Haiti
Since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti on January 12th, 2010, dozens, hundreds, and thousands of articles and think pieces have been written. In the face of one of the greatest disasters in human history, what else can one really write about? Although the international community, and solidarity workers, activists, and reporters for the most part have demonstrated and carried out tremendous support for the devastated masses of Haiti, the United-States has declared itself the leader in heading the 'humanitarian' effort and has taken control of the Port-Au-Prince airport, but has demonstrated leadership only in its disregard for human life.
As of January 21st, 80,000 people have been confirmed dead, the number climbs daily and will rise most likely to as high 200,000, maybe even 300,000, but with extremely scarce resources and logistical capacity, and with mass graves being the only possible solution, the true number of dead will never be known.
The Medical relief group Partners in Health released a statement saying some 20,000 people are dying each day due to a lack of medical equipment and supplies who could be saved by surgery.
The World Food Program as of january 21st said it had distributed about one million food rations to 200,000 people, only about one fifteenth of the estimated 3 million who are in need and awaiting food. The agency says it needs to hand out 100 million food rations in the next month, but is on pace to have only 16 million available, which means, clearly, that the death toll will continue to climb steadily to monumental proportions.
A French plane of massive support with huge amounts of supplies and food was diverted to Santo Domingo for three straight days, and supplies continue to pile up and stagnate at the airport with very minimal mobilization and distribution to the suffering people, while U.S. soldiers and military capacity continue to unload and set up shop. Humanity knows that Haiti needs water, bread, and medical supplies, not marines and fully-automatics.
U.S. soldiers and marines are now occupying Haiti, over 12,000 of them in the first week alone.
The U.N. security council has authorized the deployment of an additional 3,500 troops to Haiti, on top of the already 7,000 strong presence of the MINUSTAH, the U.N. military mission to Haiti. MINUSTAH is nothing more than an occupation force which controls and punishes the devastated poor working class neighborhoods of Cite Soleil and others in Port-Au-Prince, to maintain the structure of impotence, and to enforce the agenda of privatizations. On top of that, the international force numbers some 3,500 troops. The U.S. troop presence in Haiti is now 15,000, increasing total foreign military presence to close to 30,000 in just a few days. Why, the people of Haiti, and the people of the world wonder, is such massive combat capacity and fire power necessary to deal with a suffering population who are barely alive, and with no existing security threats.
Doctors, activists, and aid and solidarity workers on the ground in Haiti have said repeatedly that there are no security issues in Port-Au-Prince, that they have been traveling around the city moving equipment and patients till 2 and 3 in the morning, and that there is absolutely nothing to worry about. The corrupt Haitian government and the U.S. have used as a pretext for security concerns that the Port-Au-Prince jail collapsed during the earthquake releasing all of its prisoners, those who survived, but human rights activists and lawyers estimate that 60 to 80 % of the prison population are either political prisoners and/or have never even been charged, let alone convicted. So it seems what the U.S. is really worried about is the potential "threat" of political organizing, and a pretext to occupy the country.
In the U.S, over 11,000, almost 12,000 nurses from the National Nurses Union volunteered about a week after the earthquake struck to go to Haiti to contribute to the massive need for health professionals, to fill the gigantic lack of nurses in the country. This offer was made directly to the Obama administration from the executive director of the NNU, was ignored for a few days, then was directed to some low level department with no authority to make decisions, and that was that. Over 11,000 nurses literally awaiting transportation to Haiti, when the U.S is allegedly "spearheading" the humanitarian effort, and their offer doesn't even get a response.
Cuba and ALBA's Response and Presence in Haiti
Meanwhile Cuba, the world's greatest evil, as the U.S would have it, is once again leading the way, leading the humanitarian effort by example in crisis zones, as it always does. As of January 25th, it is reported that 657 Cuban trained healthcare professionals currently working in Haiti, including 417 Cubans and 240 Haitians. In Port-au-Prince, they are working in three hospitals: La Paz, La Renaissance and Ofatma. According to Dr. Carlos Alberto Garcia, head of the Cuban health mission in Haiti, Cuban doctors have performed more than 1,700 surgeries, 800 of which were complicated. All together the Cuban doctors have attended more than 18,000 patients in Haiti.
On January 26, the Yahoo! news group Cuba News, headed by Walter Lippmann reported that "Through January 22, 20,095 patients had been treated and 1,954 surgeries performed.
Cuban doctors are working in 21 care points organized into 3 levels:
- City of Port au Prince: The Renaissence Hospital, Hospital La Paz, Ofatma Hospital and Primary Care Traveling Brigade.
- Capital and Periphery: Leoganne Field Hospital, Arcahaie Island Lagonave, Carrefour, Integral Diagnostic Centers Grand Goave, Petit Goave and Thomasa.
- Other departments: Jacmel Field Hospital, Comprehensive Diagnostic Centers Mirebalais, Anse-a-Veau, Raboteau and Aquin, Les Cayes, Cap Haitien, Port de Paix, Grand Anse and Nippes
Cuba has put into operation in Haiti 14 operating rooms with 16 surgical teams.
Alongside the Cuban personnel are working more than 100 specialists from several countries (Venezuela, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Canada).
Cuban newspapers report that "Among the other activities being carried out in Haiti by the Cuban medical brigade is a health prevention and protection campaign that includes a tetanus vaccination campaign that has so far administered 400,000 vaccinations donated by Cuba. Cuba has also sent a team of specialist to fumigate and control outbreaks of disease, and a team of physiotherapists to aid in the recovery process of patients."
The Xinhua news agency reported on January 25 that the nine member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), which includes amongst others Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador, met last sunday to discuss a medium-term and long-term plan for the rebuilding of Haiti. The plan will focus of the rebuilding of schools, hospitals, waterworks, as well as projects to boost food production through fishing and agricultural self-sufficiency.
Palestine
About a month ago, Palestinians, accompanied by friends, solidarity activists, and the spirit of humanity, marked one year since the latest of Israel's brutal military assaults on Gaza. Events, rallies, and vigils were held all over the world in a strong show of solidarity with Palestine, which along with Haiti, is one of the most battered, disrespected, mistreated, and exploited people of the world. A tiny strip of land stuffed with nearly two million people who have hardly any food, water, or medical supplies and capacity. Israel continues to lay a brutal siege on this small, resourceless, starving population, scarcely allowing any sort of aid or decency to be delivered to Gaza, while the superstrucutre of power continues to impede even the possibility of progress by blaming the Palestinians themselves. The bottom line is that the Gaza Strip is under apartheid and systematically colonized by Israel.
So the one year anniversary of yet another massacre perpetrated by Israeli apartheid, and the early 2010 devastation of Haiti really forces us, citizens of the west, to seriously rethink the meaning of a New Year's resolution. A resolution is something that can effectively change a life, or something that can be easily forgotten in a few weeks. I started thinking about this one night in December as I was having a cigarette outside, and came up with a revelation of sorts, that I really had to embrace the opportunity presented by the dawning of a new year. It presents the opportunity to create positive change, to better ourselves, to redeem ourselves despite the shortcomings of the previous year. Although what we should be striving for in the first place is consistency so as to not have to start anew, or try again at the beginning of each year, we are human, none perfect, and we do make mistakes by nature. Having said that, perhaps the human quality we need to hold on to the tightest, is resiliency, the human ability to dust off the cobwebs and the rust of yesterday, to move past our debilities and live up to our full potential once again, or for the first time.
We must not, and can not, think only of ourselves, individually, and of our immediate surroundings, but we must always think of the world, and of every living being within it, as a whole. We must realize that our undisciplined mass consumption and the Bizarro Buddhism of always ceding to our many urges is a very decadent, selfish, and destructive way of life. We must not allow ourselves to be drowned in the culture of sterility and lethargy, and secondly, once we have gained ourselves, we must not allow our culture to be consumed by the structure of impotence. Historically speaking, we are incorrect to think that we have earned the opulence and luxury in which we live, we do not deserve it, and we are mistaken if we feel more entitled than others to the shelter, abundant food and water, and good health that we take for granted on a daily basis. For example, who am I to smoke cigarettes, the drug of the empire, knowing that it keeps the profit coffers filled while being a detriment to my health. So my idea for an article, along with my resolution of simply getting back to living a healthy life, was Smoke Free for Palestine, and although I've changed the title partly because of Haiti and partly because I have not yet been able to fully declare myself an official non-smoker (on and off periods since Jan.1 even though I am now on a streak of consecutive smoke free days), what could be more beautiful than choosing good health and life in the face of death, for people who must struggle and fight every single day.
We have a debt to humanity, we owe it to humanity to lead healthy, happy, productive lives, and to constantly try to better ourselves mentally and spiritually, to always strive to dismantle the status-quo, and to rebuild an equitable, just, and sustainable world. The Culture of Life is to feel everything together and within you all at the same time; a baby being born in rural India, the struggle of the Palestinians and the Haitians and many more, the Guarani and Aymara indigenous in South America and the Buddhist Monks in Cambodia, a tract of Amazon jungle being destroyed by corporate exploitation and extraction, or saved by campesino activists and indigenous communities, the growth of yucca and corn in the Andes, waking up early in the morning, embracing the lakes, the trees, and the sunshine, achieving Universal Peace so that olive and date trees can thrive again undisturbed in the Middle-East, consuming meat only as a matter of survival and instead eating things that grow from the ground, quite simply not doing something when we know it is harmful to Mother Earth, respecting natural processes everywhere and allowing the cycle of life to regenerate itself.
Eduardo Galeano wrote, "You are told to love thy neighbor and at the same time you are forced to survive by devouring him." Lets deconstruct this malicious system, and start anew with the blocks which are already in place for us. Instead of stagnating in the culture of depletion, oblivion, consumption, indifference, and death, lets join hands to build our better world, and celebrate preservation, sustainability, life, and good health.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Bolivia: El Pais Del Futuro
Posted originally on the WhipAltiplano Blog Jan.1st.2009.
