quote:
Originally posted by JanesT:
You might want to brush up on African, and Native American history.
Entire regions have changed hands as far back as history's beginning.
They themselves did not even believe in 'owning land'.
It is the institution of 'law' that predicates who owns what, how resources are distrubuted, and how people live.
Nothing remains the same forever, most of all the people's living in any given region over time. Only the factor of time decides who is indigenous, and who isn't.
This may be true, Janie, but you may want to brush-up on your European history.
For sheer magnitude and brutality, there is nothing even remotely close to compare with the displacement and subjugation of indigenous populations by Europeans during the Colonial and Imperialist periods. We're talking about displacement on a global scale, not just a few groups of people, and not just a few hundred square miles.
And Europeans called them "savages". I think it was the other way around.
Yes, "Ownership" is a legal concept, with conditions and terms. Native Americans may not have known the idea of "ownership" of land as we do, but they certainly understood the idea of tribal possession and control, a concept not too distant from our idea of joint or corporate "ownership". If you don't believe this, go talk to the Lakhota Sioux about the Black Hills and see what they say.
You may want to brush-up on your economics while you're at it, Janie. I don't know what planet you're from, but last time I checked here in the good ol' U.S.A., it was supply and demand that determines price, which in turn determines the allocation of resources.
And I can't say much good about the "institution of law" concerning the way Black folks live. The "law" even in recent times, has often been a nightstick, a fist, or a club.
Also, xxGAMBITxx is right. Time doesn't change a damn thing. People and the forces of nature do. Time is an abstraction, stupid. Get it right.
.
.