Lovely and heartfelt post. Thank you for bringing all of this together. 🧡
I can't remember if this was in that Farmerama series or not, but I heard that the compensation the British government paid to slave owners when it was made illegal in the UK is still something that the British taxpayer is covering to this day?
I remember visiting the ruins of crofter's homes in northern Scotland and learning that history long ago, but only in bits and pieces really, until I read more about the scope of it all, with the enclosures, removals, etc. The full extent of the loop of colonization pushing others to essentially become colonizers and slave owners in the americas....it's so insidious. And the line about where's your community? So so real and true. So weary of hearing about individual solutions. I wrote a while back about how the myth of rugged individualism in Alaska and how pervasive it still is when every Indigenous person here is like no one survives alone. It's absolutely true. And yet we have that mythos so embedded in ideas of sufficiency, productivity. And so many buy that whole entire myth in places like Alaska. It's hard to continue to watch.
The idea of self-sufficiency and individualism is also a significant narrative brought about when colonialism was established as a widely accepted world order. When a bunch of people enter a new land and are able to shrewdly bend the will of the natives, they seem to perpetuate the idea of individual might over communal well being as a rule and not exception. The oppressor's psyche builds an entire nation on the oppressor's inflated sense of self so it is obvious that the values like community and common consensus takes a back seat. I am pretty sure this is heavily implied when one discusses the loss of lands to privatisation. I found it as a common theme in my research on loss of indigenous land to private tea estate (owned by British colonial officers) in the western ghats of India.
That's fascinating. I tend to think of rugged individualism as an American disease. It's part of the story we tell ourselves to justify our past actions and has worked its way into the national identity. It's easy to forget where its roots lie and that it was likely part of the picture wherever these were colonies. I need to learn so much about India.
Even though I initially thought it was an American thing, I now understand that individualism is more than just an identity; it is a kind of separation from the immediate natural world because it attempts to distance itself from the values of community living and its established value system that relies on inter-relationships, not only with people but also with the land and all the living beings that surround and support a particular ecosystem to thrive
I literally just did an interview with someone today—David Bollier, a scholar of the commons—who wrote about this in his book “Free, Fair, and Alive.” I was quoting back to him his passage about how property ownership and myths of individual autonomy have been tied together to create a vision of “freedom” that is untenable. From the passage:
“The human being is conceived as an isolated-I with absolute freedom, expressed through ownership. It is a world in which we stand as selves ultimately disconnected from everything else—community, tradition, ethnicity, religion, nature. In such a world, property ownership constitutes an institutional bulwark for the freedom of the utterly autonomous individual. . . . By sanctifying this vision of humanity, modern property law functions as a massive system of social engineering.”
That's so true. Other entities then pile on by getting us to accept that we're responsible for our own individual college education, health care, retirement, long term care - even, in the case of BP, our own personal carbon footprint - until we're carrying the weight of the world on our individual shoulders. And we willingly accept it.
Wow this is so true and significant revelation, the social engineering in turn makes me even more isolated and encourages to accumulate more. I will read more of David Bollier’s work.
I think this is why it matters so much to me that we engage in imagining different ways of living in and sharing this world. It's the most disheartening thing to see how many have ceded the potential of their own imaginations to the powers of colonialism and capitalism and the limits of what they say are possible.
Our fetishes for private property and rugged individualism are going to kill us all. I kept running into those walls in my work on sea level rise and drinking water. That's why I have an ongoing series of posts about community that works, just to remind folks how much they are part of and reliant on something bigger than themselves. All it takes is someone - and our corporations, politicians, and media are experts - to point out a threat to some perceived "freedom", and the lizard brain kicks in.
The perpetual cycle of oppression and pain generating more oppression and pain cannot be more evident than this paragraph alone "Displaced Scots were well represented among the enslavers and plantation managers in the British Caribbean. Following the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1833, former enslavers were paid £20 million in compensation. Some of that money was used to purchase land in Scotland, in turn dispossessing and displacing more Scots, who in turn participated in the genocide of Native Americans. Profits from the plantations were used to found schools and universities and pay for infrastructure throughout Scotland.”
This is such significant piece of history often overlooked in discussions of colonialism and wealth drain. Thank you for highlighting this correlation John.
I’ve long talked about the need for community, tamping down the perpetuation of greed in a capitalist society. I teach a course at the University of Illinois (online) called sustainable food systems, and one of the things I love is that many of my students want nothing more than to find a way to be self-sustaining within a community that values sharing abundance over hoarding it. Thanks for this insightful post!
Lovely and heartfelt post. Thank you for bringing all of this together. 🧡
I can't remember if this was in that Farmerama series or not, but I heard that the compensation the British government paid to slave owners when it was made illegal in the UK is still something that the British taxpayer is covering to this day?
Thanks Nia! Another one to go where it really comes together!
Some of the compensation was in the form of annuities, paying 3.5 % a year. In 2015 they discharged those with lump sum payments. Ugh.
jesus christ.
🤬
Very oh dear...
Freaking diabolical!
Very much looking forward to reading this - just my sort of thing! Many thanks.
Thank you!