The world today to a greater or lesser extent is controlled by various giant international institutions dominated by the United-States; the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Nations, and several other smaller regional organizations. U.S. President Obama calls them "an architecture of institutions", we can call it more accurately the imperialist superstructure of power. In the past decade Cuba and Venezuela have done their part to counter the structural dominance of capitalism, by promoting Latin American integration, and by creating ALBA, and the beginnings of the Banco del Sur. ALBA is a regional body of Latin American solidarity for the reciprocal exchange of goods and services aimed at achieving a mutual continental social well-being, and the Banco Del Sur is a continental and potentially international bank to provide funding for projects of self-sufficiency, social programs and development, a tool for economic independence and self-determination. In the past year, it is Bolivia that has led the way, and stepped forward with the hugely significant, original, and advanced ideas and concepts of Evo Morales, Alvaro Garcia Linera, and the MAS party.
Climate Justice and PachaMama Politics: Humanity and Planet Earth's Reciprocal Love Affair
Evo Morales' work on climate justice now has become extensive, but Bolivian thinking in this respect has gone so far that the term 'climate justice' doesn't even begin to accurately describe the scope and depth to which they have developed this topic. The first aspect is considering climate justice from the direct political and legal point of view, and within the existing and would-be existing international structures. Bolivia has spoken in the name of the Bolivian people at dozens of major international gatherings, conferences, and summits, including several times at the United Nations, about the abusive relationship between capitalism and Planet Earth, and about establishing an international climate justice tribunal. They have also pushed to entrench an internationally recognized and respected document similar to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, only one of an environmental nature that would outlaw and prevent the ravages of capitalism against humanity and planet earth.
Pablo Solon, Bolivian ambassador to the United-Nations, and Cormac Cullinan an environmental lawyer have worked on creating a definition:
"One of the most important implications is that it would enable legal systems to maintain vital ecological balances by balancing human rights against the rights of other members of the Earth community. Presently many environmentally harmful human activities (including those that cause climate change) are completely lawful.... Just as slave laws, which turned humans into property, entrenched an exploitative relationship between the two, our legal systems have entrenched an exploitative and inherently damaging relationship between ourselves and Earth. Even most environmental laws do little more than regulate the rate at which environmental destruction may take place."
"If legal systems recognized the rights of other-than-human beings (e.g. mountains, rivers, forests and animals), courts and tribunals could deal with the fundamental issues of environmental contamination rather than being bogged down in the technical details of permitted pollutants and emissions. For example, a rights-based approach could evaluate whether the rights of humans to clear tropical forests for beef ranching should trump the right of species in those forests to continue to exist. Instead of devising ever more complex schemes to authorize environmental damage and to trade in the right to pollute, we would focus on how best to maintain the quality of the relationship between ourselves and Earth."
This definition is a very well rounded basis for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, as the document will be called. An alternative international climate conference to rival Copenhagen 2009, to be hosted in Bolivia, is being promoted and scheduled for April 20-22, 2010. Evo has also elaborated on the predictably faulty 'solutions' that capitalist thinking has conjured to 'counter' climate change, namely carbon credits and the trading of emissions, in saying that "even climate change itself has become a business." He is correct in saying that the system of profit seeks to make a commodity even out of the destruction of the planet.
Another element of the climate justice discourse that Bolivia has stressed is that the industrialized countries be held accountable in paying back their ecological debt, to recover the health of southern communities, environments, and resources that have subsidized the wealth and prosperity of the developed world, and to prevent further deterioration where irreparable damage has already been made. An excerpt from the International Climate Justice Tribunal hearing in Cochabamba, Bolivia, on the 13th and 14th of October 2009 explains how "Climate Justice is based on the understanding that, whilst climate change requires global actions, the Northern Industrial Countries are historically responsible for having produced the greatest part (80%) of greenhouse gases over the last 250 years. Low cost energy -oil, coal and gas- has been the power behind their quick industrial and economic growth, without recognizing the ecologic, social, financial and historical debt to the southern communities and nature, for which they are responsible." Honesty and accountability figure prominently in the new international values system being promoted by ALBA and the Bolivian agenda, and as such the justice of truth will come down hard on the hypocritical politics of lies and status-quo regression that were the product of the climate talks of Brokenhagen 2009.
At the UN General Assembly in October Evo said; "I came here today to speak plainly with you all. The origin of this crisis is the exaggerated accumulation of capital in far too few hands. It is the permanent removal of natural resources and the commercialization of Mother Earth."
Evo Morales is an incredible analyst of the dynamic between the preservation of life vs. the culture of consumption, depletion, and death. He is able to illustrate in simple terms the impossibility of massive and disrespectful consumption, that in the necessity of eliminating the linear system on a finite planet, in order to redistribute equitably to end poverty, we must first end wealth, we must end this "exaggerated accumulation of capital." The strength of the Bolivian Revolution is its capacity to combine themes of class relations, with political and economic independence, with environmental justice, with gender equality, with communitarian sustainability, etc., to leave no element untouched, no rock unturned, and to formulate everything together into a very unique humanitarian, emancipatory paradigm of the future.
To give further examples of this, again I quote Evo Morales from the General Assembly: "Mother Earth, Planet Earth, will exist without human life, but human life cannot exist without Mother Earth.... I’ve concluded that in this new twenty- first century, defending Mother Earth will be more important than defending human rights. If we do not defend the rights of Mother Earth, there is no use in defending human rights. I am willing to debate this concept, but now or later it will be proven that the rights of Mother Earth supersede the rights of human beings. We must protect what gives us life."
Although Bolivia has become a leader in environmental justice and a lot of attention has been focused on the environmental discourse, there are also a lot of other elements of Bolivian ideology that deserve a close focus.
As much as the media tries to spin that the socialist governments of South America want to control resources only for their benefit and their so-called 'populist' advancement, the autonomy that was such a central theme throughout the Bolivian election shows just how committed to decentralization the MAS government really is.
Alongside the Dec. 6 presidential and legislative elections, 12 of Bolivia's 327 municipalities voted in favour of indigenous autonomy, which will give them control over the natural resources on their land and a greater say in how to use state funds, introducing a new type of budgetary autonomy. Indigenous autonomy has never been seriously talked about or implemented anywhere in the world, and that Bolivia is doing it now demonstrates a very progressive and advanced form of participatory democracy.
Since first taking office in January 2006, Morales has accelerated and expanded the country's land reform efforts through INRA, the national Institute of Agrarian Reform granting formal collective land titles to indigenous communities, known as Tierras Comunitarias de Origen or TCOs, a process that also involves recognition of native communities and their collective legal rights. The process involves mainly the seizing and reactivation of idle lands from huge private landholdings. It is interesting and romantic to note that the agrarian efforts in Cuba were also titled INRA during the early years of the Revolution, headed by one Che Guevara.
Simultaneously with the elections, the departments of Chuquisaca, La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro and Potosà also voted for provincial autonomy.
Evo Morales has also suggested to organize and host a World Youth Summit Against Capitalism in Bolivia. Many similar summits have been held in Venezuela and promoted by Hugo Chavez. Evo said he wanted to bring together the “youth of the world", young supporters of “revolutionary processes to put an end to capitalism.”
Another important and original idea proposed by Bolivia, which Evo suggested during a recent ALBA summit, is a continental referendum on the US-Colombia Military Deal: "If the Colombian president wants his bases to be used, I say I want a referendum in South America so the people of Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina all 12 countries can decide." The possibility of US bases in Colombia is an afront and a threat not only to Venezuela, but to all the people of Latin America, and it is of crucial importance that South America as a continent unite in opposition. A continent wide referendum might be difficult to orchestrate, but it is something that has never taken place or been talked about before. Doing so would be a gigantic democratic exercise and a channel for continental integration and solidarity building. Evo, Alvaro and the MAS understand well that full political sovereignty and economic independence hinges largely on regional strength, and that their revolution is a responsibility and a mandate not only for the people of Bolivia, but also for the continent as a whole and for humanity.
But perhaps the idea that best defines Bolivia's humanist philosophy, is the proposal for the establishment of Universal Citizenship. Evo has made a statement saying that “everyone has the right to live in any part of the world, respecting the norms of each country.” Bolivia's government is working with the United Nations in support of the proposal of universal citizenship. A document circulated at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, entitled ‘World Citizenship: A Global Ethic for Sustainable Development’, defines Universal Citizenship in part as follows: "World Citizenship begins with an acceptance of the oneness of the human family and the interconnectedness of the nations of "the earth, our home......Its hallmark is "unity in diversity." World citizenship encompasses the principles of social and economic justice, both within and between nations; non-adversarial decision making at all levels of society; equality of the sexes; racial, ethnic, national and religious harmony; and the willingness to sacrifice for the common good. Other facets of world citizenship -- including the promotion of human honor and dignity, understanding, amity, cooperation, trustworthiness, compassion and the desire to serve."
This move to install a Universal Citizenship through the UN is a recognition that we need to take this human way of thinking, this movement, internationally. Universal Citizenship would be our greatest and most symbolic tool in democratizing and humanizing the planet, embodying unity and togetherness instead of exclusiveness and divisions. We are one together and we must all work together; a necessary first step is a message and a contract recognizing that we are all bound by blood and love. This is a reminder that we cannot allow human beings to be moved or displaced forcefully like money or commodities, that human life and dignity stand above artificial borders and arbitrary hierarchy laws.
