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Subjugate the poor without pity !!
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BarkellWH
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
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 RE: Subjugate the poor without pity !! (in reply to guitarbuddha)
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When I left the U.S. military I tried to get my batman to continue as my valet in civilian life, but, unfortunately, he did not see himself in such a position. And just the other day my bearers, who carry me around in my sedan chair, went on strike for at least the minimum wage! The blighters left me sitting in my sedan chair in the middle of Washington, DC. What is the world coming to when no one knows his proper position in society any more? Next thing you know the lower orders will all be clamoring for equal representation in Congress! Where will it all end?
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."
--Rudyard Kipling
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Date Jan. 3 2014 0:59:58
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Richard Jernigan
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
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RE: Subjugate the poor without pity !! (in reply to guitarbuddha)
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During my frequent episodes of living like a king in third world countries (Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Fiji, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, India, Peru, etc.) I have been happy to find myself largely relieved of responsibility for subjugating the poor, since this task is carried out with efficiency, persistence and attention to detail in each country by a segment of the local population.
Try as I might to do my part, they are way ahead of me.
RNJ
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Date Jan. 3 2014 18:33:36
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Richard Jernigan
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
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RE: Subjugate the poor without pity !! (in reply to guitarbuddha)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: guitarbuddha
Each night I resolve to ignore the voice of my concience. I promise myself he has no hold over me and I may leave him unanswered. Yet I cannot, so answer I do.
Yet he is never satisfied, for neither am I.
So I follow Pinks advice. Maybe one day a turn to the left or a turn to the right may still that voice... or maybe not.
In the end I am happy that we speak.
D.
Our consciences may guide us away from some of the damage we cause to the poor of other cultures, but much of the pain we cause them arises from our generous impulses.
On New Year's Day a few old friends lingered at the end of the party. One who had been to Kwajalein in the Central Pacific remarked on the beauty of the white sand beaches, the abundant palm trees, the blue Pacific and the underwater paradise accessible to the diver. I lived there for 18 1/2 years.
"Yes," I said. "Live there for five years and it will break your heart."
"Why is that?"
I held forth for at least a half hour in response.
For example, there is a very high rate of suicide among teen aged boys. In the population centers of Kwajalein and the capital Majuro the penetration of "modern" culture is very deep. The old masculine economy of canoe building and fishing is marginalized. Warfare was suppressed when the ri-belle (white people) showed up in the 19th century, so there is no opportunity to distinguish oneself, or even to achieve adult status by being a warrior.
"Modern" goods are the foundation of the present economy in the population centers. You need money. Government employment provides far more jobs than all the rest of the economy combined. 90% of the budget is from foreign aid. Yet there are jobs for only a very small fraction of males. The teen warrior ethos of American gang culture hasn't sprung up in the small closely knit Marshallese society. Unemployment and alienation are the norm.
Frank Hezel pointed out to me another major factor. Frank is a Jesuit who started the very first secondary school in Micronesia. Every one of the first generation of political leaders of the newly independent Central Pacific nations graduated from Frank's high school on Chuuk (Truk). He has written at least three books on Micronesian history and the changes in culture since contact with Europeans.
The old Marshallese culture was/is matrilineal. Land and titles of nobility still are inherited in the female line. Power is in the hands of the men who marry the highest ranking women. But some "modernized" clans have become both patrilineal and patriarchal.
There is no word for "aunt" in the Marshallese language. Your mother and all her sisters are addressed with the same word. There is no distinction between siblings and maternal first cousins. Children still sleep and eat indiscriminately at the houses of their mother and their aunts. All the adult members of the bwij take equal responsibility for all the children, and all exercise the same care, love and authority.
The husbands of the bwij ordinarily are not as closely related. Usually they come from different clans. Traditionally the father is the authority figure for a boy, sometimes the stern enforcer of cultural norms. But a boy would have an uncle to whom he could turn for unconditional love and support, even when on the outs with his father.
The deep penetration of "modern" culture tends strongly toward breaking up the bwij into nuclear families. One man or woman may have a job while others do not. A man and his wife and children may move to find work. In the nuclear family the teen aged boy is left without the supportive uncle. Alienation from the father frequently leads to depression and suicide.
All this pain and suffering results from our best intentions to "help" the Marshallese, often motivated by a desire to make amends for the damages we have imposed upon them by force. And the penetration of "modern" culture is largely due just to our example: effective medical care, a "higher standard of living", a crippled form of democracy, the freedom to travel, TV, bright lights and the big city….
