Lula’s unhappy speech about slavery comes after Europeans made a “mea culpa” on the subject

During a visit to Cape Verde, Africa, on Wednesday (19), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) “thanked” Africans for “everything that was produced during 350 years of slavery” in Brazil. His statement came shortly after the European Union officially recognized the damage caused by slavery to Latin American and Caribbean countries in the colonial period.

Lula’s speech is morally reprehensible because he treats slavery as something that would be positive for Brazil, in a utilitarian vision that does not take into account the suffering and rights of the hundreds of thousands of people who were enslaved. But, in the context of international relations, for now, the speech points more to a diplomatic gaffe or failed act than to a deliberate approval of slavery with some political objective.

Lula told José Maria Neves, the president of Cape Verde, an archipelago that was part of the slave trade route to Brazil in the colonial period:

“We are deeply grateful to the African continent for everything that was produced during 350 years of slavery in our country. The form of payment that a country like Brazil can make [está em] technology, the possibility of training people so that they have expertise in the various areas that the African continent needs, [como] industrialization and agriculture. Now, with my return to the Presidency, we want to recover the good and productive relationship that Brazil had with the African continent.”

Europeans recognize slave trade was “abominable barbarism”

Lula made the unfortunate thanks for slavery shortly after participating in discussions at the III Summit of Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean Countries) – European Union, which took place this week in Belgium. One of the outcomes of that meeting was a formal joint declaration in which the European Union recognized the devastation wrought by slavery.

But, through the text of the declaration, Europeans recognize and regret past mistakes. They did not thank African citizens for doing work and generating wealth under slavery, as Lula did.

“We recognize and deeply regret the untold suffering inflicted on millions of men, women and children as a result of the transatlantic slave trade,” reads the tenth point of the joint statement.

The CELAC-European Union summit also formally recorded that “Slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade, were terrible tragedies in human history not only because of their abominable barbarism, but also in terms of their magnitude. , organized nature and especially its denial of the essence of the victims, and that slavery and the slave trade is a crime against humanity”.

The document also says that Europe and Latin America support the principles of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action, a document produced by the UN in 2001. It provides for the adoption by countries of a series of measures to prevent and punish crimes of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance.

Desire for reparation marked summit between Europeans and Latinos

Caribbean nations were the most vehement in demanding that Europeans register in the final declaration of the CELAC – European Union summit the damage caused by slavery in developing countries.

One of the most eloquent spokespersons on the agenda was the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, who occupies the rotating presidency of CELAC. He demanded reparatory justice actions for the slavery and genocide of native peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Pressure from CELAC made the European Union register formal support for a plan created in 2014 by the 15 countries that make up the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Among the points, countries demand a public apology; the cancellation of debts that some States owe their former colonizers and Europe’s investment in the development of the Caribbean.

So far, however, little has been done in this regard beyond the acknowledgment of guilt.

European “mea culpa” was reaction to Russian propaganda actions

Specialists analyze that the acknowledgment of guilt for slavery was yet another movement by the European bloc to get closer to Latin America and the Caribbean. The aim would be to counterattack in a propaganda war effort promoted by Russia over the internet in countries of the so-called Global South, especially in Africa.

Western countries have started a campaign of sanctions and diplomatic isolation from Russia since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This has generated polarization with the United States and its G7 allies (a group of the most developed democratic countries in the world) on one side and Russia and China on the other. The two blocs then began courting developing countries not directly involved in the war. They are looking for diplomatic and commercial support.

After achieving success with a propaganda campaign in Africa, Russia is now reportedly turning its efforts to Latin America. The numerous declarations of support made by Lula to Russia are an indication of this trend.

Moscow wants to reproduce the propaganda model used in Africa in Latin America

To push countries away from Europe and win allies, the Kremlin used digital strategies to spread fake news and making anti-Western and pro-Russian posts in Africa. Present on Twitter and Telegram, the group called Russosphere (Russian Sphere) frequently publishes accusing France of modern “colonialism” and calling the Ukrainian army “Nazis” and “Satanists”.

Only on Telegram, the group has more than 40 thousand subscribers and more than three thousand followers on Twitter. The messaging application, however, is the main platform used by the group. As revealed in January BBCin addition to praising Putin and passing on Russian ideology, the group also recruits followers interested in directly supporting the Kremlin in the war.

It was the most successful information warfare campaign since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to research by BBC. The success is due to the fact that European abuses from the colonial era are still a latent issue for Africa today. That is why their nations are easy victims for biased discourses of neocolonialism.

The doctor in international relations and researcher at Harvard University, Vitélio Brustolin, believes that Russian leader Vladimir Putin saw a window to expand the influence that Russia already had over Africa.

For many years, African countries maintained relations with the Soviet Union and those ties continued with Russia. Many African leaders argued that the weapons and military training provided by the country were essential in the fight against the white minority and the colonialism faced in Africa.

“The military and security relationship between Russia and Africa is at the heart of Russia’s influence in Africa,” researchers Sarah Daly and Abdelhak Bassou said in a report that evaluated Russian influence on the African continent since the beginning of the war.

In exchange for mineral resources and relying on the colonial narrative, Russia began to offer not only training but also military protection to certain governments in Africa. A People’s GazetteBrustolin contextualizes that mercenaries from the Wagner Group have been in African territory for years.

The mercenaries commanded by the Russian oligarch, Yevgeny Prigozhin, always acted in favor of the interests of the government in Moscow. Formed by a combination of former Russian soldiers, convicts and foreigners, the Kremlin used the group to expand Russian influence in the world’s poorest continent.

One of the countries in which these mercenaries are active is Sudan, a country rich in gold. Interested in the product, Russia provides weapons and military support to the region in exchange for Sudanese gold. Today the country is facing a civil war.

The Russian information campaign in Africa is already having practical results. In addition to gaining political support, the Kremlin is pulling European troops out of peacekeeping missions, as it did in Mali. Other direct targets of Russian propaganda are Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger and Mauritania.

European Union wants to contain advance of China and Russia in Latin America

Russia has been making similar promises to sell arms and technology to Brazil. This trend has been consolidated in Venezuela for years. Caracas is totally reliant on Russian weaponry and mercenaries these days.

With the intention of preventing the same process from happening with Latin America and Caribbean countries, the European Union has been moving to reconquer this region of the world. During the III Celac-European Union Summit, which took place last week in the city of Brussels, Belgium, the European bloc tried to get closer to the member countries of Celac.

At the meeting that brought together 60 countries – 33 from Latin and Caribbean countries and 27 from Europe – the EU presented proposals for partnerships with the CELAC countries and an investment of 45 billion euros in Latin America.

The idea was also to advance in billionaire trade agreements with Mexico, Chile and the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union that could generate more than R$ 500 billion for Brazil, but is blocked by environmental issues.

The general intention was that, with the announcement of investments and partnerships, the European Union could gain the confidence of Latin America, but this did not happen as planned. During the summit, the countries did not reach a consensus on the invasion of Ukraine and the neutral or pro-Russian stance of some Latin American countries generated disagreements that harmed trade negotiations.