Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
F I V E
Apocalypse and the Limits
of Transformation
The only philosophy which can be responsibly practiced in the face of despair
is the attempt to contemplate all things as they would present themselves from
the standpoint of redemption.
T h e o d o r A d o r n o
This does not imply, however, that for the Jews the future turned into homo-
geneous, empty time. For every second of time was the straight gate through
which the Messiah might enter.
W A l T e r B e n j A m i n
During the dry season in northern Paraguay, the bulldoz-
ers never stopped. Manned by rotating crews, the massive
caged machines with stabilizer bars and halogen lamps rode
over and crushed the low forest, too dense to undercut, the
metal worn smooth by the plants. Working-class Paraguay-
ans said that driving one makes you
embrutecido
, brutish
and mean, that it damages your kidneys, spine, brain. As
the days lengthened and the heat of the sun intensified,
ranchers burned what the bulldozers pushed into mile-long
rows. Smoke covered thousands of square miles for weeks,
enough to make the streetlights in the Mennonite colonies
far to the south turn on at midday. The sky was twilight
gray; I woke with the taste of ashes and a thin film of white
on my tongue.
The harsh drone of the bulldozers was audible all day and
all night. In 2006, they were working south of Chaidi, carv-
ing a grid that pushed to the very limits of the Totobiegos-
ode land claim. The Areguede'urasade had occupied this
forest until the day of contact. The land being bulldozed