When Cortes arrived in Mexico he perceived the Aztec culture as a perverted European one, mistaking the War Speaker Moctezuma for the king, under the influence of a satanic priesthood. We see the Marshallese as a corrupt, inefficient, uneducated and impoverished mirror of ourselves. We are motivated to help them. We cause great pain and suffering due to our highest motives.
The Thais and Balinese have been more successful in picking and choosing what parts of modern "civilization" they adopt, while resisting the destruction of their own cultures. But they have been in contact for millennia with foreigners closer at hand, and have learned to survive through bitter experience.
All the same, commercialization due to tourism is gradually eroding the outstandingly brilliant artistry of Balinese music and dance. They still have a very long way to descend before a song becomes something to be sold as a stick of mental chewing gum. Java experienced a much longer and more systematic deracination by the Dutch. There is an active market in Javanese pop music.
The Japanese have been the virtuosi of modernization. They have become a major economic power, and may be on the threshold of returning to a significant military force. Yet Japanese ways remain deeply imbedded. Karel van Wolferen, a Dutch man who has lived in Japan for many years goes into this in detail in his book, "The Enigma of Japanese Power." My Japanese former girlfriend agreed with much of his analysis.
In the 1980s Japanese semiconductor firms regularly violated trade agreements negotiated by the Japanese government by "dumping"--selling products below production cost to gain market share. Van Wolferen explains why the Japanese government was unable or unwilling to prevent this. In his analysis the elected government is not the ultimate power in Japan. It is the "mask of democracy" held up to the West, while ultimate power resides elsewhere, in the unelected but self-sustaining government ministries, in the mega-industrial keiretsu alliances and so on. As he sees it, the Japanese have "modernized" while remaining essentially Japanese, despite the twelve years of the American Occupation.
The Marshallese are defenseless against the incursion of "modern" culture, as are many of the other cultures we try to "help".
Would they have been better off to be left alone? Nowadays people on the Marshallese "outer islands" totally lack any medical care whatsoever. You can die from infection of a simple wound. My medieval English ancestors were better off medically, with the knowledge of cleaning and dressing wounds, the application of larvae to consume necrotic flesh, the application of cobwebs as coagulants and antibiotics. Would the constant warfare among the high chiefs have been better than the impoverished peace and overpopulation of Kwajalein and Majuro?
My Marshallese friends answered these questions with a definite "No." They see modernization as distinctly beneficial, despite the suffering they see that it entails. But they wouldn't have been my friends if they had not travelled a significant distance along the path to "modernization." Many others wish we had never shown up, whatever our motives may be.
RNJ
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Date Jan. 4 2014 18:57:30
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BarkellWH
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
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RE: Subjugate the poor without pity !! (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
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Having spent a good share of my life living and working in countries as diverse as Indonesia, Thailand, Chile, Bulgaria and many others, including all three of the Freely Associated States of Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands, I am skeptical of attributing too much of their so-called suffering to Western attempts to help them. It denies the people themselves any agency to determine how they will use the "help" or "aid" they receive, and often it leads misguided Westerners to conclude that the people would have been better off had they not been introduced to modernity in the first place. And I hasten to add, when we speak of "Westernization" we are really speaking of "modernity." The reason modernity is associated with the West is because the West experienced it first. But it is a phenomenon that sweeps all along, regardless of its origin in the West.
All three of the Freely Associated States were under the Japanese until the end of World War II, at which time they were designated United Nations Strategic Trusteeships under the administration of the United States. This was to deny the entire Western Pacific to any hostile power such as the Japanese had been, and as the Soviet Union later became. During the Trust period, the U.S. put a lot of money into all three, but particularly into the Marshalls for the use of Kwajalein with its military importance. In 1986, the Marshalls and Micronesia became independent under Compacts of Free Association with the U.S., and in 1994, Palau followed suit. All three received (and continue to receive) enormous amounts of money and federal benefits from some 26 U.S. Government agencies. In return, the U.S. has certain rights under the Compacts to military training areas in Palau, and is responsible for defense matters in all three. (Note: Kwajalein is not covered under the Compact; it falls under a separate Defense Department allotment.)
I would propose that the the Marshall Islands and Micronesia are the perfect examples of the pernicious effects of the Welfare State writ large. Palau is different, as the Palauans culturally exhibit a much greater entrepreneurial spirit and have used the U.S. Government largesse much wiser than either the marshallese or the micronesians. The Marshallese and Micronesians have been encouraged to develop infrastructure and businesses that produce a stream of income, but to date they have failed to do so because of grandiose plans that never materialize. For example, many years ago the Marshalls established an airline--Air Marshall Islands. The last thing the Marshalls needed was an airline, as Continental Air Micronesia ("Air Mike") provided all the air service needed. Air Marshall Islands continually lost money with its one, lone aircraft! It was a waste. If you go today to Chuuk, you will note the abysmal state of education. Huge amounts of money have been allocated to education, but teachers are unprepared and often do not even show up to teach their class. There are more boondoggles paid for than one can count, and everyone continues to receive his salary regardless of lack of accountability and the dearth of education provided.
