Transcripts For DW Slavery Routes 20240713

Over the centuries the slave trade forged new worlds and devastated others as violence subjugation and profit imposed their own roots the slave system created the greatest accumulation of wealth world ever seen in. The late 18th century saw the slave trade reach its pinnacle with over 100000 captives abducted and deported every year. Extremes of human domination even in slavery we find there is always resistance there is always tension and theres always trouble. At the dawn of the 19th century the brutality of the Transatlantic Slave Trade brought about its decline europeans had to find alternative means of accumulating wealth after abolition big spend at the limits a concept of slavery. Brazil bears the legacy of slavery is finally years right as the slave trade was banned a 2nd wave of captives from africa were swept up in the bay of Rio De Janeiro overture 1000000 slaves landed there during the 1900 centuries making rio the largest slave trade port in the world. People in brazil grab were going to stop makes it very clear that brazil is. The 2nd largest african country in the world the only country where as more people of african descent. Brazil is my jury. In certain neighborhoods however simply being young black and poor can get you shot dead in the middle of the street over the past decade the rio police had been carrying out regular raids in the favelas on the pretext of ridding slums of time these operations had made brazil the world leader in Police Violence against the black population. Use it for us to be a tool for them will always be poor black for vela people well never see is any other way is initial law given to them were all criminals people stare at us because of our hair because of our we live with their prejudices but its tough because theyve got the power and will always be a minority community. 130 years after the abolition of slavery africa brazilians are still by far the countrys poorest community 2nd class citizens in a world divided along color lines. Think its very important for people to realize that for 1820 for every european that traveled across the atlantic there were probably 4 africans. But i dont think anyone had any idea about the whole or all of the history of the americas is written in terms of european settlement. In the late 18th century africans and mixed race creole descendants constituted the overwhelming majority of the population in brazil venezuela and the caribbean the only presence of africans in the society was depicted in watercolors by a french botanist during his stay in rio among the white population this massive presence of slaves fed fears of conspiracy poisoning and murder. Nearly everywhere whites were a minority they had slaves in their kitchen in their living quarters everywhere they were the majority so there was this constant fear that theyd collectively mobilize to kill the whites. And here at the heart of the new world those fears were actually materializing in the form of uprisings among the slave population by 791 cent a man had become a powder keg primed to ignite and potentially destroy the entire slave system from the america all the way back to europe 45000. 00 new african captives landed every year on the coast of this French Island colony were slaves made up 90 percent of the population. After the 789. 00 revolution in france the declaration of the rights of man rang out like a rallying cry for the newly arrived captives. Slave loot is coachman for minute cetera he felt that the whites were no longer in control of the situation but their power headway and they were only a few troops left the time had come to rebel. And rebel they did it began on august 22nd 791 with accounts from that night describing a tempestuous storm. Slaves gathered at one time on. To listen to the prayers of a voodoo priest does and plan for insurrection. Although its unclear whether this clandestine ceremony actually occurred the date nevertheless marked the unleashing of a revolution that would sweep aside the entire plantation system. God who created the. Who created the sun gives us light. Guard who holds up the ocean. Makes the thunder more. God who has ears to hear and you who are hidden in the clouds who watches sperm where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer. The white mans god asks him to commit crimes for the god within us who wants to do good. In our god who is. Just orders us to repent our wrong. He who will direct talk arms and bring us the victory it is he who will assist us we all trouble way the image of the white mans god who is so few to. Listen to the voice for liberty that speaks in all our hearts. Resonating when it away from all the same all ceremony called upon it and suster all african data. Its important to know that voodoo was present in each stage of the struggle against the colonial slave system thats. Nearly as clever as use it was the voodoo religion that eventually united all the slaves who sought clear loss on this is discovered the war of liberation would last 12 years the resulting slave army was led by usual. Duty. Mun and forth want to sound the former coach driver was dubbed into their tool for his capacity to open up enemy lines the socalled black jacobins named after the revolutionary movement in france inflicted a 1st defeat for new french leader napoleon. Slaves also repelled subsequent british attempts to reconquer the island in 1804. 