FEAR AND SOCIAL ALIENATION AS WEAPONS OF DOMINATION THROUGHOUT HISTORY AND IN THE CONTEMPORARY ERA

Fernando Alcoforado*

This is a summary of the article, published on various websites in Brazil and abroad in Portuguese, English and French, and aims to demonstrate that people's fear and alienation have always been used throughout history by the owners of the means of production and the political power as weapons of domination to avoid population awareness of the economic and political servitude to which they were subjected and to avoid rebellion against the inhuman economic and political systems in force. This situation is repeated and deepened throughout the world in the contemporary era of domination of the globalized capitalist system. This article was inspired by an article by the American, Geoffrey Skoll, historian, social worker and anthropologist and now retired professor, under the title A Recent History of Fear, published on the website <https://www.academia.edu/44627431/A_Recent_History_of_Fear>.

In participating in the debate regarding Geoffrey Skoll's article on the Academia.edu website, I stated the following: “I agree with George Skoll's thinking about the role of fear as an instrument of rulers and ruling classes to increase exploitation on subordinate social classes. Fear has always been used throughout history by rulers and ruling classes as an instrument of dominance on subordinate social classes. Historically, repressive police action, punitive legislation and the apparatus of justice have always been available to rulers and ruling classes to frighten the subordinate classes against any attempt at rebellion against the ruling system. Prison, torture and death are the fate of those who rebel against the system. In turn, the ideological state apparatus (school, churches, media) is added to the repression apparatus in the sense of "taming" the subordinate classes so that they are convinced that there is no other alternative to the dominant capitalist society. The health crisis at Covid 19 has aggravated the general crisis of the world capitalist system that is causing the ruling classes to increase their exploitation of workers around the world. For workers not to rebel against the ruling classes, they need to be "tamed" using the repression and ideological apparatus, instilling fear of repression and the virus to further weaken them".

French philosopher Louis Althusser claims that whoever holds state power uses the state apparatus for the benefit of his class, not only as a repressive state apparatus, like the police and the various public security bodies, but also as an ideological state apparatus [ALTHUSSER, Louis. Aparelhos ideológicos de estado (State ideological apparatus). 6th Ed. Rio de Janeiro: Graal, 1985]. Althusser states that the basic difference between the repressive state apparatus (ARE) and the ideological state apparatus (AIE) is that the ARE predominantly uses repressive and coercive arguments to achieve its goals. The IEA, on the other hand, predominantly uses ideology to maintain its domination. The IEA works on people's minds. AIE members are, among others, the system of different churches, the school system (both public and private), the family system, the legal system, the political system, the union system, the information system and the cultural system. Another difference between ARE and AIE is in the way it operates. In summary, ARE uses repression and coercion, while AIE uses ideology. While ARE is entirely public, much of the IEA belongs to the private domain. This does not mean that there is any difference between public and private IEA: both function as state ideological devices. Althusser's view that ARE is totally public is changing in the contemporary era with the existence of repressive devices taken over by private companies and even prisons managed by private companies.

According to Althusser, the function of the state's repressive apparatus is not only to maintain the political conditions of domination of capitalism, but also to maintain, through repression, the political conditions of the exercise of the state's ideological apparatus. Those in power dominate the population, not only by the use of force, but also by the use of ideology to remain in power. Althusser asserts, therefore, that whoever holds state power uses the state apparatus for the benefit of his class, not only as a repressive state apparatus, but also as an ideological state apparatus. In addition to the fear imposed on the population by the repressive state apparatus, the alienation of people is carried out by the ideological state apparatus. The alienated individual is an impotent subject. This alienated individual is deprived of everything that is his own, he is not able to assume the responsibility of guiding society along with his peers, being unable to perceive the possibility of making an economic, political and social change for his benefit and that of society as a whole.

Today, we are faced with totally alienated human beings who do not realize what is happening, or rather, who are unable to see life as it is. They accept without discussing the pitiful life that was planned for them. Here, then, is the nightmare of modern servants or slaves who let themselves be carried away by the macabre dance of the prevailing alienation system. Oppression is modernized, spreading all over the world with the forms of mystification imposed by the ideological state apparatus that allow to hide the condition of modern serfs or slaves to which humanity is subjected. The modern servant or slave is being convinced by those in power that there is no alternative to the organization that prevails in today's world, capitalism. He resigned himself to this life because he was convinced that there can be no other model for organizing society. And that is where the strength of the present domination is found: creating the illusion that the capitalist system that colonized the entire face of the Earth represents the best that humanity has ever built in terms of social organization. Holders of economic and political power deceive modern servants or slaves by selling the idea that they can dream of a better future made of money, glory and adventure in capitalism.