That the Marshallese and Micronesians have failed to use the Compact money wisely is not the result of the West imposing itself on the islands. The island population has been exposed to the West for generations, first under the Spanish, then much more so under the Germans and the Japanese, and finally under the Americans. These are not naive "natives" just one step removed from the state of nature. They have been exposed to the West for a very long time. They are happy to receive all the largess--the money and services provided by Federal agencies. What they lack is the vision to use it to ensure a future once the Compact money dries up, which it surely will in 2023. But that is a decision they have made. They possess agency in their own right and have made counterproductive decisions in spite of better advice.
The case of Bali and Balinese art and culture is interesting. Many people who visit Bali think the Balinese have preserved their centuries old art, and when they visit the art boutiques in Ubud many a tourist believes he is buying representative Balinese art, which he is, but often it is not culturally as old as he thinks. Originally, Balinese traditional paintings were restricted to what is now known as the "Kamasan" or "Wayang" style. It is a visual narrative of Hindu-Javanese epics from the Majapahit Kingdom: the Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as a number of indigenous stories, such as the Panji narrative. It was an interesting but fairly restricted oeuvre. Then in the 1920s European artists such as the German Walter Spies and the Dutchman Rudolf Bonnet settled in Bali, and in the 1930s, anthropologists Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead came. All had a hand in encouraging the Balinese to expand their repertoire. Spies and Bonnet, in particular, are credited with directing Balinese artists toward a more modern style that depicts Balinese life and incorporates more perspective than the original art did.
With the arrival of Western tourists, of course, Balinese artists created much more "traditional" (in fact, as a result of Spies and Bonnet "modern") Balinese art to sell. In other words, the change of the "patron" of Balinese art from the temples to the Western tourist resulted in the change of the artwork itself, from the original Majapahit, Hindu-Javanese themed paintings to today's more eclectic style. What today's Balinese art is not, however, is "traditional" in the original sense. The Western artists and anthropologists who first came to Bali, and now the Western tourists who represent a "market" have seen to that. And Balinese artists are happy enough to create what might be called "Modern Traditional" Balinese art in order to accommodate tourists who will purchase Balinese "traditional" paintings to take home and display in their homes.
The point of all this is to suggest that most Third World cultures, including the Marshallese, Micronesian, and Balinese discussed here, are not so much "victims" of Western cultural and material encroachment as they are of their own decisions, acting on their own agency. They determine how they will act (or react) given the circumstances they encounter. But that is how we all respond to circumstances whether we live in the developed or the developing world. We all possess agency; how we respond is up to us.
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."
--Rudyard Kipling
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Date Jan. 4 2014 21:06:37
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Richard Jernigan
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
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RE: Subjugate the poor without pity !! (in reply to BarkellWH)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: BarkellWH
The point of all this is to suggest that most Third World cultures, including the Marshallese, Micronesian, and Balinese discussed here, are not so much "victims" of Western cultural and material encroachment as they are of their own decisions, acting on their own agency. They determine how they will act (or react) given the circumstances they encounter. But that is how we all respond to circumstances whether we live in the developed or the developing world. We all possess agency; how we respond is up to us.
I would say these are essentially the points I meant to make, phrased from a different viewpoint. But I would add that this viewpoint seems to be pretty much in line with the viewpoint that has governed our interaction with the Pacific cultures discussed here, with less than desirable results in many cases.
In Palau there was social mobility before the white people showed up. If you were energetic or particularly fortunate to acquire surplus resources, and employed them to the benefit of the community at large, your status rose. You could rise from commoner to chief in a single lifetime. As Bill observes, the Palauans have made use of the aid given them in many ways that we would hope Americans or Western Europeans would respond.
But they have responded in slightly different ways as well. Ways that our culture might not view as ideal. The last time we were in Palau, we went diving with Sam's. Years before my buddy Don H. and I dove with Fish 'n Fins.
Fish 'n Fins was founded by Francis Toribiong, a Palauan who was the pioneer of tourist diving in Palau. When Toribiong retired he sold his business to an Israeli couple who had operated a live-aboard dive boat in Palau for several years. I talked to both of the Israelis a fair amount, because they were interested in expanding to the Marshall Islands. Both impressed me as energetic, intelligent people, likely to be successful in business. They abandoned their Marshalllese hopes due to the usual difficulties met by foreigners.
