For the Barbarians
You hear the slanders nearly every day: contemptuous denunciations of barbarous atrocities. Words meant to stir primal animosity towards some people. The association of the word "barbarian" and certain activities is reason enough to call into doubt the humanity of the perpetrators of these barbarous actions and suggest that they are demi-demons. The concentration camps of Nazi Germany - the use of biological warfare (small pox) against Native Americans - the deliberate starvation of millions of peasants by Stalin and Mao - the commercial hunting and trading of African Peoples - the dungeons and pyres of the Inquisition - the Crusades - the bombings of Guernica, Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Iraq, Yugoslavia - the creation of famine and pestilence by the World Bank and IMF - all acts of cruelest barbarity, right?
No! All of these horrific crimes against humanity were carried out by civilized people IN THE NAME OF CIVILIZATION! Indeed, these were all specific actions carried-out, designed and implemented by people at the pinnacle of civilization. Furthermore, most of these acts of massive slaughter would have been impossible without civilization. Barbarians could not conceive of such widespread, indiscriminate murder, and would be incapable of carrying them out.
Even in ancient days, when nomadic hordes smashed civilizations, they did so as proto-civilizations, recognizing the fact that the already existing civilizations were their rivals.
Do you want to know what savage, barbaric people are like? Look at them! Quick! Before they disappear! The U'wa who live in the Cloud Forests of Colombia and consider themselves to be a chosen people - chosen to be the caretakers of their magnificent homeland. The Dineh elders who weep as they watch Peabody Coal destroy the mountains where they live joyously simple lives because that's what the desert provides for them. They do not weep for their loss, nor do they hate the people killing their Mother Earth. They weep because, according to their worldview, if they had been living their lives in a sacred manner, other people wouldn't be killing the Earth. One aboriginal People of Australia have decided not to reproduce because they can't bear the thought of their grandchildren having to live in the toxic wasteland that is being made of the Earth. The Ogoni People of the Niger River Delta are being exterminated because they are petitioning the Nigerian government to stop Shell Oil from befouling the ecosystems that have always sustained their People. The various Peoples of West Papua who have united in their opposition to the development of their island homelands and declare "We refuse any kind of development: religious groups, aid agencies and governmental agencies and governmental agencies. Just leave us alone!" And the mysterious inhabitants of another Indonesian island whose only messages to civilization are volleys of arrows.
Do you want to know what kind of unfeeling, sadistic person could carry out such acts of eco- and genocide? Take a look around any shopping mall, go to any religious service in America. Could it be any plainer to you if your cars needed human blood in order to run? If Americans had to strangle an infant Native American child in order to gain financing for their homes, would there be forcible childbirth centers on reservations? And would there be any decline in the number of home sales?
Accusations of barbarity are made by one civilized people against another. It would be an honor to live among barbarians ñ to share our love of our homeworld, our joy of living. Instead, I'm stuck here, existing in a state of semi-animation while beyond the walls and razor wire, the smug despoilers of the Earth carry on with their frenzied, hate-filled lives.
I will not be tamed and returned to the herd of domestic humanity. Imprisoned as a dissident, I'm not one who will be re-educated for assimilation into Amerikkka. It's fitting that only by imprisoning me were the forces of society able to coerce me into living indoors, pissing and shitting in water (that's sick!),and desiring work just for something to do. If anything, this episode of incarceration has strengthened my resolve to smash civilization.
Release me from this cage!
