As I was reading Story Earth yesterday, I came across a passage that was so powerful that I had to stop reading, and I just sat on my front porch in total awe of what I had just read.... The particular story I read yesterday was written by Damien Arabagali, a community leader from Papua, New Guinea. He told about the highly sustainable society of his grandparents — where they respected nature, had their own religion, and lived in relative harmony with nature and other tribes.... Behind them came the resource extractors, who began taking the oil, gas, and gold from the land.
...They come into an area, introduce new diseases, a new religion that is not harmonious with the land or culture, and new ideas.... All of a sudden, their tribal lands become the property of the rich white men, and even when the country is granted independence, the land and resources are then usually controlled by some corrupt government.
The missionaries say they are saving the tribes people from going to hell, but the breach they make into their culture often introduces a new hell. Suddenly, disease is everywhere, communal property is sold, men are forced to leave the community to find work, women turn to prostitution to survive, the soil goes bad and erodes from over farming and overdevelopment, and the downward spiral begins.
...There are more floods, the soil quality degrades, and the wild animals of the forest are shot and trapped until they disappear.
...In the next few years the people will retake their Party, and we can go back to having a healthy two-party system in America. Right now it's essentially the rich and special interests in the Republican Party against the workers and minorities of the Democratic Party.... It is a good system, and when the people and leaders have faith in it, respect it, and support it, it really can and will work well.
Okay, this is part three in my rant about how the Christian Europeans stomped out the nature-based religions around the world. This, in turn, has led to a Westernized global society that seems to have lost its environmental ethic. The Christian Europeans are all about conquering, converting, and having "dominion" over the Earth, instead of living in harmony with nature and other people.
As I was reading Story Earth yesterday, I came across a passage that was so powerful that I had to stop reading, and I just sat on my front porch in total awe of what I had just read. As mentioned in my last post, Story Earth is a collection of essays from indigenous people. The particular story I read yesterday was written by Damien Arabagali, a community leader from Papua, New Guinea. He told about the highly sustainable society of his grandparents — where they respected nature, had their own religion, and lived in relative harmony with nature and other tribes. But then came the missionaries, who started their own "industries" to build schools and hospitals. Behind them came the resource extractors, who began taking the oil, gas, and gold from the land. The rape of yet another beautiful region had begun.
This passage sums up what I am trying to say, and is the essence of my blog and website:
The white man sees man as the highest creature in the hierarchy. We see man as a link in the chain. And the chain is broken. Of course, man is an important creature. But he is also responsible. If he is, according to the white man, the highest creature, man should also bear the highest responsibility. Animals, trees, birds, nature — they all have rights also.
I think nature will pay back the disrespect shown to her. Look around you! It's becoming hotter, drier, more eroded. Here, in Huli country, people are hiding from the sun. They never used to do that before. The land is more barren than ever before. That's why people have to work harder. Look how skinny they are! And because of all this clearing of our forests, we have floods, which we never had before...
What is the cause of this? I think it's greed. Something in humanity must be evil in itself. The ruthlessness and selfishness in a struggle for survival. The institutional organizations, big companies, and corporate bodies have become dehumanized. Profits at all costs, regardless of what that leaves behind.
—Damien Arabagali
While most missionaries mean well, are they doing more harm than good? They come into an area, introduce new diseases, a new religion that is not harmonious with the land or culture, and new ideas. An argument could be made that they are simply an advance vanguard that "softens" the population and prepares them for the resource extraction companies that come behind them. They teach them submissiveness, to believe without questioning, and other attributes that corporations love. Before long they are being marched into the mines or sent to sweat and slave on large plantations. All of a sudden, their tribal lands become the property of the rich white men, and even when the country is granted independence, the land and resources are then usually controlled by some corrupt government.
The missionaries say they are saving the tribes people from going to hell, but the breach they make into their culture often introduces a new hell. Suddenly, disease is everywhere, communal property is sold, men are forced to leave the community to find work, women turn to prostitution to survive, the soil goes bad and erodes from over farming and overdevelopment, and the downward spiral begins.
An incredible irony is the healthcare that missionaries bring into villages. Once the clinics are opened, the death rates of the community, especially among children, go way down. But then the human population skyrockets. Young people are suddenly clearing more forests for farmland and firewood. There are more floods, the soil quality degrades, and the wild animals of the forest are shot and trapped until they disappear.
Most missionaries do not acknowledge the need for teaching contraception in their clinics. In keeping the great Double Standard alive, they tell the villagers that God determines how many children each woman should have. But don't they play "God" themselves by eliminating most of the childhood diseases? Now, don't get me wrong — improving child health is a fantastic accomplishment. However, any faith-based program that improves health but ignores family planning is doomed to fail. They may be giving apparent relief to one generation, but the suffering will only be compounded in the next generation. In many Third World nations, human population is skyrocketing, often in areas where natural resources are already overburdened.
When I hear about missionaries going overseas, I often cringe. Are they working WITH the community or against it? Are they setting the stage for the community's ultimate destruction, and perhaps the destruction of the entire world? I often wonder. How much of the work is temporal and "feel good," and how much of the work is long-term and sustainable?
So, Yellow Canary, are you a Democrat or Republican?
Philosophically, I am a Republican because I am a strong believer in personal and fiscal responsibility. But since 1995, the GOP has completely betrayed their own principles. The once-great Party is a shambles now, overrun by industrialists and extremist Christian predators. In the next few years the people will retake their Party, and we can go back to having a healthy two-party system in America. Right now it's essentially the rich and special interests in the Republican Party against the workers and minorities of the Democratic Party. It is the Masters against the Slaves, and that sucks. The gerrymandering of political districts across the country may be the core of the problem. Right now, districts are made to be either Republican or Democratic, with little middle ground. The moderate politicians have essentially been driven from the political arena. Our American political system is sick and broke, but there is still much hope. It is a good system, and when the people and leaders have faith in it, respect it, and support it, it really can and will work well.
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