Once upon a time in the long now there was a continent, a landmass floating on water. White people called it Asia on dusty maps. Deep inside Asia were vast lands, rivers and mountains.
Overtime, a historical bandit with a reputation for laughter, magic, fear, superstition, and insatiable appetites for diverse languages, customs and cultures lived in jungles and forests.
OTHER preferred living on distant and remote mountains.
Jingle, jangle, jungle. Using natural materials they created musical instruments, simple weapons, homes, fish traps, snares and looms. The women had babies, wove cloth and prepared food while the men fished, planted crops, domesticated animals. Children played and learned life lessons from nature with extended families.
One day a boat filled with white men sailed down the river to a village deep in the jungle. They wore shiny clothing, spoke a language the people could not understand and carried weapons that made a lot of noise and scared everyone. They pretended to be friendly by offering gifts. The leader of the village welcomed them. They had a party.
Every day more white people came down the river on boats named Destiny. They were on a quest for gold and slaves. Owning, using and discarding slaves had proven to be an essential part of their historical evolution on other continents.
Their mantra was: cheap labor, cheap raw materials, cheap goods, cheap markets and much profit.
White people said, we are civilized and you are savages. We have religion. It is called Wealth.
It is Greed.
We are on a mission from the great chief. We control fire. We control time. We control people. We control nature. We have machines. We take what we want.
The village gave them hospitality, shelter and friendship. The white men were greedy. They took control of the village, the people and the jungle.
Every day the white men marched their slaves deep into the jungle singing, We control Nature. We shall overcome.
They spread diseases. They planted fear. They planted envy and jealousy. They manipulated villages against villages. They divided people against people. Divide and conquer against each other. History taught them well.
They harvested wealth in the form of people, precious stones, rubber and every raw material of economic value. They were never satisfied. Their appetite grew and grew.
If we want to survive we must move to a new jungle forest far away, said the village shaman. This is the story they told people one night below stars singing with their light.
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Reading in Mandalay
