Against The Dominant Culture Of Death And Destruction

Carsten Heinrigs 

Terms carry a lot of connotations and context, which make their use problematic or prohibitive. Using terms, which are not in common use is also problematic, because most people won't understand them. These difficulties are even worse when it comes to thought patterns and cognitive schemes.

You will find some terms being used in this text, which need explanation. We use 'colonial', 'colonize' and 'colonizing' to describe a particularly violent relation towards the earth and all living entities, which are treated as objects to be used and abused, displaced and exterminated, to serve the interests and desires of the colonizers. 'Colonizer societies' are those societies, whose way of life is build upon colonial relations.

Instead of terms like 'the West', 'highly developed countries', or 'international community', we use the term 'Democratic Totalitarian Societies' (DTS) to group those forces dominating the 'world order' or 'globalization', which we call the 'Global Totalitarian Order'. The adjective 'totalitarian' is meant in the sense of an exclusive claim to power, like the power to define and judge, to set and enforce rules and standards for all to follow. The assumption of White Supremacy (WS) is the source of this totalitarian mindset and overwhelming violence the basis of enforcement.

Intro

During the preceding years we heard a lot of talk about climate change, melting ice masses, rising sea levels, extended droughts and desertification, pollution and waste, loss of lifeforms, and such things.

While the destruction of the earth and excessive human manipulation of natural flows and relations is surely worth our attention and deep thought, the focus on certain emissions and multi and supranational conferences and agreements seems misleading and the proposed courses of action dangerous.

The 'climate change' negotiation process is only rudimentarily driven by concerns over climate. It is mainly a game with huge sums of money to win or loose, yet any serious concern for the earth is absent among the major players.

Desperate for growth sectors and ways to increase state revenues, environmental themes have been attracting politicians, who can make laws and regulations to force consumption, raise fees and taxes, expand bureaucracies, inflate prices and subsidize industries, and such things. Corporations need sustained profits and lobby their interests accordingly. They are also eager to polish their image in the view of consumers, for example through eco or fair trade labels. Scientists add their tales to the mix.

The discourse is constructed to exclude or divert from all the core issues which may threaten the privileges and lifestyles of the colonizer societies. The major focus of these negotiations is on economic growth, market access and financial commitments, like usual.

Primary causes for the destruction of the earth

What we know for sure, simply by looking at what happened in the last few centuries, is that industrialization and colonization are the primary causes of the massive destruction of the earth, the poisoning and misuse of water, the degradation of many lands and the pollution of the air, and the mass extermination or even extinction of many species and peoples.

If we look at the operations of mines and other extractive industries, industrial agriculture and fishery, the mass production facilities, the infrastructure and distribution networks, we know that these activities are doing most of the actual damage we can observe.

We should not be fooled by propaganda and focus on the actual continuity of abuse and plunder, of endless war and destruction. The reformist argument of preventing the worst fails to appreciate that continuing on the current path of death and destruction will only lead to more of the same. Failing to address the root causes can only make things worse at this time. More economic growth, however 'ecological' and 'sustainable', will only extend our failed way of life.

Destructive technologies

Technologies are both expressions of social and economic relations, and means of changing those relations.

The transatlantic slave trade allowed the plantation system to spread throughout the Carribean and and the Americas. Profits from the colonies allowed poor Britain to move towards industrial mass production. Africans received British goods, often paid with slaves, the colonists in the 'new world' needed slaves, provided silver, cotton, tobacco and other produce from the plantations for the return trip. Only colonial relations made the trade profitable and the development of manufacturing industries possible, and their growth increased the need to expand and intensify colonial relations.

Technologies are always modeled and designed according to the intentions and mindset of those, who control their development and implementation. Under colonialism, technologies were developed to serve the needs of the colonists and their colonizing activities, designed to control and exploit life and to speed up the plunder of the earth.

Most of todays technologies are closely tied to colonial relations, regardless of ownership and political-economic forms of organization. Extractive industries, mass production facilities and related infrastructure, communication and distribution networks, offices and bureaucracies, legal and financial frameworks, social control and military enforcement are highly interdependent and largely inseparable. To have certain desired things, it needs many related destructive processes.

Among the most problematic aspects of multi and transnational production networks is its dependencies upon worldwide access to the so called resources and upon control of the lines of communication. With it comes the need to subdue resistance to enforce foreign control, to devastate foreign lands and sea floors, and to impose hegemony of the world markets over local peoples, and many other things. Their design allows multi and transnational corporations to exploit national differences to optimize their profits and to manage the workforce by playing out one part against another.

The sciences and the scientists

Let us be cautious and never believe scientists too easily, especially with a lot of money for research on the table and much prestige to gain. And when it comes to futurism and computer simulations, we are well advised to look at it with an anecdotal attitude. No human can scientifically know with some reasonable probability how things will be some decades projected into the future.

