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Rebeliões das Senzalas, Clóvis Moura — Transcript · YTtoTranscript

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Rebeliões das Senzalas, Clóvis Moura

Professor Edergênio Vieira. Canal "Tese 3' · 3,210 words · 16 min read · EN

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Below is the complete, readable transcript of Rebeliões das Senzalas, Clóvis Moura by Professor Edergênio Vieira. Canal "Tese 3' on YouTube. Read the full text, copy any part you need, or generate a transcript for any video with our free tool.

Hello everyone, welcome to this channel! It's been a while since I posted videos on this platform due to a number of demands that I unfortunately can't detail here in detail. But the gist of it is that I 'm doing a doctorate, and that, along with other demands, ends up taking up a lot of my time.

But I'm taking this opportunity to delve deeper into some readings, specifically to bring up a book I've been reading a lot of, one that caught my attention. I'm talking about Clóvis Moura and what he wrote called "Rebeliões da Senzala" (Slave Rebellions). For those who don't know Clóvis Moura, I recommend you get to know him because

he's one of the great intellectuals of Brazilian society and Brazilian sociology. Clóvis Moura is a rejected intellectual within academic circles, even within so-called progressive circles, largely due to the fact that he was a member of the Brazilian Communist Party, later the PCdoB. So, Clóvis... I think That's the correct pronunciation, right? Assis Moura. He was born on June 10,

1925, in Amarantes, Piauí, and he wrote this book that I just had contact with, which is "Rebeliões da Senzalas" ( Slave Rebellions). In "Rebeliões da Senzalas," he discusses the struggles that make up the resistance of Black and Indigenous people in Brazil, taking into account situations such as guerrilla warfare, quilombos (maroon settlements), and

other conflicts that occurred throughout three distinct periods of Brazilian society. This period involves the arrival of the European invaders, historically known as the colony, but also unfolds during the empire and consequently during the republic. This book, "Rebeliões da Senzalas," was written in 1940 when Clóvis Moura was only 34 years old. I say only 34 years old because

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Clóvis Moura's interpretation of Brazilian society in "Rebeliões da Senzalas" is a very sophisticated interpretation of Brazilian history, considering Clóvis Moura's age. But obviously, the book is... The result of extensive research into intellectual sources and data aims to refute a particular interpretation of Brazil. Clóvis Moura is one of the great interpreters of Brazilian society, despite the fact that *Rebelião da

Senzala* was written in 1940. After all of Clóvis Moura's research, this work was only published in 1959, which highlights the difficulties faced by authors attempting to address the themes that Clóvis Moura is exploring. What are these themes? Clóvis Moura is engaging in a debate, a dialogue, with another fundamental work in Brazilian sociological thought, *

Casa Grande*, written by one of the great Brazilian intellectuals and sociologists, Gilberto Freyre. So, in * Rebelião da Senzala*, what is Clóvis Moura trying to discuss? Isn't he trying to discuss the idea constructed in * Casa Grande e Senzala* that Black and Indigenous people accepted a process of enslavement, and that slavery in Brazil occurred in a mild

way? And at the same time, at the same time that we have... It's a process of subjugation of the indigenous subject, right? Pardon the redundancy, before the conqueror, the European invader. Clóvis Moura will demystify this. He will identify this idyllic vision that, to a great extent, permeated Brazilian social thought and remains to this day, that the process of

enslavement was something beneficial to the history of Brazil. And then Clóvis Moura will outline this in three fundamental theses, analyzing the process of formation of Brazilian society. He separates three facts that, according to Clóvis Moura, are fundamental to understanding the formation of Brazilian society. One of the first facts to understand the formation of Brazilian society,

according to Clóvis Moura, is the formation of the Quilombo dos Palmares. Palmares, right? Initially led by King Zumba and later by Zumbi and so many others. For Clóvis Moura,

this Quilombo, which arose in what was then called the captaincy of Pernambuco, today the state of Alagoas, is a fundamental process of resistance for understanding Brazilian society. It will branch out, right? It will spread to a series of locations near the Serra da Barriga, becoming one of the largest resistance movements of Black, Indigenous, and

