
way a single people incorporated into
+& *%$) 0& %+,$(%E& $%& +& *%$; ,5%$'& -,+, 3&
(RIBEIRO, 1996, p. 22).
óThis has come about
[...] through processes so repressive
and violent in governance that they
constituted a continuous genocide and
an implacable ethnocide. (RIBEIRO,
1996, p. 23).
4 &2" - %,-&+&(.&,5 &(8Y ',$)'+,$(%&
and sexual brutalisation of the aboriginal women by
the early Portuguese settlers.
Their obsessive desire was to multiply
themselves in the wombs of the aboriginal
women and to put the women’s arms and
legs in their service to plant and harvest
,5 $"&'"(2-&+%0&,(&5*%,& +%0&)-5&.("&/5+,&
they ate. […] These captive aborigines
[…] were also the providers of their
joys, especially the women, with good
sex organs to fornicate, good arms for
work, and fertile wombs to impregnate.
(RIBEIRO, 1996, p. 48).
Some of these early contacts with the
aborigines were more consensual and less brutal.
This took place through a process which Ribeiro
called cunhadismo, This involved the early settler
setting up stable conjugal relationships with several
aborigine girls with the consent of the tribe, and
-,+81$-5$%#& +& /$0 & % ,/("S& (.& +.)%$,J& S$%-5$2-E&
temericós, through the relatives of these girls.
Through this process many early settlers sired
countless numbers of mixed-race children, grand-
children and grand-grand-children: “Without this
131
IN SEARCH OF A THEORY FOR SUPPORTING RESISTANCE TO PREDATORY NEOLIBERALISM IN THE 21ST
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R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
practice of cunhadismo, the creation of Brazil would
have been impractical.” (RIBEIRO, 1996, p. 81-86).
The incorporation of enslaved Africans into
Brazil’s national ethnicity was also no less brutal. Ribeiro
fully recognises the national shame which had given
rise to its composite national identity and emphasises
,5 &% 0&.("&S 2$%#&,5+,&)9 0&$%&,5 &%+,$(%T-&'(11 ',$< &
memory as a kind of cleansing therapy.
`11& (.& *-& R"+F$1$+%-& +" & ,5 & Q -5& (.&
,5$-& Q -5& (.& ,5(- & ,(",*" 0& 81+S-& +%0&
aborigines. All of us Brazilians are,
likewise, the mad hand that tortured
them. The tenderest softness and the
most atrocious cruelty come together
here to make us the sensitive and long-
suffering people that we are and the
insensitive and brutal people that we
also are. Descendants of slaves and
slave owners, we will always be slaves
to the distilled malignancy installed in
us because of the feeling of the pain
intentionally produced in order to give
more pain and because of the exercise of
brutality over men, women, and children
that has been the nourishment of our
fury. […] The most terrible aspect of our
heritages is that we will always carry with
us the mark of the torturer impressed
on our soul […] By provoking growing
indignation, however, it will give us the
strength tomorrow to rein in the madmen
and create a society of solidarity here.
(RIBEIRO, 1996, p. 120)1.
He strongly criticises Freire’s racial democracy
thesis. He points out that despite the fact that
the Brazilian society is a product of widespread
miscegenation,
[...] that situation did not go on to
shape a racial democracy, as Gilberto
Freyre and many others would like to
believe, because of the heavy weight
of anti-black oppression, prejudice, and
discrimination present.
[...] because the very expectation that
the black would disappear through
miscegenation is a form of racism.
(RIBEIRO, 1996).
This may not create a purely racial form of
prejudice that leads to apartheid, but it gives rise to a
situation in which:
[...] blackness is diluted on a broad
scale of gradations, which breaks
solidarity and reduces combativeness
by insinuating the idea that the social
order is a natural order, even a sacred
one. The most perverse aspect of
assimilationist racism is that it gives
itself an image of greater sociability,
when in fact it disarms the black in his
)#5,& +#+$%-,& +#+$%-,& 2(< ",J& ,5+,& 5+-&
been imposed on him and conceals the
conditions of terrible violence to which
he has been submitted.
