Antenor Firmin, The Equality of the
Human Races, pp.383-385, “European Solidarity” (University
of Illinois Press, Champlain: 1885, 2002).
“All
the laws of sociology, no matter how elevated their formulation, must
necessarily connect with a biological law which gives them a concrete
foundation and roots them in the order of material phenomena. As has
been seen elsewhere, the idea of equal rights is based on the
aprioristic belief in the natural equality of all human beings. To
assuage their conscience as they went about encroaching the land of
deprived races, Europeans only had to suppose that all these other
races were inferior to those of Europe. Once this assumption was
made, the principles of justice lost their importance and their
application became a matter of convenience. Such is the shrewdness of
Caucasians. Things, of course, are not talked about openly. Those who
deal with anthropological and philosophical issues, do not seem to
concern themselves with the legal implications of the theories or
doctrines they propound. Yet everything is connected. Thus, it
happens that the statesman who faces difficult and pressing questions
sometimes fall back on scientific theories which appear quite foreign
to his sphere of activity...
“The
intelligence of philosophers and anthropologists who uphold the
thesis of the inequality of the human races is most strongly affected
by one particular source of error, namely, the pervasive influence of
European aspirations and attending policies of invasion and
usurpation, which are fueled by the spirit of domination and the
arrogant faith in the superiority of Caucasian man...
“Thus
economists, philosophers, and anthropologists become adept at
constructing lies, misusing both science and nature for purposes of
propaganda...
“The
ideas I sketch here are not the product of my imagination. They
actually reflect a world view so pervasive in Europe that the most
philosophical minds on the continent have not quite escaped its
influence. It would have been perhaps surprising to see a man the
caliber of Herbert Spencer succumb to it like everybody else and thus
compromise his reputation as a man of profound lucidity.
Unfortunately, Spencer goes much further than everyone, as far as
asserting the rights of Europeans to exterminate those who resist
their conquest. In his treatise on moral evolution, the gem of his
philosophical and scientific principles, we read the following
statement: “The Hebrews, who believed they were entitled
to the lands God had promised them, felt authorized, in some cases,
to exterminate the original inhabitants. We too, bowing to the
'manifest intention of Providence,' dispossess the inferior races
every time we need their territories. But we, at least, massacre only
those we feel we have to massacre, and let live those who submit to
us.” It is curious to note the
sort of conclusion the doctrine of the inequality of the races can
inspire in the best of minds, in the most balanced of intellects.
Such is the power of logic that whenever one strays away from it, in
science or in any other endeavor, one falls into the grossest errors
and embraces the most absurd theories.”