Scientists and engineers research and develop destructive technologies. They may no longer hide behind their masters who control the use of their results. They must be held responsible and accountable for the consequences of their work. The sciences and technologies of the colonizer societies are as rotten as their way of life, must be seen as roots of the problem.

One crucial and fundamental fault of the sciences is that they are not spiritually and ethically bound. A particular annoying aspect is the arrogance of their claim of superiority of their knowledge compared to other sources. The narrow focus of compartmentalized specialists is merely a particular perspective of limited applicability and use, and may never be generalized. The myth of scientific truth must be abandoned. Among humans, truth will always remain relative. Only the creator, or some other supreme entity, can help and guide us with truth beyond relativity.

Out of Scale

Size is a crucial factor to consider. What makes sense for a certain size, may fail for a larger one. The issue is called scalability. For example, we can still have meaningful participation in community decisions up to a few thousand members. But once we are in a mass society, it is no longer possible, because in relation to the whole each member is just a atomized particle. Delegating tasks to people you know personally as trustworthy, whom you can watch and hold accountable, is fundamentally different from electing representatives presented through the media, whose integrity you can't really assess and whose work you can't really monitor. Participation, trust and accountability are simply not scalable beyond a certain size.

If you have a factory producing, maintaining and repairing a few tractors and transport vehicles per year, it may be sufficient for nearby communities, who also provide needed raw materials. Design and implementation are adjusted to local conditions. Yet if you have mass production, a lot of things come into play, which are of little or no concern on a small-scale localized level. Administration and accounting, transportation and control issues, access to far away markets and related advertising to generate demand, management of a large workforce, and so on.

There are plenty of examples for this. What applies to a certain size, may be reverse for another size. What works up to a point, quickly degrades and collapses beyond. The question of size is closely related to issues of diversity and separation.

All species have their limits on size. Monocropping makes plants highly vulnerable to diseases and pests. Animal herds must adjust to space. Human societies can at least temporarily overcome their natural limits and organize as mass societies, but not without serious adverse consequences.

Endless war, mass extermination and escalating destruction

The lifestyle of the Democratic Totalitarian Societies (DTS) is fundamentally and essentially a colonial one. The earth and all living things are treated as commodities and valued only from the perspective of their selfish interests. The general attitude and practice, to commodify and objectify living things is also extended towards other humans, who are being traded and abused both casually and systematically.

The decision for endless war is the basis of the post Cold War global order. Colonial aggressions and occupations targeted numerous countries under different labels and flags. Millions of people have been systematically exterminated by hunger, diseases and wars. The earth is being abused at escalating speed and clean water is becoming increasingly scarce. The rapid degradation of the earth and mass extermination of life is integral and indispensable to industrialized economies and overconsuming societies.

Under the dominant order there is no hope for peace and no basis for negotiation and compromise. People, who work for respecting the earth and all living, need to understand that opportunistic arguments may advance the opposite agenda. Participating in 'global forums' and arguing for 'global agreements' will only help to prolong the long overdue demise of the rotten civilization and culture of the Europeans. More than five centuries of violent expansion and ruthless plunder need to come to an end.

Beware the Globalizers

To call for 'global agreements' of whatever kind is dangerous propaganda in support of the Global Totalitarian Order (GTO) being advanced and violently imposed at this time. This order is totalitarian because no way of life is going to be tolerated which is not compatible with the requirements of the dominant societies and their worldview, and approved by them. Peoples and nations, who resist submission under the rules of the GTO, or want to get out and move to restore their independence and sovereignty, face forced isolation, violent destruction and occupation of their territories. A few human reserves may nevertheless be allowed or even be cultivated, but that is more like preserving certain rare species than respecting other peoples and their sovereignty.

Such an approach, to advance global rules and enforcement, must be expected coming from the Democratic Totalitarian Societies (DTS) trying to defend their privileges and way of life as long as possible, being helplessly dependent upon colonial relations and upon plundering the earth. Their decision for endless war and escalating mass extermination has long been made and is largely supported by an overwhelming majority of these societies, convinced of the superiority of their civilization. Instead of cutting overproduction and overconsumption, they prefer to talk about overpopulation. Instead of limiting themselves to what their territory provides, they prefer to talk about limited global resources.

Environmentalists and neo-Malthusian Ideology

Some of us citizens of the DTS may be moved by social and ecological concerns, yet very few are prepared to give up their privileges and move away from their overconsuming lifestyles. Indeed, the social and environmental globalizers are most dangerous because they nurture the illusion that reformist modifications and regulations can correct the disastrous consequences of industrial mass production and world markets. They love to hide behind nice words arranged to engage (fool and corrupt) people and link them into the dominant discourse. The most vicious of them actually masquerade as globalization critics, while working to advance and consolidate the GTO.

