Paying the Land
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE GUARDIAN, THE BROOKLYN RAIL, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, POP MATTERS, COMICS BEAT, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
From the “heir to R. Crumb and Art Spiegelman” (The Economist), a masterful work of comics journalism about indigenous North America, resource extraction, and our debt to the natural world
The Dene have lived in the vast Mackenzie River Valley since time immemorial, by their account. To the Dene, the land owns them, not the other way around, and it is central to their livelihood and very way of being. But the subarctic Canadian Northwest Territories are home to valuable resources, including oil, gas, and diamonds. With mining came jobs and investment, but also road-building, pipelines, and toxic waste, which scarred the landscape, and alcohol, drugs, and debt, which deformed a way of life.
In Paying the Land, Joe Sacco travels the frozen North to reveal a people in conflict over the costs and benefits of development. The mining boom is only the latest assault on indigenous culture: Sacco recounts the shattering impact of a residential school system that aimed to “remove the Indian from the child”; the destructive process that drove the Dene from the bush into settlements and turned them into wage laborers; the government land claims stacked against the Dene Nation; and their uphill efforts to revive a wounded culture.
Against a vast and gorgeous landscape that dwarfs all human scale, Paying the Land lends an ear to trappers and chiefs, activists and priests, to tell a sweeping story about money, dependency, loss, and culture—recounted in stunning visual detail by one of the greatest cartoonists alive.
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Community Reviews
I have 1 issue with it and that's the biased retelling where the author tries to explain WHY their society is the way it is using their own stories as god's true word. Unfortunately he's not quite a historian or social scientist and he messes around with stuff he shouldn't. His Bosnia book is great. But he never tells us why something happened there. Just what is happening and how it came about. No psychoanalysis or historical analysis. The ending of this book is extremely forced and cringe.
Sacco has written some pro Palestine books and supported Muslims in the Yugoslavia conflict he wrote about. He likes marginalized poor and dysfunctional societies that are battling a stronger power trying to ruin them. Yet it's just not always the case. There is no bad guy here. He says White Christians forced them into school so now they have mass sexual abuse, domestic violence, and alcohol and drug abuse. 80% are unemployed and don't want to work even when offered a job. Was it because of the forced schooling? One way to figure it out is to compare them to similar groups where children were not forced into schools. How did those tribes turn out? If it's pretty much the same thing then maybe the forced schooling is not the common factor. It's not really a deep experiment it's just plain basic logic which he never applies. Why are they unemployed? Well, those White people 50 years ago they ... Without comparisons it's pure progressive speculation one cannot take seriously at all. Sure, you can use confirmation bias and prove any theory. I can even show that all these Canadian tribes grew up in cold environments therefore ... bla, bla, bla. Truth be told without schooling none of them would be able to read or write which could have caused bigger problems than their current ones. Things can be worse.
The book is a great overview of natives in Canada. They definitely have issues and he sorta mentions a lot yet only tackles the progressive point of view; the schooling. But they have way more problems causing all this and they explain it directly themselves. One older man said it was the government handouts. They go from hunting to now just getting paid for doing nothing and drink all day. Before they had to hunt to survive. Now they do nothing. Since ALL tribes get handouts this is another common factor that could explain a lot.
Secondly they have a huge area under their control and other tribes have their own areas. This is not any fair Western land dispute where you have the land you use or took use of. Nope, if the tribe historically hunted many days away then that area belongs to them too even if they don't hunt anymore. Which means giant land areas with gas and diamonds now are controlled by tribes who have zero use for any of this and no means to dig for it. Many of them don't want any drilling as it could potentially pollute their environment wiping out hunting. It's dying out anyhow, but they feel the land is essential to their tribe. Any fossil fuel company has to make a deal with Canada, then the state or states, then multiple tribes, then fend off activists who don't care about what the tribes decide. And these tribes don't really do much document signing with lawyers. Rather they get together and holistically discuss what could work. Many don't want any drilling and protest it violently even refuse to talk to people who accept it. Others are more open yet never fully. Always talking about how they want a profit yet don't want to pollute anything. One woman was offered 12% of the profit. She declines saying they want 50% and hence she is against drilling as she is not getting her tribe that 50%. They never agree on one thing. They all want to make money yet as most are willingly unemployed money is not really as essential hence they are hard to really push into wanting drilling outright. They are waiting for the perfect offer. The one big profit. Yet we have multiple stories here with the people getting a bunch of money drinking themselves to death or near death and no story about someone getting a big profit and doing something useful with it. So why do they want all this money? What is the use? They don't want to work so why are they this extremely eager to get money for renting out the land?
