Palmares, or Quilombo dos Palmares, was a settlement of fugitive slaves established gradually from the early 1600s to 1694, about 60k inland from the northeast coast of Brazil around the regions of Pernambuco and Alagoas. Estimates indicated that 10,000 to 20,000 fugitive slaves, native Brazilians, and various outcast groups (such as Jews and Muslims) inhabited Palmares throughout the period.
Portuguese colonization, particularly from 1570, brought sugar cane plantations to the northeast coast of Brazil, utilizing, as labor, enslaved Africans and native peoples. Some of the slaves and native Americans resisted and established small settlements or quilombos in the area of Pernambuco, where palm trees abounded (thus the name Palmares).
Illustrative of its complexity, Quilombo dos Palmares in 1640 was described as comprising several separate settlements which pledged their loyalty to one leader (chief). Two of the settlements were mostly of Indigenous origin (Subupira e Tabocas); one of the Portuguese colonists who joined the quilombo (Amaro), and seven Bantos, that is, settlements of fugitive slaves (Andalaquituche, Macaco, Aqualtene, Ambrabanga, Tabocas, Zumbi, Arotiene). With its capital in Macaco, Palmares possessed a complex social structure, replicating, in many instances, African political systems.
When the Portuguese lost control of the region to the Dutch in the 1630s, the new colonial rulers continued the military campaign of the earlier Portuguese to bring Palmares under control. They were no more successful than their predecessors, and the quilombo continued to grow. In 1654, when Portugal regained control of the area, it resumed its attempts to conquer Palmares.
Portuguese military forces and mill owners in the region attempted to regain control over the quilombo for the next forty years. Ganga-Zumba, the Palmares chief during the latter part of this period, tried to negotiate an agreement with the Portuguese where the quilombo would no longer accept fugitive slaves or fight the Portuguese in exchange for permanent recognition of their land and freedom for those born in Palmares. However, Zumbi, the settlement’s military leader, chose resistance to the Portuguese. The Portuguese never accepted Ganga-Zumbi’s proposal and continued to attack the quilombo. Finally, in 1694, Palmares was conquered and destroyed by a military force under the command of Domingos Jorge Velho. Zumbi was killed one year later in 1695.
Palmares was a multifaceted quasi-state that lasted for most of the 17th Century, resisting attack by two European powers. Known for challenging Dutch and Portuguese sovereignty in Brazil, Palmares was a symbol of resistance to colonialism and the possibility of multicultural coexistence.
However, the destruction of Palmares failed to stem the emergence of hundreds, perhaps thousands of smaller quilombos throughout Brazil. Nor did it prevent countless other acts of resistance that undermined planter domination even after the abolition of slavery in 1888. Cheney describes how the legend of the Quilombo dos Palmares inspired a 1988 constitutional amendment that extended land rights to the descendants of fugitive slaves. Thousands of “modern quilombos” have petitioned for government recognition while organizing mass movement in the countryside that has won concessions from local landowners and pressured elected officials to implement affirmative action policies in other areas. In 2015, the specter of Palmares looms large over Brazil.
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There are a bunch of jobs that I really can’t fathom why there are people willing to do them, and I have to conclude that they’re just bad people and enjoy making other people miserable.
I’m talking your low paying jobs that involve directly making other people’s lives worse. Tow truck drivers, giving parking tickets (especially at a college), certain positions in HR or school administration, that kind of shit. The people who give parking tickets at my college make like $10 an hour to be out in the heat for the privilege of ruining peoples days, with the perks being getting screamed at and flipped off by people who see you doing your job.
Like bro, go work at McDonald’s ffs. The pay is just as shitty but at least most people won’t prefer you be burned alive.
Because the misery of a shit job tends to be outweighed by the shittiness of abject poverty.
But they don’t pay well either. These jobs pay no better than fast food, retail, custodial work, etc. most of which have better working conditions and don’t actively contribute to human misery.
It’s not like cops or the military where it’s like yeah I’m making the world a worse place but at least I’m getting paid. These are people getting paid garbage to make people miserable.
Getting a new job as a "low skilled" worker isn't easy, and many of these jobs are steady.
add in slaughterhouse workers tbh. genuinely unthinkable shit
A lot of slaughterhouse workers are migrants who have very few rights and cannot reliably seek new job opportunities. In many cases it is basically slavery.
Yeah see even that one I understand. The ones that confuse me are the ones that the people could very easily get a similar paying and not particularly shittier job where you don’t actively contribute to misery in the world on a daily basis.
Also, when it's not basically slavery, it's often union
Tow truck drivers help people sometimes. Flat tires, breakdowns. It's not all parking enforcement and repos
True, in my town though they’re different companies. The roam towing guys pretty much exclusively do that.
yeah but then they charge an exorbitant fee for that because they know you are fucked.
Tow drivers are cops. Except the ones who just blatantly roll around stealing cars at random. They're double-cops.
And just like cops they face no accountability for their actions. I’ve had friends have their car towed when parked totally legally in the parking lot of a business they were in the whole time.
If I take someone else’s car without their permission it’s a felony. The same should be true for tow truck drivers, although since it’s a business I think we give the punishment to the owner instead.
No, lots of people spit on fast-food workers. But you're right that at least it's not a sociopath job.