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Slavery is one of the darkest chapters in the history of European colonization.
Some libertarian and Marxist authors analyze slaves as a means of production and, from the logic of property, infer that a slave owner would treat their slaves well out of a kind of self-interest. Although the reasoning is sound, I cannot imagine enslaving another human being without using violence.
European civilization, which we call »the West« today, developed a value matrix centered on the individual and individual self-actualization. At the same time, the economy of the American colonies was sustained by involuntary labor. This was a core contradiction. Initially, Europeans could ignore it because few people in Europe were aware of the occurrences taking place in places like Africa, Americas, and so on. With the rise of the public sphere during the 19th century, this began to change...
While the case was pretty bad in Europe, the United-States-of-America was even worse. The country proclaimed its independence in the name of the Godgiven rights of individuals while relying on masses of enslaved people. This moral shadow has grown larger over the centuries untill the present day.
I am no moral authority, not the bad conscience of somebody, and no religious figure, at least, I am not aware of such a honour. So I did like to view this through a psychological lens.
The United-States is a global superpower and yet they are insecure about the moral legitimacy of their power. The Romans had a vague notion that they had lost the virtues that made them the leading power in their World Imperium, but they maintained the irrational belief that their conquests were legitimate at some point in history. America, on the other hand, faces two major objections: it was a colony that rebelled against the British Empire; the wealth of the early colonies was due, at least in part, to enslaved labor.
When America goes out to colonize Cuba (1898 onward), the Philippines (1898 to 1946) or Iraq, they face the dilemma: Either they delegitimize their own rebellion against the Crown, or they need to do it without doing it. We observe the latter. America insists that it uses its military forces only to protect human rights, export democracy, etc.
Please, take in mind, this is a half-truth...
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