I don't like to post stuff like the above picture. But a buddy of mine posted it on Facebook today and it got my old mind a whirring. It's a picture of French soldiers in Cameroon posing proudly with the heads of some locals on sticks. This was taken several hundred years ago, surely! Nope. Between 1956 and 1971. At most 60 years ago. Which means those heads could very easily belong to the grandfathers of young, impressionable, "terrorist"-aged kids in Cameroon. Or the father of an older revolution leader. I might have been alive when this photo was snapped! Hard to believe! If the third head from the left were YOUR Grampa, just imagine how hard it would be for you to try to end the violence by showing love to your fellow man. Your fellow French man. What if you met the grandson of one of the French soldiers in the picture. Sure, HE had no part in this, but could you forgive and forget? Let bygones be bygones?
All over the world countries have received reparation payments for atrocities committed against them longer than 60 years ago. Germany and Japan are still paying for stuff they did in the '40's. As recently as last year Japan offered 8.7 million to the few remaining comfort women of Korea. To give you an idea of how low that number is, in 1988 Canada gave 300 million to the Japanese who were placed into internment camps during the same war. This pic is of some in Lemon Creek in the Slocan Valley where Castlegar, my Canadian hometown is.
And this is not to mention the billions and billions Canada has spent on native Canadian reparations for something that began in 1604 when, (of all people), the French founded Quebec on the St. Lawrence.
But Cameroon, and for that matter, Algeria, no reparations from the French. I've blogged about this before. Why were the French there? Coffee and cotton. As mentioned before, this is called capitalism, but killing over a million, (1/10 of the population of Algeria at the time), tens of thousands in Cameroon, chopping off heads in both countries, this goes far beyond 9/11 or the 200+ schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria. Or the 12 people killed in the Charlie Hebdo attacks. The brothers who carried out Charlie Hebdo were of Algerian heritage. Big surprise!
Back when people were superimposing French flags over their Facebook photos I mentioned French colonialism and capitalism to some friends and was accused of trying to twist the truth. I actually LOST friends by strongly opposing the attack, but saying, "Buuuuuut France is no angel either." At the time, France WAS an angel in the eyes of the media and therefore the world. The attacks were entirely unprovoked terrorism. There could be no justification for such brutal attacks. I don't know about you, but I never put the French flag over my Facebook pic. I was NOT Charlie Hebdo. Would I feel like an asshole if I had? Or if I were? No, I wouldn't. Because at the time, people were swept away by solidarity and actual LOVE for their fellow man. And I support that. It was easy for those of us who have never been affected by French violence and economic terrorism to show our support for the French. But go back to paragraph two. What if you are from Cameroon or Algeria? Or any of the other places the French just walked into, mowed down people like rain forest trees, used the ones who weren't killed to farm the crops and exported all the product and money back to France. Do you suppose you'd have a bit of a grudge? True it was a generation ago and you were not directly affected, but ultimately, what would your life be like if that hadn't happened? "Don't be so negative! Let it go!"
This is a task that we are not just expecting from generations of disenfranchised victims of corporate capitalist brutality, we are demanding it of them. I will say it till I die, I don't support terrorism or returning violence with violence, but it seems to me the originators of the conflicts worldwide are so seldom taken to task. The French need to take a little bit of money from the filthy rich companies that have any connection to African colonialism and give it, and an apology to the countries they've stolen from. Period. The tidal waves of dirty money that sweep into the bank accounts of the French elite will continue to roll in. It seems a simple enough thing to do. They need to pay up. Give African countries they colonized some money. Even though the governments will get it and they'll set up bogus Relief Societies that will most likely help the average citizen very little, it would be a start. Then France needs to work on their relationship with the people of these countries, and I don't mean just, "I'm sorry." The older I get the less that phrase means. Support. Give them good jobs in France. Create some in Africa. Really DO something. Make up! Again, it won't break the French bank. Finally, when things are settled, everybody needs to get on with their lives in a peaceful way and put the past violence behind them. Shut up! This is the hard part. Because how do you come to an agreement that suits all involved?
