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President Lula of Brazil has told British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that the global economic crisis was not created by the poor, blacks or indigenous people but by ‘white people with blue eyes who appeared to know everything and now show that they know nothing’. His remarks will elicit the predictable howls of outrage from the North, who will say that they are ‘racist’. But I think that Lula is making some very important points about power, symbolism, responsibility, and accountability.
By saying that those responsible for the crisis are the rich, the white, the ‘blue-eyed’ – and this is code for “Anglo-Saxon”, who historically have considered themselves superior to the ‘Iberians’ and other ‘Latin’ peoples from which the European strain in the Brazilian population is mainly drawn– Lula is making a point about the location of power and responsibility for actions affecting the global economy and decisions about the management of the consequences of these actions. (He could, of course, have also added “male”).
It is not just the bankers and investment firms of Wall Street and the City of London he is talking about, but the leaders, finance ministers and central bankers of the industrialized countries who collectively, by their actions and inactions, are responsible for the worst economic crisis in capitalism since the Great Depression of the 1930s and, some say, since 1878. A crisis which, according to the United Nations and the World Bank, will push hundreds of millions into poverty and add tens of millions to the ranks of the unemployed.
The leaders and finance ministers of the G8 countries, who presided over this disaster, include not a single person of colour, (that is until January 20, 2009, and it did not happen on Obama’s watch), Even though people of colour, depending on how they are counted, make up anywhere between one-half and two-thirds of mankind; and will be in the majority of those who are affected.
And these leaders include only one woman, a category that makes up one-half of mankind.
To say, as Gordon Brown is reported to have said, that Lula’s remarks were ‘for domestic consumption’ is to miss the point entirely. In the context of the present crisis, the distinction between the ‘domestic’ and the ‘global’ has largely lost its meaning.
Rich countries, and rich people in the rich countries, have made a mess; and the price is being paid by poor countries, as well as by poor people in rich countries.
And the latter group includes a large immigrant population originating in the Global South; as well as many poor and working class whites—Anglo-Saxon/blonde/blue eyed, as well as Ibero/Latino/brown-eyed.
Ultimately, Mr Lula is talking about global class–not just race—and global responsibility. His use of ethnic categories to convey his message shows an acute sense of the power of symbolism in communication.
No one who watches the business sections of the world print and electronic media can deny that the symbols of economic power with which we are daily bombarded are those that Mr Lula has identified. To call this ‘racist’ is a deliberate distraction, and deliberate obfuscation. A denial of the location of power and responsibility in the world.
In the run-up to the G20 meeting, Mr Lula is also saying—‘hey, you guys created this mess, and now you are asking us to help you clean it up, and to help pay for the clean-up job.”
“Well, I have news for you. First, you must own up to your responsibility.
“Second, you must ‘eat humble pie’and accept that you dont have all the answers.
“In fact, some of us believe that you may be the least qualified to come up with the answers, because all this happened as a result of your blind faith in market fundamentalism; and because you owe all sorts of political debts to those hot shot financial wizards who made the mess. Hell, some of them even put you there”.
“Third, guess what? The world has changed. You don’t ‘run things’ any more. You’re going to have to give up some of your power.
“There are new players in town; and they are not white and blue-eyed. They don’t waltz. They do the samba and other exotic dances.
Move over, guys. Make some room.”
Norman
http://www.normangirvan.info/the-rich-created-the-crisis-the-poor-should-not-have-to-pay-president-lula/.
President Lula of Brazil has told British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that the global economic crisis was not created by the poor, blacks or indigenous people but by ‘white people with blue eyes who appeared to know everything and now show that they know nothing’. His remarks will elicit the predictable howls of outrage from the North, who will say that they are ‘racist’. But I think that Lula is making some very important points about power, symbolism, responsibility, and accountability.
By saying that those responsible for the crisis are the rich, the white, the ‘blue-eyed’ – and this is code for “Anglo-Saxon”, who historically have considered themselves superior to the ‘Iberians’ and other ‘Latin’ peoples from which the European strain in the Brazilian population is mainly drawn– Lula is making a point about the location of power and responsibility for actions affecting the global economy and decisions about the management of the consequences of these actions. (He could, of course, have also added “male”).
It is not just the bankers and investment firms of Wall Street and the City of London he is talking about, but the leaders, finance ministers and central bankers of the industrialized countries who collectively, by their actions and inactions, are responsible for the worst economic crisis in capitalism since the Great Depression of the 1930s and, some say, since 1878. A crisis which, according to the United Nations and the World Bank, will push hundreds of millions into poverty and add tens of millions to the ranks of the unemployed.
The leaders and finance ministers of the G8 countries, who presided over this disaster, include not a single person of colour, (that is until January 20, 2009, and it did not happen on Obama’s watch), Even though people of colour, depending on how they are counted, make up anywhere between one-half and two-thirds of mankind; and will be in the majority of those who are affected.
And these leaders include only one woman, a category that makes up one-half of mankind.
To say, as Gordon Brown is reported to have said, that Lula’s remarks were ‘for domestic consumption’ is to miss the point entirely. In the context of the present crisis, the distinction between the ‘domestic’ and the ‘global’ has largely lost its meaning.
Rich countries, and rich people in the rich countries, have made a mess; and the price is being paid by poor countries, as well as by poor people in rich countries.
And the latter group includes a large immigrant population originating in the Global South; as well as many poor and working class whites—Anglo-Saxon/blonde/blue eyed, as well as Ibero/Latino/brown-eyed.
Ultimately, Mr Lula is talking about global class–not just race—and global responsibility. His use of ethnic categories to convey his message shows an acute sense of the power of symbolism in communication.
No one who watches the business sections of the world print and electronic media can deny that the symbols of economic power with which we are daily bombarded are those that Mr Lula has identified. To call this ‘racist’ is a deliberate distraction, and deliberate obfuscation. A denial of the location of power and responsibility in the world.
In the run-up to the G20 meeting, Mr Lula is also saying—‘hey, you guys created this mess, and now you are asking us to help you clean it up, and to help pay for the clean-up job.”
“Well, I have news for you. First, you must own up to your responsibility.
“Second, you must ‘eat humble pie’and accept that you dont have all the answers.
“In fact, some of us believe that you may be the least qualified to come up with the answers, because all this happened as a result of your blind faith in market fundamentalism; and because you owe all sorts of political debts to those hot shot financial wizards who made the mess. Hell, some of them even put you there”.
“Third, guess what? The world has changed. You don’t ‘run things’ any more. You’re going to have to give up some of your power.
“There are new players in town; and they are not white and blue-eyed. They don’t waltz. They do the samba and other exotic dances.
Move over, guys. Make some room.”
Norman
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