148 lines
7.1 KiB
Markdown
148 lines
7.1 KiB
Markdown
**Highland New Guinea** is a collection of around 200 different groups
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of people with a population of several million which was untouched until
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the 1930s. It was a dense [society](List_of_Societies "wikilink") with
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an extremely advanced system of agriculture that was used for over
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[7,000 years](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism "wikilink"), the worlds
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longest experiment in [sustainable](Sustainability "wikilink") food
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production.
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## Decision-Making
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Villages in Highland New Guinea used [village
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assemblies](Democratic_Assembly "wikilink") which strove for
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[consensus](consensus "wikilink"). An anthropologist visiting the are
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described it as the "ultra-democratic extreme of bottom up
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decision-making".\[1\]
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> Within each village, instead of hereditary leaders or chiefs, there
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> were just individuals, called "big-men", who by force of personality
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> were more influential than other individuals but still lived in a hut
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> like everybody else's and still tilled a garden like anybody else's.
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> Decisions were (and often still are today) reached by means of
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> everybody in the village sitting down together and talking, and
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> talking, and talking. The big-men couldn't give orders, and they might
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> or might not succeed in persuading others to adopt their
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> proposals.\[2\]
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These measures were highly successful despite extreme conditions. There
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was a highly dense population that lacked metal tools and electricity
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who were often spread out across hundreds of kilometers, the mountains
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themselves were brutal, as villagers had to contend with snowstorms,
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heavy rain, droughts, earthquakes, volcano eruptions and a high
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population. Not only that, but their existence for seven thousand years
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meant they dealt with numerous small ice ages, global droughts, volcanic
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fallout, the arrival of Europeans, disease outbreaks, [climate
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change](Climate_Change "wikilink") and the introduction of a population
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explosion due to [modern medicine](Healthcare "wikilink") being
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introduced. Yet still these communities survived.\[3\] This proves that
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a decentralized society can sustain itself longer than any
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[state](state "wikilink") in history and exist in complex and rapidly
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changing [systems](systems "wikilink").
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## Economy
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Villages in Highland New Guinea had no system of
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[currency](Money "wikilink") nor evidence of a [centrally planned
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economy](Central_Planning "wikilink"), likely making it
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[anarcho-communist](Anarcho-Communism "wikilink") in nature. Using this,
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they were able to sustainably exist for seven thousand years and
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construct numerous housing that could fit all people, as well as [common
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ownership](Commons "wikilink") of [land](land "wikilink"). When problems
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like deforestation and soil loss threatened communities, there was a
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very strong incentive to look for solutions to these problems and
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develop new methods of agriculture to prevent them.\[4\]
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> When airplanes chartered by biologists and miners first flew over the
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> interior in the 1930s, for the pilots to see below them a landscape
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> transformed by millions of people previously unknown to the outside
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> world. The scene looked like the most densely populated areas of
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> [Holland](Kingdom_of_the_Nederlands "wikilink"): broad open valleys
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> with few clumps of trees, divided as far as the eye could see into
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> neatly laid-out gardens separated by ditches for irrigation and
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> drainage, terraced steep hillsides reminiscent of
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> [Java](Republic_of_Indonesia "wikilink") or
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> [Japan](Japan "wikilink").\[5\]
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[Innovation](Innovation "wikilink") was also very strong in Highland New
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Guinea, being one of only ten societies in the world to independently
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discover [agriculture](agriculture "wikilink"). Numerous efforts to stop
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[environmental destruction](Ecocide "wikilink") and agricultural
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techniques so advanced and efficient that they baffled European
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agronomists and [scientists](Science "wikilink") attempting to learn
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from them.\[6\]
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## Environmental Protection
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Villages in Highland New Guinea had numerous methods for protecting the
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environment, which allowed them to sustainably farm and build things for
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seven thousand years\[7\], methods such as:
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- Vertical drainage ditches to prevent flooding of gardens
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- Adding weeds, grass, old vines and other organic matter to the soil
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to compost it
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- Using ash, cut vegetation, rotting logs, chicken poo as mulch and
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fertilizer
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- Crop rotation to keep nitrogen levels in the soil stable
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- Extensive reforestation efforts to keep nitrogen stable and to
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ensure a supply of wood for fuel and construction
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## Culture
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People from Highland New Guinea have been described very positively by
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foreign anthropologists:
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> New Guineans are more curious and experimental than any other people
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> that I have encountered. When in my early years in New Guinea I saw
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> someone who had acquired a pencil, which was still an unfamiliar
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> object then, the pencil would be tried out for a myriad purposes other
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> than writing: a hair decoration? a stabbing tool? something to chew
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> on? a long earring? a plug through the pierced nasal septum? Whenever
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> I take New Guineans to work with me in areas away from their own
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> village, they are constantly picking up local plants, asking local
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> people about the plants' uses, and selecting some of the plants to
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> bring back with them and try growing at home.\[8\]
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## Decline
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With the arrival of [Nederlander](Kingdom_of_the_Nederlands "wikilink")
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and [Australian](Commonwealth_of_Australia "wikilink") colonialism in
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the 1930s as well as the introduction of diseases and theft of communal
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land holdings for colonial use. The creation of the [independent
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Indonesian state](Republic_of_Indonesia "wikilink") also led to
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genocidal actions carried out against the population, including slavery,
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massacres and the burning of villages. However, many villages still
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remain autonomous from [states](State_\(Polity\) "wikilink") and the
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[Papua Genocide](Papua_Genocide "wikilink").
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## See Also
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- [Aboriginal Australian
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Society](Aboriginal_Australian_Society "wikilink")
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- [Tikopia](Tikopia "wikilink")
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## References
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<references />
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1. Jared Diamond (2005) [Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or
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Succeed](Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed "wikilink"),
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page 294
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2.
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3. Jared Diamond (2005) [Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or
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Succeed](Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed "wikilink"),
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page 296
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4. Jared Diamond (2005) [Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or
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Succeed](Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed "wikilink"),
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page 293
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5. Jared Diamond (2005) [Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or
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Succeed](Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed "wikilink"),
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page 290
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6. Jared Diamond (2005) [Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or
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Succeed](Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed "wikilink"),
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page 290 and 291
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7. Jared Diamond (2005) [Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or
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Succeed](Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed "wikilink"),
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page 287 - 293
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8. Jared Diamond (2005) [Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or
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Succeed](Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed "wikilink"),
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page 295 |