For a Plural Democracy: Human Rights, Interculturality and Resistance

Abstract

This article elucidates the limitations of the modern conception of pluralist democracy, which was forged amidst the Western republican struggles against monarchy in the 18th century and has profoundly influenced the contemporary notion of the Democratic Rule of Law State. Despite the achievements made for peasants and the bourgeoisie with the Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies of North America and the French Revolution, as well as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the inclusion of non-Western peoples remains entirely absent in pluralist democracy. This form of democracy is guided by proposals of assimilation, guardianship, or annihilation, rather than by the principles of equality and respect for differences. By discussing these dynamics, this article highlights the persistence of such conceptions in the social imagination and the actions of the Brazilian state, as well as the resistance of indigenous peoples. This resistance helps to envision other possibilities for a more inclusive pluralist democracy, one that is more welcoming to diverse peoples, cultures, and their distinctiveness.