Just ask Canada. The native people have been a privileged group in Canada for a long time. Free money, free housing, free education, no tax, no fishing or hunting restrictions, they have so many advantages, other Canadians are jealous. Canada provides a good example of how to make proper, and improper reparations. Look at the Japanese, and the formerly ill treated Chinese in Canada. They're all happy. They got what they wanted. Money. The Chinese got 12.5 million in reparations for the terribly racist head tax of bygone years in Canada. And the guilt of future generations that has lead to billions in business favouritism in Canada. The Japanese got their 300 mil. But the natives got money too. It wasn't really what they wanted. The more free stuff given to the native culture, the more it hurt their pride and honour. I think the early settlers of Canada should have shared the land with the natives. Sometime between now and 400 years ago that should have occurred to somebody. Natives, unlike a lot of groups who cry for equality, REALLY want to be equal. Instead they're privileged and it creates bickering and mistrust between them and their fellow Canadians. It also insults their culture.
But back to France. They need to, during the "make up" stage, figure out what would best settle the score and try their best to offer it to those they've wronged in the past. But, they refuse. Even the huge corporations that owe their very existence to French expansion into Africa won't do jack. Instead, the little people are the ones who have to make the adjustments. Be the mature ones. Force themselves to love and not hate.
Now to more recent affairs. I think the situation with the police and the whole "Black Lives Matter" movement, bears some similarities. Having worked with the police quite closely as a jail guard and hospital guard, I have seen first hand the evolution of police prejudice. It comes from repeatedly arresting the people from the same race, often the very same people, again and again. It's true that 9 out of 10 people brought to the jail I used to guard were natives even though they certainly didn't make up 90% of the population of the towns I worked in. It was because of the general unhappiness hundreds of years of misunderstanding and mistreatment has created in the native community. This often leads to alcohol abuse and illegal behaviour.
Is there a general unhappiness amongst American black people? Oh I think so! Have they been pushed socially over a few centuries into situations of poverty and desperation that often lead to crime? Certainly. Are they disproportionately uneducated and poor? Absolutely! So the way to combat that is for every cop to look beyond the arrest records and try not to expect crime from black people? No! Because I'm sure saying, "We don't arrest mostly black people," while arresting mostly black people will change nothing. It's also not the job of the public to shame each other into thinking, or at least acting, like black lives matter. It's the same as the above. The source of the problem is with the true powers that be, the government and corporate entities of the U.S. need to do something meaningful to relieve this general malaise among the black population. This is something that can be traced back to the years of slavery. So it's simple. Pay up. Any company that can be linked to slavery in the U.S. pays a share. Make up. Find out what black people want and make it happen. You will have the money. If it looks like favouritism for a generation, oh well. If a black person gets into a college and a smarter person is refused, it will be because for generations none of that person's forefathers had an opportunity to be educated. It won't take more than a generation to right that wrong. Same with jobs, good neighbourhoods, schools, housing. Show some favouritism for a while and just watch the arrest numbers even out.
And as part of the SHUT UP portions for both situations, we have to stop listening to the media! Shut them up! Their jobs are to create fear far too often. Here's a great example.
The war on police, war on terrorism, war on blacks, war on drugs... we should realize by now, anything the media calls a "WAR" on just increases due to public panic. In reality we see more police brutality and attacks on police because there are more cams out there. But in general, people are showing more love and the numbers are down. The police officer who saw his father, a cop, gunned down by a gang of black kids; we are now expecting, no, demanding him to let bygones be bygones. Put it behind you. He is the same as the potential terrorist whose uncle's head was on a spike. Why put all the onus onto them? Let's get to the heart of the matter. Make things right with meaningful gestures of reparation and apology from the people and entities who were the causes of the problem in the first place. The ones who are most reluctant to make these meaningful gestures, yet, ironically, because of the people they wronged, are in the best positions to make them. They need to be forced to pay up. Period. They won't want to even though it won't hurt them a bit. But "the time has come to say fair's fair." Pay your rent, corporations founded on economic terrorism, violence, slavery and colonialism. Pay your share! Then it'll be so easy for everyone to love each other!
The problem with all of the above is simply, love cuts profits. And if you're like me and think that capitalism won't be forced into responsible corporate citizenship, there is hope. Let's be a world of Kunkletowns. Let's put pressure on the greedy scumbags who have created so much trouble in our world. Sometimes it works.
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