Colonial Ghosts →

Nora Bateson:

We live in a world that celebrates “takers.” We call it ambition, leadership, victory. The gentle and the careful get trampled, while the aggressive rise to the top. Takers take. Now, exploitation in all its forms is on trial. The entire ecology, including all but a few wealthy humans, is disenfranchised. Our bodies have been taken without our permission. I would argue that the survival of our species and 1000’s of others is hinged to a violence that stems from the same blind spot as rape and abuse.

Written in the wake of #metoo, this is a powerful piece. It’s raw, personal, and vulnerable.

It highlights an important, mostly overlooked point: that the roots of our current ecological crisis, and many other social problems, are firmly located in relations of hierarchy and domination between people.