The Politics of Racism 1
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Welcome to Political Science Level 1, Lesson 5: The Politics of Racism 1
In this lesson, you will learn about:
Racism being ingrained in Western society
The relationship between the state and the Euro-Christian church
Legal racism and racist policies
Slave Codes and apprenticeship
Reparations
Exploited labour
Multinational corporations in Africa
World War I
Objectives
By the end of this lesson you will understand:
How racism is state-sanctioned
How international law is racist
How ideological mechanisms are used to implement racism
How racism is used in exploitation
How Apprenticeship was continued enslavement
How transnational corporations gained access to African and Caribbean resources
The role played by Africans during WWI
Racism is in the DNA of Western Society.
Since its development during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, racism has become political policy. The need for enslaved Africans not only influenced politics, but ensured the entire political structure of Europe was built on racism. Today, racism remains the backbone of global politics, determining major governmental policies.
During the 15th century, much of Europe was Christian, and the Pope was viewed as a moral and political figure. At the start of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the Pope offered to grant all Europeans “complete forgiveness of all their sins”, essentially giving them the moral and political approval to carry out slavery. A few years later, Spanish and Portuguese governors established a slave licensing system, developing an official slave trade network through political policy.
These same governors were also busy enacting policies in their home nations. The Moors that had occupied Spain and Portugal for hundreds of years were expelled through various governmental actions. During the same period, Queen Elizabeth I of England enacted similar policies. In 1596, the Privy Council wrote on behalf of the Queen to the Lord Mayors of major English cities. Queen Elizabeth felt that there were “too many Blackamoors” in England and that they needed to be removed from the country. The order also granted a merchant named Casper Van Senden a license to catch and sell “Blackamoors” to the Spanish and Portuguese. In 1601, another policy to expel Blackamoors was enacted by the Queen. Black people were also prevented from learning a trade or a skill by English law.
Although European powers were often in conflict, Trans-Atlantic Slavery was seen as a collective venture for profits. The various monarchs and governments of Europe, therefore, enacted policies that resulted in trade co-operation. These policies included rights to purchase and sell captives, European merchant laws, and laws that shared labour such as the Asiento contract. The Treaty of Westphalia also ended much of the conflict through Europe in 1648.
Within the colonies, the colonial governors enacted racist policies. The Barbados Slave Code was introduced in 1661. It governed the treatment of captives in England’s colonies while providing the legal basis for enslavement. The code established that Africans were not humans but in fact chattel - the property of white enslavers. The Code Noir was introduced in 1685 in the French colonies and acted as a similar legal policy. Other policies and laws, such as the Casual Killing Act, served to embed racism into the political systems of Europe’s empires.
In the US, Black people were legally made 3/5ths of a human being in 1787. The politicians of this newly independent nation decided that state representation should be dependent on state population. The more people living in a state, the more politicians they could send to the House of Representatives. This presented a problem, as the enslaved were considered property, but the politicians of slave-holding states wanted to count them as people in order to acquire more representation.
The US politicians solved this issue by declaring Black people to be 3/5ths human. They decided this made it fairer for states with fewer slaves, as they wouldn’t be politically underrepresented. Political policy made Black people into subhuman property by law.
Once formal slavery had been abolished through Britain’s colonies, the British government paid £20 million to 46,000 slaveowners. Today that is equivalent to over £15 billion. This allowed them to invest huge sums of money into new businesses and industries. The former slaves were also forced into continued plantation labour under a political system called “apprenticeship.” Land, tools and education were denied as Africans were forced to work for a 4 to 6 year period without any form of payment.
Many of the recently freed refused to continue working on the plantations and instead decided to set up their own communities. The government however enforced a system of land tax on the ex-slaves. This forced them to remain on the plantations they were enslaved on. The government also imported free labourers from India, the Middle East and China, giving them land in the process. This ensured that Black people remained at the bottom of Caribbean society. Black people were also prevented from owning more than 99 lots of land.
After the Haitian Revolution, France enforced a policy of reparations on the new Black republic. Haiti was forced to pay France 150 million francs for their loss of property, an amount that was reduced to 90 million francs. Adjusting for inflation, this would be billions in today’s currency. This crippled Haiti’s economy, leaving its citizens in the pits of poverty. This reparations policy was enacted in 1825, yet Haiti didn’t finish paying this off until 1947!
