In the pursuit for human development, it is important to distinguish material growth or the accumulation model from genuine human development. The greed-based race for material acquisition under the accumulation model remains the central deterrent to human development that has devastating consequences on indigenous people that live in close proximity to vast repositories of natural resources. This race, characterized by competitive consumerism, destabilizes and destroys the power and essence of culture by replacing it with a culture of power based on wanting something they don’t have. This wanting negatively disrupts life and alienates people from their roots, causing confusion, despair and poverty.
The impact of the accumulation model undermines the richness of humanity by replacing it with unhealthy wanting generated by advertising images that are supposed to bring happiness, financial wealth, sex appeal, status and so forth. Our true feelings and sincere desires are suppressed and questioned by this alluring greed. When this happens our very survival is reduced to a race for power that threatens every aspect of our existence from natural resources to human resources.
Appalling sacrifices have been made for such relentless materialistic progress, trampling over everything in its way that justifies all the sacrifices made in the name of progress. This is driven by the idea that only the strongest survive and that the end justifies the means. Subsequently, humankind is reduced to objects of history and systems that suppress and deny the people’s basic human worth and dignity. Everything is legitimized in the name of progress. Clearly, the systems that perpetuate structural oppression and push people to the margins are what stand in the way of human development.
This phenomenon has been disorientating and has usurped common sense; perhaps it is time to reflect and discern upon our own culture and honestly identify what the heart is saying. It is reassuring to know that when knowledge and wisdom meet, the truth emerges. At its core, human development is about creating new ways of thinking, living and doing through generating an inclusive and life-giving culture.
