Os mistérios de uma mercadoria singular: desvelando o caráter mercantil da violência

Abstract

In The mysteries of a unique commodity the merchandising character of violence is unveiled and is shown to be an exclusively human action which is as old as the beginnings of humanity. It is one among many other situations which can lead to conflict. Violence, varying in intensity and form, may be found implicitly or categorically in many creative human expressions, such as art, religion, literature, politics, and history. And even though it has become an increasingly central theme in various scientific and disciplinary productions, a conceptual confluence has not yet been reached. In the capitalistic system violence has attained the position of a marketable product, and for this reason it will be focused upon as a commodity in this academic work. As a final result, one may observe, in a condensed way, the thesis that violence represents only one among thousands of commodities in the capitalistic system that are available on the shelves of the world market. Besides labeling it exclusively as a commodity, this study proposes that the struggle against violence also constitutes a hoax: within the capitalistic system, in sound conscience, one cannot dispense a sure profit. Everything that is constructed as a device to combate violence is profitable in itself. Therefore, any struggle against violence will lead to the destruction of the very objectives that capitalism embraces. According to this way of thinking, in relation to lives and material things, security becomes the obverse of violence. This ideologial construction has as its theoretical framework the conceptual formulation of the Marxist theory of commodity, fetish, and value. The phase of analytical operation in this academic exposition is developed by means of that which Foucault called an analysis of discursive formations. Television as media provided the primary source of the corpus for this investigative work: more precisely two episodes broadcasted in real time, which took place in Santo André – a city in the state of São Paulo - and the other in the city of São Paulo – capital of the state of São Paulo – respectively indicated by the media as "the longest private imprisonment" and "the longest trial" in the history of Brazil. Printed materials, such as stories and news reports about these and other violent episodes, published in national magazines (Carta Capital, Época, Isto É, Veja) were included as additional sources as well as local newspapers and newspapers from other states. Key words: Violence. Conflict. Commodity. Fetish. Capitalism. Capitalistic system. Media.