Moving from dominating to relating - 21st century regional context

Treating other people as objects is part of the system of attitudes which makes up imperialism.

No doubt imperialism is only one instance of social formations in which one group – as a means of attaining and maintaining positions of power – treat other people as objects.

Pierre Clastres reminds us that genocide and ethnocide are extensions of practices first of all applied ‘at home’. The emergence of European kingdoms and modern nation-states are the results of bloody struggles. With the move to over-running life overseas, the system of attitudes transcends the ‘boundaries’ which otherwise demark ‘home’.

The treatment of other people as objects can be seen very clearly in the Anglo-Australian treatment of Australian First Peoples, from the earliest times of colonization and through to the present day with the continuation of the Northern Territory ‘intervention’.

A culturally one-sided imperial will is forcefully imposed on the lives of First Peoples by non-indigenous politicians who have no personal understanding of the Ways of First Peoples and no professional qualifications which would make good this deficit.

Governor Macquarie is a classic example from earlier times -  and  P.M. Howard, Minister Brough, P.M. Gillard and Minister Macklin serve as more recent examples from both sides of Anglo-Australian politics.

In the absence of any form of indigenous representation, non-indigenous politicians simply impose their own world-view and values upon the whole of Australian life  - as ‘one nation’- as though the introduced system of order is, somehow, preordained to apply in all cases and in all instances.

They are culturally blind when it comes to recognizing the realities of the original cultures of this country.

The ability of the Westminster system (as presently constituted) to call on experts to advise governments about such matters is a proven failure in Australia.

The old fashioned approach, belonging to European imperialism and colonialism, seeks to manipulate and dominate life.

It is the antithesis of relating.

My hope for the survival of First Peoples as First Peoples is that a future scholar, with an understanding of Foucault’s notion of an episteme, will be able to look back at Australian life and identify the period in which an epistemic shift occurred – when the old methods of non-indigenous Australians shifted from the attempts to dominate First Peoples and finally accepted the need to learn how to relate.

There is a profound difference between these two modes of Being. A shift from heavy to light – from life as something a drill sergeant would appreciate to life as a flowing dance.

What I wonder about, though, is how this change will come about since Anglo-Australians (at least, those who aspire to attain the apparent strategic heights) show little inclination in this direction. The present systems for ‘advancement’ and promotion in Australia reward those who subscribe to a particular world-view, and that world-view is not one which owes anything to the wisdom inscribed in the Ways of  First Peoples.

EASTERN ENGAGEMENTS?

There is a possibility that, as Anglo-Australia Inc seeks to engage more with Asian countries, the cultural arrogance which underwrites the prior and deep seated view of “Australia for the White Man” will run into serious problems.

In a changing regional context and a changing global economic context, the ability for a small number of Anglo-Australians to maintain their outdated worldview may be seriously challenged.

If Europe is facing major problems and there is a change of policy in the United States about how to best protect its interests, the need for Anglo-Australians to adapt to their real surroundings could see a rapid acceleration in changes in the selection process for key positions.

Those who have abilities for cross-cultural relating, especially with cultures which place great value on respect and the need for mutually acceptable processes, may find themselves in demand, while the managers of yore are retired to the backroom to sort out inanimate objects of one kind or another, provided these low level tasks have not been replaced by less-expensive-to-maintain automaton.

One possibly fly in the ointment for such a vision is just what kind of personality is going to be associated with the rise of significant Asian neighbours.  They too may be dominated by those who treat people as objects, rather than fully alive Being - by the view that the bottom line is not well-being for the whole of life by acts of balanced exchange but the means by which other people's surplus energies can be 'legally' stolen by unfair trade.

The struggles of the 21^st century to heal Australian life may well include forming alliances with those who, having initially embraced Western Ways without realizing the true costs of doing so, then seek to regain some degree of balance as a result of the workings of a living praxis.