When slavery was abolished in the US, the various state governments enacted policies that ensured racist practices would continue. Vagrancy laws meant that it was a federal crime to be Black and unemployed, and this led to huge numbers of Black people being arrested. Convict leasing was also enforced, meaning Black prisoners were legally allowed to be enslaved. Peonage, which was a system that re-enslaved Black people to pay off their debts, was another policy enforced by the US government.
The US government also enforced the practice of sharecropping. This was a form of agriculture where white landowners would allow Black people to live on their land in exchange for their labour in producing crops. This meant Black people weren’t paid for their labour, trapping them in another form of slavery.
The 13th amendment ensured that the continuation of slavery was completely legal. This amendment declared that slavery was abolished except when as punishment for a crime. This meant Black people that were imprisoned due to vagrancy laws and other racist policies could be enslaved indefinitely. Today, this governmental policy is still very much active, authorised by the US Constitution.
The US also had “miscegenation laws”, which were laws that prevented relationships between Black and white people. Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Canada also enforced these laws. Throughout the Caribbean and Brazil, laws against the practice of traditional spirituality were enacted, forcing large sections of the population to become Christian.
Between 1884 and 1885, the nations of Europe decided to expand their empires and colonised the African continent. International law, which was developed exclusively by Europeans, allowed Africa to be carved up and renamed. Racism was evident as these international laws allowed colonised Africans to be enslaved while the working classes of Europe had their rights protected.
In Sierra Leone, the British enforced the policy of apprenticeship on the population. This differed from the version enacted in the Caribbean years earlier, as this form of apprenticeship was indefinite. Men, women and even children were forced to labour on plantations throughout Africa for no pay. In Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa, the governments of Europe allowed the imperialist Cecil Rhodes to run amok with his private army. He brutalised and enslaved the African population, creating the structure for apartheid. Rhodes, just like all European imperialists, was protected by international law.
Racist wage structures were put in place by the colonial governments of Europe. Throughout Africa, Arabs, Berbers and imported Indians earned just 16-25% of European workers, and Africans earned only 2-5% - and often nothing! In Rhodesia, African labourers would earn 12 pence per month! Arabs and Indians would often act as middlemen, helping to facilitate the exploitation of African labourers while being exploited themselves.
As colonial governments were made up exclusively of Europeans, the entire economy of a country was set up to serve the colonisers. In the colonies known as French West Africa, 60% of internal revenue went into paying the salaries of civil servants and government leaders.
European powers also enacted a land sale policy. Corporations and elite capitalists were given huge amounts of African land by the colonial governments. They were also given colonial labourers under this policy, who were effectively enslaved. Cadbury Chocolate, Unilever and Firestone Tyres were just some of the companies given African land. Today, oil giants such as Shell and BP have been given land under the same racist policy.
Import and export tax laws were put in place across Africa by European governments. This meant that materials produced through colonial labour were exported without any taxes. These materials were then imported back into Africa with high taxes attached. Since Africans were prevented from developing industry within their own countries by colonial powers, there was no alternative product to European imports. Meaning what little money Africans had was spent buying products their labour created for high prices. Those that earned too little to afford products experienced incredible hardship.
African import tax was the highest on the planet, which enabled Europe to continue African oppression. When import tax is high, the price of the imported product is increased and the tax is paid for at the expense of the consumer. For example, in the early 20th century, flour exported from Britain to Africa was made over 4 times more expensive than flour exported from Britain to the US.
After Britain’s colonisation of Australia, the colonial government enacted a specific genocidal policy. Indigenous Australian children were stolen from their homes and given to white families in order to eliminate their “race.” Some of these children were mixed, being the offspring of Indigenous domestic labourers and white colonial landowners. Often, the children were completely abandoned. This policy was introduced in 1860 through various laws and enacted until 1969. This was known as the “Stolen Generations.”
When World War I began in 1914, political policy enforced the colonies to subsidise the European war effort. This meant that Britain, France, Germany and others were given money from Africa and the Caribbean to help them fight. The Black labourers in these places were exploited even more, as their workload was increased while their tiny wages were decreased.
Additionally, there were policies in place that prevented the use of Black soldiers in Europe. The nations of Europe, even those on opposite sides of the war, agreed that they would only use Black soldiers within Africa. This meant that Africans under the flag of Britain would be killing Africans under the flag of Germany with no European in sight!