The Dominant Culture as an Invasive Species: The end of History?
9 views
Skip to first unread message
Stewart Vriesinga
Aug 11, 2013, 11:20:12 PM8/11/13
to Stewart In Colombia Google Groups
The Dominant Culture as an Invasive Species: The end of History?
--by Stewart Vriesinga
(Click on
the pictures to enlarge them, and on on the links
for background information)
 |
|||||
| Left: Chief White Cloud explains The
Circle of Life� Right: Mi'kmaq Mother Earth Protector
(Click on Images to enlarge)
"The
end of the Cold War meant that the
intellectually impressive Marxist
vision of inevitable progress toward a socialist
society lost some of
the appeal it once had for academics. The
pathetic capitalist
imitation of it � �The End of History� �
imploded during the
Crash we�re still in. It�s become easier to see
ourselves as
primitives too: animals wearing clothes or
tribalists scared of
others and the dark".�
Over the years I have developed a deep appreciation for
different
cultures as a result of my cross-class and cross-cultural
experiences
in conflict zones in various parts of the world. But the
most
valuable things I've learned, or more precisely, unlearned,
are
many dangerous myths and false assumptions that form part
of my own
culture. These fallacies would be far less problematic if
my culture,
with its insatiable appetite for energy and resources, was
not
invading and choking out healthier more sustainable
cultures all over
this planet. Much like an imported invasive species
destroys local
eco-systems�Loosestrife
in North America, or rabbits
in Australia spring to mind�the dominant culture is
choking out
healthier societies and cultures that have done much
better at
integrating themselves into the local biosphere; cultures
that are generally
much more sustainable than my own, and may have coexisted
for millennium in harmony with the
other life forms around them.
I work with communities who are trying to defend their
traditional
territories and their cultural way of life from the
dominant culture
and their corporate invaders. I have spent the last eight
years
working Christian
Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in
Colombia, but am temporarily working with the CPT Aboriginal Justice Team in
Canada. I am currently involved in the
struggle of the Mi'kmaq of Elsipogtog and their allies in
Kent county
New Brunswick. Their struggle is to protect Mother Earth
from
corporate greed and the destruction of life and essential
resources�water, land, air and local plants and animals.
Their
primary focus is currently on the threats to life
presented by the
hydro-fracturing industry (fracking for shale-gas).
The parallels between the struggles of the Mi'kmaq of New
Brunswick and those of the campesino, indigenous and
Afro-Colombian
communities we�the CPT Colombia Team�accompany are
striking: In
all cases traditional land and a traditional ways of life
are being
destroyed by the invasion of multinational mineral
extraction and
other industries; in all cases the industries are
operating without
the free prior and informed consent of the local
population; and in
all cases the state security forces�the Royal Canadian
Mounted
Police in the case of New Brunswick�have been deployed to
protect
the sovereignty of foreign multinationals from the
peaceful efforts
of the local population to protect is land and traditional
territory.
And, most importantly, in all cases entire eco-systems,
environmentally sustainable cultures, and ultimately the
entire
planet, are being irrevocably destroyed.�
The preservation of cultural diversity is every
bit as
important for the health of the planet and its inhabitants
as is the
protection of bio-diversity. Perhaps more so. If
we consider
that each of these cultures represent a different answer
to the
question �What does it mean to be a human being integrated
into
life on this planet?� this fact hits home; every time we
lose a
culture we are losing millennium�s worth of accumulated
traditional
knowledge of how different peoples' around the planet have
found
sustainable ways of organizing their societies in a ways
that are
sustainable and integrated into the local bio-sphere.
Without them we
will be left with only one demonstrably annihilative
development
model; that of the dominant global corporate culture, with
no
blueprints and insights into different more viable
alternative ways
of organizing society. And we are losing cultural
diversity at an
alarming rate. There is a close correlation between
language and
culture, and it
is estimated that by the year 2100 as much as 90% of all
spoken
languages will be extinct.
