Exterminate All The Brutes by Sven Lindqvist

This masterpiece takes a deep dive into the complex and horrific history of genocide and European colonialism. Lindqvist uses the classic Heart of Darkness as an introduction to the ideology of colonialism and white supremacy. The book tries to explain the events and people that led to crimes against humanity like the Holocaust and the African slave trade. It explains how we still are dealing with issues such as racism and prejudice today. I was introduced to it by an HBO documentary that came out, called Exterminate All The Brutes by Raoul Peck, a close friend of the late Sven Lindvquist. His documentary goes along the same premise as the book but on a grander map throughout the West, going into the slaughter and genocide of Native American tribes and Pacific Islander nations. What I found the most interesting about the book is that it analyzes the psychology of white supremacy and the devastating effects that it has had in our world. What I love about this book is that it gives the testimonies of the ones who have been marginalized and ultimately forgotten. Too often we read history through the lens of the conquerors and “winners”. This is an enlightening and harrowing look into the dark past of our racialized world.

Quotes:

“The Norweigian philosopher Tonnesen said that to think about anything but death is evasion. Society, art, culture, the whole of civilisation is nothing but evasion, one great collective self delusion, the intention of which is to make us forget that all the time we are falling through the air, at every moment getting closer to death.”

“You already know enough. So do I. It is not knowledge we lack. What is missing is the courage to understand what we know and to draw conclusions.”