Bolivia's leaders and thinkers are proposing ideas and discussing things that were almost unimaginable even ten years ago, ideas that have never been talked about before now. Although it has not yet fully reached mainstream discourse, it is fact that with ideas being born and developing such as participatory democracy, collective community management and budgeting, cooperatives, fair trade, genuine sustainable energy of all kinds, renewable alternative fuels, and sustainable housing and architecture, we have the political, economic, technological, and environmental infrastructure of the future in place and ready for the taking, standing and ready to be implemented. With its cultural Revolution successfully moving forward, and with ideas such as continent-wide referendums, Climate Justice, respect and implementation of the reciprocal ecological balance and exchange between mother earth and human life, living well instead of living better, Indigenous Self-Actualization, and Universal Citizenship Bolivia has established the socio-political, social, and ideological framework of the future.
When I think of Bolivia I think of all these beautiful and colorful ideas. This collective thread which has been weaved by the people of Bolivia is like a paradigm mosaic of humanity's most profound and righteous ideas and spirituality. Because of these progressive, future-leaning, sustainable, and humanistic ideas, Evo Morales, Alvaro Linera, and the MAS party are international leaders in political and conscious maturity, and examples for the rest of the world to follow. They are laying the ideological foundations which have the power to effectively change the world, in solidifying the message that another world is in fact possible.
The world today to a greater or lesser extent is controlled by various giant international institutions dominated by the United-States; the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Nations, and several other smaller regional organizations. U.S. President Obama calls them "an architecture of institutions", we can call it more accurately the imperialist superstructure of power. In the past decade Cuba and Venezuela have done their part to counter the structural dominance of capitalism, by promoting Latin American integration, and by creating ALBA, and the beginnings of the Banco del Sur. ALBA is a regional body of Latin American solidarity for the reciprocal exchange of goods and services aimed at achieving a mutual continental social well-being, and the Banco Del Sur is a continental and potentially international bank to provide funding for projects of self-sufficiency, social programs and development, a tool for economic independence and self-determination. In the past year, it is Bolivia that has led the way, and stepped forward with the hugely significant, original, and advanced ideas and concepts of Evo Morales, Alvaro Garcia Linera, and the MAS party.
Climate Justice and PachaMama Politics: Humanity and Planet Earth's Reciprocal Love Affair
Evo Morales' work on climate justice now has become extensive, but Bolivian thinking in this respect has gone so far that the term 'climate justice' doesn't even begin to accurately describe the scope and depth to which they have developed this topic. The first aspect is considering climate justice from the direct political and legal point of view, and within the existing and would-be existing international structures. Bolivia has spoken in the name of the Bolivian people at dozens of major international gatherings, conferences, and summits, including several times at the United Nations, about the abusive relationship between capitalism and Planet Earth, and about establishing an international climate justice tribunal. They have also pushed to entrench an internationally recognized and respected document similar to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, only one of an environmental nature that would outlaw and prevent the ravages of capitalism against humanity and planet earth.
Pablo Solon, Bolivian ambassador to the United-Nations, and Cormac Cullinan an environmental lawyer have worked on creating a definition:
"One of the most important implications is that it would enable legal systems to maintain vital ecological balances by balancing human rights against the rights of other members of the Earth community. Presently many environmentally harmful human activities (including those that cause climate change) are completely lawful.... Just as slave laws, which turned humans into property, entrenched an exploitative relationship between the two, our legal systems have entrenched an exploitative and inherently damaging relationship between ourselves and Earth. Even most environmental laws do little more than regulate the rate at which environmental destruction may take place."
"If legal systems recognized the rights of other-than-human beings (e.g. mountains, rivers, forests and animals), courts and tribunals could deal with the fundamental issues of environmental contamination rather than being bogged down in the technical details of permitted pollutants and emissions. For example, a rights-based approach could evaluate whether the rights of humans to clear tropical forests for beef ranching should trump the right of species in those forests to continue to exist. Instead of devising ever more complex schemes to authorize environmental damage and to trade in the right to pollute, we would focus on how best to maintain the quality of the relationship between ourselves and Earth."
This definition is a very well rounded basis for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, as the document will be called. An alternative international climate conference to rival Copenhagen 2009, to be hosted in Bolivia, is being promoted and scheduled for April 20-22, 2010. Evo has also elaborated on the predictably faulty 'solutions' that capitalist thinking has conjured to 'counter' climate change, namely carbon credits and the trading of emissions, in saying that "even climate change itself has become a business." He is correct in saying that the system of profit seeks to make a commodity even out of the destruction of the planet.
Another element of the climate justice discourse that Bolivia has stressed is that the industrialized countries be held accountable in paying back their ecological debt, to recover the health of southern communities, environments, and resources that have subsidized the wealth and prosperity of the developed world, and to prevent further deterioration where irreparable damage has already been made. An excerpt from the International Climate Justice Tribunal hearing in Cochabamba, Bolivia, on the 13th and 14th of October 2009 explains how "Climate Justice is based on the understanding that, whilst climate change requires global actions, the Northern Industrial Countries are historically responsible for having produced the greatest part (80%) of greenhouse gases over the last 250 years. Low cost energy -oil, coal and gas- has been the power behind their quick industrial and economic growth, without recognizing the ecologic, social, financial and historical debt to the southern communities and nature, for which they are responsible." Honesty and accountability figure prominently in the new international values system being promoted by ALBA and the Bolivian agenda, and as such the justice of truth will come down hard on the hypocritical politics of lies and status-quo regression that were the product of the climate talks of Brokenhagen 2009.
At the UN General Assembly in October Evo said; "I came here today to speak plainly with you all. The origin of this crisis is the exaggerated accumulation of capital in far too few hands. It is the permanent removal of natural resources and the commercialization of Mother Earth."
Evo Morales is an incredible analyst of the dynamic between the preservation of life vs. the culture of consumption, depletion, and death. He is able to illustrate in simple terms the impossibility of massive and disrespectful consumption, that in the necessity of eliminating the linear system on a finite planet, in order to redistribute equitably to end poverty, we must first end wealth, we must end this "exaggerated accumulation of capital." The strength of the Bolivian Revolution is its capacity to combine themes of class relations, with political and economic independence, with environmental justice, with gender equality, with communitarian sustainability, etc., to leave no element untouched, no rock unturned, and to formulate everything together into a very unique humanitarian, emancipatory paradigm of the future.
To give further examples of this, again I quote Evo Morales from the General Assembly: "Mother Earth, Planet Earth, will exist without human life, but human life cannot exist without Mother Earth.... I’ve concluded that in this new twenty- first century, defending Mother Earth will be more important than defending human rights. If we do not defend the rights of Mother Earth, there is no use in defending human rights. I am willing to debate this concept, but now or later it will be proven that the rights of Mother Earth supersede the rights of human beings. We must protect what gives us life."
Although Bolivia has become a leader in environmental justice and a lot of attention has been focused on the environmental discourse, there are also a lot of other elements of Bolivian ideology that deserve a close focus.
As much as the media tries to spin that the socialist governments of South America want to control resources only for their benefit and their so-called 'populist' advancement, the autonomy that was such a central theme throughout the Bolivian election shows just how committed to decentralization the MAS government really is.
Alongside the Dec. 6 presidential and legislative elections, 12 of Bolivia's 327 municipalities voted in favour of indigenous autonomy, which will give them control over the natural resources on their land and a greater say in how to use state funds, introducing a new type of budgetary autonomy. Indigenous autonomy has never been seriously talked about or implemented anywhere in the world, and that Bolivia is doing it now demonstrates a very progressive and advanced form of participatory democracy.
Since first taking office in January 2006, Morales has accelerated and expanded the country's land reform efforts through INRA, the national Institute of Agrarian Reform granting formal collective land titles to indigenous communities, known as Tierras Comunitarias de Origen or TCOs, a process that also involves recognition of native communities and their collective legal rights. The process involves mainly the seizing and reactivation of idle lands from huge private landholdings. It is interesting and romantic to note that the agrarian efforts in Cuba were also titled INRA during the early years of the Revolution, headed by one Che Guevara.
Simultaneously with the elections, the departments of Chuquisaca, La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro and Potosà also voted for provincial autonomy.
Evo Morales has also suggested to organize and host a World Youth Summit Against Capitalism in Bolivia. Many similar summits have been held in Venezuela and promoted by Hugo Chavez. Evo said he wanted to bring together the “youth of the world", young supporters of “revolutionary processes to put an end to capitalism.”
Another important and original idea proposed by Bolivia, which Evo suggested during a recent ALBA summit, is a continental referendum on the US-Colombia Military Deal: "If the Colombian president wants his bases to be used, I say I want a referendum in South America so the people of Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina all 12 countries can decide." The possibility of US bases in Colombia is an afront and a threat not only to Venezuela, but to all the people of Latin America, and it is of crucial importance that South America as a continent unite in opposition. A continent wide referendum might be difficult to orchestrate, but it is something that has never taken place or been talked about before. Doing so would be a gigantic democratic exercise and a channel for continental integration and solidarity building. Evo, Alvaro and the MAS understand well that full political sovereignty and economic independence hinges largely on regional strength, and that their revolution is a responsibility and a mandate not only for the people of Bolivia, but also for the continent as a whole and for humanity.
But perhaps the idea that best defines Bolivia's humanist philosophy, is the proposal for the establishment of Universal Citizenship. Evo has made a statement saying that “everyone has the right to live in any part of the world, respecting the norms of each country.” Bolivia's government is working with the United Nations in support of the proposal of universal citizenship. A document circulated at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, entitled ‘World Citizenship: A Global Ethic for Sustainable Development’, defines Universal Citizenship in part as follows: "World Citizenship begins with an acceptance of the oneness of the human family and the interconnectedness of the nations of "the earth, our home......Its hallmark is "unity in diversity." World citizenship encompasses the principles of social and economic justice, both within and between nations; non-adversarial decision making at all levels of society; equality of the sexes; racial, ethnic, national and religious harmony; and the willingness to sacrifice for the common good. Other facets of world citizenship -- including the promotion of human honor and dignity, understanding, amity, cooperation, trustworthiness, compassion and the desire to serve."