[...] se dilui a negritude numa vasta
-'+1+& 0 & #"+0+=> -E& 6* & 6* 8"+& +&
solidariedade, reduz a combatividade,
$%-$%*+%0(&+&$0@$+&0 &6* &+&("0 !&-('$+1&
é uma ordem natural, senão sagrada.
O aspeto mais perverso do racismo
+--!$1$(%$-,+& @& 6* & 1 & 0D& 0 & -$& *!+&
$!+# !&0 &!+$("&-('$+8$1$0+0 E&6*+%0(E&
de fato, desarma o negro para lutar
'(%,"+& +&2(8" F+& 6* & 15 & @& $!2(-,+E& &
dissimula as condições terrível violência
+&6* &@& -*8! ,$0(3&b[IRqI[:E& WKK^E&23&
226).
After all this is said and done, Ribeiro (1996)
still builds an identity for Brazil after the image of the
Roman soldier encamped on the Iberian peninsula.
To him
[...] the ideal conditions for ethnic
,"+%-)#*"+,$(%& / " & +,,+$% 0& ,5"(*#5&
forced de-indigenisation of the
aborigines and de-Africanisation of the
blacks. (RIBEIRO, 1996, p. 452).
But the need for the de-Europeanization of the
Portuguese nucleus in terms of the point of reference
of a new national identity, is not even mentioned.
The Brazilians must maintain their Romanness
(romanidade) and Latinness (latinidade). This is
an identity of “[...] a new Romanness, a late but
better Romanness, because it has been washed in
aborigine and black blood.” (RIBEIRO, 1996, p. 453).
It is on the basis of this identity that Brazil must chart
its destiny which is “[...] to join with all Latin Americans
in our common opposition to the same antagonist,
which is Anglo-Saxon America.” (RIBEIRO, 1996, p.
452-454). It is the dream of “[...] a New Rome – a
latter-day, tropical Rome.” (RIBEIRO, 1996, 452-
454). Will the blacks and the pardos feel valued in
this new Rome?
I have always felt, and said so (SAHA, 2012),
ever since I came in contact with Brazil in 1989,
and during my numerous visits to, and extended
stays in the country since then, that there are three
fundamental constitutive strands to its identity – its
indigenous roots and those of its European and African
settlers, the former arriving here in freedom, the latter,
in slavery. It cannot therefore make any ontological
sense to approach the identity issue in Brazil without
.*11J&" Q ',$%#&,5 - &,5" &-,"+%0-&(.&5$-,("$'+1&" +1$,$ -&
and life experiences of its peoples, and the inextricable
hybridism, fusion and synthesis they have produced
(< "&)< & ' %,*"$ -&(.&'( 9$-, %' 3&I.&R"+F$1& $-& " +11J&
open to the future, and if it is
d333f& ,(& Q(*"$-5& +-& +& % /& '$ (.&
mixed blood […] better for incorporating
132 Suranjit Kumar Saha
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
within itself more humanities; and more
generous for being open to all races and
all cultures. (SAHA, 2012, p. 455).
As Ribeiro believes, it needs to begin by
+11& ,5 & -,"+%0-& (.& $,-& -('$+1& .+8"$'& $%& 6*+1&
measure.
In a speech given at a national seminar in
Belo Horizonte on the 23rd of April, 1984, Celso
Furtado, the celebrated Brazilian economist and
philosopher, also emphasised the issues of identity
and culture, particularly in the context of determining
the priorities of development, and posed the
2"( who are weE& +&6* -,$(%&,5+,E&
he believed, a nation must address in its moments
(.&'"$-$-3&t`&" Q ',$(%&(%&(*"&$0 %,$,J&/$11&% ' --+"$1J&
be the starting point of the reconstruction process
that lies before us [...]” and also “[...] any discussion
about development options for Brazil should be
based on a study of Brazilian culture.” (FURTADO,
WKNgE& 23& gg;gUc3& I%& +%J& '(*%,"J& ,5 & 6* -,$(%-& (.&
identity and culture are inextricably rooted in its
history, which is why, he relates his seven theses
on Brazilian culture&,(& ,5 & 0 )%$%#& !(! %,-& (.& $,-&
history. “Brazilian culture is one of the many fruits of
+&!*,+,$(%&2"(' --&,5+,&,((S&,5 &.("!&(.&+%&(< "Q(/&
of European culture since the beginning of the XVI
century” (FURTADO, 1984, p.).