00 the 1st black republican history was born in haiti derived from the indigenous arab walk named for the island the word freedom now resonated throughout the world and with it fears of the revolution spreading across the americas. It was a revolution made by slaves that had world historical consequences that slave real revolution in send the main destroy the most productive colony in the in the world in a time when theres demographic growth and increasing demand for slave produce commodities half the worlds production was withdrawn from the world market by the haitian revolution so not only is there expansion theres a huge hole in this horse sources of supply so that reconfigured the hole that led to the economy. By the time durham woke up from the haitian nightmare 10000 white inhabitants had already fled the island. Plantation owners quickly found new lands to settle in and partners eager to capitalize on their knowledge of intensive farming. Sugar in cuba cotton in the u. S. And coffee in brazil. The freedom slaves had acquired and haiti had a paradoxical consequence it consolidated slavery all over the american continent. In rios hinterlands the power of a valley used to be covered with impenetrable primary forests today the mountainsides are bare trees were cleared on mass in the early 1900 centuries to make way for intensive Coffee Farming a new source of wealth. I specified the others a vote by the e. U. But the lots of as in the farms in the pot i have a valley had up to 90 percent 1st generation african slaves. That would in a very short time a practically uninhabited area was very rapidly populated with countless slaves working on the fountains to hop in them and. Some plantation owners possessed up to a 1000 slaves all applied a Scientific Organization of labor rigorous accounts were kept of each days activities output per slave became the fundamental principle guiding plantation organization. Everything was built around the coffee drying grounds the slaves had to go out in groups in the morning to plant or to pick and the big plantations they had slave quarters enclosed barracks with one entrance and so it looks like a car so situation was really hard to escape. The other reason is you could get the slaves up all that once in the morning and then as they marched out the gate you could give them their tools. So the space organizes the flow of labor. Every thing has a function so that you dont even have to watch the slaves because you know what theyre supposed to be. So its a kind of Industrial Production producing Industrial Raw Materials for the factories of britain and new mass consumption markets so theres a huge transformation of production which means for the slaves its much more exploitative the output proslavery goes up 10 times in an average in each of those crops from what ive been in the 18th century. 9000 kilometers away from europe these men and women where the hidden face of the industrial revolution. The world was changing in the early 19th century europe was urbanizing and amassing more and more wealth money flowed freely and london was now the worlds economic epicenter in the british capital a growing middle class flocked to the new Department Stores over looking at the satin dresses combs ivory umbrellas and sweets they purchased with the fruits of slave labor. Theres a distinction between whats happening in the colonial societies and whats happening in much of our societies and the metropolitan policy makers. Begin to disavow whats happening in the colonies in some ways and they stop recognizing that kind of violence as their own violence slavery is the opposite of liberal freedom so britain as the bearer of freedom has to say slavery is wrong british abolition of the slave trade is the greatest justification say well were really disinterested its not 4 inch economic motors but for ideological motives were for freedom. That this world was looking for less precarious investments buying stakes in british cotton mills was indeed far less incriminating. There was no plan in setting up the Global Economy as we see it today they were just you know manufacturers in britain developing new machines these machines suddenly needed much more cock so they tried to buy this cotton somewhere they didnt really care where it came from but the place where they found it where they were able to buy huge quantities ever had cheaper prices this was in the americas and this was eventually in the United States. In this new Industrial Society the supply of Raw Materials was the key to success from an Economic Perspective the worlds leading financial power no longer needed the slave trade. In 1807 britain resolved to abolish the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The thing that i think also needs to be said is that this was not simple altruism on the part of Great Britain in other words it wasnt simply the humanitarianism of the Abolition Movement its that britain did not want other imperial rivals to have the benefit of slave labor when in fact they didnt. In 815. 00 armed with its naval supreme a c britain imposed the cessation of the slave trade on its commercial rivals as abolition took effect among the leading european slave powers the decision gradually shut down the northern atlantica slave trade routes but it also set off fresh deportations too and within countries where slave ownership was still prevalent by grouping together the captives born on its soil the United States was also about to enter a new era of slavery a fairly small percentage of the people brought over to the americas in the slave trade actually came to north america probably 345 percent and yet another time you get to 180825838 very large percentage of the a slave population is in the United States because of natural population growth so that is a very important part of the story Thomas Jefferson for example who advocated closing the slave trade did so at least in part because he knew that the slaves that he was going to sell from his plantations into the new plantation regions would become more more valuable with the closing of the slave trade. Cotton farming concentrated most of the country slave labor along the banks of the mississippi by foot or by boat sold or brought by their owners 1000000. 