This move to install a Universal Citizenship through the UN is a recognition that we need to take this human way of thinking, this movement, internationally. Universal Citizenship would be our greatest and most symbolic tool in democratizing and humanizing the planet, embodying unity and togetherness instead of exclusiveness and divisions. We are one together and we must all work together; a necessary first step is a message and a contract recognizing that we are all bound by blood and love. This is a reminder that we cannot allow human beings to be moved or displaced forcefully like money or commodities, that human life and dignity stand above artificial borders and arbitrary hierarchy laws.
Bolivia's leaders and thinkers are proposing ideas and discussing things that were almost unimaginable even ten years ago, ideas that have never been talked about before now. Although it has not yet fully reached mainstream discourse, it is fact that with ideas being born and developing such as participatory democracy, collective community management and budgeting, cooperatives, fair trade, genuine sustainable energy of all kinds, renewable alternative fuels, and sustainable housing and architecture, we have the political, economic, technological, and environmental infrastructure of the future in place and ready for the taking, standing and ready to be implemented. With its cultural Revolution successfully moving forward, and with ideas such as continent-wide referendums, Climate Justice, respect and implementation of the reciprocal ecological balance and exchange between mother earth and human life, living well instead of living better, Indigenous Self-Actualization, and Universal Citizenship Bolivia has established the socio-political, social, and ideological framework of the future.
When I think of Bolivia I think of all these beautiful and colorful ideas. This collective thread which has been weaved by the people of Bolivia is like a paradigm mosaic of humanity's most profound and righteous ideas and spirituality. Because of these progressive, future-leaning, sustainable, and humanistic ideas, Evo Morales, Alvaro Linera, and the MAS party are international leaders in political and conscious maturity, and examples for the rest of the world to follow. They are laying the ideological foundations which have the power to effectively change the world, in solidifying the message that another world is in fact possible.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Divisions, Equality, Wars, and Peace
In October of 2009, in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Evo Morales said that "Social peace cannot exist if economic inequalities still remain."
Lenin has written that "Social democracy knows that as long as society is divided into classes, as long as there is exploitation of human by human, wars are inevitable."
Fidel castro has written, "End the philosophy of plunder, and the philosophy of war will be ended as well."
The message is clear; peace cannot exist as long as there are pre-determined and forced divisions. Equality is the only option, Equality is paramount to our survival and to respect for life.
Lenin has written that "Social democracy knows that as long as society is divided into classes, as long as there is exploitation of human by human, wars are inevitable."
Fidel castro has written, "End the philosophy of plunder, and the philosophy of war will be ended as well."
The message is clear; peace cannot exist as long as there are pre-determined and forced divisions. Equality is the only option, Equality is paramount to our survival and to respect for life.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
A Picture of A Society Asleep
I wrote this thinkpiece, or rant, or article quite a few months ago, but am putting on the blog just now.
____________________________________
A New York City hip-hop artist once wrote that "sleep is the cousin of death", and so if sleep is the cousin of death, then fatigue and exhaustion must be its correlatives.
On the bus and on subway trains we see people seemingly miserable, struggling, and half-hearted in their approach to daily life. The majority are immigrants, poor single mothers, the disregarded, disadvantaged, and underprivileged working class, competing in a contest of survival for the lowest paying, most undesirable blue-collar jobs that earn them less than the cost of living. The remainder are the middle class which are divided into two groups: thousands of faceless students emerging from private universities and colleges with $ 40,000 clouds already over their heads, for the simple "privilege" of holding a useless, generic undergraduate degree.
Along with them are the lower-wrung rat race "urban professionals" who pursue happiness in the form of fiance status and furniture they can't afford, and whose only comforts are pumpkin spice lattes, Stephanie Meyer novels, and a bottle of Merlot. The simplistic conversations about their dogs and their trips to Europe, and their regurgitation of everything the media feeds them from pop culture to status-quo politics, helps you understand the obliviousness and indifference which dominates the thinking of western culture. An isolated people who don't smile at strangers, collectively carrying the gloomy weight of soul-bleaching subservience and conformism. All of them pressured and stressed by the pervasive burden of competition, have they any choice but to become jaded and dejected, demoralized and hopeless? Fidel Castro once wrote, "there is nothing in this world as bitter as a people who go to sleep in liberty, and awaken in slavery." The citizens of the West think they live in the most just and equal societies of the world, yet they are victims to the hoax of the two-party system "democracies" which control their lives. Neo-democracy, as I refer to this system, is a system based on individualism, selfishness, and isolation which breaks down the social fabric, and makes the population tired, lethargic, cynical, and confused.
We live in a world where we concern ourselves about a healthy and robust economy, but not about healthy citizens. We live in a world where people absolutely must get their Tim Horton's or Starbucks coffee in the morning even if it means wasting thirty minutes of their day waiting in line to get it. We live in a world where you get a free handy picnic chicken bag wiht your KFC mega meal, and the latest ice cream flavours are peppermint stick, Festive Eggnog, Apple Pie, and Santa's Milk and Cookies. We live in a wold where body wash has you feeling ready to take on your day, and where "revolutionary" is understood to explain what the new stain remover can do for your bathtub and your old silverware. We live in a world where people are consumed with tomorrow night's results of So You Think You Dance, or the next episode of Heroes, when imperialist wars and occupations are ravaging the Middle-East, and the majority of resource rich countries. We live in a world where shopping carts get shelters, and homeless people don't.
We live in a world where the poor are forced to shop at Wal-Mart and other mega discount department stores, because these stores are the only ones to offer products which are affordable to them. The way these mega discount store corporations keep prices exceptionally low is by externalising costs. They externalize costs by paying low employee salaries, by providing little or non-existant health insurance, through mass production and mass distribution, with cheap oil from Iraq, and cheap production labour from China, Mexico and many other countries. They externalize costs by making Indigineous and poor working people pay when neoliberal governments give corporations permission to exploit lands and extract natural resources that don't belong to them, for free, and by receiving permission for 100 % repatriation of profits. They make everything else, and everyone else pay for their profits. The wealth and natural resources of the people are handed to corporations on a silver platter. So the planet, the indigenous, and poor working people are the ones actually paying for the true costs of production all along the chain of extraction, production, and distribution, and not the consumers paying the ridiculously low prices for these products. But, since poor working people, third world immigrant families, single mothers, etc, can afford to buy these products only from these mega discount stores, they are keeping these corporations alive, healthy, and wealthy. And, because they are the ones, vassals to plunder and exploitation, paying for the true costs of production in the first place, the very victims of this system then become the market which perpetuates the same vicious cycle of destitution. In other words, their poverty and desperation feeds their own misery and exploitation; as consumers they are fueling the very system which destroys them as workers.
We live in a world subjugated by a cycle of perpetuating poverty.
____________________________________
A New York City hip-hop artist once wrote that "sleep is the cousin of death", and so if sleep is the cousin of death, then fatigue and exhaustion must be its correlatives.
On the bus and on subway trains we see people seemingly miserable, struggling, and half-hearted in their approach to daily life. The majority are immigrants, poor single mothers, the disregarded, disadvantaged, and underprivileged working class, competing in a contest of survival for the lowest paying, most undesirable blue-collar jobs that earn them less than the cost of living. The remainder are the middle class which are divided into two groups: thousands of faceless students emerging from private universities and colleges with $ 40,000 clouds already over their heads, for the simple "privilege" of holding a useless, generic undergraduate degree.
Along with them are the lower-wrung rat race "urban professionals" who pursue happiness in the form of fiance status and furniture they can't afford, and whose only comforts are pumpkin spice lattes, Stephanie Meyer novels, and a bottle of Merlot. The simplistic conversations about their dogs and their trips to Europe, and their regurgitation of everything the media feeds them from pop culture to status-quo politics, helps you understand the obliviousness and indifference which dominates the thinking of western culture. An isolated people who don't smile at strangers, collectively carrying the gloomy weight of soul-bleaching subservience and conformism. All of them pressured and stressed by the pervasive burden of competition, have they any choice but to become jaded and dejected, demoralized and hopeless? Fidel Castro once wrote, "there is nothing in this world as bitter as a people who go to sleep in liberty, and awaken in slavery." The citizens of the West think they live in the most just and equal societies of the world, yet they are victims to the hoax of the two-party system "democracies" which control their lives. Neo-democracy, as I refer to this system, is a system based on individualism, selfishness, and isolation which breaks down the social fabric, and makes the population tired, lethargic, cynical, and confused.
We live in a world where we concern ourselves about a healthy and robust economy, but not about healthy citizens. We live in a world where people absolutely must get their Tim Horton's or Starbucks coffee in the morning even if it means wasting thirty minutes of their day waiting in line to get it. We live in a world where you get a free handy picnic chicken bag wiht your KFC mega meal, and the latest ice cream flavours are peppermint stick, Festive Eggnog, Apple Pie, and Santa's Milk and Cookies. We live in a wold where body wash has you feeling ready to take on your day, and where "revolutionary" is understood to explain what the new stain remover can do for your bathtub and your old silverware. We live in a world where people are consumed with tomorrow night's results of So You Think You Dance, or the next episode of Heroes, when imperialist wars and occupations are ravaging the Middle-East, and the majority of resource rich countries. We live in a world where shopping carts get shelters, and homeless people don't.
