Civilization began with an erection, the erection of a fence. Ancient cities were said to be fenced, meaning fortified with defences; in the old tongue, ”fencyd” and “defencyd” were all but interchangeable terms.
These days, people are discontented and complain of feeling “fenced in” – by the interminable, insufferable, imperious demands that civilization (writ large: modernity; science and technology; capitalism) makes on their everyday lives.
But imagine the anguish and horror of being “fenced out”; the plight of the refugee or asylum seeker, to take but an extreme example of the prevalent “logic” that continues to inform western civilization.
Property values in Australia could take a plummet if refugees and asylum seekers were welcomed ashore. But in case you hadn’t already heard – certainly it came as shocking and horrific news to me – Australia has just been elected the happiest nation on Earth.
If all those surveyed were either youthfully naïve or propertied, then I can believe it. What worries me is that this enviable, world-beating position entails a tightening, not a relaxation, of the fence. I don’t just mean the fence of national border security. Internal fences, too, must be kept as taught as possible, certainly tighter than before.
In this sense, refugees and asylum speakers are harbingers of an emergent global underclass, one that is already with us here “at home”: witness the Indigenous, the homeless, the un-propertied working poor and unemployed.
Meanwhile, Chinese millionaires are officially welcomed to Australia, under a new “significant investment” visa policy.
Capital is the only way around, over, under or through the fences that capital itself owns, together with the labour used to construct, maintain, and protect them. The fences themselves must be guarded with due vigilance. Your property is worthless without them. (In English the word “fence” means not just “defence” but also: “a receiving house for stolen goods”.)
No fence-sitting now. Of these evil twins, I’d prefer feeling “fenced in” to being “fenced out”.
At Woomera some of the people – and who can blame them for trying? – decided to take the law into their own hands, and through vigorous struggle eventually succeeded in taking down one small part of the fence. But as far as I know the fence still stands, electrified, crowned with razor-wire. It is, after all, merely the material embodiment, the representation of an idea: Property, the idée fixe of western civilization.
A languishing fence is a good omen for democracy proper. Conversely, As long as our civilization is essentially one of property, of fences, of exclusiveness, it will be mocked by delusions (Emerson).
These days, people are discontented and complain of feeling “fenced in” – by the interminable, insufferable, imperious demands that civilization (writ large: modernity; science and technology; capitalism) makes on their everyday lives.
But imagine the anguish and horror of being “fenced out”; the plight of the refugee or asylum seeker, to take but an extreme example of the prevalent “logic” that continues to inform western civilization.
Property values in Australia could take a plummet if refugees and asylum seekers were welcomed ashore. But in case you hadn’t already heard – certainly it came as shocking and horrific news to me – Australia has just been elected the happiest nation on Earth.
If all those surveyed were either youthfully naïve or propertied, then I can believe it. What worries me is that this enviable, world-beating position entails a tightening, not a relaxation, of the fence. I don’t just mean the fence of national border security. Internal fences, too, must be kept as taught as possible, certainly tighter than before.
In this sense, refugees and asylum speakers are harbingers of an emergent global underclass, one that is already with us here “at home”: witness the Indigenous, the homeless, the un-propertied working poor and unemployed.
Meanwhile, Chinese millionaires are officially welcomed to Australia, under a new “significant investment” visa policy.
Capital is the only way around, over, under or through the fences that capital itself owns, together with the labour used to construct, maintain, and protect them. The fences themselves must be guarded with due vigilance. Your property is worthless without them. (In English the word “fence” means not just “defence” but also: “a receiving house for stolen goods”.)
No fence-sitting now. Of these evil twins, I’d prefer feeling “fenced in” to being “fenced out”.
At Woomera some of the people – and who can blame them for trying? – decided to take the law into their own hands, and through vigorous struggle eventually succeeded in taking down one small part of the fence. But as far as I know the fence still stands, electrified, crowned with razor-wire. It is, after all, merely the material embodiment, the representation of an idea: Property, the idée fixe of western civilization.
A languishing fence is a good omen for democracy proper. Conversely, As long as our civilization is essentially one of property, of fences, of exclusiveness, it will be mocked by delusions (Emerson).