In 2006 when Larisa and I were there, Sam's celebrated an anniversary with a party. There were several Palauans of high traditional rank there. Sam's had just been starting out when Don and I were there. In 2006 Sam's facilities were bigger and better than Fish 'n Fins, Sam had many more boats, and was obviously the most prosperous of all the Palauan dive operations. I commented on this. My casual Palauan acquaintance immediately pointed out a fact I hadn't known. The highest traditional chief of Palau married an American woman. Sam, her son, was the chief's stepson. My acquaintance seemed to see this as sufficient explanation for Sam's prosperity. For my part, I found Sam to be personable and competent.
The USA funded a road that goes all the way around the main island of Palau. Out in the middle of nowhere, in the jungle far from any sizable settlement, there is a capitol complex, interestingly modeled on the U.S. capitol building in miniature. It is the seat of the Palauan government. I said that I bet some important traditional chief lived nearby. Larisa demurred, saying it was probably a tactic to bring development to the area, as with Brasilia in the interior of Brazil.
A few days later we took separate dive trips. She returned saying she had got talking to the Palauan divemaster, who confirmed my suspicion. Furthermore the Palauan described a network of nepotism and favoritism among the officeholders of the Palauan government, and said many had been convicted of white collar crimes, but still enjoyed political power and preferment.
Still, the spirit of individual initiative and entrepreneurism is quite evident in Palau. It is sadly lacking in the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia. In the latter two cultures there was no social mobility before the white people showed up. In the Marshalls at least, social mobility is nearly nonexistent now. Still our "aid" monetizes the economy at Kwajalein and Majuro, and accelerates the destruction of the old culture--through choices made by the Marshallese themselves, as Bill points out. Choices made largely by the Marshallese upper class, who have retained their custom of living better than their inferiors, but who have lost almost any sense of responsibility for the Dri-jerbal class of common people.
Many of our actions in the Marshalls have been meant to compensate them for injustices we imposed from a position of such obviously overwhelming military power that only a fool would have put up any resistance at all. The Japanese dominated the Marshallese for decades through military intimidation. We wiped the Japanese off the islands in days. The Marshallese at Kwajalein still celebrate Liberation Day in February, the anniversary of the WW II battle in 1944. They are better off now than they were under Japanese colonization, which grew more militarist as time went on, and became violently repressive as the Japanese military situation grew worse and worse in WW II.
The Palauan culture adapted to modernization in a way that improved the general welfare. The Marshallese culture adapted to modernization by making millionaires of the Iroij, and leaving the Dri-jerbal in the dirt, while destroying the old culture at the population centers of Kwajalein and Majuro.
We didn't intend the present Marshallese outcome, nor impose it on them. We meant to help.
_______________________________________________________________
Present day Balinese visual art is well known to be the product of imported European influences. The artists and galleries make their living from the tourist trade.
A good friend of mine is a member of the gamelan of Bangli, the seat of one of the seven Rajas who reigned in Bali before the Dutch invasions of the 1920s. The members of the orchestra are not paid for performances. Indeed, they pay dues to defray the expenses of maintaining the instruments and the stipend of the guru. The gamelan members are seen as trustees of the extensive and expensive collection of instruments, not their owners.
My friend makes his living as a cab driver in Kuta, the main tourist center of Bali. There are very few professional musicians on Bali. But almost every village of any size has an active orchestra and dance troupe. It would be a dishonor not to have one. When my friend saw my guitar, he asked me to play for him. Then he invited me to rehearsals of the gamelan, where the guru was teaching them a new piece to be played in the annual island wide contest at Denpasar. The piece was as long and complex as an early Mozart symphony. It was taught by the guru sounding out each of the many contrapuntal parts. The players immediately and accurately copied him and memorized their parts with only one, or at most two or three repetitions.
The Bangli gamelan plays for temple festivals, for more secular festivals, for town ceremonies, and in the big annual island wide contest. Dance performances of the great Hindu epics and Balinese traditional stories may last all night, accompanied by the orchestra.
The strong influence of tourism is seen at Ubud, where the Cokorda (ranking just below royalty) maintains a dance troupe in the old aristocratic style. But there are regular performances for tourists, with admission charged. The tourists are not prepared to spend the night, so the epics and traditional stories are abridged to a length of not more than a couple of hours.
The Tirta Sari dance troupe and orchestra are world famous, traveling every year to London, Paris, Tokyo, New York and other cultural centers. They are the descendants of the dance troupe of the Raja of Karangasem. One of his daughters was the principal artistic director. One of his younger sons returned to Bali from a medical career in the World Health Organization. He was the main impresario of the troupe's worldwide fame.