We live in a world where the poor are forced to shop at Wal-Mart and other mega discount department stores, because these stores are the only ones to offer products which are affordable to them. The way these mega discount store corporations keep prices exceptionally low is by externalising costs. They externalize costs by paying low employee salaries, by providing little or non-existant health insurance, through mass production and mass distribution, with cheap oil from Iraq, and cheap production labour from China, Mexico and many other countries. They externalize costs by making Indigineous and poor working people pay when neoliberal governments give corporations permission to exploit lands and extract natural resources that don't belong to them, for free, and by receiving permission for 100 % repatriation of profits. They make everything else, and everyone else pay for their profits. The wealth and natural resources of the people are handed to corporations on a silver platter. So the planet, the indigenous, and poor working people are the ones actually paying for the true costs of production all along the chain of extraction, production, and distribution, and not the consumers paying the ridiculously low prices for these products. But, since poor working people, third world immigrant families, single mothers, etc, can afford to buy these products only from these mega discount stores, they are keeping these corporations alive, healthy, and wealthy. And, because they are the ones, vassals to plunder and exploitation, paying for the true costs of production in the first place, the very victims of this system then become the market which perpetuates the same vicious cycle of destitution. In other words, their poverty and desperation feeds their own misery and exploitation; as consumers they are fueling the very system which destroys them as workers.
We live in a world subjugated by a cycle of perpetuating poverty.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Quote of the Week - Oct 26th
"Despising the bourgeoisie, and yet belonging to it, they add to its strength and glory.... The lives of these infinitely numerous persons makes no claim to the tragic; but they live under an evil star in a quite considerable affliction; and in this hell their talents ripen and bear fruit.... The few who break free seek their reward in the unconditioned and go down in splendor. They wear the thorn crown and their number is small." - Hermann Hesse.
"I will return and I will be millions." - Tupac Katari.
Thanks Raul.
"I will return and I will be millions." - Tupac Katari.
Thanks Raul.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The New Age Hippie Revolutionary??
The Sustainable movement, in my opinion, is unstoppable because it combines so many different shades and branches of social justice. It is a personal, economic, political, and social philosophy all in one convenient, organized, and politically sexy portfolio. Green, vegan and vegetarian, environmental, equality, anti-corporate, fair trade, anti-capitalist, sustainable are all terms that relate to this movement, and together they form the splendid new-age fusion of environmental crusader, hippie, and revolutionary.
Having thrown this idea into the universe for everyone to share, lets join together to coin a new term to define this new human of the future. "At the risk of sounding ridiculous", as Che Guevara has said, I request your input and suggestions for this proposal which may seem dreamy and gung ho. I say it with absolute happiness and spiritual liberty, because its a good thing to be in love with the movement.
Have fun with it.
Having thrown this idea into the universe for everyone to share, lets join together to coin a new term to define this new human of the future. "At the risk of sounding ridiculous", as Che Guevara has said, I request your input and suggestions for this proposal which may seem dreamy and gung ho. I say it with absolute happiness and spiritual liberty, because its a good thing to be in love with the movement.
Have fun with it.
Happiness, The Inner-Activist, and the Collective Community Quest of Fair Trade and The Sustainable Movement
As a young activist one of the first things I notice in social justice circles is the significant absence of an understanding of the necessity to link the struggle for social justice with that of environmental justice. There is also an overinsistence on political change with insufficient weight granted to the subsequent need for economic change. It is unrealistic to expect political progress without first targeting capitalism for what it is; a system based on capital, money, and profits. And, it is equally as impossible to weaken that foundation of capital and profits, without first seriously questioning and altering our consumption habits in western society. How can we claim to be activists, or revolutionaries for great political and social change internationally without first changing the most basic and fundamental elements of our lives? These fundamental aspects of our lives such as the products we buy, the clothes we wear, and the food we eat must necesarily be the starting point. Before we change the world, we must first change ourselves, change our lives, and change the habits that define us as uninformed and unconcerned consumers.
These two factors, the environmental emphasis, and the necessary focus on our consumption habits, bring the question of fair trade into context. Supporting and understanding fair trade can generate a lot of personal happiness and satisfaction in living a non-corporate, and sustainability oriented lifestyle. It is not just a matter of figthing against the system, but of rejecting the most basic elements that bind us to it. On a daily basis, if we are drinking Tim Horton's or Starbucks coffee, or handing out plastic bottled water at solidarity events, then we are simply not identifying the problem at its roots. By keeping our corporate life habits unchecked and unchanged we are supporting NAFTA, we are supporting free trade, we are behaving hypocritically as our indifference and disregard continues to feed the system of consumption that perpetuates the very injustices we are fighting against in the first place.
Free trade by nature enslaves people into dependence, and fair trade by nature liberates people; it liberates people not only because it pays them exponentially higher prices for their products, but because it gives them a choice, a choice to offer their children a quality education, a choice to always have enough to feed their families with no concerns.
Part of our political position must be a staunch opposition to free trade, and fair trade is the exact opposite, the direct alternative to free trade. Fair trade, however, more than a poltical philosophy, is a lifestyle choice, almost a spiritual choice. And so because our alternative lifestyle choices are relevant at such a personal level, whether that be buying fairtrade, living green and sustainable, boycotting corporate products, or even making the move to being vegan or vegetarian, they allow us an opportunity to be proud about the way we live, and to be happy in the struggle. Being an activist or revolutionary, fighting for social justice of any kind, or simply living a progressive lifestyle often requires a lot of discipline and sacrifice, and sometimes that level of committment can be very difficult. But our dedication to social justice should not be a committment beyond recognition of our happiness, and it is not selfish to want things for ourselves, as long as they are not ignorant or detriment to the greater good. Being happy is the first step, first and foremost because it is human nature to desire it, and because happiness is humanity's most valuable gift, but also because we can never be fully effective in the struggle without it. We have to fight for what we believe in with dedication, but we have to attain fulfillment while doing it. It is the happy and complementary union of two elements in physical and intuative expression through our daily routine.
We must appreciate and embrace the beauty and richness of this social justice struggle, and we must take the challenge of the 'inner revolution' as a quest for personal change, as "an opportunity to live a future-self now, a future-self that offers a deeper acceptance of our humanity." That personal connection with the movement, provides us with comfort, and happiness that is almost necessary to making the full leap, the full committment to an alternative life and/or revolutionary activism. It is something lodged within our psyche, something spiritually tangible that we can identify with directly at anytime, perhaps when nothing else seems within reach, or when the struggle is at its most difficult moments. This binary ethos bridges the inner-self with outer challenges, like a sort of crossbow that combines the spiritual with the ideological. It is reaching a level of inner peace and comfort in the transition from treading water to dwelving into the deep. Our inherent lives begin to sync in harmony with our social, political, and humanitarian aspirations.
Another very important characteristic of the sustainable movement is its strength in existing through a collective identity and orientation. People love to, and want to feel like they belong to a greater common entity. That is why we must talk to neighbours, we must discuss with our co-workers, friends, and family on a daily basis, we must exchange ideas, stories, and solutions to help broaden the fabric of our social project. All of our social justice, environmental, sustainable living, anti-corporate initiatives, etc., must be based on complete and uncompromised inclusion. Fair trade is a socio-economic model rooted in community building at the local, national, and international level. Fair trade theory often talks about creating a link between northern consumers and marginalized southern producers, but we also need to emphasize the more simple connection from people to people, the action of an equal, reciprocal exchange. We must be a people of community and togetherness who complement the growth of each other's livelihoods in tangible and positive ways. Fair trade is proof that a smaller-scale, grassroots, and symbiotic economy can not only sustain, but enhance the collective threads of our human community. The sustainable movement, while creating a very profound and deep-rooted sense of belonging, participation, and community, allows us to become the living agents of what we believe in.
These two factors, the environmental emphasis, and the necessary focus on our consumption habits, bring the question of fair trade into context. Supporting and understanding fair trade can generate a lot of personal happiness and satisfaction in living a non-corporate, and sustainability oriented lifestyle. It is not just a matter of figthing against the system, but of rejecting the most basic elements that bind us to it. On a daily basis, if we are drinking Tim Horton's or Starbucks coffee, or handing out plastic bottled water at solidarity events, then we are simply not identifying the problem at its roots. By keeping our corporate life habits unchecked and unchanged we are supporting NAFTA, we are supporting free trade, we are behaving hypocritically as our indifference and disregard continues to feed the system of consumption that perpetuates the very injustices we are fighting against in the first place.
Free trade by nature enslaves people into dependence, and fair trade by nature liberates people; it liberates people not only because it pays them exponentially higher prices for their products, but because it gives them a choice, a choice to offer their children a quality education, a choice to always have enough to feed their families with no concerns.
Part of our political position must be a staunch opposition to free trade, and fair trade is the exact opposite, the direct alternative to free trade. Fair trade, however, more than a poltical philosophy, is a lifestyle choice, almost a spiritual choice. And so because our alternative lifestyle choices are relevant at such a personal level, whether that be buying fairtrade, living green and sustainable, boycotting corporate products, or even making the move to being vegan or vegetarian, they allow us an opportunity to be proud about the way we live, and to be happy in the struggle. Being an activist or revolutionary, fighting for social justice of any kind, or simply living a progressive lifestyle often requires a lot of discipline and sacrifice, and sometimes that level of committment can be very difficult. But our dedication to social justice should not be a committment beyond recognition of our happiness, and it is not selfish to want things for ourselves, as long as they are not ignorant or detriment to the greater good. Being happy is the first step, first and foremost because it is human nature to desire it, and because happiness is humanity's most valuable gift, but also because we can never be fully effective in the struggle without it. We have to fight for what we believe in with dedication, but we have to attain fulfillment while doing it. It is the happy and complementary union of two elements in physical and intuative expression through our daily routine.
We must appreciate and embrace the beauty and richness of this social justice struggle, and we must take the challenge of the 'inner revolution' as a quest for personal change, as "an opportunity to live a future-self now, a future-self that offers a deeper acceptance of our humanity." That personal connection with the movement, provides us with comfort, and happiness that is almost necessary to making the full leap, the full committment to an alternative life and/or revolutionary activism. It is something lodged within our psyche, something spiritually tangible that we can identify with directly at anytime, perhaps when nothing else seems within reach, or when the struggle is at its most difficult moments. This binary ethos bridges the inner-self with outer challenges, like a sort of crossbow that combines the spiritual with the ideological. It is reaching a level of inner peace and comfort in the transition from treading water to dwelving into the deep. Our inherent lives begin to sync in harmony with our social, political, and humanitarian aspirations.