Arguing, that the effects of environmental degradation and destruction are threatening us all, the environmentalist agenda has long been dominated by globalizers with a particularly aggressive totalitarian mindset. They have helped popularize the ideology of overpopulation and justify violent interventions in many areas of national and local sovereignty, claiming that because we are all affected, we need global control and enforcement.

The earth can provide for all humans and coming generations to have clean water, nutritious food, clothes and shelter, fuel for heating and cooking, tools and equipment they need. It is not the earth limits, but the colonizer way of life to consume beyond any reasonable limits, which is responsible for the scarcities we see. The lands and waters are increasingly being used and abused for profit. It doesn't matter if something is needed, as long as it can be sold. Yet even worse, status issues, fashions and trends generate a continuous demand for things people just desire to have. The overconsumption has become so extreme, that our societies are addicted to it and our people are full of greed and jealousy. The talk about overpopulation turns out to be just a means to justify mass extermination in defense of our rotten way of life.

Politics and Propaganda

If you do political work against the tides of established powers and public opinion, you will soon realize how impotent these efforts are. Even if, in time, things seem to move in your direction, they will have been twisted and corrupted. Simply said, politics is dirty business. And public opinion is so hopelessly tied to the constant propaganda, entertainment and fashion streams, that only individually and temporarily people are drawn into a process of critical reflection and appreciation of realities. In an individualized mass society, public opinion is too volatile and too easily diverted and corrupted to lead to any fundamental challenge for the dominant order.

That said, as far as we involve ourselves in politics, we need to be aware of the limits and adverse effects of our activities. Whatever we say or do will be gradually defused and corrupted. In time and with changing context, the same statements have a different meaning. By the time more people begin to listen to what we say, it often means something else than we intended. To avoid being integrated into the dominant discourse, it may help to take fundamental positions and be consistent and coherent both in speaking and acting.

What it needs

We need to build upon certain fundamental rules and principles, which are essential for the restoration of peace with the earth. I am only beginning to understand, but nevertheless want to mention some aspects. The earth may no longer be treated as an object and resource, which humans can use and abuse at will. All living deserves respect, not for humanitarian or utilitarian reasons, but as members of the community of all living as part of the earthlife. Water is the basis of all life. It must be shared among all living and must not be polluted or wasted. Water flows must not be manipulated beyond local adjustments. Likewise, the lands must be shared among all living, which belong to it. It cannot be the property of anyone and must not be monopolized for human consumption. Finally, the air must be kept clean from unnecessary emissions.

'Globalization' must be opposed and fought in all forms and aspects. The 'global' institutions and organizations, like the IMF/WB/UN/WTO/ICC need to be delegitimized. Likewise, we need to reject all efforts to further centralize political, judicial or administrative powers.

We need to intensify our efforts to oppose, push back and finally overcome those forces responsible for the destruction of the earth, especially the multi and transnational corporations and the colonizer societies.

We need to shut down large mining and other extractive operations, and disintegrate multi and transnational production, distribution and communication facilities and networks. We need to resist large scale construction projects, particularly infrastructure projects.

We need to discourage international investment and devalue money and debt. We should instead focus on independence and separation from global trade and finances. Local production for local markets must displace mass production and world markets. Therefor, we need effective protection of local production and local markets from outside interference.

We need to drastically reduce consumption of electricity and fuels. Renewable energy production may not be publicly supported or encouraged at this time, mainly because it reaffirms the market as the driving force of energy consumption, diverting from the key issue of overconsumption. Moreover, the scale of renewable energy investments and operations is determined by profit expectations and cannot be effectively limited as long as the large energy grids and pipelines are delivering most of the energy. Only when these centralized supply systems are replaced by independent local schemes, the question of how to fulfill the necessary energy needs of communities becomes relevant.

We need to tie production and consumption with the conditions and relations in the lands, where we live. Our concerns must be refocused towards food sovereignty and self-determination apart from world markets and largely separated from the dominant culture and communication. We need radical decentralization of competence, communication and control and refrain from interventions into the affairs of other peoples.

Concluding words

The indigenous peoples have not forgotten that "the earth will take care of us, if we take care of it" (Corbin Harney). Those peoples, who see themselves as part of the earth and all living, whose lifeways have proven for millenia to be highly functional in "maintaining the earth life" (Tiokasin Ghosthorse), should be guiding us. We appreciate all help they provided and continue to offer us.

Carsten Heinrigs was born 1965 in Germany, where he currently lives in Bremen and works as a freelancer in software development and consulting. He got involved in political activism in the early 1980s demonstrating against the NATO nuclear rearmament and does information work since the late 1980s, focusing on war and mass extermination