This article aims to analyze the causes of the popular uprising currently occurring in the United States that resulted from the murder of George Floyd, a black American handcuffed by a white policeman in Minneapolis, who knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes until he was dead. This event served as a starting point for a rallying cry in more than 100 American cities against, not only racism, but also against the social ills suffered by the great majority of the American population, especially by the black population, which were aggravated for the spread of the new Coronavirus that contributed to driving the North American economy into recession and to the dizzying rise of unemployment in the United States.

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CAUSES OF POPULAR REVOLT IN THE UNITED STATES
Fernando Alcoforado*
This article aims to analyze the causes of the popular uprising currently occurring in the
United States that resulted from the murder of George Floyd, a black American
handcuffed by a white policeman in Minneapolis, who knelt on his neck for almost nine
minutes until he was dead. This event served as a starting point for a rallying cry in more
than 100 American cities against, not only racism, but also against the social ills suffered
by the great majority of the American population, especially by the black population,
which were aggravated for the spread of the new Coronavirus that contributed to driving
the North American economy into recession and to the dizzying rise of unemployment in
the United States.
Regarding racism, it is important to note that the United States was initially formed by
English colonists who gave rise to the so-called Thirteen Colonies on the east coast of the
country. The colonies in the South developed differently from those in the North. In the
North, there was the model of small private property, free and wage labor and the
development of industry, and in the South, the model of large land ownership and
monoculture (which characterizes the so-called plantation) prevailed. In this model,
contrary to what prevailed in the North, the use of slave labor was based, more precisely
of black slaves from the African continent.
During the period when slavery predominated in the Southern United States, black slaves
were considered to be the merchandise of their owners and not individuals with rights.
This situation only ended with the end of the slave economic model in the South that
resulted from the Civil War that ran between the years 1861 and 1865. In the American
Civil War, the Northern states, under the command of then President Abraham Lincoln,
came into conflict, and the self-proclaimed Southern Confederate States, which sought to
found a separatist confederation. The war ended with the victory of the North, which
resulted in the immediate abolition of slavery.
After the civil war, there was a process of reconstruction of the country with the
reincorporation of the southern states to the rest of the country. During this period, in the
late 1860s, it was unacceptable for many southern white citizens that newly freed blacks
had the same rights and occupied the same spaces as they did. In the same year that the
civil war ended (1865), the Ku Klux KLan sect was formed. Union police smothered the
first outbreaks of violent Ku Klux Klan action against blacks. However, at the beginning
of the 20th century, the sect would come back very strongly with thousands of adherents.
The social barriers caused by racial segregation laws in the United States and the virulent
racism that ensued from them would, in fact, only begin to be at least partially resolved
with the black civil rights movements. One of the leaders of these movements became a
symbol of that struggle: Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated. Not even the
presence of a black man in the presidency of the Republic like Barack Obama helped to
cool racism in the United States.
In addition to the racism that still exists in the United States, there is a marked worsening
in several social indicators in the country that contribute to the popular uprising. The latest
UNDP released by the United Nations shows the worsening of several social indicators
in the country. The United States is losing the ability to generate well-being for its

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population. Data related to education, health, inequality and social stratification, are also
equated to several peripheral and semi-peripheral countries of capitalism.
The United States is considered the richest country in the world and of the largest
economy on the planet. However, this fact does not become well-being for its inhabitants
due to the excessive concentration of wealth and income and the existence of a society
deeply grounded in consumption with completely distorted ideas of social well-being. the
United States records social development indicators significantly below other rich
countries. The United States has always had a less generous social safety net. Social
programs do not provide universal benefits, as is the case in many other industrialized
countries, in addition to huge disparities in wealth.
In reality, there are several indicators of social development in which the United States
appears behind in comparison with other rich countries and often, side by side with
peripheral and semi-peripheral countries of capitalism. Some social indicators call into
question the levels of development and well-being in the United States. The most recent
report from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) indicates that the life
expectancy of Americans is 79.2 years. This data places the country as the 40th in the
world, behind a group of developed countries, but also some Latin American countries,
such as Chile, Costa Rica and Cuba. In the United States, while the life expectancy of a
white man with a college education is 80 years, that of an African-American man with
low education is 66 years, according to research by the National Center for Poverty in the
United States (NPC, in the acronym in English).
Infant mortality figures - the number of children who die per 1,000 live births - is another
classic indicator of social well-being. According to the most recent UNDP report, which
uses data from 2015, this indicator is 5.6 in the United States. This places it in 44th place
in the world, again surpassed by the rich countries as a whole, as well as by Cuba, Bosnia
and Croatia. In that case, social differences within the United States are also evident. In
2011, the infant mortality rate among African Americans was similar to that in Togo and
the island of Granada. The well-being of American children is also called into question
when they are considered indicators of child poverty. According to a 2012 Unicef study,
which compared the situation of children in 35 economically advanced countries, the
United States appeared in the penultimate place - before only Romania.
Since the beginning of this century, the United States has seen an increase in maternal
mortality rates, from 17.5 deaths per thousand births in 2000 to 26.5 in 2015, according
to a study published in the scientific journal The Lancet in January this year. It is a
phenomenon that goes against trends in the rest of the industrialized world, where there
was a decline in the same period. This was the case, for example, in Japan (from 8.8 to
6.4), Denmark (from 5.8 to 4.2), Canada (from 7.7 to 7.3) and France (from 11, 7 to 7.8).
In this case, there is also a clear inequality in the United States: the maternal mortality
rate among white women is 13, but among African-American women it is 44.
Personal security, the possibility of protecting one's own life, is considered another basic
element of social well-being. According to the most recent report by the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC), the United States reports a homicide rate of 4.88
deaths per 100,000 people, which puts it at 59th place in the world. This figure contrasts
with that of European countries, such as Austria (0.51) or the Netherlands (0.61), but also