The communities that CPT accompanies are pretty much all
fighting
to protect their traditional territory: the land, water,
plant and
fauna that they rely on. The threat is the invasion,
appropriation
and destruction by multinational corporations seeking
access to their
resources in order to supply consumer demand in the global
marketplace. Nation States facilitate the corporate agenda
through
Free Trade Agreements, lax or unenforced environmental and
labour
laws, and state security forces to undermine local
populations'
sovereignty and ability to effectively protect their
territory. Many
of the communities CPT accompanies�almost all of the
communities we
work with in Colombia for example�are not very integrated
into the
global marketplace. They are largely self-sufficient and
autonomous.�
To victims of the Dominant Global Culture it is obvious
that these foreign invaders are genocidal
neo-colonialist bullies with no respect for the
sovereignty of the
local population, the earth nor the water. They are often
astounded
when I, as their friend and ally, explain that this is not
how these
corporations, nor the dominant culture that spawned them,
see
them/ourselves. They are often even more astounded to
learn that the
dominant culture sees this genocidal destruction of
cultures and ways
of life, along with their rape of Pachmama (Mother Earth),
to be a
net benefit to its victims!
I began to study and expose some of the more destructive
myths and
false-hoods of the Dominant Culture for my friends in
Colombia. I
felt they might be better able to protect themselves and
their land
if they understood their adversary better. It is, after
all, the
paradigm I grew up with!
For your benefit as well as the benefit of all members of
the
dominant genocidal neo-colonialist globalizing culture, I
will
attempt to reconstruct some of those conversations here. I
will
reconstruct some of the questions posed by communities in
resistance,
and then provide my own somewhat-tongue-in-cheek answers
to those
questions. My answers are in accordance with how I imagine
a
spokesperson for the dominant global culture might answer
these
questions.
Questions and Answers:
Q. What makes multinational corporations think they
have the
right to just barge in here and extract or destroy our
land and
resources?
Dominant Global Culture (DGC): Actually, we, our
multinational corporations, or at least our shareholders
and most
citizens of the dominant global culture, don't think of
what we are
doing as bad�as taking away or destroying other peoples
land,
cultures or resources. Despite whatever you savages may
think of us,
we are in fact actually doing you all a big favour.
We are bringing much-needed technology, foreign
investment, and jobs
to you primitive underdeveloped people. Without us you
would remain
the backward, jobless, under-developed, under-achieving,
impoverished
peoples that you all are. We are bringing you the very
things we
highly value in our own culture. We fully expect that when
you learn
the true potential value of the things around you, You
will adopt our
demonstrably superior economic development model. When
your
understanding of these things is as great as our own you
will want
to emulate us; you will want to assimilate!
Q. Why would we want to be more like you? You are
nothing but a
bunch of racist colonialists who have come to steal our
wealth and
destroy our trees, rivers and wildlife with your
mega-projects!
(DGC): Actually we are the most highly evolved
society on
earth. As Darwin explained in his theory of evolution,
only the
fittest species survive. The same holds true for societies
and
cultures. We are the most evolved and the fittest. There
were those
who once erroneously claimed communism was the next step
in human
social evolution, but they have been proven wrong. We
are the
end of history. Our way is the best, and if you follow our
example,
you won't go extinct along with your primitive culture. We
are just
trying to help you survive. You had better assimilate
because your
way of life is going the way of the dinosaur!
Q. You don't really care about us, nor the
survival of the land and trees and fish and animals that
form the
basis of our economy. Why don't you just admit you're
nothing but another� bunch of neo-colonial racists who
have come here to plunder and
pillage?
(DGC): We don't plunder and pillage; we create
wealth! One of the axioms of our dominant culture is to
leave the allocation of resources to the invisible hand of
free-market economics. This always results in the greatest
creation of
wealth because it ensures the optimal allocation
of the
world's resources. We don't even have to take a
personal
interest in your well-being; the invisible hand will look
after all
that. Just as it looks after us and all other members of
our
highly-evolved and therefore dominant culture.
 But be
careful! The invisible will not and cannot look after you
if you
resist or interfere. You must let free-market economics,
and only
free-market economics, determine the value, use and
destination
of all of your resources and all of the world's
resources.
As for racism, that is just an illusion. The dominant
culture
isn't dominant because it's racist; it's dominant because
it's more
evolved, more intelligent, and more sophisticated. That's
also why we
are wealthier. The harsh winters of northern Europe, from
which we
largely evolved, forced our people to rely more on our
brains, and
less on our hands. Had the inhabitants of northern Europe
been black,
or brown, or red or yellow, they might have
learned to used their brains and become
the dominant culture. The fact that most of us are white
is purely
coincidental. It is our superior productivity and
ability to
create wealth, not our skin colour which makes us
superior.
