Divide and Conquer: The Oldest Trick in the Book

Dear Editor, 

History teaches us that one of the most effective ways for the powerful to maintain control is through division. The Romans mastered it, Julius Caesar exploited tribal rivalries, and Machiavelli wrote about it centuries later. Colonial powers perfected it by amplifying ethnic, tribal, and class differences to keep populations from uniting.

The principle is simple: a divided people are easier to control than a united people.

And today, Palau and Oceania are not immune.

We see division everywhere. Workers are pitted against each other. Public-sector employees are blamed for inefficiency while private-sector workers are told they have it harder. Young people are dismissed as lazy while elders are accused of clinging to outdated ways. Locals are told foreigners are the problem, while foreigners are blamed for taking opportunities. Families are pulled apart by economic stress.

But the most powerful divider today is money and influence. Military expansion, foreign aid, and grants arrive with promises of development, yet they often function like crumbs from a larger table. Leaders distribute these crumbs to maintain control, while ordinary Palauans fight over who gets what little is offered. Instead of building a strong, independent economy, we are conditioned to depend on external funding. Dependency breeds division, and division makes control easier.

This is not just about Palau. At the Pacific Island Forum, our so-called fair-weather friends constantly fight each other and force us to choose sides. That choice makes us targets — militarily, economically, and environmentally. While Oceania faces the climate crisis, rising costs of living, and the burden of Palau’s Government Stress Tax (PGST), while our president wants us to believe in his “Palauan First” smoke screen by rebranding Belau as a new economic theme: B.E.L.A.U. — Building Economies: Life. Action. Unity.

It sounds inspiring, but whose economy are we building? The U.S.? China? Australia? Or Palauans? For 55 years, Oceania has been trapped in ATNA — All Talk, No Action. That is exactly what our friends want: a divided Pacific, easy to conquer, so they can extract our resources while we argue among ourselves.

And here’s another truth: the existence of another poor person is not why you’re poor. It’s not the undocumented worker, the foreign laborer, or the neighbor down the street. Poverty persists because those who control the system refuse to increase wages, while resource prices rise and inequality deepens. As one critic put it, “This whole wall-deport-the-illegals bullshit is just the one percent convincing the working poor to blame a subset of the working poor for the fact that they’re all poor.” What is the Economic Wall we are building while are people are… 

The Silent Majority believes the antidote is unity. When the fisherman realizes the farmer is not his enemy, when the private-sector worker sees the government employee is not his enemy, when the young and old recognize they share the same struggle, the conversation changes. Instead of asking “Why does he get something I don’t?” we begin asking “Why aren’t ordinary people getting a fair share of the prosperity we create?”

This is not about left versus right. It’s about rich keeping it and the poor dreaming about it. It is about recognizing that corruption thrives when people are divided, and accountability grows when people unite. So the next time someone tells you your neighbor is the reason you’re struggling, pause. Ask yourself: who benefits from me believing that?

Because history has already taught us: if you can keep people fighting each other, you don’t have to worry about them joining together to challenge you.

Don’t let them divide us. Don’t let them distract us. Don’t let them make us enemies. The people have more power together than they do divided.

Everything for Everyone and Nothing for Ourselves.

Your Humble Servant

Dudalm Kelulau

The Silent Majority