Anyway I’m sitting in my room in a middle class (I’m not really sure what this word means in this context, 75% of Oaxacans live below the “poverty line”) Oaxacan house. The room is the biggest I’ve ever lived in hahaha. I’ve been here in Oaxaca for almost 3 weeks – if your wondering the weather is pretty nice although at times it gets a little too hot. But I don’t really feel like writing about the trip, so lets take out some garbage. (Most of these ideas are courtesy of Gustavo Esteva, one pretty cool dude, as deprofessionalized intellectuals go.)
Development is a word that cannot be redeemed, because in no matter what form it is used it implies that there can be underdeveloped people. So throw away the title of this course, “Grassroots development”, throw away sustainable development, throw away international aid, and for god sakes stop “helping.” Development only makes sense if there is a universal “good life,” the American way of life. Development is a lie because it offers this life, this dream, to everyone in the world, when the world cannot sustain everyone having it. However, even more importantly, why do we presume that anyone would actually want that way of life? Individualism, materialism and competition lead to depression, loneliness, drug addiction and greed. Wait, but why stop at development. “Globalization” and “global thinking” need to go to. While were at it, let’s throw away economics too. Its not just our values that are fucked up, its our way of thinking, our Economic way of thinking. I’m not doing this argument justice, but if you are thinking right now, Gideon has gone OFF the deep end, talk to me and I will try to explain.
So with what should replace all of this stuff. Not some grand modern scheme that’s for sure. Esteva thinks “hospitality” and “Localization.” Hospitality is opening your heart and your mind to the other and celebrating their otherness. Cute. Localization isn’t localism: nationalism, insularity, parochialism etc, and it isn’t globalization. Localization is being rooted in your place but having open hearts and minds to the other. Ooo this is promising. Localization is one NO (to globalization, development, individualism, “human rights”, “democracy”, economic thinking, resource mismanagement, paternalism, etc) and many yeses (Zapatismo, worker cooperatives, indigenous ways of live, collectivism-communality, religions, many et ceteras). Localization is autonomy, it is decision making as close to the affected community as possible, it is disentanglement from the monster of global capitalism, it is a coalition of discontent, it is removal of consent from oppressive systems.
I am pretty susceptible to thinking that we are “on the brink of history.” Since I have been made aware of this (thank you, you know who you are) I try my best to avoid it. However from down here it is really hard to avoid it. First of all, the APPO (Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca) took over this city in 2006 for 6 months. They kicked out the government for 6 months (andddd there was less crime!). They mean business down here; they are saying Ya Basta! (enough already) to a structural democracy that gives us the right to elect our oppressors. This movement is BiGgEr than it was 2 years ago, something is going to happen soon. Oh and not to mention the Zapatistas are going to do something next year (don’t tell our good friend Ernesto). 1810 Mexican war of independence begins, 1910 Mexican revolution begins, 2010 ??????
Other reasons to think something serious is happening in capitalism: we are entering a severe world wide depression and all that’s shifted since last year is that Keynes is in and Friedman is on his way out. Gustavo told us about some theorist named Kohr who talks about size cycles instead of business cycles. The scale of our economic system is so big that we can no longer calculate margins of error, and so things like the mortgage crisis happen and everything goes to hell. Even if this current recession doesn’t become the largest worldwide depression ever, the ripples in the skin of capitalism are becoming bigger and bigger.
So as a result of all this I’m starting to rethink my life trajectory. Finding the elusive “community” is a must for me, as always. But I no longer think I can find it by leaving America. There is still something to be said for discarding the American civilizational project, but maybe, hopefully I can do that from inside of the beast. I am still dead set on learning from other projects, other “cosmovisions” but joining another is impossible in the way I would want to do it. Because of language, class, life history, way of thinking etc I would always be an outsider and most likely a colonizing one at that. So where does that leave me? Totally LOST of course: I know of nowhere in America I would want to live, and no project of which I would surely want to be a part. Time to start looking.
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