A Palimpsest
All History was a Palimpsest
Some Kind of Ancestral Memory
Haven't we been wondering lately: 'How is a government able to get away with the unbearable exercise of economic-political power'? A brief historical overview gives us some answers.
“Why should one feel it to be intolerable unless one had some kind of ancestral memory that things had one been different?”
The Others are Outside
With the fall of the Roman empire, ancient Rome's central government came to its end, including its monetary system and civic safeguards. As consequences, in order to survive, people cultivated the earth and accepted protection from ex-soldiers. Ex-soldiers that ultimately confiscated the land, setting up feudalism: system in which an individual from their ranks was elected as the leader, becoming known as the king.
"The others are outside - irrelevant."
In New Shapes
Feudal European states merged and grew, being able to travel overseas, imposing their will on desirable land through a system known as colonialism. European conquerors seized native territories, forced natives to work, or else arrested and sentenced them on invented laws.
"Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing."
We Change Them
As vast industries developed, what we call capitalism led to the growth of corporations which became large enough to manipulate industries, constraining any competitor's economic benefits.
“We do not merely destroy our enemies, we change them."
Scraped Clean and Re-inscribed
Our capitalist system guarantees regulation, ensuring competition, and subsidies, guarding that corporations are kept in business. A historical part of the unbearable exercise of economic-political power. Economic power exerts political power. And vice-versa.
"All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and re-inscribed exactly as often as was necessary."
- Artwork by Rubén Rivera Matos
- Quotes from George Orwell's 1984
© 2017 Aydasara Ortega Torres