Another very important characteristic of the sustainable movement is its strength in existing through a collective identity and orientation. People love to, and want to feel like they belong to a greater common entity. That is why we must talk to neighbours, we must discuss with our co-workers, friends, and family on a daily basis, we must exchange ideas, stories, and solutions to help broaden the fabric of our social project. All of our social justice, environmental, sustainable living, anti-corporate initiatives, etc., must be based on complete and uncompromised inclusion. Fair trade is a socio-economic model rooted in community building at the local, national, and international level. Fair trade theory often talks about creating a link between northern consumers and marginalized southern producers, but we also need to emphasize the more simple connection from people to people, the action of an equal, reciprocal exchange. We must be a people of community and togetherness who complement the growth of each other's livelihoods in tangible and positive ways. Fair trade is proof that a smaller-scale, grassroots, and symbiotic economy can not only sustain, but enhance the collective threads of our human community. The sustainable movement, while creating a very profound and deep-rooted sense of belonging, participation, and community, allows us to become the living agents of what we believe in.
Monday, September 28, 2009
ALBA: Latin American Integration for Political Sovereignty and Economic Independence
A Brief Overview of ALBA's Values, and 21st Century Sustainable Ideas
The dysfunctional, status-quo, market-oriented system has given Latin America nothing other than economic and social crisis for decades, focusing solely on foreign investment, and measuring national progress and living conditions by inaccurate growth rates. It is an unrealistic model of infinite growth, precisely at a time when we need to immediately and considerably check our consumption habits, and slow the exploitation of the planet. Evo Morales has said that "Mother Earth cannot be a piece of merchandise.... Under capitalism, we are not human beings, but consumers. Under capitalism, mother earth does not exist, instead there are raw materials."
As both an economic and a social alternative, ALBA will work to develop a completely different way of reshaping society, focusing instead on the development of human capital, namely through improved health and education. These social programs emanating from ALBA, known as missions, operate in many South American countries, even many which are not official members of ALBA. The Cuban 'Yo, Si Puedo' reading and writing campaign, for example, has wiped out illiteracy in Venezuela and Bolivia, Bolivia being the most recent announcing itself free of illiteracy in December 2008. 'Operacion Milagro', a program to provide free eye care procedures and restore eyesight has benefitted more than one million eight hundred thousand people in 35 countries across Latin America, Asia, and Africa. And, directly in the field of education, the formation of thousands of doctors, technical professionals, and engineers free of charge is strengthening the social and communal fabric of Latin America. The creation of Bolivarian universities in Venezuela to promote social embodiment, and the introduction of Indigenous universities in Bolivia are strong examples.
As a 21st century alternative, ALBA must encourage and support cooperative workplaces with democratic decision-making, and smaller-scale, local, and sustainable production and consumption. Financial and technical collaboration between nations will provide cohesion to existing state industries and newly-acquired ones, to strengthen industry in general, and to prevent the flight of foreign capital, and subsequent instability and unemployment.
ALBA, in contrast to other regional trade organizations, is putting forward cooperation in trade of goods and services for sustainable resources and food security, toward the goal of self-sufficiency for the continent. This begins with the development of local and national agriculture and industry to end foreign dependence. Most of Latin America, and especially South America, is an area where forests and rivers are plentiful, and where the land is extremely rich in natural resources, from a large variety of food crops, to natural gas, oil, and minerals. Despite this tremendous natural wealth, Latin America is heavily dependent on imports, namely food imports, a trend which must be urgently reversed; as Jose Marti has said, "a people that cannot produce its own food are slaves; they don't have the slightest freedom. If a society doesn't produce what it eats, it will always be dependent on someone else". Food sovereignty, by extension, will serve to protect traditional and indigenous culture, subsistence, and employment. In other words, if the peoples of Latin America wish to attain genuine and permanent independence, they must first and foremost break the economic chains of neo-liberalism. Capitalist globalization is attempting to turn Latin America into another cookie jar, and ALBA must be there as the necessary alternative to reclaim the continent's markets and resources, not in competition with the rest of the world, but in collaboration, to ensure that the economy serves as a tool for the prosperity of people, and not the other way around.
Ideologically, ALBA will help to build anti-imperialist solidarity in a tangible way, and not just in rhetoric. ALBA serves as an engine for the battle of ideas, as a means to disseminate the human values of love, truth, justice, equality, and community, to break with the invisible cage of selfishness and individualism, qualities which are inherent in the culture of capitalism.
One of the main components working in concert with ALBA will be the Banco Del Sur (or Bank of the South), which will serve as a necessary feature, for the time being, to counter the capital power of the traditional international finance and lending institutions. The Banco Del Sur will provide countries and people with an alternative to weaken the economic grip of, namely, the International Monetary Fund(IMF), The World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank(IADB), and to minimize the influence of the World Trade Organization, at least in Latin America and the Caribbean. Typically the IMF, and the World Bank, etc. will hand out loans packaged with conditions of economic structural adjustments, trade liberalization, and privatization, and often with extremely high interest rates. The Banco Del Sur on the other hand will charge very low interest rates, and will be geared toward social programs and development. The original founding members of the Bank are Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Ecuador. One of the main tenets along with the initial idea for the bank is that each member is assigned one vote, regardless of the size of its financial contribution. On Sunday Sept.27, 2009 the second Africa South America Summit (ASA) took place on Isla Margarita, and in addition to expanding South-South solidarity across the Atlantic, the original seven Banco Del Sur countries concluded the formalized creation of the bank, with a start-up capital of $ 20 billion. Hugo Chavez even floated the idea of adding African countries as members in the future to expand the bank under the new name of BancASA. Chavez also announced intentions to create PETROSUR oil company, an intercontinental oil giant to serve the peoples of Africa and South America.
Simply put, we proclaim ALBA for liberty, because self-sufficiency is self-determination.
The current brutal military coup in Honduras, which continues its attempts to cut down the peaceful resistance on a daily basis, has attacked not only Hondurans, but the Bolivarian movement as a whole. This aggression has reaffirmed with absolute certainty that the reactionary forces of the hemisphere will not tolerate social advancement, and will not go quietly, or peacefully. The relevance of ALBA suddenly becomes even more imperative, and undeniable.
The dysfunctional, status-quo, market-oriented system has given Latin America nothing other than economic and social crisis for decades, focusing solely on foreign investment, and measuring national progress and living conditions by inaccurate growth rates. It is an unrealistic model of infinite growth, precisely at a time when we need to immediately and considerably check our consumption habits, and slow the exploitation of the planet. Evo Morales has said that "Mother Earth cannot be a piece of merchandise.... Under capitalism, we are not human beings, but consumers. Under capitalism, mother earth does not exist, instead there are raw materials."
As both an economic and a social alternative, ALBA will work to develop a completely different way of reshaping society, focusing instead on the development of human capital, namely through improved health and education. These social programs emanating from ALBA, known as missions, operate in many South American countries, even many which are not official members of ALBA. The Cuban 'Yo, Si Puedo' reading and writing campaign, for example, has wiped out illiteracy in Venezuela and Bolivia, Bolivia being the most recent announcing itself free of illiteracy in December 2008. 'Operacion Milagro', a program to provide free eye care procedures and restore eyesight has benefitted more than one million eight hundred thousand people in 35 countries across Latin America, Asia, and Africa. And, directly in the field of education, the formation of thousands of doctors, technical professionals, and engineers free of charge is strengthening the social and communal fabric of Latin America. The creation of Bolivarian universities in Venezuela to promote social embodiment, and the introduction of Indigenous universities in Bolivia are strong examples.
As a 21st century alternative, ALBA must encourage and support cooperative workplaces with democratic decision-making, and smaller-scale, local, and sustainable production and consumption. Financial and technical collaboration between nations will provide cohesion to existing state industries and newly-acquired ones, to strengthen industry in general, and to prevent the flight of foreign capital, and subsequent instability and unemployment.
ALBA, in contrast to other regional trade organizations, is putting forward cooperation in trade of goods and services for sustainable resources and food security, toward the goal of self-sufficiency for the continent. This begins with the development of local and national agriculture and industry to end foreign dependence. Most of Latin America, and especially South America, is an area where forests and rivers are plentiful, and where the land is extremely rich in natural resources, from a large variety of food crops, to natural gas, oil, and minerals. Despite this tremendous natural wealth, Latin America is heavily dependent on imports, namely food imports, a trend which must be urgently reversed; as Jose Marti has said, "a people that cannot produce its own food are slaves; they don't have the slightest freedom. If a society doesn't produce what it eats, it will always be dependent on someone else". Food sovereignty, by extension, will serve to protect traditional and indigenous culture, subsistence, and employment. In other words, if the peoples of Latin America wish to attain genuine and permanent independence, they must first and foremost break the economic chains of neo-liberalism. Capitalist globalization is attempting to turn Latin America into another cookie jar, and ALBA must be there as the necessary alternative to reclaim the continent's markets and resources, not in competition with the rest of the world, but in collaboration, to ensure that the economy serves as a tool for the prosperity of people, and not the other way around.
Ideologically, ALBA will help to build anti-imperialist solidarity in a tangible way, and not just in rhetoric. ALBA serves as an engine for the battle of ideas, as a means to disseminate the human values of love, truth, justice, equality, and community, to break with the invisible cage of selfishness and individualism, qualities which are inherent in the culture of capitalism.