00 slaves from new york baltimore washington and st louis were deported down south of new orleans and natchez became massive slave markets. After brazil the United States became the new land of industrial slavery. Most. People were between 14 and 22. They were sold single and they were roughly of a bias to mation half men and half women so if you think about that here young people taken out of their families out of their communities ship a 1000 miles away to really a very exploitative place where they have to form their own communities and their own families from scratch because the all the cut nobody that they had in their lives with such as it was was taken away. Plantation owners saw 2 options for increasing their human life stock buying captives of both sexes and inciting unions so that they would reproduce. The reproductive capacity the conception of children the bearing of children to term the raising of children has many meanings one of them is an economic meaning for slave holders and for the slave economy in general. Womens wombs were now part of the Production System ringback as their masters enjoyed complete dominion over them. Rape is very common. One of the most important stories that we have is that of a young woman named celia celia lived in Central Missouri on a small farm and she was brought there at the age of 14 and endured 3 years of rape Sexual Assault by her own or poor 3 children she eventually kills her owner and is tried for murder there in Central Missouri and while she is ultimately convicted of murder and executed shes convicted because by law shes not permitted to. Assert selfdefense and slave woman but no one disputes that she was raped. To procure slaves brazil had to opt for another strategy perpetuating the slave trade but this time by what were now illegal means. Despite britains efforts to put an end to the slave trade it mushroomed in the Southern Hemisphere within 35 years over 2 and a half 1000000 men women and children were transferred from west africa to plantations all over the world they were soon joined 5400000 captives on the continent eastern coast where the main market was in zanzibar. If you look from 815 to lets about around 85855. There were actually more slaves transported across the atlantic did it in the equivalent time in the history of the slave trade at the time was supposed to be dying. In. The indian ocean is one of the oldest commercial exchange sounds in the world africa and the east have been trading here for over 2000 years ivory Food Products and clothes changed hands along these routes as well as african captives. Driven by western demand zanzibar became a strategic crossroads it was here that one of the worlds last slave trade ports was about to develop. Zanzibar developed in the 19th century largely as a major center of trade. But also became the center of a large commercial empire the sultan of zanzibar controlled not only zones but but tried to control the whole course like. By 860 s. Something like 20000 slaves was coming through. But of these slaves 8006000 maybe. What exported out. In the eyes of philanthropists from the biggest slave trading nations britain and france others were now to blame for the cruelty and ignominious slavery. In zanzibar the others were arabs and swahili traitors. And then slavery became the criteria for creating a hierarchy these states of the americas including the United States were less than britain because they could live with slavery the brazilians the cubans were morally corrupt because they werent bothered by my code existing with the evils of slavery so they were they were on a lower standard than the british. Africans were ruled out. The world map was redrawn to distinguish and lightened powers from what were considered half civilised countries barbarian kingdoms and lands populated by savages religions political regimes and degree of Cultural Development made of a value system used to rank peoples around the world according to these standards slavery had become a backward practice unworthy of a civilized nation merely fighting the slave trade was no longer enough slavery itself had to be eradicated with this global surge and abolition slavery and institution as old as humanity found itself on the retreat. It began in the form or spanish colonies. Then came the british colonies followed by the french and finally dutch territories. And all the victory of the abolitionists all slavery become a thorny issue for the United States. How could they renounce slavery when the American Economy was dependent on southern plantation owners in this wealthy elite often considered themselves as the heirs to greco roman civilization which legitimate slavery many were eager to make the connection expressing it in the architecture and interior decoration of their lavish homes for them slavery was a mainstay of the social order. Eventually the clash over slavery became one of the primary factors that saw the south attempt to secede from the United States in 1981 the country was plunged into a devastating civil war nearly 200000 africanamericans and rolled in the Northern Union army. For africanamericans the war is a war for abolition from start be they enslaved people who watch who wait who take their opportunities at every chance during the war to further the unions interest or free africanamericans a half 1000000 of them in the north many of whom will raise troops volunteer themselves for the union forces raise money and care for black soldiers when the union army fails to do so. Hard. That. 865. 