Such debates are giant issues for the huge companies needing clear agreements. There are none to be had so you build a $3bn mine and then have some deal with the 6000 tribe members who for some reason own more land than you can travel in days just because 150 years ago they used to hunt far away. Other tribes also want the same land as it's more money for them. Tribes with no lawyers or educated people are tricked by smarter tribes who are sending experts not just random old men. It's all a giant mess making them all angry at each other.
The young men don't want to work. It's hard to even find 5 people to take a temp job for a good wage. The gas companies are definitely not feeling like they are settling down in areas with a good work force when many are drunk daily and most don't want to work. Not even to sustain their society - they just play video games. The investment for companies has to be worth it and yet it's hard to even put down an oil pipe as you need to place it in multiple tribe areas where Western college students may show up and stop the work on it. Frankly I see why it's mad hard to make this work economically even if it would be worth it in any other area. They never quite answer why all this land is theirs. Why not just take what you need today? Why be greedy? But when the author interviews old people many ask for money and leave when he doesn't pay them. They are used to come to meetings with companies or researchers getting $100 for a day just giving their opinion on things. Many big companies are trying to start a business and need the tribe to agree with them. Yet there is no agreement to be had, ever. They don't actually do the White people stuff. They say that it's colonizing, imperialism. All the clear landownerships and contracts are not their own. They don't even recognize their own old contracts as ... it's just documents.
They now use mobile scooters not sleds. It's wicked expensive now and frankly not easy work. The common hunting and fishing trips are gone. The young men ask an older man inviting them on a trip how much he'd pay them for it. It's his culture yet not theirs and they don't care about it. They know that now their culture and traditions are a sales pitch not something they actually practice. They have all these hunting areas they asked for yet don't actually use it for anything. It's just there. Why did they demand it? Why fight for it?
The book is grounded with plenty of characters and stories. They definitely have a million stories and excuses for why they didn't end up even having jobs or wanting jobs. Why they in some ways have lost all dignity in their tribe and name. Now they even bicker about who will be chief. People resign fast as what's the point of leading people who just do drugs all day? Yet alcoholics want the chief job as it means they will keep busy with it instead of drinking. It's not exactly like being a mayor of a significant town. Or being a manager in a company. They didn't merely lose themselves. Much, much worse is the sad story they tell themselves about why it happened.
Overall I see the problems and see the solutions. I think the main issue is who you blame. If they blame White people and events 50 years ago then nothing will ever change as those events won't ever change unless you get a time machine. One radical left-winger activist says he dreams about getting a time machine to travel to the past and hunt with his forefathers to get out of the laziness. Yet is hunting the solution to anything? If it was they could do it right this moment.
In recent time, post the book, protestors travelled to their towns and burned down their churches. Over 500. The thing that connects families and gives them hope. As they want to punish the church for mass graves. It was later revealed those were just roots not human remains. Many of their churches they built themselves are gone and no one has apologized and most activists who support tribes hate religion so they have not really fixed this issue or helped out rebuilt them. They are Christians and it's what keeps their societies running now. Yet outsiders want to somehow force them 150 years into the past.