poor white people during the colonial period. This movement, called Quilombo dos Palmares, represents a powerful expression of these racial social movements in the struggle against the prevailing regime at that time. And it's no coincidence that Quilombo dos Palmares suffered violence at the hands of the Portuguese crown and the colony, reaching the point where

thousands of people were mobilized to defeat Palmares. Clóvis Moura cites data here that accounts for approximately 9,000 people mobilized under the command of the Bandeirante (nowadays old-timers) to defeat Palmares. Because Palmares represented a focus of resistance against the colonial regime, even though Palmares had a social organization with some limitations compared to the model that existed

outside of Palmares. It was an extremely complex and sophisticated organization. And then, an interesting detail that Clóvis Moura raises in this aspect is the fact that... That Palmares would become, according to Clóvis Moura, the Quilombo dos Palmares, the first independent republic in Latin America, much earlier, a little before what Tussandra did in Haiti, in the process of

emancipation of those people in that locality. Clóvis Moura outlines that here in Brazil, in this historical, economic, social, and political formation, there was already the experience of Palmares, the beginning of the first independent republic for the Brazilian social formation. So this is the first point that Clóvis Moura addresses very well here in the rebellions of the slave quarters. Another point

that Clóvis Moura points out as the determining factor for the historical, political, and cultural formation of Brazil is the Cabanagem. The Cabanagem, this movement that took place between 1835 and 1840, inserted within what would be known as the Empire in Brazil, is another factor of struggle and resistance of poor Black and Indigenous Brazilian people

in the face of the extreme misery and numerous contradictions that marked this country at that moment. And the Cabanagem, with all its... Their leaders, with significant participation from Black people, Indigenous people, and poor people, were part of the movement's constitution in what was known as the state of Grão Pará. For Clóvis Moura, this would be one of the

fundamental elements for understanding the resistance process, the struggle of the Brazilian working people. And finally, another important movement, fundamental for understanding Brazilian society, would be the Canudos revolt, led by Antônio Conselheiro. This revolt, during the period of the so-called Republic, under the government of then-President Prudente de Morais, represented a danger to that

Republic. Palmares, or Canudos, with its very controversial organization—some people saying that Canudos flirted with the monarchy, others interpreting it from a Marxist perspective of struggle for land, of conflict between landowners—is, in any case, Canudos, for Clóvis Moura, is inserted within this struggle of resistance by these subjugated people in Brazil, and it is

a very important social event for Brazilian history. Furthermore, here in... Rebellions in the Slave Quarters: Clóvis Moreira is also considering another fundamental aspect, which is the form of social organization that existed within the Brazilian slave regime. This thesis is not unique to Clóvis Moreira, but it is a thesis that he also shares with another important

Brazilian intellectual, Jacob Gorender, who wrote a book called Colonial Slavery ( I don't have that book here, but he wrote the book called Colonial Slavery), and Clóvis Moreira also works with this thesis called Colonial Slavery. What does this idea of Colonial Slavery consist of, for example, according to Clóvis Moreira? Basically, in general terms, Clóvis Moreira is

saying that the constitution of the production model in Brazil occurred in a very specific way, which was a slave-based production model. This slave-based production model occurs in a very particular way within a general process, but subordinated to the mode of production that was hegemonic in the world at that moment. In other words, the mode

of production... At that time, the issue of enslaved labor, especially of Black people from the African continent, was being explored in Brazil. This constituted a slave-based mode of production, with the entire dynamic of Brazilian society functioning according to this slave-based mode of production. This slave-based mode of production operated within the logic that

Eric Williams himself is also working on in his very interesting book, which is called "Slavery, pardon me, Capitalism: Slavery." He wants to talk about the relationship that established a so- called commercial triangle, which, we can say, established the process of economic globalization in that period. As the process of enslaving Black people moved the entire society

at that time, let's take an example: the

construction and manufacture of a ship used to transport goods. At the same time that this ship left ports in Europe loaded with goods, and here I can go back a little further and talk, for example, about the process of making this ship, which involved a whole set of raw materials and which moved European society at that

time. In addition... So, this ship leaves Europe loaded with products that were used as currency in the African continent so that these merchants, these traffickers, could obtain the most precious commodity of that period, which was a Black African. This Black African, embarked on slave ships, is moved through the colonies. In the colonies, once again, this

process of exchange occurs between these people who would be enslaved and the products that were produced—excuse the redundancy— in the colonies. And these products were obviously taken to the European continent. So there was this idea, for example, of triangular trade, and that's exactly what Clóvis Moura is discussing when he says that one of the issues that marks

