The „Big brother” is choking us. Everywhere, there are bots and clones, the culture is in ruins, the economy has breathed out, bribed-empty zombies without an idea, without essence, voting on elections, and they will sell us out for a sandwich or some state job. The resignation is deeper and more toxic, as the only option for salvation is fleeing from our country, which means there is no salvation.
Where and how to escape? Into an inhospitable consumerism world where you will always be a cheap labor or simply "another"? And what if you can’t, what if you fail? After all, wherever you look in the world, its no longer a sweet and safe place; Old invoices come in charge, social differences are to big, economies start collapsing and people feel that are sold, existential uncertainty becomes a rule, not an exception.
We exist in the same part of time as, for example, Donald Tramp, Kim Kardashian, ISIS, Versace, Justin Bieber, hipsters, Boko Haram…. How can we survive, despite the cards given to us in this - the only life? How to survive various forms of dictatorship? Like the dictatorship of globalization, mediocrity, instant popularity, sexual liberation, "must have events" and "necessary products"?
Ethnology, introduces us to the notion of "false archaism", as Lévi-Strauss calls it, and this is what Jovan Cvijić called "ethnographic refreshes" fifty years before Strauss. This means that one society, faced with cataclysmic events, returns to some older, once abandoned, elements of economy, culture, social organization, which enable it to survive. In our country (Serbia), Ottoman empire occupied us, we had an example of the revival of the medieval tribal organization and cooperative society. People flee into the hills and villages, return to their old ways of life, the concept of farming or a family self-sufficient economy. It is a re-radicalization of society - it sometimes seems like a mere conservatism or regression, but it can be unequivocally functional and enables survival in a situation where not only development, but the survival itself, is questionable. In this, the cause should be the contemporary return to religion (for example for us who live in Serbia), or events such as: returning to extensive agriculture, denial of property, eco-movement…
In modern economic conditions, left to multinational and powerful companies which are devouring resources and making us dependent, the only meaningful resistance is to encourage self-sufficiency. We need to focus on not buying unnecessarily, we must to economize. It's better to patch and fix something what we prefer to use, what can be reused - from linen sheets and towels, toknitted baskets. We can return to the barter - exchanging goods or services without using money.
Homemade cookies, sun-dried fruits instead of industrial sweets. Preferably raw food – apples from the grandfather garden, nettles from the suburbs… Sewing at home or at neighborhood; The pursuit of a practical, individual style instead of tracking the trend, which again withdraws unnecessary consumption. Bicycle instead of a car; or just walking. Hanging out in houses with homemade food and drinks instead of going to fancy clubs. Everything that distorts taxes and everything that undermines the system in a subtle way.
Returning to the essence of humanity is something like restarting in the "safe mode". We are obsessed with the possession of imposed needs, we waste time and energy - which we than can’t spend on greater things.. The man - no matter how much they assured us otherwise - has a soul, and that soul needs to be fed.We can borrow books from our friends, or from a library. The world is full of pictures and music - in the streets, on the radio, on the Internet… It can easily be downloaded.
We are creators by our nature. Our grandmothers were knitting and knotting, our grandfathers dealt with woodwork andall kind of crafts. Man needs to do something with his hands, to shape something, to create it, to give birth, to leave a trace. Everything can be expressed in something, whether through cooking, painting, writing, singing, playing; And sometimes it can bring additional income to troubled home economies.
Ethnology teaches us that human societies are based on exchange - on the exchange of words and goods first and foremost. We need people. We walk without support, friendship and love, and we are degenerating into psychotic freaks. The most important thing is that we love; Even when it seems that the whole world despise us or laugh at us, there is someone we care about (maybe that one is walking on four legs). Hanging out, chatting, laughing, and even crying on a hospitable shoulder, are healing. When you kiss the child in a hair, when you hold hands, when you make love - then you are just your own, then you are being you.
We need to find a niche in a world in which we will feel good, warm and safe; Avoiding the occasional noise of reality, news, social networks, information and being in silence, closeness and unity with nature, with people around you - as in the “original” community.
Let's take care of something that’s most urgent - solidarity, compassion, care for other people.Of course we should also be able to show our teeth, but it is important to learn our descendants (and remind ourselves) that goals don’t justify the means and that there are boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed; There is dignity, honor, humanity, that there is respect for ourselves and for others.
We must stand up every time when they want to destroy a man in us! Stand with those who need our help. The point of compassion and tolerance is to see ourselves in the other; To see a man in the other and a man in ourselves.