I%&R"+F$1T-&'+- &,5 &-(*"' &(.&,5$-&(< "Q(/&/+-&
Portugal. Therefore:
During the three centuries of colonial
era, Brazil experienced the development
of a culture that, while being Portuguese
in spirit and style, at the same time
included not only local motives but
also the values of subjugated cultures.
(FURTADO, 1984, p.).
“While Aborigines and Africans were isolated
from their respective cultural roots and deprived from
historical memory” (FURTADO, 1984, p.), they still
!+0 & -$#%$)'+%,&'(%,"$8*,$(%-&$%& ,5 & %"$'5! %,& (.&
this composite culture. The synthesis represented
$%& ,5 & R"+F$1$+%& & R+"(6* & -J!8(1$- 0& +& #1("$(*-&
.Q(" -' %' & (.& ,5$-& .*-$(%& (.& '*1,*" -E& td333f& ,5 &
expression of a society as a whole (whose) message
was received by masters as well as by slaves”.
(FURTADO, 1984, p. 47).
After the onset of the Industrial Revolution in
Europe around the 1870s, however, the courses of
historical development in Europe and Brazil diverged.
Dependent modernization in Brazil made
,5 & %0& (.& $,-& R+"(6* & -J%,5 -$-& 1 +0&
to Bovarism instead of leading to new
creative cultural processes - as was the
case in Europe, where medievalism gave
way to humanism. […] Nobody can fail
to see that our belated industrialization
followed an imitative pattern that went
to reinforce the already deeply rooted
tendencies of our society towards
elitism and social oppression [...] The
accumulation process was put to the
service of unbridled modernization in the
life styles of middle and upper income
strata, leaving the satisfaction of needs
of the masses in absolute oblivion.
(FURTADO, 1984, p. 48).
This was the mistaken role, the Bovarian
role, that the elite started playing in colonial Brazil,
and the elite and the middle class are still playing
in contemporary Brazil. But he reminds the middle
class that it can play a more progressive role in the
building of Brazil if it were to choose to do so:
The middle class constitutes a privileged
locus of cultural creation and moves
between dependent modernization and
the search of an identity that can only be
found in popular roots. The concentration
of income is nothing but the other face
of dependent modernization. Hence a
% /& '*1,*"+1& -J%,5 -$-& ,5+,& " Q ',-& ,5 &
'" +,$< & 2(/ "& (.& ,5 & 2 (21 & " 6*$" -&
a deepening of the democratic process
and the reduction of social differences.
(FURTADO, 1984, p. 49).
If Brazil is to rediscover its identity founded in
its popular root, and if its middle class is to play the
progressive role that Furtado thinks it can, it has to
begin to value and respect its African and indigenous
roots at least as much as it values its European one.
What the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore had said
to the Indian elite in 1910 in a poem called Opomanito
(Humilhado) now holds good for Brazil too:
O my ill-fated country, those you have
given only humiliation
Time has come for you to share that
humiliation with them
Those you have even denied the right to
be human
Those who have always lived near you,
But you always pushed them away with
hatred and contempt Time has come for
you to share that humiliation with them.
(TAGORE, 1910b, p. 509)2.
N(K;9KO=@8;9'(,5 &KKL&'+%&8*$10&+&0$.. " %,&.*,*" &
if they learn to act politically
P5 &)"-,&-, 2&,(&+',&2(1$,$'+11J&$-&,(&*%0 "-,+%0&
that the process that creates limitless wealth for
some also creates worsening poverty and terrible
misery for many and to cleanse the minds the many
of the illusions of false hopes that one day, they too
will share in that wealth and that lifestyle that the rich
and the super-rich currently enjoy.
