"Some will run and some will stand - Bruce Cockburn,
from his song “Strange Waters”
“From an animist perspective, the clearest source of all this distress, both physical and psychological, lies in the...violence needlessly perpetrated by our civilization on the ecology of the planet; only by alleviating the latter will we be able to heal the former.” - David Abram,
from his book The Spell of the Sensuous The word “holocaust” means “burned whole,” as in caustic elimination of the whole, the entire thing, place, people. The paranoid psychopath (concerned about so-called immigrant invaders) who killed eleven people at the Tree Of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, reportedly shouted, “All Jews must die” ... thus re-invoking the lingo of the holocaust. In Brazil, the recently elected president has called for the auctioning of all of the indigenous reserves, and “Minorities have to adapt to the majority, or simply disappear.”[1] This is not-so-subtle lingo for the elimination of the Brazilian Native Peoples and their lands (Brazilian Amazon rainforest), the preserving of which is a crucial piece of the climate change puzzle. Genocide... holocaust... scorched earth policy... “A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy while it is advancing through or withdrawing from a location. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, for example food sources, water supplies, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even the locale's people themselves.”[2] During World War II, people were 'harvested' . . . Precious metal from Nazi concentration camps and death camps, property from victims, for examples, wedding rings, eye glasses, pocket watches, cigarette cases, jewellery and gold teeth. Though different circumstances, I am reminded of “E-waste landfills” or “toxic electronic graveyards” – some in China, India, Africa, Ghana – where, often children, pick through used electronic parts for scrap metals,[3] for money. But with agri-businesses, other corporations, and banksters salivating at the further pillage of Latin America (see Eduardo Galeano's, Open Veins Of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent), the potential loot is far grander than a gold tooth, though the emotional context no less volatile; far grander than salvaging a motherboard, though the survival level is no less significant. What is the difference between one lone psycho calling for the death of all Jewish Peoples and the president of a country calling for the same thing with regard to the Brazilian Native Peoples? There is no difference, except that the president hasn’t done anything yet. Also, it is impossible for the lone psycho to succeed whereas Bolsonaro, I doubt it ― but still the cry of this essay. Though not very surprising, Bolsonaro's election has received praise from various financial news outlets and countries as being 'good for business.'[4] Imagine if The Don had called for the 'disappearance' of all evangelical Christians along with their churches being converted into shopping malls. For those who claim to care about global warming and averting further imbalances from climate chaos, this is a good time to step-up to the proverbial plate! Meanwhile, John Bolton – the US National Security Advisor with a Yosemite Sam Looney Tunes mustache – has praised Bolsonaro and also declared Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela a “troika of tyranny.”[5] Wait, why does that sound familiar? Oh yeah, it's like Bush Jr.'s “axis of evil” but with alliterative flair. Rather curious, though, that Bolton used a Russian word for geo-politics in Latin America; but I doubt he will be accused of colluding with Russia. According to Oxford Dictionary online, a troika is “a Russian vehicle pulled by a team of three horses abreast.” While many a climate town-crier reminds us of loss of non-human species, a geo-political-crier reminds us of the current attempts at eliminating various parts of the human species; for further examples than the context of this essay, Yemenis and Palestinians come to mind. And while Robert Gregory Bowers wasn't a geo-political entity, his fear of migrant caravans from Central America aided by Jewish People was a side-effect of geo-political machinations. To paraphrase the Abram quote at the beginning of this essay, allow me to use some fairy tale lingo... Once upon a time, two brothers forgot their Mother the Earth, and by forgetting their Mother they forgot they were brothers and started calling each other “others.” And being offended at being called “others,” they became violently angry, and to express their anger they wanted weapons so as to perpetrate violence, so they became violent toward their Mother the Earth (because they had forgotten she's their Mother) so as to procure the metals and such like for the weapons... As to what may happen with regard to Brazil, I look to the song quote from Canadian music hall-of-famer, Bruce Cockburn: “Some will run and some will stand”... yet the fate of what happens could be swayed by enough bankers, corporate-staters, police, and para-military miraculously opening their hands instead of making bullshit fists. And what may happen could be swayed by mass common sense. How is it that a 15 year old from Sweden better understands the global corporate empire than virtually every mainstream corpserate news outlet whose coffers are filled by slyly promoting global bloodletting. In the words of the 15 year old, Greta Thunberg: “We kids most often don’t do what you tell us to do. We do as you do. And since you grown-ups don’t give a shit about my future, I won’t either. My name is Greta and I’m in ninth grade. And I refuse school for the climate until the Swedish general election.She raises a question I think each of us needs to answer: Why do what I do if it is not in some way helping to care for the well-being of Mother Earth? And in the context of this essay: Why do what I do if it is not in some way aligned with the purpose of remembering that we are brothers and sisters? Even though you don't have to like or hang out with all your siblings, they at least deserve respect as fellow travelers— not elimination from the species. Even if you are pro-big-business, there are cleaner ways to make a buck than with the spilling of blood in sacred sites, whether synagogues or rainforests; and cleaner ways to make a buck than with a colonial-vulture-capitalist mentality of picking through remains, whether human or electronic. On a potential for positive change note: “In a historic advance for indigenous peoples in Brazil, on 7 October indigenous lawyer, Joênia Wapixana (officially Joênia Batista de Carvalho of the Wapixana indigenous peoples) was elected to the Chamber of Deputies.”[7] And, as to that “axis of evil”... Iraq has been chaos-icized with holocaustic symptoms – immense loss of lives, oil fires, tainted land, birth deformities, etc. – due to an invasion based on greedy lies; Iran – though dealing with US sanctions – is maintaining stability while, imagine it, not attacking other countries; and as to that evil-doer in the North?... “Two Koreas Halt Military Exercises and Close Gunports Once Aimed at Each Other.”[8] NOTES: 1. “Bolsonaro: A Despot Who “Spells Disaster, Not Only for Brazil but for the Planet”” 2. “Scorched earth” 3. “Inside the Hellish E-Waste Dumps Where Old Electronics Go To Die” & “Where your computer goes to die: Shocking pictures of the toxic 'electronic graveyards' in Africa where the West dumps its old PCs, laptops, microwaves, fridges and phones” 4. “The Financial Press Can't Hide Its Glee Over a Fascist Brazil” 5. “Bolton praises Bolsonaro while declaring ‘troika of tyranny’ in Latin America” 6. “This 15-year-old Girl Breaks Swedish Law for the Climate” 7. “Bolsonaro and Indigenous Rights in Brazil: A Glimmer of Hope in Difficult Times” 8. See here. Mankh (Walter E. Harris III) is an essayist and resident poet at Axis of Logic. In addition to his work as a writer and small press publisher, he travels a holistic mystic pathway staying in touch with Turtle Island. See his new book of nonfiction with a poetic touch, “photo albums of the heart-mind”. © Copyright 2018 by AxisofLogic.com This material is available for republication as long as reprints include verbatim copy of the article in its entirety, respecting its integrity. Reprints must cite the author and Axis of Logic as the original source including a "live link" to the article. Thank you! |