Modern servants or slaves still see themselves as citizens. They believe that they actually vote and freely decide who will defend their interests. In parliamentary democracy, modern serfs or slaves are under the illusion that they can choose the master themselves whom they are to serve. In practice, there is no opposition to the "status quo", as the dominant political parties are in agreement on the essential that is the conservation of the current capitalist society. There is no political party capable of coming to power through parliamentary means that doubts the dogma of the market. And this is the position of the great majority of political parties that, with media complicity, monopolize power. The current representative and parliamentary form in the world limits the power of citizens to the simple right to vote, that is, to nothing. Parliament's seats are occupied by the vast majority of the ruling economic class.

From the above, it is evident that the progress of humanity will only occur with the end of the fear imposed by the repressive state apparatus and the alienation of the human being imposed by the ideological state apparatus. For this absurd tragedy to come to an end, it is necessary to raise awareness among all human beings to rebel against the exploitation and alienation of which they are victims, aiming at building a new society that contributes to the political, economic, social and environmental progress of humanity that results in the achievement of happiness for all human beings. In view of the dark history of the attacks against humanity by capitalism and its gloomy prospects, it is urgent to attack the evil of this barbarism at the root with its replacement by a new civilized world order to replace the dominant capitalist order that generates the attacks on Civilization in all quarters of Earth that have been recorded for thousands of years. The new civilized world order to be built should adopt the universal motto "Freedom, Equality, Fraternity" as an inheritance of the Enlightenment at the end of the 17th century. This motto invoked during the French Revolution, which is universal because it reflects the desires of all human beings, needs to be rescued by humanity.

In every country in the world, a new model of society should be adopted that enables civilized coexistence among all human beings. This new model of society should be inspired by the social democracy that exists in the countries of Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland) that are at odds with the vast majority of countries in the world in terms of political, economic and social development. In these countries the most successful State of Social Welfare has been implemented. The option for Scandinavian social democracy with the necessary improvements and adaptations for each country is justified because the UN World Happiness Report 2020 shows that the happiest nations in the world are concentrated in Northern Europe, with Norway at the top of the list. Scandinavian countries have the highest ranking in real GDP per capita, the highest healthy life expectancy, the greatest freedom to make life choices and the greatest generosity. It is no accident that the Scandinavian countries, in addition to having great economic and social successes, are leaders in HDI (Human Development Index) in the world. In order to make Civilization prevail over Barbarism, it is necessary for the living defending forces of Civilization to come together across the planet to oppose the forces of Barbarism. Humanity's future depends on the outcome of this confrontation.

This same article was published on the same websites listed below in English with the title FEAR AND SOCIAL ALIENATION AS WEAPONS OF DOMINATION THROUGHOUT HISTORY AND IN THE CONTEMPORARY AGE and in French with the title LA PEUR ET L'ALIéNATION SOCIALE COMME ARMES DE DOMINATION à TRAVERS L'HISTOIRE ET à L'?GE CONTEMPORAIN as we have done with previously published articles.

To read the full article, access the websites Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/falcoforado/), Academia.edu (https://www.academia.edu/45086742/FEAR_AND_SOCIAL_ALIENATION_AS_WEAPONS_OF_DOMINATION_THROUGHOUT_HISTORY_AND_IN_THE_CONTEMPORARY_AGE) SlideShare (https://pt.slideshare.net/falcoforado/fear-and-social-alienation-as-weapons-of-domination-throughout-history-and-in-the-contemporary-age), Wordpress (https://wordpress.com/post/blogdefalcoforado.wordpress.com/2171) Twitter @BLOGFALCOFORADO (https: //twitter.com/blogfalcoforado) and the website <https://fernandoalcoforado.academia.edu/research>.

* Fernando Alcoforado, 81, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development by the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is author of the books Globaliza??o (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,https://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globaliza??o e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporanea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, S?o Paulo, 2010), Amaz?nia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, S?o Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econ?mico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudan?a Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revolu??es Científicas, Econ?micas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Inven??o de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associa??o Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018, em co-autoria) and Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019).