Tirta Sari's performances, though billed as "classical Legong" are nothing of the sort. They are pastiches drawn from many traditional sources, melded into a spectacular performance, but devoid of the narrative and often devotional character of traditional Balinese ballet. Some of the most popular elements were devised by Colin McPhee, an American composer who lived in Bali for several years in the 1930s.
Tirta Sari's performance space at Peliatan is perhaps ten times as large as the Cokorda's palace at nearby Ubud. It takes several large tourist busses to fill it up. Tirta Sari is a purely commercial operation at present, though the last time I was in Bali the Raja's son and daughter were still involved to some extent. The present Raja of Karangasem has nowhere near the wealth, influence nor political power of his father.
So I see tourism influencing Balinese music and dance, much as commercialization has influenced flamenco. The transition is fairly gradual, and may take another generation or more before commercialization is the dominant influence in Bali. Just as with flamenco, traditional culture is likely to survive, but Balinese ballet requires a large cast of dancers and musicians, with expensive costumes and instruments, so its survival in more traditional form is bound to be much attenuated from the old days of the Rajas.
The Australian and European tourists to Bali are not imposing this. The Balinese are doing this of their own choice and free will. But the tourists are enabling and motivating the transformation of Balinese music and dance into commercialized forms, just as they enabled the flowering of modern Balinese painting.
I enjoy modern Balinese painting. I have two good sized ones in my house. But the narratives of even the Cokorda's abridged dance epics and stories have more emotional power for me than the spectacular pastiches of Tirta Sari.
My friend takes pride in helping to maintain the artistic traditions of his princely town, and laments the commercialization of Balinese music and dance.
RNJ
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Date Jan. 4 2014 22:09:40
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runner
Posts: 357
Joined: Dec. 5 2008
From: New Jersey USA
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RE: Subjugate the poor without pity !! (in reply to guitarbuddha)
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Excellent discussions by Richard and William. What is not clear is whether there is any prospect anywhere of a stable, relatively steady-state, sustainable human society in which any of us would want to live for the rest of our lives. Australia and New Guinea, prior to discovery by other cultures, presented probably the longest-lived, slowest-changing regimes, maybe for as much as 40,000 years, if the outermost time estimates are accurate. And perhaps another 40,000 years might pass with little change, had those cultures been left in isolation. But who among us would choose life there, knowing what we know, knowing who we are? It may well be (I think it is so), that homo sapiens is inherently too unstable a construct to long endure--we will either go extinct, possibly doing great damage (temporarily in geologic terms) to the planet's megafauna, or we will somehow, en masse, become truly rational beings. How likely is that?
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Date Jan. 4 2014 23:28:06
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pink
Posts: 570
Joined: Jan. 8 2013
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RE: Subjugate the poor without pity !! (in reply to BarkellWH)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: BarkellWH
Having spent a good share of my life living and working in countries as diverse as Indonesia, Thailand, Chile, Bulgaria and many others, including all three of the Freely Associated States of Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands, I am skeptical of attributing too much of their so-called suffering to Western attempts to help them. It denies the people themselves of any agency to determine how they will use the "help" or "aid" they receive, and often it leads misguided Westerners to conclude that the people would have been better off had they not been introduced to modernity in the first place. And I hasten to add, when we speak of "Westernization" we are really speaking of "modernity." The reason modernity is associated with the West is because the West experienced it first. But it is a phenomenon that sweeps all along, regardless of its origin in the West.
All three of the Freely Associated States were under the Japanese until the end of World War II, at which time they were designated United Nations Strategic Trusteeships under the administration of the United States. This was to deny the entire Western Pacific to any hostile power such as the Japanese had been, and as the Soviet Union later became. During the Trust period, the U.S. put a lot of money into all three, but particularly into the Marshalls for the use of Kwajalein with its military importance. In 1986, the Marshalls and Micronesia became independent under Compacts of Free Association with the U.S., and in 1994, Palau followed suit. All three received (and continue to receive) enormous amounts of money and federal benefits from some 26 U.S. Government agencies. In return, the U.S. has certain rights under the Compacts to military training areas in Palau, and is responsible for defense matters in all three. (Note: Kwajalein is not covered under the Compact; it falls under a separate Defense Department allotment.)