One of the main components working in concert with ALBA will be the Banco Del Sur (or Bank of the South), which will serve as a necessary feature, for the time being, to counter the capital power of the traditional international finance and lending institutions. The Banco Del Sur will provide countries and people with an alternative to weaken the economic grip of, namely, the International Monetary Fund(IMF), The World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank(IADB), and to minimize the influence of the World Trade Organization, at least in Latin America and the Caribbean. Typically the IMF, and the World Bank, etc. will hand out loans packaged with conditions of economic structural adjustments, trade liberalization, and privatization, and often with extremely high interest rates. The Banco Del Sur on the other hand will charge very low interest rates, and will be geared toward social programs and development. The original founding members of the Bank are Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Ecuador. One of the main tenets along with the initial idea for the bank is that each member is assigned one vote, regardless of the size of its financial contribution. On Sunday Sept.27, 2009 the second Africa South America Summit (ASA) took place on Isla Margarita, and in addition to expanding South-South solidarity across the Atlantic, the original seven Banco Del Sur countries concluded the formalized creation of the bank, with a start-up capital of $ 20 billion. Hugo Chavez even floated the idea of adding African countries as members in the future to expand the bank under the new name of BancASA. Chavez also announced intentions to create PETROSUR oil company, an intercontinental oil giant to serve the peoples of Africa and South America.
Simply put, we proclaim ALBA for liberty, because self-sufficiency is self-determination.
The current brutal military coup in Honduras, which continues its attempts to cut down the peaceful resistance on a daily basis, has attacked not only Hondurans, but the Bolivarian movement as a whole. This aggression has reaffirmed with absolute certainty that the reactionary forces of the hemisphere will not tolerate social advancement, and will not go quietly, or peacefully. The relevance of ALBA suddenly becomes even more imperative, and undeniable.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
100 Days of Honduran Resistance - A Canadian Solidarity Perspective
Oct/7/2009
On Saturday Sept.26, 2009 the Latin American Solidarity Network Toronto (LASN) held a day long teach-in, with panels on Honduras, the Venezuela-Colombia dynamic, and North American foreign policy in Latin America. Despite a modest turnout, the gathering was hugely successful with very enthusiastic interaction, and valuable dialogue, as inspiration was generated, connections were cultivated, and strong commitments reaffirmed. It really had the feeling of being a momentous, and very significant meeting, as many people pointed out during the discussion. Everyone dispersed afterwards having taken away something positive. It was a great exercise of solidarity building.
It was an important event for LASN which had just recently sent a three man delegation to Honduras to help with the resistance efforts, which have been sustained now for more than 90 days without pause, in response to the military coup of June 28th, 2009. The report back from the three companeros who had the opportunity to work firsthand with the resistance movement provided valuable insight to Toronto activists in helping to understand the important dynamic of what is taking shape in Honduras as we speak.
Honduras After 100 Days
One of the most consequential elements of the standoff at this time is that the balance of forces has been clearly established. After three months of confrontation a few things have occurred. The coup regime has shown persistence, and is unyielding despite significant international political pressure. The resistance movement has demonstrated even greater resolve, and even in the face of severe repression, the people have committed themselves to a decisive struggle. All Latin American governments have strongly condemned the coup-makers and have demanded the return of President Zelaya, the majority of them unconditionally so. The international solidarity community has completely and whole-heartedly supported the resistance, and will continue to do so until a conclusion is reached.
The military regime, not surprisingly, has come down hard on the resistance with the violent dispersal of daily mobilizations; water cannons, tear gas, beatings, live rounds have been common place, even reports of chemical weapons being used against the Brazilian Embassy where president Zelaya has taken refuge. Killings, injuries, arbitrary detentions, and disappearances have been daily occurrences. Not to mention the media has been silenced, internet access has been restricted, and curfews have been imposed since day 1. These numerous, blatant human rights violations have been documented and condemned by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, European countries, and even the Organization of American States (OAS), which is not always sympathetic to leftist causes to say the least. The U.S. government however, while mildly disapproving of the coup and quietly asking for the return of President Zelaya, has done so only behind the guise of the San Jose Accord, an agreement pushed and written by the U.S, with Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias as the token conciliatory figure. The traitorous, watered-down San Jose accord is not even a mediated dialogue, but rather a one sided power-sharing deal which extends a gold-plated olive branch to the Micheletti regime, and sets a terrible precedent in Latin America by rewarding military coups instead of punishing them. Beyond labeling the situation in Honduras as a coup, and not even as a military coup, the U.S has done nothing concrete to reverse the coup, and has said nothing about the rampant human rights violations which have been condemned by so many other organizations worldwide.
All these factors lead us to an apparent stalemate.
However! Drawing from momentum, from international opinion, from the reports of those who have witnessed Honduras in transition from up close, and from the unshakable determination of the resistance, it would seem that the political initiative now lies in the hands of the Honduran people.
Most likely, if the coup had not taken place on June 28th, the people of Honduras would probably have been satisfied with President Zelaya's progressive reforms, and with the hope that the promise of the referendum on a constituent assembly, as proposed by Zelaya, would bring greater change in the near future. Roberto Micheletti, the de facto military president, has said that what is taking place in Honduras is not a coup, but a "constitutional succession". Perhaps it was not a good idea for the far-right to overreact. They are obviously uneasy, and very nervous about the Bolivarian process, but perhaps they would have been better off with a few liberal reforms, rather than with an entire people, infuriated, and ready and willing to take matters into their own hands.
Capitalist motivated military reactions to social progress have a tendency to take things too far, to take things beyond the point where people will just let things slide, or forget about it, either out of fear, or simply because time elapses. By doing this, they are instead fueling the fire they wish to extinguish. To a degree, western democracy now has become synonymous with injustice, and repression. In Latin America, many of these so-called democracies have introduced laws against "terrorism". In El Salavador, the fascist ARENA party has used this law to suppress social movements fighting against the privatization of water. In Chile, allegedly Latin America's most exemplary democracy, the government of Michelle Bachelet has used an "anti-terrorist" law against the indigenous Mapuche people in their struggle. In Colombia, a similar law is used regularly to ruthlessly expel indigenous communities and campesinos from their traditional lands, to make room for monoculture crops. And, most recently the APRA party government of Alan Garcia in Peru has also made use of a law against "terrorism", in June, 2009, to put down indigenous protests against the granting of exploration and exploitation contracts in the Amazon. These perverse reversals of justice, often coinciding with legislation required by free trade agreements, are all carried out to honor neoliberal commitments.
Naomi Klein has written about cultural warfare, or genocide saying that it is “part of a system....with clear intent not of attacking individual persons but of destroying the parts of society that those people represented” or a “clear and deliberate region-wide strategy…to uproot and erase the left,” a declaration of war against an entire culture. The same historical pattern seems to be repeating itself in Honduras today; curfews, arbitrary detentions, shootings, killings, disappearances, restrictions on all freedoms, including media and the right to organize. Pinochet's Chile, or any other of a number of military dictatorships that have terrorized Latin America in the last 60 years, have far more similarities than differences to the current regime in Honduras. What these historical precedents have in common with Honduras' current regime, is the criminalization of protest.
What they are attempting to carry out is an attack against a social vision, against an alternative culture, they are telling people that they are not allowed to fight for social justice, that they are not allowed to stand against capitalist and neoliberal domination. When mass violence and human rights violations are required to maintain a government, or a system, whether that system be religious, economic, or political, any such attempts to derail social movements amounts to cultural warfare. There comes a point when it is no longer just a struggle for certain elements of social justice, but literally a fight for your very existence, a fight to preserve and save a way of life, and the people of Honduras, it seems, whether it be within the context of humanity's fight, or within the context of ALBA, have realized this to the fullest extent.
Che Guevara has aid that "there is nothing better to give solidarity to a people than a U.S backed invasion," and the same can be said about a U.S backed military coup. The failed 2002 coup attempt in Venezuela proved exactly that. The June 28th coup, it seems, has really brought the various social forces of Honduras together in unity. The resistance at this time is rallying behind the slogan of the reinstatement of President Zelaya, but what is most significant is that they have decided for themselves, that a true emancipatory process has begun. The resistance has already declared some districts liberated. To borrow from the brilliant vice-president of Bolivia, Alvaro Linera Garcia, perhaps Honduras is preparing to go through its own "point of bifurcation"; when a decision is made by a people to physically take the revolutionary process to the next level, in one concrete, discernible, and definable action. The people of Honduras at this point, have to either take that route, or understand that they will be forced to tolerate further injustice if they do not make the commitment.
The conclusion is that the Honduran people, and by extension the peoples of Latin America and the world, are reaching a decisive moment in their history, a crossroads in the struggle. Another possibility if the conflict does not head acutely in one direction or the other, would be a behind the scenes U.S. brokered power-sharing deal which will simply squander the efforts of the resistance to the capitalist abyss of stagnancy and regression, and will force the Honduran people to head down the road of unjust neo-democracy. So Honduras cannot rely on the rhetoric and promises of the international political community, and they also cannot rely on the simple reinstatement of president Zelaya. It doesn’t really matter if Zelaya is reinstated, because the struggle is not about a presidential face, it is not about symbolically removing or reinstating a token figurehead. Overthrowing the coup at this point must mean eliminating the School of the Americas influence in the country, permanently, and dismantling the corrupt, right-wing elements of the military. There will be no change unless their capacity for repression is removed.
The resistance’s organizational structure for its regional and national assemblies is very highly developed and efficient, a well-oiled union and dialogue of diverse social movements in solidarity, comparable in some ways to the process which took place in Oaxaca, Mexico, from June to November of 2006, with the A.P.P.O (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca), a model which has been considered one of the highest forms of organized resistance. For Honduras, perhaps the answer to managing their country and their communities after the dust settles, is simply a slight variation of their instinctive response to the coup’s repression, the rebellious popular power in motion they have created as their means of struggle. Fidel Castro has said that “ history has demonstrated that great solutions have only emerged from great crises.” For resistance movements all over the world during transitory or emancipatory processes, it can be said that the question is not simply about taking power, but about knowing what to do with that power. The people of Honduras with their high level of organization, and with their political maturity throughout this confrontation, have clearly proven that they are in fact ready and willing to take on the responsibility of creating a permanent and meaningful solution.
