"Localised colonisation"
If we think for a minute of the meaning of colonialism, we can interpret the use of colonisation, in not only the Global sense, but also in the local sense. For instance we could compare the colonisation of a whole country, with the colonisation of a local area of land, say in the form of a public park. Sure there are differences in scale and the application of force, inflicted by the colonising power, in order that their demands be met, but the techniques used in forming an imaginary, consensus favoring the coloniser's plans, have much in common in both the local and global experience.
"Colonization is the act, by a militarily strong country, of invading and taking over the sovereignty of another area, which then becomes known as a colony . This often includes the establishment of one or more settlements, also called "colonies", inhabited by emigrants from the colonizing power. "
What then is is the privatisation of public property, work, and land. but colonisation . The colonisation of a country changes the relationship between the country that is colonised and the coloniser. When Britain colonised India, the political, industrial and cultural sovereignty of that continent became subservient to British rule; the Indian cotton trade, whose product was far superior to the coloniser's, was destroyed to allow the influx of cheap British cotton; the technique of divide to control was applied by the rulers, pushing Muslim, against Sikh , and the partitioning of the Indian continent. Colonisation denies the sovranty of the colonised country and the rule of law becomes that of the coloniser
The parks in our city are a microcosm of global colonisation. This isn't as ridiculous as it sounds, If we look carefully enough at the procedures carried out pre, privatisation. Our parks are like what coloniser's like to call un-chartered territory, that is, land that remains still undiscovered; (immaterial of any indigenous population). Think of America, Africa, Australia, and so on. Even to-day, some maps used in American schools have areas of the Brazilian rain forest marked as "un chartered territory", much to the obvious anger of Brazilians.
The public park was conceived as a place of natural beauty as was America, before Columbus, only our localised Columbus, becomes Business interests.
It is typical of colonial powers, to try and convince the country, that they are about to invade, that it is for the countries own benefit. They will lay out the reasons why the nation in question needs saved from their mineral resources, indigenous skills, and rural communities. All this will be wrapped up in promises, gifts and a benign sense of maternal protection.
We are to be convinced through consultation to help the "Council ensure that the city's parks and open spaces achieve their true potential." The parks already achieve there true potential. as the American indian and their land had, before the intervention of Columbus, and his business backers death squads.
The Human component
In the case of Kelvingrove park and probably many others, what would keep park users happy is; if the parks department employed a few members of staff to keep the toilets opened when the park is, which is never the case. And that they employed a few more human 'parkies' to communicate with the humans who use the place, instead of investing in cheap but in the long run, expensive, ugly looking, CCTV cameras. (which we were not consulted about - along with every tree that is felled without permission, or the movement of heavy fairground equipment that is becoming all to regular an attachment, even at the smallest events in the park)
Being industrialists, the coloniser's, will guide the creative, subsistent, citizen away from the pursuit of meditative, reflection of environment, to the much more fulfilling pleasures of need. We need this and we need that, etc.
It is interesting to note here. When slavery was abolished, the freed slaves went back into the country side, blended in to their natural environment, built some simple shelter, grew crops, and fished to sustain themselves. The slave masters then needed a new form of dependency to control the autonomous, content nature of the indigenous people. This was achieved when 'needs' became the new chains. Once the populations of freed slaves were actively induced by the needs of western civilisation, houses, machines, artifacts and consumption, their liberty was once more curtailed by the masters, because they needed the wages of slavery also provided by the masters, in order to purchase the goods that would lock them into wesernised poverty.
Putting this in the perspective of the park. Keeping in mind the Idea of the city park was conceived by consciences victorian industrialists who realised industry was ruining and polluting our cities and the people needed respite from the ravages of industrial devastation.
Now we need the park to escape the equally ravages of consumerism, technology, private property, and non active entertainment that we are constantly being encouraged to be plugged into.
The indigenous people were fleeced of their land, minerals, autonomy, sovranty, and liberty because in of their honest naivety. Ownership was not recognised in their culture. With overpowering force against them, without recourse to law, rights, or the sophisticated weapons of their enemy, on tumbling the robbery, fought sometimes to the last. While in the west, we are educated by the coloniser's "civilising" influence, through tax, insurance, law, consumerism, entertainment, rent and wage slavery and are happily blind, ignorant or apathetic, to the parasites and out and out robbers of the public estate.
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