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Seven, equivalent to the tautology, the statement of fact is directed towards “a self-evidentappearance of eternity” (154f). It focuses on the essence of the dominant ideology: on“universalism, [on] the refusal of any explanation, [and on] an unalterable hierarchy of the world”(154). The use of proverbs is a common form of this figure; its foundation is common sense.Consequently, it represents the reality of the dominant subject as the only existing reality andtherefore encourages her/him to speak with certainty. This speech appears as “the most innocuous,innocent, and straightforward containers for common sense, [it however] contain[s] all the force ofsupremacism (Sandoval 1997: 94).In this last rhetorical form, Barthes addresses two important strategies of whiteness. First, thetransformation of an opinion into a fact, something subjective into something objective. Second, thearrangement of these putative neutral facts as common sense. Myth can easily spread throughcommon sense and it is again the dominant order, whiteness, which is controlling this tool. Verbalresistance to a sentence such as “we all know that black people are lazy” is much more difficult asto a sentence such as “my personal opinion is that black people are lazy”, as one has to argueagainst an imagined and auxiliary “we all”.role of the mythologistAccording to Barthes, a mythologist has to “be able to name concepts” (120f) in order to decipherits myth. As the signified is quantitatively poorer than the signifier, it can have a whole variety ofsignifiers. Without this repetition, it would indeed be difficult to decipher a myth. I do not want tolimit the myth of white superiority to advertisements of German charities, but argue that it isrecurrent in German (and other Western countries') daily life: in media, culture, politics as well as ininterpersonal relationships. 39 The signifier vary each time, the signified however stays the same.Foucault's methodology of discourse analysis – which Critical <strong>White</strong>ness Studies, among others,make use of – offers helpful tools for the mythologist to point out repetitions.The mythologist is easily able to justify her/his activities in deciphering myths as s/he is unveilingan tool for the establishment of power relations, which s/he considers unjust. Still, deciphering isonly possible by understanding the rhetoric of supremacy, Sandoval (1997: 86) argues, as it is thisvery rhetoric which “structures and naturalizes the unjust relations of exchange that arise within andbetween colonizer and colonized communities.” I understand the deconstruction of whiteness in thisframework. As it is addressing inequalities and has an emancipatory approach, I consider it withBarthes as a political act of resistance. The mythologist therefore “participate[s] in the making ofthe world” (156, italics TK). 40 The mythologist, however, stays excluded as s/he cuts her/himself39 Prominent events in the last year were e.g. the festival 'African Village' in the zoo in Augsburg (2005), the danceshow 'Africa, Africa' in Berlin (2006) and the reality TV show 'Wie die Wilden' (like savages) in sat1 (2006).40 making in the sense of transforming in contrast to eternalising20
“off from all the myth-consumers” (156). Barthes argues that the mythologist has to estrangeher/himself from society in order to liberate its myth.Sandoval remarks that Fanon is less pessimistic than Barthes about the subject engaging in themethodology of the oppressed, as s/he forms part of a “new, original, revolutionary cadre that iscross-racial, cross-class, and cross-nation” (Sandoval 1997: 101). Fanon therefore does not stop inhis methodology at the steps of (1) reading and (2) deconstructing signs of power, but encouragesthe mythologist to (3) remake “signs in the interest of renegotiating power”; (4) to commit “to anethical position through which all signs and their meanings are organized in order to bring aboutegalitarian power relations” and (5) to focus on the “mobilization of the four previous technologiesin differential movement through mind, body, social body, sign, and meaning” (Sandoval 1997:101).Excursus 41The exploitation of the 'Third World' by the 'First World' did not end with the independence of theformer colonies. During the last decades the economical exploitation continued, accompanied bypolitics of betrayal and dominance. Countries in Africa, Asia and South America became cue ballsof the super powers in the cold war. During the same time, a pseudo-democratic global system ofpolitical and economical organisations has been created in which the predominantly white countriesmanifested their power. I do not want to lump together the different organisations such as the UNO,the World Bank, the IWF or the WTO, however what they have in common is an unprivileged anddisadvantaged position of 'Third World' governments and social movements.Interestingly, charities and the 'development industry' arose during the same time with theseinstitutions. 42 In the last decades, Africa became poorer, not richer as suggested by the charities(Jakobeit 2001: 449, Goudge 2003: 14). The notion of 'development' which is promoted by thecharities is a single-edged picture and detracts attention from a major part of relations between the'donor' and the 'receiver'.While the exploitation of raw materials, the trafficking of weapons, a non-sustainable lifestyle, thedebt dependency or the exploitation of the global division of labour (e.g. sweat shops) 43 are topicswhich are occasionally addressed in the dominant discourse (however never in <strong>charity</strong> ads), I wantto remind that the current exploitation goes deeper than that. They are often directly related to andcaused by the unjust global system. Through neoliberalism, a whole range of goods, includingwater, seed, pharmaceuticals and intellectual properties have been capitalised. By and large41 In order to visualise some of my arguments in the following chapter, an excursus about current global economy andpolitics is helpful.42 Philipp (2006) however argues that especially the Christian charities have a history, reaches back to colonial timesas missionaries were active in comparable fields: e.g. missionary schools or missionary hospitals.43 see e.g. http://www.saubere-kleidung.de21
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