Brazilian society is precisely this existence of this slave-based mode of production. This thesis, also defended by Jacob Gorender, when considering this situation, is working with two concepts that are important here in the context of rebellions: the so-called full slavery, which, according to Clóvis Moura, begins around 1550 and extends until 1850. The famous

Eusébio de Queiroz Law was enacted. Queiroz was the minister at the time, and a law called the Eusébio de Queiroz Law was promulgated. This law, responsible for ending the slave trade, was implemented due to pressure from England, which, as everyone knows, was at the beginning of what is called capitalism, this hegemonic model of social production.

Clóvis Moura divides this issue of slavery into two major periods: the Colonial period, which would be called the period of full enslavement, which goes exactly from 1550 to 1850, and the late period of slavery, the enslaved stage, which begins in 1851 and, for Clóvis Moura, extends until 1888 with the enactment of the law signed by

then Princess Isabel, which was called the Golden Law, which theoretically ended slavery in Brazil. These two facts, according to Clóvis Moura, are important for understanding the history of Brazil insofar as... This relationship with late slavery is the key to how Brazilian society will insert itself within the logic of the capitalist social production model. Clóvis Moura

offers an interpretation here regarding so-called independent capitalism, this dependency theory, mobilized by authors such as Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who brings this key to dependency theory, and Fernandes, among others. These authors mobilize this issue regarding dependency theory, but Clóvis Moura offers a much more sophisticated interpretation of how Brazil will insert itself within the dynamics of the

capitalist social position model. Based on this logic of so-called dependency, and obviously this relationship, which also establishes a dialogue with Marxist dependency theory, will determine the role, the social place that Black people will occupy in the dynamics of Brazilian capitalist social relations arising from this historical process that marks our society. So, this population that emerges from

late slavery is a population that will not be inserted into the dynamics of Brazilian capitalism due to a series of issues, including, for example, the eugenic ideas that will prevail in... This was a time of a process of whitening Brazilian society, where Black people were treated as enemies of the nation, enemies of national development. Therefore, it was

necessary to promote this process of slimming down Brazilian society. However, these people, who were not absolved by the emerging model of social production, were given preference over workers from the European continent, especially Spaniards, Italians, Japanese, and Asians. Obviously, these people would be given preference over Black people. Here's an interesting point that Clóvis Moura

raises, for example: And this helps us understand this dynamic of how the development process in Brazilian capitalism unfolds in this key of so- called dependency, and that our development is actually underdevelopment. Given that during this period between slavery and late slavery, according to Cosmora, at a certain point in our history, there were

approximately 2.8 million people living in Brazil. Of this total of 2.8 million people living in Brazil, there was a portion that was approximately 500 A thousand people who were called free workers, right? And you had a huge mass of people who were formerly enslaved, already in the process of decline, right? The so-called

late slaveholding, which were people who were sometimes enslaved but who had no occupation in the dynamics of Brazilian society. This thesis that Clóvis Moura is raising is very interesting because it's not a problem of a large workforce to work on coffee plantations or even in the birth of Brazilian capitalism. You have a huge mass of

Black people, what was known at that time as mulatto people, who today would be considered brown people, right? Indigenous people, who sought to insert themselves into the logic of survival within the capitalist model but who could not find work. Precisely because they were considered enemies of development, right? And Clóvis Moura is reporting this, making

an analysis about this, right? Which he will unfold in other works, right? In "Roots of Black Protest in the Radical Dialectic of Black Brazil," right? He elaborates his theory and makes it increasingly sophisticated and complex. Starting from an understanding of class struggle, Covis Moura is that intellectual, right? That intellectual who thinks about Brazil from

the perspective of race within a dynamic of class struggle. This issue is important. To conclude, I believe the video is already quite long, right? It's about talking a little about the Republic of Palmares, because the Republic of Palmares is a fundamental element in Moura's work and for thinking about the dynamics of Brazilian social relations.