I'm sure their past history could be understood in a new way. Which would make them overcome it mentally. Right now they are stuck playing this blame game lashing out at everyone and accepting the status quo. And every time a business wants to create an industry they ask for money. Seldom even considering how many billions Canada loses when they can't agree on anything in the tribe. At least just once consider another group. They only think about themselves. Like if they are the only people on Earth who matter. This arrogance was common in the Western world too. But we have moved past it. So it's sad they are stuck in this lower tier of moral thinking. Again showing why they are stuck in life. I see all this grand potential and no one to lead them anywhere. It's sad. What they really lack is leadership. A clear goal in life. This stuff about being one with nature was extremely cringe to read. Claiming it's in their genes to hunt and what makes them whole. Yet it's in everyone's genes. We have evolved to hunt and gather. Again, it feels like an extremely narcissistic tribe. As if they are hunters and all those White people are not. If your forefathers survived long enough to reproduce it means they hunted and gathered successfully in the tribe. Just like this group of people.
I loved learning about their modern day issues. I liked the intro about hunting. I absolutely hated the philosophy about who to blame and for what.
Sacco has written some pro Palestine books and supported Muslims in the Yugoslavia conflict he wrote about. He likes marginalized poor and dysfunctional societies that are battling a stronger power trying to ruin them. Yet it's just not always the case. There is no bad guy here. He says White Christians forced them into school so now they have mass sexual abuse, domestic violence, and alcohol and drug abuse. 80% are unemployed and don't want to work even when offered a job. Was it because of the forced schooling? One way to figure it out is to compare them to similar groups where children were not forced into schools. How did those tribes turn out? If it's pretty much the same thing then maybe the forced schooling is not the common factor. It's not really a deep experiment it's just plain basic logic which he never applies. Why are they unemployed? Well, those White people 50 years ago they ... Without comparisons it's pure progressive speculation one cannot take seriously at all. Sure, you can use confirmation bias and prove any theory. I can even show that all these Canadian tribes grew up in cold environments therefore ... bla, bla, bla. Truth be told without schooling none of them would be able to read or write which could have caused bigger problems than their current ones. Things can be worse.
The book is a great overview of natives in Canada. They definitely have issues and he sorta mentions a lot yet only tackles the progressive point of view; the schooling. But they have way more problems causing all this and they explain it directly themselves. One older man said it was the government handouts. They go from hunting to now just getting paid for doing nothing and drink all day. Before they had to hunt to survive. Now they do nothing. Since ALL tribes get handouts this is another common factor that could explain a lot.
Secondly they have a huge area under their control and other tribes have their own areas. This is not any fair Western land dispute where you have the land you use or took use of. Nope, if the tribe historically hunted many days away then that area belongs to them too even if they don't hunt anymore. Which means giant land areas with gas and diamonds now are controlled by tribes who have zero use for any of this and no means to dig for it. Many of them don't want any drilling as it could potentially pollute their environment wiping out hunting. It's dying out anyhow, but they feel the land is essential to their tribe. Any fossil fuel company has to make a deal with Canada, then the state or states, then multiple tribes, then fend off activists who don't care about what the tribes decide. And these tribes don't really do much document signing with lawyers. Rather they get together and holistically discuss what could work. Many don't want any drilling and protest it violently even refuse to talk to people who accept it. Others are more open yet never fully. Always talking about how they want a profit yet don't want to pollute anything. One woman was offered 12% of the profit. She declines saying they want 50% and hence she is against drilling as she is not getting her tribe that 50%. They never agree on one thing. They all want to make money yet as most are willingly unemployed money is not really as essential hence they are hard to really push into wanting drilling outright. They are waiting for the perfect offer. The one big profit. Yet we have multiple stories here with the people getting a bunch of money drinking themselves to death or near death and no story about someone getting a big profit and doing something useful with it. So why do they want all this money? What is the use? They don't want to work so why are they this extremely eager to get money for renting out the land?
Such debates are giant issues for the huge companies needing clear agreements. There are none to be had so you build a $3bn mine and then have some deal with the 6000 tribe members who for some reason own more land than you can travel in days just because 150 years ago they used to hunt far away. Other tribes also want the same land as it's more money for them. Tribes with no lawyers or educated people are tricked by smarter tribes who are sending experts not just random old men. It's all a giant mess making them all angry at each other.
