The document is a collection of excerpts from Thomas More's 1516 book Utopia, describing various aspects of life in the fictional island nation of Utopia. It discusses Utopia's lack of monsters and abundance of well-trained citizens, its approach to counseling leaders, education focused on instilling civic virtues, marriage customs involving nudity, use of mercenaries considered disposable, and population control through limited family sizes and establishing colonies.
Discourse on Colonialism Aimé Césaire Translated b.docxlynettearnold46882
Discourse on Colonialism
Aimé Césaire
Translated by Joan Pinkham. This version published by Monthly Review Press: New York and London,
1972. Originally published as Discours sur le colonialisme by Editions Presence Africaine, 1955.
COPYRIGHT: From a Counter-Racist perspective, this is nothing other than a mechanism employed by
White Supremacists (Racists) that has been designed to control access to information by non-White people.
Contents
DISCOURSE ON COLONIALISM ................................................................................... 1
AN INTERVIEW WITH AIMÉ CÉSAIRE ....................................................................... 25
Discourse on Colonialism
A civilization that proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent
civilization.
A civilization that chooses to close its eyes to its most crucial problems is a stricken
civilization.
A civilization that uses its principles for trickery and deceit is a dying civilization.
The fact is that the so-called European civilization – "Western" civilization - as it has
been shaped by two centuries of bourgeois rule, is incapable of solving the two major
problems to which its existence has given rise: the problem of the proletariat and the
colonial problem; that Europe is unable to justify itself either before the bar of "reason" or
before the bar of "conscience"; and that, increasingly, it takes refuge in a hypocrisy which
is all the more odious because it is less and less likely to deceive.
Europe is indefensible.
Apparently that is what the American strategists are whispering to each other.
That in itself is not serious.
What is serious is that "Europe" is morally, spiritually indefensible.
And today the indictment is brought against it not by the European masses alone,
but on a world scale, by tens and tens of millions of men who, from the depths of slavery,
set themselves up as judges.
The colonialists may kill in Indochina, torture in Madagascar, imprison in Black
Africa, crackdown in the West Indies. Henceforth, the colonized know that they have an
advantage over them. They know that their temporary, "masters" are lying.
Therefore, that their masters are weak.
And since I have been asked to speak about colonization and civilization, let us go
straight to the principal lie which is the source of all the others.
Colonization and civilization?
- 1 -
In dealing with this subject, the commonest curse is to be the dupe in good faith of
a collective hypocrisy that cleverly misrepresents problems, the better to legitimize the
hateful solutions provided for them.
In other words, the essential thing here is to see clearly, to think clearly - that is,
dangerously - and to answer clearly the innocent first question: what, fundamentally, is
colonization? To agree on what it is not: neither evangelization, nor a philanthropic
enterprise, nor a desire to push back the frontiers of ignorance, dis.
In the Saturn-Gnosis the planet and archetype of Saturnus is the focal point for the manifestation of the Demiurge.
Saturnus is seen as the breaker of cosmic order and unity - thus he instituted death, causing regeneration and change to come into being. Thus in many ways Saturnus is identical with Prometheus of Greek tradition, and is certainly to be identified as well with the Serpent of Paradise.
―Fire & Ice, 1995
NOTE: Pandora/Prometheus are moons of Saturn. It's the beast, AI psycho, binary logic, man's brain, carnal mind, ego/intellect, serpent/ouroboros, 666, evil, blind machine controlling & being controlled by the material world. The old man devouring the child. The superego that denies the timeless now of paradise. The figleaf crime against love. The external power structure people obey. Saturn governs measurements which is how science/technology are developed, by quantifying/rationalizing. It's everything costs money (debt/sin). Time=Money=Kronos. Today numbers are nothing but a control device to oppress life with time. Leary/RAW said "The Promethean brain thinks its thoughts are reality" and so money is thought to be real. Vaneigem said "Prometheus/Lucifer stem from the intellect" whose reason enslaves, justifying hierarchy, slavery, religion, government, etc.