Palmares was precisely this focus of resistance from the working class society of that time, offering a counterpoint to the prevailing model. Palmares will be interpreted according to the world, which didn't find it very connected, for example, to African social organization, but at the same time, Palmares had elements that are important to analyze, for example,

the idea of a communal society. Another important element that Covis Moura outlines very well here in " Rebeliões da Senzala" (Slave Rebellions) is that while in the colony there was scarcity and hunger—an element so present in Brazilian society, remembering Carolina Maria de Jesus in "Quarto de Despejo" (The Slum Dweller's Room)—there was hunger outside of Palmares during the

colony, but in Palmares specifically there was no hunger because there was a whole process... The organization of what was called communism was a large, primitive measure that organized social relations within Palmares. And for Clóvis Moura, Palmares is precisely this focus of resistance, this alternative organization, verticalized in the colonial perspective, which will be exactly

suffocated because it offered, right? This alternative to development, to what would be understood as the hegemonic model of development in that period. Clóvis Moura is one of those great intellectuals who helps us understand why even today thousands of Black people are the ones who will insert themselves into the dynamics of capital, of the labor force,

impositions. Clóvis Moura speaks of this relationship, right? The relationship of the so- called social organization of labor and racial organization of labor, of how these Black people, brown people, Indigenous people, will place themselves in the dynamics of capitalist development within this relationship, this relationship of super-exploitation, for example. And this is an important key for Clóvis Moura that

opens another debate, another discussion. Clóvis Moura will work throughout his work on this process of super- exploitation of these populations, what he will call the marginal fringe. Right? This dynamic of the social reproduction of capitalism places, right, a group of people within what would be, for example, the workforce, the useful workforce. Beyond this

useful workforce, which Clóvis Moura is obviously thinking with Marx, right, there would be an element that would be the so- called industrial reserve army. But within the dynamics of independent Brazilian capitalism, right, there would be another group, a large contingent of people, especially Black people, poor people, mixed-race people, Indigenous people, who would make up, right,

a so-called workforce that would be subjected to... There are far more oppressive conditions beyond this so-called industrial reserve army, and this social group, composed mostly of women, men, Black people, Indigenous people, and mixed-race people, serves precisely to create greater exploitation—hence the name, a super-exploitation of the workforce— especially in countries marked by colonialism. And when we

analyze the data from Brazilian society, you will notice that this enormous portion of Brazilian society will be precisely those who will inhabit communities and places with an extreme lack of basic infrastructure, of educational services, of healthcare; places that will be exposed to extreme violence from the State through its armed forces, especially militarized security forces. So all this...

Clóvis Moura is working, and working with excellence, as is rarely seen. Clóvis Moura is a Marxist intellectual. And so we will understand Clóvis Moura from this perspective, from this perspective of Marxism, and Clóvis Moura has been rescuing a perception from Marx, he has an interesting contribution: he says that an idea only becomes a

material force when it wins over the masses, that's why... Clóvis Moura is that intellectual of organic, revolutionary spiritual praxis, as Cabenguelli Murangá says, who will develop an interpretation of Brazil that will be appropriated by social movements. In fact, he himself was part of the creation of numerous social movements, as a Black man, as well as the MNU (Unified Black Movement),

of which he was a great enthusiast. And this industry of our greatest intellectuals, and not by chance, being this organic intellectual, this intellectual who makes a concrete analysis based on concrete reality, will be an intellectual denied by the Brazilian academic project. Moura died in 2003 at 78 years old. Next year, if he were alive,

Moura would be turning 88, 98, 99 years old. He died in 2003 and would still be contributing greatly to Brazilian social thought and helping us to formulate these enormous and complex problems that Brazilian society faces. That's it. A big hug to everyone. If you liked this video, share it and leave your like. If you're not subscribed,

subscribe to this channel. We will try to maintain a regular schedule for releasing videos, always from this perspective. That's all for contributing to the debate in Brazilian society. Warm regards to all, and see you later.