TOM EATON: Unity is strength until you are outside looking in
'It can be moving. It can force progressive change. But ultimately it is an idea wielded as a weapon by old, entrenched, hegemonic power'
EXTRACT
When I read that we need to unite against this or that social scourge, or unite to save South Africa, or unite to support some or other sports team, I try to remember that such exhortations are thousands of years old. The alleged benefits of unity – safety, strength in numbers, belonging, utopia, heaven – have been dangled by powerful and cynical men in front or frightened people since Babylon. Come inside the walls and be cared far. Serve the king and be fed. Submit to the empire and be safe. Pray to the one god and find love.
The basic problem with unity, of course, is that it doesn’t mean unity. It certainly doesn’t mean a common humanity, or genuine compassion, or an attempt to understand the human condition. All it means is picking teams. Unity, by definition, implies the existence of people living outside the wall. After all, if there were nobody outside the wall you wouldn’t be unified, you’d just be.
Siya Kolisi's Springboks have united us. The ANC is battling for unity. The United States of America have threatened the unity of the Western world, and Europe must unite or fade. Will North and South Korea unite? Unity. It's everywhere, presented in a thousand speeches and news reports and films and television shows as something to strive for. Unity, we are told, is our collective shield against anarchy. Unity is a home in which all are welcome. Unity is a serene state of being in a scary and fractured world.It all seems to make a certain sense. Unity has many real advantages. For starters, it feels fantastic. Roaring in unison with a legion of fellow roarers ignites the blood and explodes the brain. It allows one a taste of primal bliss, when we all sat in the forest canopy and whooped our gratitude at the euphoric dawn. There are also practical benefits, like concentrated human settlement, which gave us division of labour, which gave us specialisation, which gave us the greatest ...
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