[ExI] Conscientious objections

[James Clement]

I just came across this article and thought it was relevant to the
discussion. I'm an ancap/agorist, so I also agree that there should be no
nations and no borders.

It’s not YOUR Country: How Nationalism is
Obsolete<http://socialrebirth.org/its-not-your-country-how-nationalism-is-obsolete>
By Stuart Dobson <http://socialrebirth.org/author/stuart-dobson>
– 3 ,Dec ,2012*Posted in: *Articles<http://socialrebirth.org/category/articles>

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Forgive me, but I have an issue with the indigenous support chant, that
which acknowledges the land of Australia to be owned by the original
people: “Always was, Always will be Aboriginal
Land<http://livefromoccupiedpalestine.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/australia-marks-invasion-day.html>
“.

I can see the complaints pouring in already. How dare I, a British
Expatriate who has chosen to live in a country stolen by my ancestors, have
the audacity to challenge the traditional owners of this land? Don’t I know
what they’ve been through?

Well it’s time people stopped hiding behind political correctness and
acknowledge the ugly truth. Discrimination – against *and for*, is still
discrimination. We are differentiating between people who have thousands of
years of ancestors from this land and people who may only have one or two
generations. By doing this we are once again discriminating against people
for things they had no control over.

The problems of society which this site discusses in depth, are actually
more pressing than an historical grudge – and they affect *everyone*.

<http://socialrebirth.org/its-not-your-country-how-nationalism-is-obsolete/no-countries>We
can respect and express gratitude to the indigenous ancestors for taking
care of the land, but to acknowledge “ownership” of it legitimises a
paradigm which is outdated and dangerous. This *planet* is the common
heritage of everyone, we’re all born here. These borders – these lines of
division – are nothing but imaginary constructs; a throwback to the days of
pre-industrialised resource scarcity, to animal territorial-ism. Nobody has
a right to lay claim to a specific area – especially not based on such a
detached concept as the location of their birth. Acknowledging ‘owners’ of
land is a form of nationalism – and is therefore
racist<http://socialrebirth.org/nationalism-enables-racism>and
dividing.

Yes this land was taken over by Europeans and the indigenous people were
treated terribly. But to dwell on these atrocities of the past is to
acknowledge a “them and us”, which is not only a perpetuation of
discrimination but also an excuse for further hate and resentment. This is
simply not acceptable in a civilised society, no matter how legitimate the
reason.

So how do I justify my own situation, given that I chose to live here? For
this I make no excuses. I am a citizen of the Earth – a human being – and
this planet is my home. I don’t ‘belong’ to any country and no country
belongs to me. This is the case for everyone. Patriotism is just an
idea<http://socialrebirth.org/the-end-of-nationalism>.
It doesn’t exist in the natural world – only in your head.

If we were all to acknowledge this, national barriers would disintegrate
and a world of cooperation could emerge.

*“Imagine there’s no countries, It isn’t hard to do, Nothing to kill or die
for…” – John Lennon*

Yes of course this sounds idealistic, given the cultural and political
differences between nations. But it’s not culture that I wish to normalise
in this desire for a unified planet. In fact it’s important, as we break
down national barriers, that we strive to maintain the beautiful, rich,
cultural diversity that we have built over centuries. We don’t have to
destroy this and all become the same, flattening the cultural landscape. We
can integrate all cultures – or ignore them – this is our choice – but it
needn’t effect our eradication of nationalism.

*“Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect
for other cultures.” – Cesar Chavez*

*“If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the
essential differences between men and between cultures. He will learn that
differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life’s exciting
variety, not something to fear.”  - Gene Roddenberry, writer of Star Trek:
The Next Generation*

We need to differentiate these cultural lines from true, logistical ones.
What’s important for our survival and the realisation of human potential is
not our differences – but our similarities.
 <http://positivepakistani.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/say-no-to-countries.html>

Image courtesy Positive Pakistani

Therefore the problems we need to address from a planetary perspective are
not economic differences, artificial trade rules, or “legal entities”, but
our *management of resources*, in respect to the *welfare of all sentient
beings*. Our needs are real. Our social and ecological problems are real.
Our time, our labour, and our suffering, is real. Our nationality is not.

We need to focus on stewarding our planet to be sustainable for *all of us*,
forever. The only way to do this is to develop systems to help us *
continually* realise our interconnection, managing the earth as a single
system <http://socialrebirth.org/earths-economy-as-an-integrated-system> –
not a collection of competing entities. If not, we continue to risk
consequences of detriment to each other.

The Internet has shown us in a very short time the irrelevance of location
while simultaneously exposing us all to our planet’s rich cultural variety.
Today children are growing up without the barriers we adults took for
granted and this is wonderful. Now, the concept of countries and nation
states is as obsolete as homophobia – sadly it still exists, but only
because of the backward mentality of a dying breed. It’s an irrelevant
belief, it has no bearing on our survival or prosperity as a species – and
if anything, it directly threatens us.

One would hope that most indigenous people will now see that it’s not them
vs whites, it’s not even us vs the
rich<http://socialrebirth.org/we-are-not-the-99-we-are-the-100>.
It’s all of us vs a broken capitalist system that allows the perpetuation
of an destructive ruling class. It’s us vs this system which rewards
accumulation, acknowledges higher authority, and destroys our habitat with
no conscience. This is a system of which we are all victim and one which we
must cast off the falsely imposed segregation of the past, and come
together to eradicate.

*“The old appeals to racial sexual religious chauvinism and to rabid
nationalist fervor are beginning not to work. A new consciousness is
developing which sees the earth as a single organism, and recognizes that
an organism at war with itself is doomed. We are one planet.” – Carl Sagan*

*
*

*James*
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