Their principle: equality as a standard. There is no difference between genders and origins. Was wokism born on the seas?
A very real participatory democracy within the pirates
There is a balance of power on the sloop. The council, which gathers men from the crew, voting at all times, whether deciding attack locations or conflict resolution. This assembly also elects captain. And he can handle it. As a counterbalance to this leader’s power, the council elects an quartermaster, responsible for defense interests of the crew.
The forefather of Social Security
At sea, solidarity bonus: the pirates invented ancestor of Social security. The wounded are not abandoned; on the contrary, they even get their share of the spoils. On Captain Lowther’s ship, anyone who loses a leg gets £150. Better: let’s make him a wooden leg and he stays with the company!
Legality
Pirates “are a a mixture of all nations”, writes Captain Candler, of the Royal Navy. When asked where they come from, the answer is harsh: “We are people from the sea”. It doesn’t matter your social or geographic origin, gender or skin color: you just need to deserve to live under the “Jolly Roger” banner. In 1718, out of a hundred gang members Black beardit’s sixty black. Of course, some pirates practiced Slave trade. But the captains free the slaves and offer them to join their ranks. Others, such as the Moïse brothers and Abraham Cohen Henriques, did Jews. IN Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean (ed. de l’Éclat), Edward Kritzler recounts the epic story of those Marrans who secretly reached New world kiss Black flag. Most took refuge in Jamaica, which has since been nicknamed the “island of heretics”. Christopher Columbus offered asylum to the persecuted Jews there.
Sharing the wealth
In 1984, on Cape Cod in the United States of America, treasure hunter Barry Clifford dived at the site of a shipwreck. Whydah Gallya vessel captured by the pirate Sam Bellamy in 1717. It brought to the surface numerous gems in the gold came from Africa. these mild they were all cut into pieces of the same size, proving that they were on pirate ships principle of equality is the rule. Before taking any loot, the distribution is checked by everyone: in general, it is 1.5 shares for the captain and quartermaster, 1.25 for gunners, carpenters or doctors, and 1 share for everyone else. It is “the most egalitarian organization in distribution of wealth which are found in the 18th century”, writes historian Marcus Rediker in Outlaws of the Atlantic (editions du Seuil).
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