The stories of rags-to-riches which the media
and the higher education system, currently under
133
IN SEARCH OF A THEORY FOR SUPPORTING RESISTANCE TO PREDATORY NEOLIBERALISM IN THE 21ST
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R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
the ever-tightening grip of the richer classes, so
assiduously spread and a few scholarships to
higher education that these classes offer to the
poorer students while at the same time blocking
in a calculated way access to the millions of other
poorer students to the same opportunity, are all
parts of this carefully orchestrated campaign of
-*-,+$%$%#& ,5$-& $11*-$(%& $%& ,5 & !$%0-& (.& ,5 & KKL3&
Also parts of this campaign are the charities like
Oxfam, ActionAid, Save the Children, Christian Aid,
those maintained by the Catholic Churches across
the world and the various foundations which the
richer classes patronise and support. The television
pictures of people from these organisations feeding
the malnourished children, providing health care,
creating safe drinking water facilities and doing many
other good things into beamed into the houses of
millions of people every day, including the wretched
shacks of those living in slums, shantytowns and
favelas help to perpetuate the image of capitalism
as a benevolent system, while taking away the focus
of attention from the fact that that precisely is the
system which keeps a million times more number of
children in malnourishment, denies them and their
parents the healthcare they need and should expect
to have in any civilised system and brings those
.+< 1+-& +%0& -5+%,J,(/%-& $%,(& 9$-, %' & $%& ,5 & )"-,&
place.
Another lie that needs to be debunked is that
the rich in every society are the wealth creators and
employment generators and therefore attacking
them in any way or putting limits on how much
money they can make for themselves and how little
they can pay who work for them, will be hurting the
whole society. What the people need to be helped
to understand is that all socially productive work is
socially collaborative work and how much of the joint
output of that collaborative work capitalists take
+-& 2"(),-E& )%+%' & 2"( +-&$%, " -,-E&,5 &-,+, &
as taxes and the workers of various categories as
wages at various levels will depend on the value
systems of the society prevailing at the time (what
differentials are acceptable and judged as fair)
and the rules of the game that the state has put in
place to govern this. If the richer classes exercise
+& 0$-2"(2(",$(%+, & $%Q* %' & $%& ,5 & -,+, T-& 2(1$'J&
making, regulatory and management functions, as
is the case in most capitalist democracies across
the world to various degrees, the rules of the game
/$11& +1/+J-& 0$-2"(2(",$(%+, 1J& 8 % ),& ,5(- & "$'5 "&
people. Even Stiglitz agrees that most of the rich in
the United States made their money not out of hard
work and enterprise but out of the rent incomes of
speculation and by exploiting privileged opportunities
the state created for them.
