permaculture

["Rex Teague" <DibbleGardens@bigfoot.com>]

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