Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World

by Tyson Yunkaporta

The people may rise up against tyrants in the name of liberty, shattering the halls and towers of the powerful, but then the ruling systems will simply embrace the idea of freedom, tweak it a little, and continue with business as usual. Liberty becomes the right of land-owning white males to vote, then changes form again to include males of every class, then again to include females, and so forth. It constantly shape-shifts, eventually enshrining the freedom of corporations to make messes they cannot be held accountable for, to bribe governments to change laws allowing them to damage people and land at will, no matter who the people vote into government. In this way, liberalism has been frequently rebranded to vanquish competing ideologies. The success of liberalism lies in its ability to wear whatever shape a population projects through disruption or dissent. Thus at the beginning of this millennium it remains the only show in town. It is an illusion that currently dominates the globe.