00 after 4 years of destructive warfare the us declared the abolition of slavery. At last they would claim their place amongst the supposedly more enlightened nations of the world. And. No. Harm. So workers gain their freedom but this freedom is very. Very limited and its especially limited economically and of course then the reconstituted state governments of the American South they are deeply repressive and they are deeply interested in fixing workers to places not allowing them to work in other sectors of the economy. Freedom essential in name only in the u. S. As well as in france or jamaica laws for bidding for treatment of freed slaves were promulgated they were denied their right to vote to legitimate selfdefense and denied freedom of Movement Many of those who protested were killed those who refused to work were jailed and sentenced to forced labor. Race itself without slavery gets reconfigured through the loss through the courts through political practices and race itself is does that justify slavery race itself is the basis for confining the now freed population to the south producing the same crops under conditions that are not free unequal they become a cheap labor force subject to social discipline in control so it has a social dimension but also of production to measure. The concept of race bound former slaves to specific territories legally confining them to get out without any hope of escape former slaves were from then on subjugated by virtue of their skin color violence committed by any white person against any black person was permitted by law. With emancipation in the United States in 865. 00 with the end of the so. The war 4000000 Cotton Growers enslaved Cotton Growers when their freedom europeans buy the 806870 s. Try to find ways to secure a carton and one of the places they begin to look at is the continent of africa which has a very long history of cotton agriculture. The abolition of slavery had unexpected repercussions in africa in the eyes of europeans the emancipation of former slaves concentrated along the coast of africa justified sending in their armies the belgians then the french settled on the western coast the british followed in nigeria and on the eastern coast all in the name of progress and the good of humanity led. The fight against the slave trade in zanzibar led to control than occupation as although initially there was no intent to colonize this fight against the slave trade almost inevitably lead to colonial occupation. Wherever britain intervened it applied pressure to put an end to the selling of slaves. In 873. 00 it negotiated the abolition of the slave trade with the sultan of zanzibar. This is in some ways ironic that the british came in to abolish slavery and slave trade but by doing it it really forced people to say well if we cant export slaves we will use the slaves within to produce things that we can export. Spurred on by these grand moral principles a number of europeans went off in search of adventure ready to invest in the Raw Materials that their continent needed the missionary dr David Livingstone became the figurehead for abolitionist explorers the people who supported these missions businesspeople people with money so they probably had some idea of why the interested its not just interested in finding the stock. Of africa but when it came to missionaries Living Standard was actually quite clear in your what the capitalists what interested in. Missionary organization he told them that this is philanthropy plus 5 percent the very same and it just as businessmen and he said quite openly philanthropy joined us to fight against slavery. Abolish slavery because there is an interest for you or you will produce cloth to sell to the people. Some explorers made the most of the local merchants advice and Logistical Support among the latter was to put it one of the most important slave traders in central and Eastern Africa he controlled an immense territory along Lake Tanganyika with the help of to put it Henry Morton Stanley went up the congo river and coerced the Traditional Village shes into signing contracts that stripped them of millions of acres of land for the benefit of the belgian king leopold the 2nd after landing in bug a more you angry stanley penetrated deep into Central Africa and renamed the cities of kiss on gandhi and kinshasa after himself and he was soon joined by other european explorers who entered africa from the west these expeditions marked the transition from evangelizing missions to imperialism. To put it as a young boy began to trade along that route into it when the congo he traded over a large area and was the most powerful figure there. Also had his own almost no army. Although now in a state of neglect to putin is house in zanzibar tells us much about the fortune amassed by the powerful merchant in his autobiography he recounted his negotiations with stanley and the belgian diplomats. Stanley arrived with a dozen europeans we met at the consuls and he told me. We wish you to accept to become governor in the name of belgium and of your boys the belgium flag in the districts are under your rule i harvested wanted Stanley Falls when i arrived and my men did the same wherever we came. Former slaves were enlisted in the conquering armies weapons in hand the french the belgian and the british went deeper and deeper into the equitorial forest. Europeans placed peasant communities under military control and forced them to produce Palm Oil Rubber cocoa coffee and of course. Its very clear every single state used forced labor all of them. In some cases this labor strongly resemble slavery. Where they would take people from their villages and pay them almost nothing especially for socalled public works yet. They have to provide for their own food and were later sent back home where some no longer fit in. Between. In this forced labor system missionarys became witnesses to the farmers abuses armies bankrolled by the belgians terrorized villagers and quashed rebellions every bullet was counted and to prove that they had used their weapons efficiently soldiers had to bring back the hands of their victims. A