That you should even accuse us of racism instead
of
re-examining your own backward primitive way of thinking
just goes to
show how desperately you are in need of salvation you
don't have the
brains to accept!
Q. Your culture doesn't seem to value the land and the
rivers
that feed and sustain us. Is what we consider to be
wealth totally
worthless to you?
(DGC): As I have already explained, we allow the
marketplace--the laws of
supply and demand--to determine the levels of production
as well as
the value of things. However, you must articulate
your
demands with money if you expect your demands to be
listened to.
If you don't have money�if you're like a tree
or a
wetland, or a polar bear, or a destitute and helpless
human-being or
something�maybe you can convince somebody with money
to articulate
your demand for you.
That being said, the best way is still to exploit your own
resources; to get off of your lazy butts and produce for
the
global market instead of only satisfying your own selfish
needs, nourishment and
sustenance. Then you will make money, and gain the ability
to properly articulate your demands in a way somebody
might actually listen to you. You'll find that you'll be
able to meet
needs you don't yet even know you had! Perhaps we wouldn't
feel as obligated to take control of your under-exploited
resources away from you if you turned yourselves. All
you'd need us for is to ship them to someone could
actually to afford buy them
Q. What about us? What about the people who live here?
If you
take away or destroy our resources how will we live? Do
you consider
us to be worthless too?
(DGC): Well, you said it, not me.
I can tell you that you'd be would be worth a
hell-of-a-lot more
if you had some purchasing power. But the only way you'll
ever get
that is by getting a real job and producing for
the global
marketplace instead of just your families and neighbours.
Your near absolute lack of purchasing power make you
pretty much insignificant
in terms of a consumer market.�
But if you were more productive, like
those garment workers in Bangladesh for instance, we might
consider
you as a source of labour. Those Bangladeshi
garment-workers may
still be on the bottom rung, but at least they found the
ladder,
which is more than I can say for you. They have
possibilities of upward mobility. Or they would
have if those damn factories would quit falling in
on them...
Q. How can you say we are un-productive? We built these
houses
from scratch, we feed ourselves and our families, not to
mention most
of the city-dwellers. Almost everything we have was
produced right
here, by us, with our own hands from local materials.
(DGC): That's part of the problem. For us
productivity is
the ratio of output to inputs. You neither purchase your
inputs,� nor do you sell
most of your products in the global marketplace.� We
cannot
even measure, much less credit your productivity. It�s
like growing a garden in
Europe or North America; it contributes nothing to the GDP
or the
economy. Fortunately we convince most northern
garden-growers to spend more on
inputs --garden tools, pesticides and herbicides
etc.--that they would have spent
buying the produce, so they still form a good
consumer market. It's
all good.
But we warn you, that as long as you refuse to trade with
us we
must consider your territory to be under-exploited,
undeveloped,
unproductive wastelands inhabited by unproductive people.
Unless your
productivity actually somehow contributes to the GDP it
is, as far as
we're concerned, zilch. And we've talked to your
government and they agree with us. Or if they haven't yet,
they soon will! As you know, we have some pretty powerful
allies.
Q How can you consider the destruction of forests and
trees and
wetlands and fish and wildlife habitat to be productive?
(DGC): Well, we can turn a lot of that useless
stuff into
lucrative marketable commodities. And even if there's an
oil spill, or say some
mercury gets into the water or something, the cost of cleaning it up would be
included in the GDP. It would contributes to
economic growth. Take
that some-what unfortunate train-wreck in Lac-M�gantic,
Quebec, for
example; it's expected to contribute $200
million to the GDP in
clean-up costs, and that's not even counting the funeral
and other
expenses! Even environmental and human catastrophes have a
silver
lining! Thank God for the flooding in Alberta earlier this
year! (And I do mean thank God, because
global warming had nothing to do with it.) That flood is expected to inject
much-needed billions into the� Canadian economy.
Talk about job creation!
Here's something you might consider though: Maybe you could
protect some of those forests you keep going on about if
you figure
out a way to commodify them. If you don't want us
to cut the
trees, for example, why not sell the whole forest to some
environmentalist foundation or something. Of course you'd
have to promise
not to cut a single one of them down to use as firewood or
to build
houses etc...
Q. You speak of development as if it were synonymous
with
capitalist expansion. What about the development and
sustainability
of our physical, social, community, environmental, and
spiritual
health and well-being? Are these things even on your
radar screen?
