by Ray Jason
It was a lovely sight in a glorious
setting. In one direction the primal
jungle spilled down the hillsides to the sea.
And in the opposite direction it swept up the mountainsides until it was
replaced by evergreen forest as it neared the slumbering volcano. In the foreground a small armada of cayucos
was departing the tiny village as the Indio children paddled home from school. Their joyous chatter and laughter as they
propelled themselves effortlessly across the water was echoed in the sky by the
wild parrots that never seem to fly without gossiping enthusiastically.
This tableau perfectly symbolized the upside-down
sense of superiority that the First World lords over the Developing World. At this exact moment in thousands of towns in
El Norte, the soccer moms were waiting in long lines for school to let out. They were en-bubbled in their massive,
air-conditioned SUVs about to safely transport their children home. They need these steel security pods because
their “advanced Civilization” has become so perverse that human predators make
it dangerous for children to walk or bike to school, like I used to do.
AVENTURA is anchored about a mile away from the
primitive schoolhouse, and I rowed over to a little store to idle away some
time with a local character. He has
sampled both worlds and after a long stint in the theme park ghetto of central
Florida, he returned to the Banana Latitudes and this no-tech, authentic
paradise. I wanted to talk to him about
the “road rumors” that I had been hearing.
I have great affection for these gentle, self-reliant people and I fear the
impact that a road to the outside world would have on their slow and almost
timeless lives.
Currently, if they want to visit a nearby town it is
beyond paddling range, so a group of them will go in one of the bigger cayucos powered
by an outboard engine. I often see them
arriving with heavy bags of cacao beans that they sell at the chocolate co-op. Later in the day they will return to their
little homesteads with huge bags of rice.
Seeing this, I always chuckle at the notion of a suburban housewife or
husband hoisting a 50 pound bag of rice on their shoulder.
During the hours after they sell their chocolate beans
and before they buy their rice, they wander about the town like strangers in a
strange land. They know that they are
supposed to be excited by the noisy frenzy and by all of the strange stuff that
is for sale. But what I see in their
eyes is not enjoyment - but a distinct ‘deer in the headlights” anxiety. They can’t wait to get back to their little
hand-built houses and their chickens and wood fires.
*******
My distress over the possibility of this single road
disturbing the serenity of this “land that escaped progress,” was amplified the
next day. That’s because I read that at
the latest G20 meeting in November of 2014, some of the most powerful people in
the world, who were desperate to find a way to jump-start the smoke and mirrors
global economy, had concocted an enormous infrastructure initiative.
In the next 15 years they plan to devote $60 to $70
TRILLION towards worldwide construction projects. And what particularly disturbed me was their
desire to construct 25 million kilometers of new paved road by 2050. This is enough to circle the Equator 600
times. Naturally, the vast majority of
these roads would be in “developing” countries with many of them routed through
extremely fragile ecosystems.
The representatives at the G20 meetings are from the
most powerful nations in the world; and they are supposed to be “the smartest
people in the room.” And yet they fail
to perceive that the “ROOM” that they dominate - which is Planet Earth – is swiftly
becoming uninhabitable for humans and most other large, complex animals.
My belief is that these Gatekeepers suffer from “complexity
bias.” They shield themselves from
simple and obvious truths by claiming that important issues are so complex that
they can only be handled by experts.
But anybody with basic common sense realizes that the
dominant global economic system of “un-fettered Capitalism” is catastrophically
destructive to the living planet and its creatures. And it causes obscene wealth disparities
whereby a tiny minority lives in Byzantine opulence while billions of people
struggle to just avoid starvation. And
any common sense analyst also realizes that an unrestrained economic system is
suicidal since it eventually uses up its vital resources. Plus, it simultaneously creates steaming,
putrid mountains of toxic waste.
The G20 leaders, who are attempting to unleash this
new round of gargantuan development, are definitely aware of this. Although it is surely debatable whether they
are the smartest people in the room, it is indisputable that they are some of
the most ruthless people anywhere.
Indeed, that’s how they got into the room – and locked the door behind
themselves. Even though the current paradigm
is doomed, they still try to sustain it because it enriches them so
gloriously. That’s why I call these
people The Malignant Overlords.
*******
But too much focus on these greedy, immoral rulers when
I am enfolded in such an idyllic setting is so troubling that my thoughts
return to the gentle Indios paddling past AVENTURA. They are so blissfully disconnected from “The
Grid,” that they don’t even know what it is.
And so, as the G20 “leaders” continue to asphalt the
Earth, I ponder the unnecessary and harmful road that they want to bring to
this tiny, un-violated outpost. It is a
perfect example of most of the other “links to the modern world” that are
forced on self-sufficient, culturally-intact villages.
The people promoting these roads do not care about
human or planetary betterment. They are
addicted to wealth and power. They only
seek greater riches and tighter control.
One should view their bulldozers as if they were GUNBOATS imposing the
will of the powerful on the lives of the dispossessed. These Malignant Overlords, with their
infrastructure projects and especially with their roads, must be resisted as
completely as possible. They do not
respond to ethics or reason – they only heed PUSH-BACK!
Once the rulers have gained a foothold they destroy
the integrity of the village or the tribe.
I know of zero examples of communities that have fallen for the
seductions of Progress voluntarily or had it imposed through force, who ever
regained their former way of life that revolved around simplicity and
authenticity.
*******
I realize that the Indios that I am amongst are what I
refer to as “fringe indigenous.” They
are not like a Papua New Guinean or Amazonian tribe that has never been exposed
to the White Man’s World. But amazingly,
they have managed to flourish as a parallel society that only rarely has to
intersect with the Real World.
And so my hope is that in that little school-house
there are some teachers courageous enough to convince these children that their
life here in this tranquil lagoon is exquisite and beautiful. And perhaps they can inspire those youngsters
to valiantly defend this treasure – or risk losing it…forever!