Saturn is the opposite to Jupiter; his symbol is the cross above the sign of Luna. He is the Satan, the Tempter, or rather the Tester. His function is to chastise and tame the unruly passions in the primitive man.
―Freemasonry & the Ancient Gods
NOTE: This is the function of civilization (i.e. end times market economy or Sodom/Babylon which is not God's Kingdom or the New Atlantis mankind must create), of police, prison & punishment. The origin of guilt over one's own desires/body which is how to gain power over others to put them to work. Patriarchy enabled by agriculture (in Japanese Saturn is called Dosei the soil star). The devil creates vicious cycles: laws/punishments which are the opposite of Christ's love/forgiveness. The self-destructive pattern behavior of the herd which doesn't know what it does or why it's doing it. Religion/Tradition. The symbol means that the soul (half-circle) is oppressed under matter (cross). Saturn is toxic lead: EGO.
In ancient times it has been called The Great Malefic which was opposed to Jupiter The Great Benefic. Saturn is esoterically associated with man’s limitations, restrictions, death & decay. His Greek name was Kronos the ruler of time, time being the main factor inevitably leading to the death of mortals.
NOTE: Saturn & Jupiter will merge. Love will tame the machine, creating a Golden Age.
Alan Harrington said the devil copies nature, this is technology's purpose. Intellect forms matter into computers that show us the spirit. Gene therapy cures aging processes. We cross the Threshold to Uranus, Heaven & the Sun, Freedom, Gold.
Saturn as Kabbalistic BINAH can be positive: individuality/originality/creativity.
Here, we’ll be discussing the principles of of sound public policies and their role in economic progress. Public policy can be generally defined as the course of action or inaction taken by governmental entities (the decisions of government) with regard to a particular issue or set of issues.
Public policies determine to a large extent how a country or an economy functions. In context of Nepal, we keep hearing either how bad policies are ruining our country or that even though our policies are good, it is the lack of proper implementation that’s hampering our progress. After reading this great article by Lawrence Reed, you will be able to analyze the policies of our government and their
implications.
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
Normal Labour/ Stages of Labour/ Mechanism of LabourWasim Ak
Normal labor is also termed spontaneous labor, defined as the natural physiological process through which the fetus, placenta, and membranes are expelled from the uterus through the birth canal at term (37 to 42 weeks
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
Acetabularia acetabulum is a single-celled green alga that in its vegetative state is morphologically differentiated into a basal rhizoid and an axially elongated stalk, which bears whorls of branching hairs. The single diploid nucleus resides in the rhizoid.
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdfThiyagu K
This slides describes the basic concepts of ICT, basics of Email, Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives in Education. This presentations aligns with the UGC Paper I syllabus.
Safalta Digital marketing institute in Noida, provide complete applications that encompass a huge range of virtual advertising and marketing additives, which includes search engine optimization, virtual communication advertising, pay-per-click on marketing, content material advertising, internet analytics, and greater. These university courses are designed for students who possess a comprehensive understanding of virtual marketing strategies and attributes.Safalta Digital Marketing Institute in Noida is a first choice for young individuals or students who are looking to start their careers in the field of digital advertising. The institute gives specialized courses designed and certification.
for beginners, providing thorough training in areas such as SEO, digital communication marketing, and PPC training in Noida. After finishing the program, students receive the certifications recognised by top different universitie, setting a strong foundation for a successful career in digital marketing.
Biological screening of herbal drugs: Introduction and Need for
Phyto-Pharmacological Screening, New Strategies for evaluating
Natural Products, In vitro evaluation techniques for Antioxidants, Antimicrobial and Anticancer drugs. In vivo evaluation techniques
for Anti-inflammatory, Antiulcer, Anticancer, Wound healing, Antidiabetic, Hepatoprotective, Cardio protective, Diuretics and
Antifertility, Toxicity studies as per OECD guidelines
2. SERIOCOMIC WISDOM TEXT?
ON THE BEST
STATE OF A COMMONWEALTH
AND ON THE NEW ISLAND
OF UTOPIA
A Truly Golden Handbook,
No Less Beneficial than Entertaining,
by the Most Distinguished and Eloquent Author
THOMAS MORE
Citizen and Undersheriff of the Famous City
of London
Hythloday, Anyder, Polylerites...
