Michael Parenti, author and political analyst, speaks about the core belief systems which make enslavement possible. He begins by defining how racism defines ethnic groups as biologically and morally inferior. The roots to such belief systems, he argues, lie in tribalism, classism, and competition among peoples. Parenti then goes on to point to historical examples of ethnocentric racist views of the world, from medieval Italy to the present. People must be educated not to maintain such prejudicial attitudes, he continues, for we are continually bombarded with negative ethnic stereotypes. He next examines the origins of slavery in early horticultural societies, and presents historical examples of how ideologies are developed to justify its existence. There have been those who have ignored cultural and biological differences, but the history of Euramerican expansion is a history of conquest and enslavement. Most recently, he points to the use of racism as a means of dividing social classes in industrialized societies, and has thus become a tool of the ruling class.
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