Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: plants DB - indigenious

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Rex Teague" <DibbleGardens@bigfoot.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: plants DB - indigenious
  • Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2002 23:01:26 +1200


On 1 Jan 02, georg parlow wrote:
---8<---
> [Jared Diamond] ... as a biologist he looked at it scientifically
> (methodically, by historical evidence, and as unbiased as one can
> be), and clearly answered: it is not because of genetic
> superiority. but quite as clear came up: it is not because of
> special greediness, cruelty, or any other ethical inferiority
> either. all societies of all races have been equally ruthless as
> soon as they got a chance to dominate. and they all did so whenever
> they got a chance, with all the nasty details right down to
> genocide, be it whitefella, blackfella, redfella, yellowfella or
> anyotherfella.

Or as reveled to Masanobu Fukuoka in his mid-twenties the
"inadequacy of human knowledge". Fukuoka, as I've recently been
informed, being an important early influence for David Holmgren - I
trust that's correct?

Elisabet Sahtouris, biologist, is gnawing away at the likes of
Diamond's mindset eg
http://www.ratical.org/LifeWeb/Articles/capetown.html.
NB: If you truncate the URL there is much more and I'm not that
enthused with the _level_ of her case for cooperation, to read further.

> so i am afraid the attitude you can observe in todays indiginous
> people is simply a result of the fact, that at present they are the
> dominated (read: raped, killed, exploited, colonized, dislocated,
> etc.etc.) ones, and not the other way around as in: they are dominated
> because they are so non-dominating.

There is contrary information. In another thread, I recently gave
references to Riane Eisler's and Alfie Kohn's stuff - take a read at:
http://www.ru.org/71eisler.htm
http://www.partnershipway.org
http://www.alfiekohn.org
http://www.alfiekohn.org/books/nc.htm

Usury is the driving force of colonialism, a highly parasitic and
materialistc affliction on humanity; alluded to in Mollison's
"Schumacher Lecture" and the true "whitefella" burden. Try
http://www.relfe.com/plus_5_.html and
http://people.montana.com/~calsch/MoneyMyth/moneymyth.htm
for a couple primers plus http://landru.i-link-2.net/monques and
http://www.themoneymasters.com for a meatier sample.

Viewed through the insight of usury the Aboriginal lady's dilemma is
clear and it narks me to see the destruction of her centuries old
culture. Maslow was shocked when many years later he returned to
the Native American tribe of his thesis study to see how thoroughly
their traditional values had disappeared. He lamented what was
destroyed in one generation would take many generations to rebuild.

> i myself found this even harder to stomach than the cultural baggage -
> it is the baggage of our species.

Cheer up! Sarkar's "Law of Social Cycles" paints a more optimistic
possibility in my eyes. I don't have any web references.

Cheerio... Rex




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page