3. MONSTERS & CITIZENS
We made no inquiries, however, about monsters, for
nothing is less new or strange than they are.
There is no place where you will not find Scyllas,
ravenous Celaenos, people-eating Laestrygonians and
that sort of monstrosity, but well and wisely trained
citizens you will hardly find anywhere.
More (Book I, p.12)
4. ON BEING GOOD READERS GUESTS
Moreover, some people are so ungrateful that even though
they’re delighted with a work, they don’t like the author
any better because of it. They are no different from rude
guests who, after they have been lavishly entertained at a
splendid banquet, finally go home stuffed, without a word
of thanks to the host who invited them.
More to Giles (preface, p.7)
5. on being a good counsellor
That’s how things go in the commonwealth, and in the
councils of princes. If you cannot pluck up bad ideas by the
root, or cure longstanding evils to your heart’s content, you
must not therefore abandon the commonwealth. ... Instead,
by an indirect approach, you must strive and struggle as best
you can to handle everything tactfully — and thus what you
cannot turn to good, you may at least make as little bad as
possible.
More (Book I, p.35)
6. RAPHAEL’S REBUTTAL
Either they will seduce you by their evil ways, or, if you
remain honest and innocent, you will be made a screen for
the knavery and folly of others. You wouldn’t stand a chance
of changing anything for the better by that ‘indirect
approach.’
This is why Plato in a very fine comparison declares that
wise men are right in keeping away from public business.
Raphael (Book I, p.37)
7. superficial justice
Your policy may look superficially like justice, but in reality it
is neither just nor expedient. If you allow young folk to be
abominably brought up and their characters corrupted, little
by little, from childhood; and if then you punish them as
grown-ups for committing the crimes to which their training
has consistently inclined them, what else is this, I ask, but
first making them thieves and then punishing them for it?
Raphael Hythloday (Book I, p.20)
8. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...
But no one has to be exhausted with endless toil from early
morning to late at night like a beast of burden. Such wretchedness,
really worse than slavery, is the common lot of workmen almost
everywhere except in Utopia. ... the Utopians devote only six
[hours] to work. ... The other hours of the day, when they are not
working, eating or sleeping, are left to each person’s individual
discretion, provided that free time is not wasted in roistering or
sloth but used properly in some chosen occupation. Generally
these intervals are devoted to intellectual activity.
Book II, p.50
9. PRIVATE PROPERTY as harmful
...wherever you have private property, and money is the
measure of all things, it is hardly ever possible for a
commonwealth to be just or prosperous ... As long as
private property remains, by far the largest and best part
of the human race will be oppressed by a distressing
and inescapable burden of poverty and anxieties.
Raphael (Book I, p.37-8)
10. PRIVATE PROPERTY AS NECESSARY
It seems to me that people cannot possibly live well where
all things are in common. How can there be plenty of
commodities where every man stops working? The hope of
gain does not spur him on, and by relying on others he will
become lazy. If men are impelled by need, and yet no man
can legally protect what he has obtained, what can follow
but continual bloodshed and turmoil, especially when
respect for magistrates and their authority has been lost?
More (Book I, p.39)
11. leisure
So you see that nowhere is there any chance to loaf or any
pretext for evading work; there are no wine-bars, or alehouses, or brothels; no chances for corruption; no hiding
places; no spots for secret meetings. Because they live in the
full view of all, they are bound to be either working at their
usual trades or enjoying their leisure in a respectable way.
(Book II, p.59)
12. EUTHANASIA
But if the disease is not only incurable, but excruciatingly and
unremittingly painful, then the priests and public officials come and
remind the sufferer that he is now unequal to any of life’s duties, a
burden to himself and others ... Those who have been persuaded by
these arguments either starve themselves to death of their own accord
or, having been put to sleep, are freed from life without any sensation
of dying. But they never force this step on a man against his will ... The
man who yields to their arguments, they think, dies an honourable
death; but the suicide, who takes his own life without approval of
priests and senate, him they consider unworthy of either earth or fire,
and they throw his body, unburied and disgraced, into a bog.