The rich are so rich because the society
and the state make it possible for them to take a
disproportionately high share of the joint output of
socially collaborative work, i.e. output jointly produced
8J& '+2$,+1$-,-E& 2"( (.& )%+%' & +%0& /("S "-&
produced together. The poor are so poor because
they are allowed to take home a disproportionately
low share out of that jointly produced output. As long
as the rules of the game remains like this, and the
-('$ ,J&'(%,$%* -&,(&)%0&,5$-&+'' 2,+81 E&,5 &"$'5&/$11&
continue to become richer and the poor will continue
to be pushed into ever deepening states of poverty
and deprivation, no matter how hard they work and
5(/& .)'$ %,1J&,5 &-J-, !&.*%',$(%-3
The third lie that needs to be debunked is that
,5 & 6*+1$,J& (.& 1$. & (.& ,5 & 2(("& '+%& 8 & !+0 & 8 ,, "&
without hurting the interests of the rich, i.e. without
changing the rules of the game or the prevailing value
systems of societies. We need to understand that it
$-&$!2(--$81 &.("&,5 &2((" "& NML&(.&,5 &R"+F$1$+%-&("&
I%0$+%-&,(& %Y(J&+&6*+1$,J&(.&1$. &,5+,&,5 $"&(/%&"$'5 -,&
WML&(.&,5 &'(!2+,"$(,-&+" &'*"" %,1J& %Y(J$%#E&% < "&
!$%0& ,5(- & 8 $%#& %Y(J 0& 8J& ,5 & "$'5 -,& WML& (.&
the Europeans and North Americans without a total
collapse of the planet earths ecological system
or without a total exhaustion of its renewable and
non-renewable natural resources. Such talk is only
a part of this relentless campaign of sustaining the
illusion in the minds of the poorer people that, if
they worked hard enough, their children will one day
%Y(J&,5 & -+! & 6*+1$,J&(.& 1$. -,J1 &,5+,&,5 $"& 8(-- -&
+" & %Y(J$%#& ,(0+J3& P5 & 6* -,$(%& ,5 " .(" & '(! -&
0(/%&,(&,5$-7&5(/&!*'5&0$-2+"$,J&$%&,5 &6*+1$,J&(.&1$. &
between the richest and the poorest does the society
)%0&+'' 2,+81 3
We must not forget that the Brazilian society
in the 18th and the 19th centuries found the horrors
of slavery acceptable. Gilberto Freyre, writing in the
1930s, was describing these absolute horrors without
showing the slightest bit of revulsion and distaste,
even judging them as part of an overall social
dispensation which was in the main fair. The British
-('$ ,J&$%&,5 &,$! -&(.&Z5+"1 -&?$'S %-&.(*%0&$,&6*$, &
acceptable that a hungry child could be sentenced
to death for the crime of stealing a loaf of bread.
The Indian policy makers and its intellectual classes
,(0+J& +%0& )%0& $,& 6*$, & +'' 2,+81 & ,5+,& gNL& (.& $,-&
children continue to remain in a state of malnutrition
after 68 years of independence while they make rules
pronouncing that anyone earning more than US 0.42
cents a day in the rural areas and 53 cents a day in
urban areas are not poor and therefore not eligible
,(&,5 &! +#" &8 % ),-& ,5+,&,5 &-,+, &$-& -*22(- 0&,(&
make available to the poor.
During the ten years of PT government since
XMMiE&R"+F$1&5+-&%(&0(*8,&!+0 &-$#%$)'+%,&+0
$%& 2(< ",J& +11 " 0*'$%#& $% 6*+1$,$ -3&
q< %& %(/E& 5(/ < "E& ,5 & 1 < 1& (.& $% 6*+1$,J& 5 " &
is among the highest in the world. The minimum
salary in Brazil since the beginning of 2013 is 678
reais or 288 US dollars per month or just over 22
reais/9 US dollars per day. At that level of income
life will be very basic indeed in today’s Brazil. It will
be precarious if the head of the family has to support
non-working dependents, as will be the case in most
134 Suranjit Kumar Saha
R. Pol. Públ., São Luís, Número Especial, p. 115-137, julho de 2014
.+!$1$ -3& `''("0$%#& ,(& ,5 & -+!21 & -*"< J& )#*" -&
Y*-,&2*81$-5 0&8J& R"+F$1T-&l+,$(%+1&],+,$-,$'-&:.)' E&
$%&XMWWE&,5 &5 +0-& (.&XOL&(.&R"+F$1$+%&5(*- 5(10-&
+"% 0& 1 --& ,5+%& ,5 & !$%$!*!& /+# j& Wg3WL& 1 --&
,5+%& 5+1.&,5 &!$%$!*!&/+# 3&m(" &,5+%&+& 6*+", "&
of Brazilians thus continue living in extreme levels
of poverty even after 12 years of PT government:
(.&/5$'5E&!(" &,5+%&WgL&$%&0 -2 "+, &bIl]PIP\P:&
BRASILEIRO DE GEOGRAFIA E ESTATÍSTICA,
2012, table 5.1).