👍🏻📚💕
I remember visiting the ruins of crofter's homes in northern Scotland and learning that history long ago, but only in bits and pieces really, until I read more about the scope of it all, with the enclosures, removals, etc. The full extent of the loop of colonization pushing others to essentially become colonizers and slave owners in the americas....it's so insidious. And the line about where's your community? So so real and true. So weary of hearing about individual solutions. I wrote a while back about how the myth of rugged individualism in Alaska and how pervasive it still is when every Indigenous person here is like no one survives alone. It's absolutely true. And yet we have that mythos so embedded in ideas of sufficiency, productivity. And so many buy that whole entire myth in places like Alaska. It's hard to continue to watch.
The idea of self-sufficiency and individualism is also a significant narrative brought about when colonialism was established as a widely accepted world order. When a bunch of people enter a new land and are able to shrewdly bend the will of the natives, they seem to perpetuate the idea of individual might over communal well being as a rule and not exception. The oppressor's psyche builds an entire nation on the oppressor's inflated sense of self so it is obvious that the values like community and common consensus takes a back seat. I am pretty sure this is heavily implied when one discusses the loss of lands to privatisation. I found it as a common theme in my research on loss of indigenous land to private tea estate (owned by British colonial officers) in the western ghats of India.
That's fascinating. I tend to think of rugged individualism as an American disease. It's part of the story we tell ourselves to justify our past actions and has worked its way into the national identity. It's easy to forget where its roots lie and that it was likely part of the picture wherever these were colonies. I need to learn so much about India.
Even though I initially thought it was an American thing, I now understand that individualism is more than just an identity; it is a kind of separation from the immediate natural world because it attempts to distance itself from the values of community living and its established value system that relies on inter-relationships, not only with people but also with the land and all the living beings that surround and support a particular ecosystem to thrive
Oh, you put that so well!
The way Swarna thinks and expresses her thoughts makes me slow down and go “wow, that is the perfect way of putting it” so often.
💜🌼
I literally just did an interview with someone today—David Bollier, a scholar of the commons—who wrote about this in his book “Free, Fair, and Alive.” I was quoting back to him his passage about how property ownership and myths of individual autonomy have been tied together to create a vision of “freedom” that is untenable. From the passage:
“The human being is conceived as an isolated-I with absolute freedom, expressed through ownership. It is a world in which we stand as selves ultimately disconnected from everything else—community, tradition, ethnicity, religion, nature. In such a world, property ownership constitutes an institutional bulwark for the freedom of the utterly autonomous individual. . . . By sanctifying this vision of humanity, modern property law functions as a massive system of social engineering.”
That's so true. Other entities then pile on by getting us to accept that we're responsible for our own individual college education, health care, retirement, long term care - even, in the case of BP, our own personal carbon footprint - until we're carrying the weight of the world on our individual shoulders. And we willingly accept it.
Too many of us do. But many are pushing back. 🧡
Wow this is so true and significant revelation, the social engineering in turn makes me even more isolated and encourages to accumulate more. I will read more of David Bollier’s work.
I think this is why it matters so much to me that we engage in imagining different ways of living in and sharing this world. It's the most disheartening thing to see how many have ceded the potential of their own imaginations to the powers of colonialism and capitalism and the limits of what they say are possible.
I would love to know more about your research and what you found about the privatization of indigenous land to tea estates….
Ooh yes, me too please!
Thank you guys, I am working on it!
Feeling this very strongly these days.
Our fetishes for private property and rugged individualism are going to kill us all. I kept running into those walls in my work on sea level rise and drinking water. That's why I have an ongoing series of posts about community that works, just to remind folks how much they are part of and reliant on something bigger than themselves. All it takes is someone - and our corporations, politicians, and media are experts - to point out a threat to some perceived "freedom", and the lizard brain kicks in.
It's deeply frustrating work. All I can say is that it helps to know others, like you, who are in it together. 🧡
I always know who's going to show up in my comments, and that's who I write for!
😀😀😀
The perpetual cycle of oppression and pain generating more oppression and pain cannot be more evident than this paragraph alone "Displaced Scots were well represented among the enslavers and plantation managers in the British Caribbean. Following the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1833, former enslavers were paid £20 million in compensation. Some of that money was used to purchase land in Scotland, in turn dispossessing and displacing more Scots, who in turn participated in the genocide of Native Americans. Profits from the plantations were used to found schools and universities and pay for infrastructure throughout Scotland.”
This is such significant piece of history often overlooked in discussions of colonialism and wealth drain. Thank you for highlighting this correlation John.
And, of course, the wealth extraction in colonial India was even greater, but all we learned in school was how we brought railways and cricket!
How infuriating!
I’ve long talked about the need for community, tamping down the perpetuation of greed in a capitalist society. I teach a course at the University of Illinois (online) called sustainable food systems, and one of the things I love is that many of my students want nothing more than to find a way to be self-sustaining within a community that values sharing abundance over hoarding it. Thanks for this insightful post!
Thanks Desserae. That sounds like a great course. I'll be writing more on food systems in the next post!
I look forward to reading it!
Thanks Safar,
I read some advice somewhere to write for the people who you know will read and appreciate it. I'm grateful to consider you one of them.