The young men don't want to work. It's hard to even find 5 people to take a temp job for a good wage. The gas companies are definitely not feeling like they are settling down in areas with a good work force when many are drunk daily and most don't want to work. Not even to sustain their society - they just play video games. The investment for companies has to be worth it and yet it's hard to even put down an oil pipe as you need to place it in multiple tribe areas where Western college students may show up and stop the work on it. Frankly I see why it's mad hard to make this work economically even if it would be worth it in any other area. They never quite answer why all this land is theirs. Why not just take what you need today? Why be greedy? But when the author interviews old people many ask for money and leave when he doesn't pay them. They are used to come to meetings with companies or researchers getting $100 for a day just giving their opinion on things. Many big companies are trying to start a business and need the tribe to agree with them. Yet there is no agreement to be had, ever. They don't actually do the White people stuff. They say that it's colonizing, imperialism. All the clear landownerships and contracts are not their own. They don't even recognize their own old contracts as ... it's just documents.
They now use mobile scooters not sleds. It's wicked expensive now and frankly not easy work. The common hunting and fishing trips are gone. The young men ask an older man inviting them on a trip how much he'd pay them for it. It's his culture yet not theirs and they don't care about it. They know that now their culture and traditions are a sales pitch not something they actually practice. They have all these hunting areas they asked for yet don't actually use it for anything. It's just there. Why did they demand it? Why fight for it?
The book is grounded with plenty of characters and stories. They definitely have a million stories and excuses for why they didn't end up even having jobs or wanting jobs. Why they in some ways have lost all dignity in their tribe and name. Now they even bicker about who will be chief. People resign fast as what's the point of leading people who just do drugs all day? Yet alcoholics want the chief job as it means they will keep busy with it instead of drinking. It's not exactly like being a mayor of a significant town. Or being a manager in a company. They didn't merely lose themselves. Much, much worse is the sad story they tell themselves about why it happened.
Overall I see the problems and see the solutions. I think the main issue is who you blame. If they blame White people and events 50 years ago then nothing will ever change as those events won't ever change unless you get a time machine. One radical left-winger activist says he dreams about getting a time machine to travel to the past and hunt with his forefathers to get out of the laziness. Yet is hunting the solution to anything? If it was they could do it right this moment.
In recent time, post the book, protestors travelled to their towns and burned down their churches. Over 500. The thing that connects families and gives them hope. As they want to punish the church for mass graves. It was later revealed those were just roots not human remains. Many of their churches they built themselves are gone and no one has apologized and most activists who support tribes hate religion so they have not really fixed this issue or helped out rebuilt them. They are Christians and it's what keeps their societies running now. Yet outsiders want to somehow force them 150 years into the past.
I'm sure their past history could be understood in a new way. Which would make them overcome it mentally. Right now they are stuck playing this blame game lashing out at everyone and accepting the status quo. And every time a business wants to create an industry they ask for money. Seldom even considering how many billions Canada loses when they can't agree on anything in the tribe. At least just once consider another group. They only think about themselves. Like if they are the only people on Earth who matter. This arrogance was common in the Western world too. But we have moved past it. So it's sad they are stuck in this lower tier of moral thinking. Again showing why they are stuck in life. I see all this grand potential and no one to lead them anywhere. It's sad. What they really lack is leadership. A clear goal in life. This stuff about being one with nature was extremely cringe to read. Claiming it's in their genes to hunt and what makes them whole. Yet it's in everyone's genes. We have evolved to hunt and gather. Again, it feels like an extremely narcissistic tribe. As if they are hunters and all those White people are not. If your forefathers survived long enough to reproduce it means they hunted and gathered successfully in the tribe. Just like this group of people.
I loved learning about their modern day issues. I liked the intro about hunting. I absolutely hated the philosophy about who to blame and for what.