The minimum wage in Brazil today is at an all-
time high in real terms. Therefore, any suggestion
that this may not be enough will certainly invite
howls of indignant protest from the country’s richer
class. Brazil cannot afford it, they will say, like the
US Congress says that that country cannot afford
President Obama’s healthcare plans for the poor; like
David Cameron of Britain says that his country cannot
afford its National Health Service (the universal free
healthcare for all) and welfare payments to the poor
at their present levels. But we need to ask the richer
classes of these and other countries why can’t they
afford it?
Let’s take the case of Brazil. In 2013, the
country had 46 dollar billion aires, who’s combined
net worth was US$ 189.3 billion. Where did this
huge fortune come from? The richest of the 46,
Jorge Lemann made his money in beer, banking
and retailing, 9 others includi ng Joseph S afra
made it in banking, six others, in media and
televis ion. In all the 46 cases, money was made
by means of gaining preferential access to the
'(*%,"J T-& %+,*"+1E& 5*!+%& +%0& )%+%'$+1 &" -(*"' -&
with th e help of the state, paying low wages t o the
workers relative to the international rates, taking
advanta ge of the protected domestic market
during the period of the military governm ent, lax
labour laws and paying low taxes to the state
because of an industrial policy which has always
favoure d businesses at the expense of labour. I
have explained the process in greater detail in a
keynote paper that I had presented at the ANP EC
annual conference 16 y ears ago (SAHA, 1997). In
other words, all of this wealth was extracted out
of the Brazilian society and produced by the hard
work and dedic ation of the Brazilian workers who
had w orked for the likes of Jorge Lemann, Josepf
Safra, A ntonio Moraes and 43 others. Looking
+,& +& 8"(+0 "& -'+ 1 E& giL& (.& R"+F$1 T-&V?C&+''"* -&
,(& ,5 & "$'5 -,& WML& (.& $,-& 2 (2*1+,$(%j& ,5 & 5$#5 -,&
proport ion in the world. This big ger pot of wealth
is also a pro duct of the la bour of the Brazilian
workers , a disproportionately large share o f which
was taken by the bos ses with the help of the state.
If a fair share of this pot is allowed to be r ecycles
,(&,5 &8 % ),&(.&+11E&,5"(*#5&2"(#" --$< &, +9 -&+%0&
a better division of the output between wages a nd
2"(),-E & R"+F$1 & +%0& + 11& '(*% ,"$ -& ( .& ,5 & /("10& '+%&
afford& 6*+1$,J&." &*%$< "-+1&5 +1,5&'+" & .("&+11&+%0&
free access to education for all.
P5$-& /$11& %(,& 5+22 %& *%,$1& +& " '(%)#*"+,$(%&
of class alliances within societies bring about a
" '(%)#*"+,$(%&(.&,5 &%+,*" &(.&,5 &-,+, 3&P5 & KKL&
+., "&+11&$-&+%& *25 !$-!E&+&)#*" &(.&-2 '53&](! &
intellectual effort needs to be invested in looking
at the internal architecture of, let’s say, the poorer
KML3&I.&/ &+'' 2,&,5+,&,5 &" +1&0$
8 ,/ %&,5 &,(2&WML&+%0&,5 &8(,,(!&XMLE&,5 %&,5 &
2(1$,$'+1&8 5+ML&/$11&0 , "!$% &
the nature of the state and its politics. It is unlikely
,5+,& ,5 & ,(2& KL& 8 1(/& ,5 & ,(2& WL& /$11& < "& - & +&
'(!!(%+1$,J& (.& $%, " -,-& /$,5& 8(,,(!& (.& XML3& `&
!+Y("& 2+",& (.& ,5 & 8(,,(!& XMLE& /$,5(*,& +'' --& ,(&
6*+1$,J& 0*'+,$(%E& 6*+1$,J& 5 +1,5'+" E& +0 6*+, &
means of livelihood , would have been sinking
into an ever deepening state of hopelessness and
alienation; into a state of political inertness. A lot will
depend on whether the rich are able to continue to
- 11&,(&,5 &8"(+0&!$001 ;#"(*%0&(.&OML&,5(- &8"+$%;
numbing rag-to-riches illusions, the fraud of the
impossible dream of a credible chance of making
to the top through hard work. Once these illusions
+" & 0 8*%S 0E& ,5 & OML& /$11& "+2$01J& - & ,5+,& ,5 J&
have nothing to gain by staying on the side of the
,(2&WML&+%0&5+< & < "J,5$%#&8J&'(%' %,"+,$%#&,5 $"&
efforts on creating a fairer and juster society and
$%& ,5+,& ..(",-E& ,5 & 8(,,(!& XML& /$11& 8 '(! & ,5 $"&
natural allies.
