Living Well Future Report Vol.1 「We are all being "colonized"!?」

 

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「Living Well Future Report」Vol.1（August, 2022）

 

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Hi everyone. This is Hide Enomoto of the Living Well Institute.

First of all, thank you so much for opening this newsletter called “Living Well Future Report.”

 

As I wrote in the website, I will be starting a PhD program in Anthropology and Social Change at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) from this coming September. In this memorial first issue of the newsletter, I would like to write about something I’ve been thinking about that seems to hold one of the keys in my exploration of the question which became the starting point for why I decided to engage in this research; How can humanity overcome the compounding global crises it is currently facing and build a future where all beings can live well?

 

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The theme of this issue：「We are all being "colonized"!?」

 

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To get to this key straight away, I believe it is “colonization.” You may be thinking, “What? When you say “colonization,” are you talking about that colonization we learn about in history? Why do you need to use such an old word?” For sure, the era in which mostly Western countries had so-called “colonies” mainly in Asia, Africa, and South America and dominated these areas in a formal and direct way almost ended in the 1970s. However, what I have realized in my exploration of where the “compounding global crises” are coming from is that “even though the colonies may have been long gone, colonization itself is not yet over.” Rather, I have come to think that, as the methods of colonization have evolved further and have become more sophisticated than the method of “direct rule,” the degree of colonization has actually become worse and the number of people being colonized has increased overwhelmingly. I am acutely aware that I, too, am being colonized, and perhaps those of you who are reading this newsletter are also being colonized.

 

Here, I must clarify what I mean by “colonization.” First of all, “colonization,” as you know, is the state in which one country dominates another both politically and economically for its own benefit. In this process of colonization, the people of the dominated country are deprived of freedoms and rights they originally had, and suffer oppression and exploitation from the dominant country. Furthermore, in order to justify this situation, the dominant country tries to change the values and worldviews of the dominated people through education and media. Then, ultimately, an increasing number of the dominated people accept this situation as “natural,” “normal,” or even “inevitable.” I believe that, when people are deprived of most of their power to determine their own lives and livelihoods (the power of self-determination), and are forced to accept this situation through such a process, we can say that they are being “colonized.”

 

I wrote earlier that “the number of people being colonized has increased overwhelmingly” as the methods of colonization have evolved further and have become more sophisticated. By this, I’m referring to the fact that, even after most of the colonies have achieved their political independence as a result of the movement for national self-determination after the two world wars of the 20th century and ended the era of “colonialism”, it was replaced by so-called “neo-colonialism,” in which former colonies were informally and indirectly controlled through economic or military aid and in effect they are still being colonized. At the same time, there are many people in the former colonial powers (suzerain state) who have been deprived of the power of self-determination and are suffering from oppression and exploitation by their own countries. The reason why this is not often talked about or considered a problem in some of these countries is because people are led to believe through education and media that the current state of affairs is natural and normal. This is precisely what I mean by colonization.

 

So, what exactly does it mean to be colonized in today’s context? For example, many people believe that they cannot live without money, and that they have to endure work even if it does not suit them in order to earn money. But is this really true? In the long history of humanity, concepts and systems such as “money” and “work” have appeared only relatively recently, but humanity has survived without them just fine for millennia. In other words, they are neither “natural” nor “normal.” What we also need to consider here is who benefits from the existence of such concepts and systems. In today’s world of capitalism, it is very convenient for the so-called “capitalists” who owns the capital and the means of production to have a large number of people who consider money and work essential and depend on them. I will not go any deeper into this particular issue here, but I hope to address it from various angles in the upcoming newsletters.

 

In the introduction on my website, I wrote that in order to overcome the compounding global crises that humanity is currently facing and to build a future in which all beings can live well, we need to fundamentally review the “three systems.” These three systems are; the political system of the sovereign state and representative democracy, the economic system of capitalism and market economy, and the cultural system of narratives that support the above two systems. The issues of money and work that I mentioned earlier as examples of colonization are related to capitalism, which is the second of these systems. Then, what does colonization look like in the political system of sovereign state and representative democracy? Both of these are concepts and systems that have emerged relatively recently in the long history of humanity. However, many people believe that the existence of sovereign state is a matter of course, and that it is natural for elected representatives of the people to decide important matters concerning our lives and livelihoods saying this is what democracy is all about. But is this really true? And who benefits from these concepts and systems anyway?

 

Until recently, I had no doubt that I was living in a free and equal society having born and lived in Japan who proclaimed itself a “democratic country.” Relatively speaking, this may indeed be true. However, as I explored where the compounding global crises are coming from, I have belatedly come to realize that this is not necessarily the case. “Narrative,” the third of the three systems I mentioned above, is the stories that are told and perpetuated in a certain culture as if they were true. “People who are born in democratic countries live in free and equal society," which I just mentioned, is one such narrative. So are “we cannot live without money,” “we have to endure work even if it doesn’t suit us in order to earn money,” “the existence of sovereign state is a matter of course,” and “it is natural for the elected representatives to decide important matters concerning our lives and livelihoods.” All of these examples are narratives that underpin the existing system. I cannot help but think that these three systems are working as a “trinity” to colonize us without our knowing it.

 

If this is the case, and if this is what is creating the compounding global crises that we now face, then I believe that the first thing we must do to overcome these crises is to “decolonize” ourselves. Decolonizing, I believe, means realizing that these systems are neither natural nor normal, let alone the best, and opening our minds to the possibility of alternative systems and begin exploring them. In the following volumes of this newsletter, I intend to focus mainly on these three systems and talk about how they are neither natural nor normal even though many of us take them for granted, but rather create many problems. At the same time, I would like to share with you the possibility of alternative systems and how such systems can be realized based on my doctoral research whose overarching theme would be “Social Change for Building a Living Well Future.” Thank you in advance for your continued support!

 

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A sincere request to the readers：As this newsletter is written as a heartfelt gratitude to those who are supporting me, I ask that you do not forward or reprint this material without my permission. If you know of anyone around you who might be interested in this kind of content, I would appreciate it if you could direct them to the "Request for Support" page on my website (www.yokuikiru.jp/crowdfunding/english/).

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