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with Canada (1.68) and even Albania (2.28), Bangladesh (2.51) and Chile (3.59,
according to 2014 data, the most recent).
In addition to posing a health risk to young women, teenage pregnancy is often associated
with vulnerability. According to World Bank data for 2015, the United States records a
rate of 21 births of this type for every thousand women between 15 and 19 years of age -
placing the country in 68th place in the world, the same level as Djibouti and Aruba, and
well above the average of countries with high income levels. Other rich countries have
much lower numbers, such as Japan (4), Germany (6) and France (9).
The United States is home to dozens of the best universities in the world. But that does
not mean that the average education of Americans is equal to these centers of excellence.
According to a study carried out under the International Skills Assessment Program
(PIAAC), among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), the country had a performance considered mediocre. The
survey measured three different educational levels in terms of reading ability and
numerical ability: people who have not completed high school, individuals with
completed high school and others with at least two years of university education. Just
over 20 countries participated in the analysis: Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden , United States,
Belgium and United Kingdom.
In the reading ability test, among those who had not finished high school, Americans were
among the five countries with the worst results; among those who completed this level of
study, the country was below the average of all. In the case of people who had started
university, the Americans were above eight countries, tied with six others - but were
overtaken by seven nations. In addition, the United States recorded the biggest difference
between the results obtained by those who did not finish high school and those who have
at least two years of university education. In assessing numerical skills, Americans
consistently fell below the OECD average across the three educational levels studied. In
addition, the country was on the lantern at two levels: between those who have not
finished high school and those who have completed this stage. For those who completed
at least two years of higher education, the United States surpassed Spain and Italy and
matched five other countries - lagging behind 15 other nations.
The fight against racism alone is not enough to explain this uprising that is currently
taking place in the United States. The current popular uprising is also explained by the
growing social inequalities that are registered in the United States, which were aggravated
by the spread of the new Coronavirus that led the country's economy into recession and
unemployment of 40 million workers. Instead of seeking to build cohesion and social
peace by presenting solutions to the issue of racism and social inequalities to put an end
to the popular uprising, Donald Trump announced on Monday (June 1) that he will send
US military personnel to the streets of country if governors and mayors do not end
violence in protests across the country. In addition, Trump said he would do his best to
ensure compliance with the curfew. Several cities in the United States have adopted the
measure. However, in several places, protests continued despite this restriction.
Governors in several North American states asked for reinforcement of members of the
National Guard who already work in each of these locations. The first to call for help was
Minnesota, the very state where George Floyd was murdered.

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While Trump was speaking today (1st of June), the surroundings of the White House
registered clashes between security forces and protesters, after a protest that started
peacefully. According to the American press, the president sent 600 to 800 National
Guard soldiers to Washington. Trump is taking the opportunity to galvanize his
conservative base of voters, pointing out as villains by the violent disturbances the antifa,
anti-fascist group, and radical left groups, whose targets are the confrontation with
everything they consider to the extreme right. With anti-capitalist discourse, usually
dressed in black, the antifa use tactics similar to those used by anarchists, without
coveting a political project or participation in Congress. The movement emerged in
Germany in the 1930s, as a far-left group to fight Nazism. In the United States, he
resurfaced in the presidency of Trump to face conservative groups and the extreme right
(alt-right), who helped to elect him.
One fact is evident, the American bourgeoisie, the richest and most powerful in the world,
is putting all the apparatus of state repression to stifle the popular uprising which is a
legitimate expression of hatred against misery, poverty and racial and political oppression
and in the country. Several exception measures are being taken by Trump, such as the
implementation of a curfew, repression of reporters and journalists and massive arrests of
citizens. The action of the Donald Trump administration makes it evident that democracy
in the United States has shattered with the repressive acts being carried out and those that
should be adopted by the Trump administration. Popular mobilization on the streets is
putting the political and social regime in the United States in check.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 80, 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 Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem
Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os
condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de
Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora
Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos
na Era Contemporânea (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, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate
ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores
Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no
Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba,
2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV,
Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua
convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018, em co-autoria) and Como inventar o futuro
para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019).