224 Summary report of the meeting of experts
on the African slave tradefication conceals another inegalitarian, Mediterranean-oriented value judge-
ment regarding 'civilization' as distinct from the pagan way of life devoid of
rules, culture and religion.
There was thus a confrontation of values between one world, that of the
Mediterranean, certain of the coherence of its values and traditions, incapable
of understanding that there were other cultural paths and values than its own,
and the unsung, rejected African cultures, looked down upon because their
values were unwritten, non-imperialistic.
When these two worlds came in contact, two conflicting conceptions
prevailed of man seen as a producer. In the Western view, man was perceived
as pursuing his individual path within the developing capitalist society and
exploiting the work of others to the extent that he was stronger than they were:
in the African conception, the individual producer was a member of a cohesive
production group. These two opposing values of individual work, both of
which had profound underlying religious significance, made any real under-
standing between the European and the African cultures impossible.
The 'superiority' of the white man, which was 'demonstrated' by his
economic success, proved the ' inferiority ' of the black man, which was 'demon-
strated' by the fact of his capture and enslavement. The blacks were made to
feel radically inferior in their dependent situation, thus breaking the individual
and collective capacity to put up any resistance. They were only able to regain
that capacity when they had faith in the values of their own society, values
which the enslavement process sought to make them forget as rapidly and com-
pletely as possible.
The violence done to the Africans in enslaving them is perceived as
justified by the foregoing arguments. Likewise the contamination of African
society by the violence of the power relationship is perceived as 'justified'
by the success of this inegalitarian violence.
It would be interesting to investigate the ideological reaction of Africans,
so far as it can still be discovered, to the slave trade seen in this light. It would be
also interesting to find out how the slave trade is now interpreted in the African
villages, ethnic groups and regions that were affected in various ways by that
trade.
A third type of ideological analysis should be systematized. It relates to
the change of outlook of the slaves in the receiving countries. How did they
preserve some notion of freedom? In a Spanish document of 1503 the com-
plaint is made from this standpoint that the blacks were contaminating the
Amerindians. How did they preserve the memory of their values and cultures?
How were the maroon societies organized? On what political or military bases?
What was the background of the leaders who led the revolts? What was the
genesis of the successful revolution in Haiti? There can be no doubt that one
of the reasons why the meeting was unable to arrive at clear and concise con-