The Nomadic Alternative – Page 255

The Incest Taboo, or compulsion to 'marry far' not only averts

the maladaptive consequences of inbreeding, but also, as part of the gift exchange cycle, enables neighbours to live at peace with each other and regulate territorial frontiers by diplomatic means.

'Marrying far' thus removes the source of friction which causes inter-band fights among animals.

But the human society is also a unit of defence, perpetually mobilized against the sudden attack of an outside (non-human) menace.

Each man proves at least once in his life his ability to fight the Beast, but his normal reaction is to pack up and run for it.

Such as I understand it is the blueprint - the given theme to which all religions, revolutions and human renewals refer. We do not look forward to the Society of Equals. We look back.

Incidentally the "Natural History of Defence" is nothing new.

In the 14th Century Ib'n Khaldun recognized the wild beast as the original enemy and made wise speculations on the nature of society and the origin of war between man and man:

The power of any one man cannot prevail over the power of any one dumb animal, especially the power of predatory animals. He lacks the capacity to defend himself alone. Nor can his strength unaided employ the traditional instruments. Too many of them exist and their use demands specialist knowledge. The one man must insist on the cooperation of his fellow men. This is vital. Without such cooperation he starves and life withers...

The animal desire (instinct) to attack others and destroy them or dominate them, confronts man with the need to defend himself against the wild animals which would destroy him if he lived alone. Man can protect himself only through communal defence. His faculties help him become dexterous in the shaping of tools and to organize communities for providing them. In moments of surplus (my italics) when the needs of the individual are surpassed, the war of all against all breaks out with equipment designed to defend himself against wild animals ...

IX

It now remains for us to see what happens to the human infants in conditions of surplus, when "the needs of the individual are surpassed" and the madness of possessions supplants the free exchange of gifts. Commitment to surplus initiates a graded series of traumas