I would propose that the the Marshall Islands and Micronesia are the perfect examples of the pernicious effects of the Welfare State writ large. Palau is different, as the Palauans culturally exhibit a much greater entrepreneurial spirit and have used the U.S. Government largesse much wiser than either the marshallese or the micronesians. The Marshallese and Micronesians have been encouraged to develop infrastructure and businesses that produce a stream of income, but to date they have failed to do so because of grandiose plans that never materialize. For example, many years ago the Marshalls established an airline--Air Marshall Islands. The last thing the Marshalls needed was an airline, as Continental Air Micronesia ("Air Mike") provided all the air service needed. Air Marshall Islands continually lost money with its one, lone aircraft! It was a waste. If you go today to Chuuk, you will note the abysmal state of education. Huge amounts of money have been allocated to education, but teachers are unprepared and often do not even show up to teach their class. There are more boondoggles paid for than one can count, and everyone continues to receive his salary regardless of lack of accountability and the dearth of education provided.
That the Marshallese and Micronesians have failed to use the Compact money wisely is not the result of the West imposing itself on the islands. The island population has been exposed to the West for generations, first under the Spanish, then much more so under the Germans and the Japanese, and finally under the Americans. These are not naive "natives" just one step removed from the state of nature. They have been exposed to the West for a very long time. They are happy to receive all the largess--the money and services provided by Federal agencies. What they lack is the vision to use it to ensure a future once the Compact money dries up, which it surely will in 2023. But that is a decision they have made. They possess agency in their own right and have made counterproductive decisions in spite of better advice.
The case of Bali and Balinese art and culture is interesting. Many people who visit Bali think the Balinese have preserved their centuries old art, and when they visit the art boutiques in Ubud many a tourist believes he is buying representative Balinese art, which he is, but often it is not culturally as old as he thinks. Originally, Balinese traditional paintings were restricted to what is now known as the "Kamasan" or "Wayang" style. It is a visual narrative of Hindu-Javanese epics from the Majapahit Kingdom: the Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as a number of indigenous stories, such as the Panji narrative. It was an interesting but fairly restricted oeuvre. Then in the 1920s European artists such as the German Walter Spies and the Dutchman Rudolf Bonnet settled in Bali, and in the 1930s, anthropologists Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead came. All had a hand in encouraging the Balinese to expand their repertoire. Spies and Bonnet, in particular, are credited with directing Balinese artists toward a more modern style that depicts Balinese life and incorporates more perspective than the original art did.
With the arrival of Western tourists, of course, Balinese artists created much more "traditional" (in fact, as a result of Spies and Bonnet "modern") Balinese art to sell. In other words, the change of the "patron" of Balinese art from the temples to the Western tourist resulted in the change of the artwork itself, from the original Majapahit, Hindu-Javanese themed paintings to today's more eclectic style. What today's Balinese art is not, however, is "traditional" in the original sense. The Western artists and anthropologists who first came to Bali, and now the Western tourists who represent a "market" have seen to that. And Balinese artists are happy enough to create what might be called "Modern Traditional" Balinese art in order to accommodate tourists who will purchase Balinese "traditional" paintings to take home and display in their homes.
The point of all this is to suggest that most Third World cultures, including the Marshallese, Micronesian, and Balinese discussed here, are not so much "victims" of Western cultural and material encroachment as they are of their own decisions, acting on their own agency. They determine how they will act (or react) given the circumstances they encounter. But that is how we all respond to circumstances whether we live in the developed or the developing world. We all possess agency; how we respond is up to us.
I've always been intrigued by powerful nations justifications on how their injected humanitarian ''strategic trusteeship'' billions ,as sent by the creators of the coke can,Frankfurter,Inquisition and reliable electrical product ,have been wasted by the so called benefactors lack of foresight in creating a future for themselves with these most generous of windfalls.
The fact of the matter is that the only real shared benefits that befall the majority of the population may be a shiny new trophy plane and the odd public convenience,both run poorly and probably built to accommodate the military/diplomatic led invasion onto their home ground anyway .Its hardly surprising that the countries in question will not benefit from the cash injection.....the likely hood that the majority of cash will be ''lost '' in the development of private offshore funds designed to cushion the retirement years of political elite of such counties is the most likely outcome. Add to this a carrot by way of local arts and crafts which become the staple diet of the visiting military etc......instant cash for the locals....instant benefit ,never mind they'll do OK,tell em to build a school which isn't part of who they are but don't bother ensuring that they will understand the long-term benefits of education and cash injection....let's buy another carving or painting a keep em loving the instant cash ,don't let them know the money will dry up in a few years and they will no longer be able to support themselves but could sell themselves out again for a lower cash price as long as they can donate the empty school buildings for the use of the larger influx of diplomatic and military holiday makers and the lions share of the remaining areas of the islands which are still in their natural state of unspoilt beauty but would be ideal as military training areas and plots for more permanent luxury dwellings.
