In the chaotic “west” it is often difficult to gain the attention of the public, but one must be committed to trying due to the severity of our current existential crisis. We are psychotic as a society, we have become so dumb and manipulable that we are truly being led towards digging our own grave and smiling while working. We cannot go on like this. We cannot pretend that we are a decent society with good intentions any longer. We are not! The “west” as a civilization is corrupt and decrepit, “we” are not the bearers of morality in the eyes of the “other” peoples. We are not an exemplary civilization which people admire and adulate. We are too arrogant and ignorant to realize, that we are seen by the “others” like the enemy, because “we” are.
As a collective of people, the “west” believes itself to be the holder of the truth, the one which understands what is good for the world. This “west” doesn’t exist however, it is a figment of our imagination, a division which has been indoctrinated to make us feel we are superior. Through “our” education systems, “our” media, “our” governments, “our” corporations, “our” art. We are so indoctrinated in industrialized information societies, that we regurgitate to each other the propaganda which is fed to us on a daily basis. This situation must change, because we are collapsing and it can only be reversed by the collective strength of the whole population. Otherwise we will be bombed out of our homes by those we so love to call terrorists. They are terrorists, but terror is what “we” are bringing to their lands and their homes, and that is why they are terrorizing “us”.
As peoples in industrialized information societies, we are looking at the world like a big videogame in which we can solve everyone’s problems because we are civilized. We are not! We have huge internal problems. Inside “our” walls, big CEO’s are earning $400 million for their exploits in the oil of other countries, while illegal immigrants are scrambling for work inside “our” factories. We have millions of people loosing their homes, while banks are being saved thanks to our taxes. If inside our walls, we are leaving our own people behind, we are watching our neighbors lose their jobs and doing little to help them. How can we expect those outside of our walls to trust us when we tell them we are going to help them?
How can we expect the evil military dictatorship of Myanmar to feel comfortable accepting our help? After all, the last time Cuba offered Americans help with Katrina, their help was rejected and the “world” accepted it as normal. Normal, while American people where dying and there were not enough professional hands to help. We in the industrialized information society believe that while “they” have evil dictators, “we” have benevolent democratic institutions which are the choice of the people. But we are blinding ourselves from the reality which we are blatantly living. Our democratic institutions are in the hands of very powerful organizations, our corporations are not ours, they belong to very powerful groups. Our legal system is built to defend those interests, and the media is one of their many propaganda tools. Even our churches are infested with blood money, yet many go to church to feel good about themselves. How can Christians for example feel good, when they see the cross blessing western soldiers going to kill in Iraq? We have destroyed that country, we should all be confessing our guilt, not blessing our soldiers. The biggest blessing those innocent young “killing machines” could have, is to be brought back to their land, with all their limbs in place, and given some therapy. They need it after having been manipulated into committing such terrible crimes against the people of Iraq.
How can we honestly believe that while our governments have done such a horrible thing in Iraq, their intentions are good everywhere else? But that is a very difficult question to ask oneself and therefore only the bravest make the effort. The answer is not a pleasant one. In the industrialized information society, we should all go to bed tonight trying hard to see our own reality. We must understand that we are the oppressors holding the rest of the world hostage in order to maintain our power. In Iraq last week our media announced that while the whole country is in ruin, a Disneyworld will be built outside of the Green Zone, and nobody reacted. After the Tsunami in 2004, five star beachfront resorts for the rich were raised where once laid the foundations of fishermen homes, nobody reacted then. Yet we do react when Myanmar rejects our help. I would reject it, looking ahead at the consequences for the country.
In the industrialized information society we only have two ways of going to help. Either we come with the barrel of the gun backed by fake diplomacy, destroying countries to borrow their resources. Or we go to help with our NGO’s and then our companies follow for the reconstruction, building factories and offices for our companies, resorts for the rich, and retirement homes for the old. Either way, the locals always end up working for us. I have seen it with my own eyes, I do not need the television to tell me. Once in Laos, I saw a group of fat rich and ugly European NGO directors, getting drunk inside a posh restaurant discussing the future development of that country. In the meantime, the local chauffer waited outside for hours in his impeccable white uniform with white gloves, in an impeccably clean white luxury 4x4. That pretty much defines through my own experience the way we “develop” peoples like to go around the world helping. It is sad but it is very true. I understand why the Myanmar government is rejecting our help. This doesn’t mean that I agree with dictatorships, it just means that we should look at our own belly before observing that of our neighbor’s. People in Haiti or Gaza a few weeks ago, or today would welcome the help we are willing to offer Myanmar. Give it to them, after all there are so many to help in the world, that we shouldn’t be making politicized media events out of the misery of others.
Pablo Ouziel
"The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity." Leo Tolstoy
-Pablo Ouziel is an activist and a free lance writer based in Spain. His
work has appeared in many progressive media including Znet, Palestine
Chronicle, Thomas Painešs Corner and Atlantic Free Press.