(Book II, p.79)
13. the economics of war
After a war is ended they collect the cost of it, not from the allies for
whose sake they undertook it, but from the conquered. They take as
indemnity not only money, which they set aside to finance future wars,
but also landed estates, from which they may enjoy forever a substantial
annual income. They now have revenues of this sort in many different
countries, acquired little by little in various ways, which have mounted to
over seven hundred thousand ducats a year. As managers of these estates,
they send abroad some of their citizens to serve as collectors of revenue.
Though they live on the properties in great style and conduct themselves
like magnates, plenty of income is still left over to be put into the
treasury... (Book II, p.92)
14. education
The priests do the teaching of children and young people. ...
They make every effort to instil in the pupils’ minds, while they
are still tender and pliable, principles useful to the
commonwealth. What is planted in the minds of children lives
on in the minds of grown men and serves greatly to strengthen
the commonwealth; its decline can always be traced to vices that
arise from wrong attitudes.* (Book II, p.99)
*The fundamental importance of education, especially moral education, to
the health of the commonwealth is the central tenet of the Greek
treatments of the ideal commonwealth.
15. ...‘general education’ at harvard?
Complementing the rest of the curriculum, this program aims to
achieve four goals that link the undergraduate experience to the
lives students will lead after Harvard:
• to prepare students for civic engagement;
• to teach students to understand themselves as products of, and
participants in, traditions of art, ideas, and values;
• to enable students to respond critically and constructively to
change;
• and to develop students’ understanding of the ethical dimensions
of what they say and do.
http://www.generaleducation.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k37826&tabgroupid=icb.tabgroup87208
16. “in choosing marriage partners...”
Whether she be widow or virgin, the woman is shown naked
to the suitor by a responsible and respectable matron; and
similarly, some honourable man presents the suitor naked to
the woman. We laughed at this custom, and called it absurd;
but they were just as amazed at the folly of all other
peoples. ... There’s no doubt that a deformity may lurk
under clothing, serious enough to alienate a man’s mind
from his wife when his body can no longer lawfully be
separated from her. (Book II, p.79-80)
17. MERCENARIES
... they ... hire these, the worst possible men, for improper uses.
When the situation requires, they thrust the Zapoletes into the
positions of the greatest danger by offering them immense
rewards. Most of them never come back to collect their stipend,
but the Utopians faithfully pay off those who do survive, to
encourage them to try it again. As for how many Zapoletes get
killed, the Utopians never worry about that, for they think they
would deserve very well of mankind if they could sweep from the
face of the earth all the dregs of that vicious and disgusting race.
(Book II, p.89)
18. mealtime
They begin every lunch and supper with some reading on a
moral topic, but keep it brief lest it become a bore. Taking
their cue from this, the elders introduce proper topics of
conversation, but not gloomy or dull ones. They never
monopolise the conversation with long monologues, but are
eager to hear what the young people say. In fact, they
deliberately draw them out, in order to discover the natural
temper and quality of each one’s mind, as revealed in the
freedom of mealtime talk. (Book II, p.58)
19. population control & colonies
...each household ... should have no fewer than ten nor more than sixteen
adults. ... The limit on adults is easily observed by transferring individuals from a
household with too many into a household with too few. But if a city has too many
people, the extra persons serve to make up the shortage of population in other
cities. And if the population throughout the entire island exceeds the quota, they
enrol citizens out of every city and plant a colony under their own laws on the
mainland near them, wherever the natives have plenty of unoccupied and
uncultivated land.