Help and aid can only be truly justified if a stable and appropriate hand is given in support to ensure the funds and the understanding of the benefits of the funds really does reach the people it should. If it goes tits up after this point through the stupidity of the recipients own mass greed then so be it ,but if they fall at the first hurdle because the support is not sufficient or because of abuse of leadership which could be avoided by an appropriate level of ''mass public education'' in these countries then who is to blame truly?
I am reminded with these sorts of discussions of the increase in charitable advertising, especially at this time of year, where in the UK the public are asked for a few pounds per week to help those in poor/underdeveloped/war torn countries, have clean drinking water. We are expected again and again to personally pay out more and more to help. All these requests for help yet our developed countries governments give billions in aid to the very countries which are needing the help. Where is the money going....and interestingly enough these requests for charity are things my mother and mother in law both remember seeing/reading when hey were a lot younger....my mother is 80+ years btw so my point is that the monies given in faith don't always reach the population its meant to help and this has been ongoing since WW2 ,hasn't changed yet and
probably won't . The poor helpless uneducated masses
in third world countries are not always fortunate enough to be able to benefit and build the correct foundations from whatever constitutes aid if it doesn't reach them in the first place.
Not looking for an argument with this but its something I felt I wanted to add.
I work hard,give by way of tax and give by way of charity as often as I can but it seems to me that corruption at the top of governments is more often the issue when it comes to western cultural and material encroachment .
Best
pink
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Date Jan. 5 2014 0:25:41
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Ruphus
Posts: 3782
Joined: Nov. 18 2010
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RE: Subjugate the poor without pity !! (in reply to guitarbuddha)
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It would not be too hard to introduce accurate controlling of any kind of aid expense.
( From subsidies to development funds.)
However, when you follow the news over time you clearly understand that there is no interest on an administrative side to ensure that funds reach their officially aimed goals.
To the very opposite, aid funds are of the ways for transforming states budget ( and donations) into private property, which basically is the actual main function of common governments.
This is why yet for instance in such a tidy state like the German one there exists no filing of subsidies. Immense sums out of control.
In sight of development aid it is an old hat that much of the sent out state money will return privately to who arranged the expense, whereas the part of the money actually remaining abroad will usually serve to entertain a satellite elite and keep it loyal for private industry deals.
These mechanisms are so natural and established that nothing can stir up public annoyance about blatant routines.
For instance with some 8 billion $ that were officially assigned for repairs after the last war action in Irak. Money that vaporized completely from UNO accounts without sensation following, let alone investigations about remains. Don´t you wonder.
In fact I don´t know whether there has ever been an official western development aid that was ( beyond fig leave from a fraction) employed to actually help needy, lesser even to introduce or support any democracy anywhere.
And it should be contradictory if it occured.
Simply for capitalism being the precise opposite of democracy by its very nature of function.
Flying pigs are rather likely than any chimera of humane capitalism.
Seeing the vastly economical gearing and allocation of interests, it is not very analytical to speak of ethnics and cultures as economical units.
Because they are not.
That exemplary guy who has been instigated despote in an underdeveloped country in order to ensure seamless exploitation of his country and fellowmen, has only so much to do with his ethnicity.
He is just a simple individual with little philosophy and no principle, like billions anywhere across the nations.
You can find of that type anywhere anytime, just as todays combines don´t understand themselves as national enterprises anymore, but rather as undertakings that will manage internationally determined by mere profits.
Silhouette of culture, nation or alliance are formal left overs that will not matter in true international affairs of material enrichment.
Fassades tilted over and banged against people´s forehead and still Hans stares in the air.
Terms like e.g. "the French" or "the English" are senseless in regard of policies. Economical interests are not national.
King Money rules without toleration for any other aspect.
He sells out anything. Ethics, conscience, history, patriotism, duty, ... any idea you could think of.
Welcome a Potemkin globe of superordinate respect.
And a cruel, primitive reality that fosters mafia.
Mafia seems the only reality you can firmly count with these days.
Ruphus
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Date Jan. 5 2014 9:27:12
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BarkellWH
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
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RE: Subjugate the poor without pity !! (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
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quote:
My friend...laments the commercialization of Balinese music and dance.
I think there is a little nostalgia for a bygone "Eden" in all of us. Often, when examined closely, the bygone era lamented was not as "Edenic" as we imagine it to have been. Your friend laments the commercialization of Balinese music and dance. I know Balinese who lament the commercialization of music and dance, as well as the introduction into traditional Balinese art of modern themes and techniques. They would rather see the old traditional temple paintings featuring the "Wayang" style, with lts visual narrative of Hindu-Javanese epics from the Majapahit Kingdom: the Ramayana and Mahabharata. But they are a minority.
