[PEN-L:3096] Re: Re: selling Manhattan

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>> <sokol@xxxxxxx> 02/09 11:34 AM >>>
At 10:48 AM 2/9/99 -0500, Charles Brown wrote:
>Overall, I just wish the Europeans had had more respect for the indigenous
societies, because I think  our species would be better off with a wider
variety of cultures, and preservation of the knowledge and cultural
treasuries of the indigenous peoples. I would like to see the whole range
of human cultural types, modes of production , from history preserved so
that maybe even part of basic education would be for children to live and
learn them, reiterating cultural evolution , so to speak. There may have
been knowledge of many natural medicines, herbs and "spices", which are now
lost. Also, our gungho technological development regime could use some of
the Indian philosophy of ecological harmony. It is perhaps wishful thinking
now, but I would like to see more of a synthesis of the wisdoms of various
phases of human development, rather than obliteration of the socalled
primitive ways of life.
--snip---


Sounds like a great idea to me as well.  I just have one little problem,
who would live in those "reservations" of pre-modern life?  The
reservations as we know them may be tourist attractions, but they are also
breeding grounds for poverty and hopelessness.
________
Charles: They wouldn't be at all like the U.S. reservations, which are like concentration camps. In other words, if we didn't have capitalism, it would be possible to have huge areas of land that are more au naturelle. As far as who would live on these recovered areas, EVERYBODY would spend some time there. It would be a basic part of human education to learn the early modes of production first hand, not just in an anthropology class as well as learn the ultra-modern ways. The idea is that it is a myth that the indigenous way of life was nasty, brutish and short. Our bodies developed historically mostly under conditions of hunting and gathering , and gardening. It would be physically healthy to live in these modes some.


Wojtek:
PS.  When I was in Mexico City I was surprised at the level of integration
of the pre-Columbian and European cultures.  For Mexicans, the history of
their state does not start with a decree signed by a few white
property-owning men but goes back to the Aztec times.  Mexicans (at least
those whom I met) see their national identity as a mixture of the Aztec and
the Spanish culture.
_______

Charles: Yea, Aztec, Mixtec, Toltec, Zapotec, Olmec, Maya, etc, etc. I saw archeological sites preserved and displayed inside of subway stops when I was in Mexico City.

The Zapatista armed struggle going on right now is based in Mayan culture, Marxism and another theory I forgot, according to the representative I heard speak a few years ago.




Wojtek:
I see such integration, even if largely symbolic, a better way of
preserving the past, than relegating it to reservations, as practiced in
this country.
________

Charles: You got that right. The British et al. did not mix with the Indians as much as the Spanish. I would say the British were more racist in that regard.


Wojtek
 BTW, how many Americans would describe their national
identity as a mixture of different European, Asian and Native cultures?
Based on what I've seen it is mostly "England, England ueber alles."
_______

Charles: Your general point is correct. Of course, I am an AFRICAN-American ,and I have several different Indian bloodlines in my family. So, my national identity is a mixture.

Notice how Africa is often forgotten. See _The World and Africa_ by W.E.B. Dubois, on Africa at the bottom of the European racial scheme.

Charles