(DGC): Seek ye first economic growth and all these
things
will be added unto you. We have learned to trust our
economic
development model and our scientific community to find
solutions to
scarcity and other problems in a timely manner. For
instance, you may
have noticed that much of the land you were using to grow
food-crops
for local consumption is now growing the wonderful green
renewable
bio-fuel we use to fuel our industries and transport your
resources to
factories and consumers at home. We've learned to use our
heads
before we use our hands. We will always find
solutions. Our
way of doing things is not only the best; it is the only
way.
We will triumph. It is our Manifest Destiny.
As for these other things�physical, social, community,
environmental, and spiritual health and well-being; you
can rest
assured that if there is indeed significant demand for
them in the
global marketplace we will find a way of supplying that
demand. If for whatever reason we can't meet your specific
demands we will present you with� satisfactory
substitutes. (Gas masks, new powerful patented
medications, mega-prisons and new private hospitals spring
to mind.) But be sure� to articulate
your demands/needs with enough $$$ to help us hear your
demands over all those other people clamouring for
i-phones and� big screen televisions and all that! You
wouldn't want your voice to get drowned out by somebody
else willing to pay more $$$$ now, would you?
*��� *��� *��� *��� *���
*���� *��� *
And
now here you come, bill of sale in your hand, and
surprise in your
eyes that we're lacking in thanks for the
blessings of civilization
you brought us, the lessons you've taught us, and
the ruin you've
wrought us...�
�
�Cree
singer song-writer Buffy Sainte Marie, from "My country 'tis of they people
you're dying"
At the end of a workshop I led at a school for campesinos
in
Colombia last year, I asked those in attendance what they
preferred: A
bigger slice of the Global Dominant Culture's pie?; Or to
protect
their own cultural way of life and territory
against corporate
invasions by the Canadian mining industries and other
transnationals.
Despite overwhelmingly unfavourable odds and often deadly
opposition,
they were unanimously in favour of continuing to protect
their own
territory and way of life. I found that very hopeful!
Things here in Kent County, New Brunswick, are also quite
hopeful.
Not only are the� Mi'kmaq people of the area reasserting
their sovereignty
and control over local resources; they are being joined by
their
Acadian and Anglophone settlers and neighbours! Together
they have
declared a moratorium on shale-gas fracking and served SWN resourceswith an eviction
notice. The entire local population is asserting its
sovereignty over the region, and now recognizes the
federal and
provincial governments to be what they really are: Agents
for
multinational corporations that promote the agendas of
their
corporate clients at the expense of the local culture and
environment, and of Mother Earth herself!
It is high time we all reassert our sovereignty
and curtail
the destructive tendencies of the Dominant Corporate
Global Culture.
While the Corporate Global Culture is the most advanced in
terms of
technology, it is abundantly clear that it lacks the
maturity to be
entrusted with the things that matter the most; it is too
underdeveloped socially and spiritually to be in charge of
protecting
the water, land and air that we all rely on--that form the
true
basis of every economy in existence. If we are to save our
planet
from destruction by the invasive Dominant Global Culture
we must protect,
preserve, respect, and insofar as it's possible, restore
cultural
diversity. Just as a rabbit-proof fence was required to
control the
ecological threat that overly populous imported rabbits
represented in
Australia, we must now build a fence to prevent the
Dominate
Corporate Culture from wiping out sustainable alternative
cultures.�
Whether it's the result of a walk through the woods with a
native
elder in New Brunswick, or a paddle down the river with a
Colombian
fisherman, it is clear that the very cultures being
destroyed are the
ones most capable of teaching us the true value of things,
and show us how we
can get off of this road that, however inadvertently, can
only lead to
our mutual self-annihilation. Time is running out! If we
don't make
revolutionary changes very fast it will indeed be
the end of
history!
|
--
No pedagogy which is truly liberating can remain distant from the oppressed by treating them as unfortunates and by presenting for their emulation models from among the oppressors. The oppressed must be their own example in the struggle for their redemption. �Paulo Freire
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Stewart in Colombia:
Cell Phones: Colombia: 313 420 5613; Canada: 647 567 7665
Christian Peacemaker Teams Colombia:
Phone: (57) 7 602 3617
Support our work! Donate to CPT!
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages