Question the Myth of Progress

QUESTION the myth of PROGRESS

This picture shows Chief Raoni crying when he learned that the President of Brazil approved the Belo Monte dam project on the Xingu indigenous lands. Belo Monte will be bigger than the Panama Canal, flooding over 400,000 hectares of rainforest and indigenous lands. 40,000 indigenous and local people will be forced off their native lands in the name of progress and economic development.

Consider our language of progress and development, and its' affects. We commonly believe and accept that we as humanity are moving toward a world of great economic and technological control, and that this is invariably good. "Developed" nations call other nations "developing", which places them within our worldview. They are just a little behind us, trying to catch up. When they do, they will be as "progressive" and fortunate as we are. This myth persists in spite of the widening global gap between the rich and poor, and the evidence that increased industrialization continues to lower, not raise the standard of living for people all over the world.

Let us stop arrogantly pursuing this myth at the expense of the poor, the racially marginalized, our health both mental and physical, and our stewardship of the natural world. It's time to humbly reconsider a world based on the true values of justice, peace, and equality, even if at the expense of the values that can only be measured in numbers on paper.