Those natives who want to live with the Utopians are adopted by them. ... But
those who refuse to live under their laws they drive out of the land they claim for
themselves; and against those who resist them, they wage war. They think it is
perfectly justifiable to make war on people who leave their land idle and waste yet
forbid the use and possession of it to others who, by the law of nature, ought to be
supported from it. (Book II, p.54)
20. RELIGION
Utopus had heard before his arrival the natives were continually
squabbling over religious matters, and he had observed that it was
easy to conquer the whole country because the different sects were
too busy fighting one another to oppose him. And so at the very
beginning, after he had gained the victory, he prescribed by law
that everyone may cultivate the religion of his choice, and
strenuously proselytise for it too, provided he does so quietly,
modestly, rationally and without insulting the others. If
persuasion fails, no one may resort to abuse or violence; and
anyone who fights wantonly about religion is punished by exile or
slavery. (Book II, p.94)
21. COMMON/WEALTH
Now I have described to you as accurately as I could the structure
of that commonwealth which I consider not only the best but
indeed the only one that can rightfully claim that name. In other
places men talk all the time about the commonwealth, but what
they mean is simply their own wealth; here, where there is no
private business, every man zealously pursues the public business.
And in both places people are right to act as they do. For
elsewhere, even though the commonwealth may flourish, there are
very few who do not know that unless they make separate
provision for themselves, they may perfectly well die of hunger.
(Book II, p.103)
22. A day in the life of MORE
Most of my day is given to the law — pleading some cases,
hearing others, arbitrating others, and deciding still others.
I pay a courtesy call to one man and visit another on
business; and so almost all day I’m out dealing with other
people, and the rest of the day I give over to my family and
household; and then for myself — that is, my studies —
there’s nothing.
More to Giles [preface, p.4 (CUP 2012 edition)]
23. JACK-OF-TWO-or-THREE- TRADES
Every person (and this includes women as well as men) learns one
of the trades I mentioned. ... Ordinarily, the son is trained to his
father’s craft, for which most feel a natural inclination. But if
anyone is attracted to another occupation, he is transferred by
adoption into a family practising that trade. Both his father and
the authorities take care that he is assigned to a grave and
responsible householder. After someone has mastered one trade,
if he wants to learn another he gets the same permission. When he
has learned both, he pursues the one he likes better, unless the
city needs one more than the other.
Book II, p.49
24. MORE SARCASM
In Europe, of course, and especially in these regions where
the Christian faith and religion prevail, the dignity of
treaties is everywhere kept sacred and inviolable. This is
partly because the princes are all so just and virtuous,
partly also from the awe and reverence that everyone feels
for the popes. (Book II, p.83)
25. UTOPIAN HOUSING (and gardens)
Every house has a front door to the street and a back door to the
garden. The double doors, which open easily with a push of the
hand and close again automatically, let anyone come in — so there
is nothing private anywhere. Every ten years they exchange the
houses themselves by lot. The Utopians are very fond of these
gardens of theirs... Certainly you will not easily find anything else
in the whole city more useful or more pleasant to the citizens. And
from that fact it appears that the city’s founder must have made
such gardens a primary object of his consideration.
(Book II, p.46)
26. UTOPIAN COMPROMISE?
Plato and Aristotle appear to assume that a commonwealth can have, at least in
theory, all of everything it truly needs. All the theorist has to do is figure out what
those needs are. But More realises that, since resources are always limited, there
will always be conflicts between the realisation even of valid goals, and thus
always have to be trade-offs among them—resulting in less of some kinds of
goods, material and mental, than one would ideally like. Thus it is impossible to
create a perfect commonwealth even in theory, let alone in practice. It seems to me
that this is the explanation for at least many of the un-ideal features of Utopia.
There are, for example, trade-offs between the goal of freedom and that of order.
The heavy regimentation of Utopian life presumably reflects not a view that
regimentation is a good thing in its own right, but a belief that without it, human
society cannot—human nature being what it has been since the Fall—human
society cannot be stable, cannot avoid the destructive effects of Pride and the other
deadly sins. “It is impossible to make everything good,” More says to Hythloday
toward the end of Book 1, “unless all men are good, and that I don’t expect to see
for quite a few years yet.” Still counting.
—George M. Logan, ‘Humanist More‘ (2006)