Last night while driving I listened to a program on Espace 2 about de-colonisation in Cameroun (Histoire vivante). It was very stormy outside, half snow half rain, and tons of snow blowing down from trees and I began to feel sick - then I realized it was the stories and voices of Western colonial masters and the excruciating disregard to human rights and dignity that made me feel sick. At the same time it was enlightening to hear about differences in legacies of colonialism. Recently I was reading Jean Ziegler's "La haine de l'occident". The demands for reparation is a real but relatively minor issue when you consider the wrongs done by Western arrogance to people all over the world. The West's favored vilains are Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot. Yet it seems that it may be brought to realize that its own modern and post-modern ways has created as many victims in as cruel ways as those by well known dictators. Sure it's different, but one of the key elements of the distain found in non-Western cultures are the Western double-standards. The financial crisis may very well be a contribution in enlightening the world on how real progress is being hindered by greed, arrogance, and double-standards. Violence in short, not necessarily physical, but by neglect, deprivation and pressure or threats.
I do believe that real progress is possible when people both in the North, West, South and East realize they depend on each other and develop real regard and respect for each other, putting that before national or corporate interests.
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I too wonder if the financial crisis is a blessing in disguise - forcing us to rethink the unjust economic system we are tied into and hopefully devise a more humane way to trade...to do business. The love of money is the root of all evil: Money should serve people, yet we have evolved into people serving money. It is snowing here again now, I am sitting here writing with a glass of malt whisky to hand...such simple pleasures - why has the world grown so complicated? As a Franciscan I feel strongly that truth and simplicity are linked, the more complex something is, the more likely it involves some deception or distortion. The more room for these to operate, too - so I raise my glass to truth-seekers everywhere and that includes,of course, you - cheers, my friend!
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