stray bullet meant an innocent could lose a limb. They had to justify domination violent military conquest the 1st civilized society. Africans were therefore instilled into accepting the supremacy of europe to accept the civilizing Mission Europe claim to could undertake in africa. And africa. With its droves of doctors anatomists and colonial it minutes. Traitors europe used race as a scientific tool to justify its domination africa became a entity relegated to the very bottom of the human scale. In the struggle against slavery as principles with the chew pillars of colonialism. The continuation of racial hierarchy is off the emancipation is not remotely surprising. Because it was all there in the ways in which the oppositionists thought the numbers of oppositionists who truly had a conception of african culture african men and women in any way equal to them was relatively small. Even the most egalitarian of oppositionists assume that you know British Culture is civilized evolved at such right sexual i mean thats part of the thats part of our understanding. Once they had progressed deep into the african interior the europeans build railways to the coasts at the end of the lines the capitals of the new colonies group the current blog douala put modern luanda cape town dar es salaam. Palm oil rubber cocoa and ivory were transported to these ports then shipped all over the world. Im not. Sure. What were. Doing. At the time of the colonial conquest african rulers with whom the europeans had been trading for 5 centuries were deprived of all their rights. Brazil one of the 1st territories to seal large scale sugarcane fields florida was one of the last to ban slavery on may 13th 888. 00 the princess regent of brazil ratified the socalled golden law ending 450 years of afro brazilian enslavement. Moving mental body so mr v. Thought yours will but as you dont want the victorious Abolitionist Movement in brazil was a conservative one led by whites the movement wasnt radical it didnt include black people or they do but as you essentially it said that brazil had to progress and civilize itself. The progress of the us it is this idea of progress and civilization directly depended on the elimination of the barbarity of slavery. Yet at the same time this movement also intended to erase black people from the history of brazil and yet them being. There still because in a sense they were considered barbarians at the minute in. The writings of rhyme window Nina Rodriguez a professor of forensic medicine at the university of buy here illustrate this point. In 891. 00 she reflected on the destiny of slave descendants. The negro race in brazil will forever constitute one of the factors are our inferiority as a people it would be important to the time and to what extent this in for yards he lies in the negro populations inability to civilize itself and therefore the whole mixing races compensates this in for your. Both the government and the planters wanted to whiten the population of the former to erase any traces of slavery the latter to reduce their dependency on these newly freed workers in 891215000 europeans arrived in brazil 3 times as many people as in the darkest hour of the slave trade Human Trafficking was replaced by the immigration of millions of poor europeans eleanor for racism didnt cause slavery its the history of racism that stems from that of slavery not the other way around that. Over the course of 12 centuries an estimated 9. 00 to 12000000. 00 african captives were transported on the transom herron and eastern brutes from 1516. 00 onward in 3 and a half centuries 13000000. 00 men women and children were deported to the americas amidst the pillaging abductions famines wars and epidemics this globalisation of violence caused the death of an estimated 15000000 africans direct and indirect victims of imperialism historians are still evaluating the demographic economic political and social impact of this human tragedy this criminal enterprise unparalleled in scale to this day. I think will truly be making progress when we all accept the history of slavery as all of our history so this through slavery is not black history and its not just the history of white colonization but the history of human equality is the legacy for all of us and its a legacy we all must contend with right not a white person only thinking about themselves as innocent of a slave holder but the white person thinking of themselves the descent of a slave to write the black person view themselves as a sense of slave holders right thinking that weve inherited the basic structures of the society. Right these basic inequalities but what we do with that is up to us that can really help us move forward as a society. A. Small acts who can inspire big changes in the people making us all go africa fantastic. Join them as they set out to save the environment learn from one another and Work Together for a better future. Many cars do you all for tuning in for go. In 30 minutes on d w. Each sunday tells my story. On the people who planned to mean built on a dedicated to me. Im not too dumb to. Be honest up my name. In the centuries they built me they created something true meaning the its the too much as i must destroy. I have mocked my citys gains for centuries and accompany my country to its final hours until the day i mean a van. Not to have done differently. Dance a fool and. This is d. W. News live from berlin using tech to tackle the coronavirus German Developers are working on the new Smartphone App that will warn people if theyve been close to someone whos tested positive for code 19 also on the show americans brace for a tough week ahead he was President Donald Trump warns that the death toll from corona virus could rise significantly basques has a number of cases in the country tops 3 time good 1000 plus football in