:%' & ,5$-& " '(%)#*"+,$(%& (.& '(%-'$(*-% --&
takes place, political parties which gain control of the
-,+, &/$,5& ,5 & -*22(",& (.&,5 & ,(2& WML& +%0&/$,5& ,5 &
2(2*1$-,&-1(#+%-&+00" -- 0& ,(&,5 & !$001 &OML&E& /$11&
no longer be able to do so. Either these parties will
disappear and new parties will emerge to promote the
interests of the bottom 90, or the existing parties like
Partido dos Trabalhadores in Brazil, the Peronistas
in Argentina and similar other left-of-the centre
parties across the world will be restructured from
/$,5$%&*%0 "&,5 &2" --*" & (.&,5$-&% /1J&" '(%)#*" 0&
electorate.
This can happen if intellectual efforts are
invested to make this happen.
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NOTAS
1 Tradução: Todos nós, brasileiros, somos carne da
2/*.$%&/O,$0-(%@*$)-(%$%T.&'-(%(,@0'2'/&-(!%"-&-(%.](%
+*/('0$'*-(%(-N-(H%@-*% '9,/0H%/%NR-% @-(($((/%O,$%-(%
supliciou. A doçura mais terna e a crueldade mais atroz
/O,'%($%2-.Y,9/*/N%@/*/%1/P$*%&$%.](%/%9$.)$%($.)'&/%
$%(-1*'&/% O,$% (-N-(% $%/% 9$.)$% '.($.(T$I$0%$% +*,)/0H%
O,$% )/N+^N% (-N-(!% ?$(2$.&$.)$(% &$% $(2*/I-(% $%
de senhores de escravos seremos sempre servos da
malignidade destilada e instalada em nós, tanto pelo
sentimento da dor intencionalmente prodizida para
&-$*%N/'(H%O,/.)-%@$0-%$3$*2T2'-%&/%+*,)/0'&/&$%(-+*$%
homens, sobre mulheres, sobre crianças xonvertidas
em pasto de nossa fúria. ... A mais terrível de nossas
herenças é esta de levar sempre conosco a cicatriz
de torturador impressa na alma e pronta a explodir na
brutalidade racista e classista. Ela, porém, provocando
crescente indignação dará forças, amanhã, para
2-.)$*% -(% @-(($((-(% $% 2*'/*% /O,'% ,N/% (-2'$&/&$%
solidária
2% "*/&,QR-C% _% N$,% )*'()$% @/T(H%FO,$0$(% /% O,$N% I-2`%
deu só humilhação.
Chegou a hora de você partilhar estas humilhações
com eles.
FO,$0$(%/%O,$N%I-2`% .$9-,%-%&'*$')-%&$%($*% #,N/.-
FO,$0$(% O,$% ($N@*$% I'I$*/N% @$*)-% &$% I-2`!
Mas você sempre os afastou com ódio e desprezo.
Chegou a hora de você partilhar estas humilhações
com eles
Suranjit Kumar Saha,
Geography Political Science And Economics
Doctor em Development Studies pela University Of Wales
Cardiff
Professor da Swansea University - Reino Unido
E-mail: suranjitsaha@mail.com
College Of Science- United Kingdom
102 Rhyd-y-Defaid Drive
Sketty, Swansea SA2 8AW, United Kingdom
Para continuar a ler
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