Most Balinese, as most other people and cultures, see an advantage to accepting modern techniques while trying to preserve something of their culture. It is a hard act because so many traditional cultural traits are incompatible with modern commercial life. Often traditional cultures that try to bridge the two--the traditional and the modern--make a hash of it and end up as what the great writer V.S. Naipaul has termed "Half-Made Societies."
I will end with an anecdote about "cultural exchange." Bali was one of the last areas of present-day Indonesia brought under Dutch control. Dutch administrative control was introduced in the North and West of Bali in 1855-56, in East Bali in 1894, and in South Bali in 1908, after the senior Raja made a final, futile attempt to resist Dutch control, an attempt that ended in a horrible massacre.
There is an interesting irony in the Dutch-Balinese historical exchange. When the Dutch originally came to Bali, the Dutch women were dressed very primly and properly, with necklines up to the throat, as any good Dutch Calvinist woman would. The Balinese women, on the other hand, primarily wore a sarong with no top, living their lives topless. The Dutch, naturally, imposed a dress code on Balinese women, and soon Balinese women wore bajus (a type of blouse found in Indonesia) with their sarongs, modestly covering up their natural assets.
Today, most Balinese women continue to wear a baju with their sarongs and dress modestly, while Dutch female tourists run around Balinese beaches topless! What goes around comes around.
Cheers,
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."
--Rudyard Kipling
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Date Jan. 5 2014 13:14:35
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Richard Jernigan
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
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RE: Subjugate the poor without pity !! (in reply to BarkellWH)
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My friend's lament over the commercialization of Balinese music and dance is not based in nostalgia for some imagined bygone "golden age". Gamelan music in Bali is a very dynamic and evolving art. The current gamelan gong kebyar style is very much an innovation of the latter part of the 20th century.
Innovation is driven considerably by the annual island wide gamelan competition at Denpasar. The gurus compose music of increasing complexity and spectacular effect. The music is popular among the general Balinese population. The contest is followed with an enthusiasm second only to football (soccer). The music is definitely developing in a dynamic way.
What my friend laments is a tendency toward simplification, watering down, shortening the pieces for tourist consumption. This tendency parallels the decay of popular music in the USA from the innovative, dynamic swing era of the 1930s to the static, insipid Tin-Pan Alley era of the 1950s, except present day Balinese gamelan is considerably more sophisticated and complex than swing.
quote:
Most Balinese, as most other people and cultures, see an advantage to accepting modern techniques while trying to preserve something of their culture. It is a hard act because so many traditional cultural traits are incompatible with modern commercial life.
You make my point very well. Balinese music developed in a non-commercial context. As I pointed out, the musicians are not only non-professional, they pay with time and money to participate in the orchestra. Their criterion is not commercial success, but to serve their communities and to be a source of local pride. When commerce enters the picture, the inevitable calculation is made: "How can we make more money with less effort?"
The paradigm of non-commercial Balinese music is: "How can we best serve our community, and bring credit to it?" This paradigm has powered a dynamic, innovative art, with greater musical sophistication than any other popular music I know of.
Topless women:
At the very eastern tip of Bali, where the roads were still nearly impassible the last time I was there, the great majority of people spoke only Balinese, and not the official Indonesian language taught in schools. Young women still went topless there only a few years ago. I think we will probably go back to Bali this year. I wouldn't be surprised if we find that things are still pretty much the same in that area.
Years ago I had a young Javanese friend who worked on Bali. We went to one of the Bali Aga villages. The Bali Aga have retained the pre-Hindu culture of Bali before the Majapahit incursion from Java. They resisted the Hindu aristocracy, retaining their land and the local government of their villages. They retained the ancient animistic religion, rejecting Hinduism. They also effectively resisted Dutch influence, excluding the Dutch missionaries.
My friend was dressed with conventional Balinese modesty, but to enter the Bali Aga village she was required to don a sari that went all the way down to the tops of her feet. After we passed through the gate, she defied Bali Aga prudishness by hiking up the sari to display her slender and attractive ankles.
I was fortunate enough to attend a large cremation ceremony in central Bali, with many wealthy families involved. Cremation ceremonies on Bali are festive occasions. Bodies are buried until the calendar produces a good day for cremation. Then the body is exhumed and the soul is liberated from its last earthly bonds. When a number of wealthy or high ranking families all participate on an especially auspicious day, many others join in, cremating their family members in one mass ceremony. It develops into a festival, with people coming from far and wide.
I was having a ball with my camera. People were happy to have their elaborate funeral arrangements photographed. I asked an older woman selling snacks for a portrait. She smiled charmingly, and in recognition of the formality of the occasion, she unbuttoned her blouse.
RNJ
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Date Jan. 5 2014 19:04:56
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