Solidarity with the Honduran People!
On Saturday Sept.26, 2009 the Latin American Solidarity Network Toronto (LASN) held a day long teach-in, with panels on Honduras, the Venezuela-Colombia dynamic, and North American foreign policy in Latin America. Despite a modest turnout, the gathering was hugely successful with very enthusiastic interaction, and valuable dialogue, as inspiration was generated, connections were cultivated, and strong commitments reaffirmed. It really had the feeling of being a momentous, and very significant meeting, as many people pointed out during the discussion. Everyone dispersed afterwards having taken away something positive. It was a great exercise of solidarity building.
It was an important event for LASN which had just recently sent a three man delegation to Honduras to help with the resistance efforts, which have been sustained now for more than 90 days without pause, in response to the military coup of June 28th, 2009. The report back from the three companeros who had the opportunity to work firsthand with the resistance movement provided valuable insight to Toronto activists in helping to understand the important dynamic of what is taking shape in Honduras as we speak.
Honduras After 100 Days
One of the most consequential elements of the standoff at this time is that the balance of forces has been clearly established. After three months of confrontation a few things have occurred. The coup regime has shown persistence, and is unyielding despite significant international political pressure. The resistance movement has demonstrated even greater resolve, and even in the face of severe repression, the people have committed themselves to a decisive struggle. All Latin American governments have strongly condemned the coup-makers and have demanded the return of President Zelaya, the majority of them unconditionally so. The international solidarity community has completely and whole-heartedly supported the resistance, and will continue to do so until a conclusion is reached.
The military regime, not surprisingly, has come down hard on the resistance with the violent dispersal of daily mobilizations; water cannons, tear gas, beatings, live rounds have been common place, even reports of chemical weapons being used against the Brazilian Embassy where president Zelaya has taken refuge. Killings, injuries, arbitrary detentions, and disappearances have been daily occurrences. Not to mention the media has been silenced, internet access has been restricted, and curfews have been imposed since day 1. These numerous, blatant human rights violations have been documented and condemned by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, European countries, and even the Organization of American States (OAS), which is not always sympathetic to leftist causes to say the least. The U.S. government however, while mildly disapproving of the coup and quietly asking for the return of President Zelaya, has done so only behind the guise of the San Jose Accord, an agreement pushed and written by the U.S, with Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias as the token conciliatory figure. The traitorous, watered-down San Jose accord is not even a mediated dialogue, but rather a one sided power-sharing deal which extends a gold-plated olive branch to the Micheletti regime, and sets a terrible precedent in Latin America by rewarding military coups instead of punishing them. Beyond labeling the situation in Honduras as a coup, and not even as a military coup, the U.S has done nothing concrete to reverse the coup, and has said nothing about the rampant human rights violations which have been condemned by so many other organizations worldwide.
All these factors lead us to an apparent stalemate.
However! Drawing from momentum, from international opinion, from the reports of those who have witnessed Honduras in transition from up close, and from the unshakable determination of the resistance, it would seem that the political initiative now lies in the hands of the Honduran people.
Most likely, if the coup had not taken place on June 28th, the people of Honduras would probably have been satisfied with President Zelaya's progressive reforms, and with the hope that the promise of the referendum on a constituent assembly, as proposed by Zelaya, would bring greater change in the near future. Roberto Micheletti, the de facto military president, has said that what is taking place in Honduras is not a coup, but a "constitutional succession". Perhaps it was not a good idea for the far-right to overreact. They are obviously uneasy, and very nervous about the Bolivarian process, but perhaps they would have been better off with a few liberal reforms, rather than with an entire people, infuriated, and ready and willing to take matters into their own hands.
Capitalist motivated military reactions to social progress have a tendency to take things too far, to take things beyond the point where people will just let things slide, or forget about it, either out of fear, or simply because time elapses. By doing this, they are instead fueling the fire they wish to extinguish. To a degree, western democracy now has become synonymous with injustice, and repression. In Latin America, many of these so-called democracies have introduced laws against "terrorism". In El Salavador, the fascist ARENA party has used this law to suppress social movements fighting against the privatization of water. In Chile, allegedly Latin America's most exemplary democracy, the government of Michelle Bachelet has used an "anti-terrorist" law against the indigenous Mapuche people in their struggle. In Colombia, a similar law is used regularly to ruthlessly expel indigenous communities and campesinos from their traditional lands, to make room for monoculture crops. And, most recently the APRA party government of Alan Garcia in Peru has also made use of a law against "terrorism", in June, 2009, to put down indigenous protests against the granting of exploration and exploitation contracts in the Amazon. These perverse reversals of justice, often coinciding with legislation required by free trade agreements, are all carried out to honor neoliberal commitments.
Naomi Klein has written about cultural warfare, or genocide saying that it is “part of a system....with clear intent not of attacking individual persons but of destroying the parts of society that those people represented” or a “clear and deliberate region-wide strategy…to uproot and erase the left,” a declaration of war against an entire culture. The same historical pattern seems to be repeating itself in Honduras today; curfews, arbitrary detentions, shootings, killings, disappearances, restrictions on all freedoms, including media and the right to organize. Pinochet's Chile, or any other of a number of military dictatorships that have terrorized Latin America in the last 60 years, have far more similarities than differences to the current regime in Honduras. What these historical precedents have in common with Honduras' current regime, is the criminalization of protest.
What they are attempting to carry out is an attack against a social vision, against an alternative culture, they are telling people that they are not allowed to fight for social justice, that they are not allowed to stand against capitalist and neoliberal domination. When mass violence and human rights violations are required to maintain a government, or a system, whether that system be religious, economic, or political, any such attempts to derail social movements amounts to cultural warfare. There comes a point when it is no longer just a struggle for certain elements of social justice, but literally a fight for your very existence, a fight to preserve and save a way of life, and the people of Honduras, it seems, whether it be within the context of humanity's fight, or within the context of ALBA, have realized this to the fullest extent.
Che Guevara has aid that "there is nothing better to give solidarity to a people than a U.S backed invasion," and the same can be said about a U.S backed military coup. The failed 2002 coup attempt in Venezuela proved exactly that. The June 28th coup, it seems, has really brought the various social forces of Honduras together in unity. The resistance at this time is rallying behind the slogan of the reinstatement of President Zelaya, but what is most significant is that they have decided for themselves, that a true emancipatory process has begun. The resistance has already declared some districts liberated. To borrow from the brilliant vice-president of Bolivia, Alvaro Linera Garcia, perhaps Honduras is preparing to go through its own "point of bifurcation"; when a decision is made by a people to physically take the revolutionary process to the next level, in one concrete, discernible, and definable action. The people of Honduras at this point, have to either take that route, or understand that they will be forced to tolerate further injustice if they do not make the commitment.
The conclusion is that the Honduran people, and by extension the peoples of Latin America and the world, are reaching a decisive moment in their history, a crossroads in the struggle. Another possibility if the conflict does not head acutely in one direction or the other, would be a behind the scenes U.S. brokered power-sharing deal which will simply squander the efforts of the resistance to the capitalist abyss of stagnancy and regression, and will force the Honduran people to head down the road of unjust neo-democracy. So Honduras cannot rely on the rhetoric and promises of the international political community, and they also cannot rely on the simple reinstatement of president Zelaya. It doesn’t really matter if Zelaya is reinstated, because the struggle is not about a presidential face, it is not about symbolically removing or reinstating a token figurehead. Overthrowing the coup at this point must mean eliminating the School of the Americas influence in the country, permanently, and dismantling the corrupt, right-wing elements of the military. There will be no change unless their capacity for repression is removed.
The resistance’s organizational structure for its regional and national assemblies is very highly developed and efficient, a well-oiled union and dialogue of diverse social movements in solidarity, comparable in some ways to the process which took place in Oaxaca, Mexico, from June to November of 2006, with the A.P.P.O (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca), a model which has been considered one of the highest forms of organized resistance. For Honduras, perhaps the answer to managing their country and their communities after the dust settles, is simply a slight variation of their instinctive response to the coup’s repression, the rebellious popular power in motion they have created as their means of struggle. Fidel Castro has said that “ history has demonstrated that great solutions have only emerged from great crises.” For resistance movements all over the world during transitory or emancipatory processes, it can be said that the question is not simply about taking power, but about knowing what to do with that power. The people of Honduras with their high level of organization, and with their political maturity throughout this confrontation, have clearly proven that they are in fact ready and willing to take on the responsibility of creating a permanent and meaningful solution.
Solidarity with the Honduran People!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Continued Media Misinformation on Honduras
A July 30th article in The New York Times by Ginger Thompson entitled "De Facto Leader is Said to Back Deal in Honduras" claimed that de facto president Roberto Micheletti is reaching out to Costa Rican president Oscar Arias in an attempt to bring an end to the month old crisis in Honduras. The New York Times reports that Micheletti has expressed support for the 12 point "San Jose Accord" outlined by Arias, which would allow President Zelaya to return to his country with limited powers.
According to the article, "The officials said Mr. Micheletti warned President Arias that he had not been able to persuade other parts of the Honduran government, or the leaders of the Honduran business community, to go along with the proposal. So he asked Mr. Arias to consider sending a prominent international political figure to help him stem the fierce opposition." This means simply that the dynamic of the situation between the military government and the international community will remain unchanged, only the tone of the crisis is being adjusted, and the media interpretation and presentation of information regarding the conflict is being altered; the media story is being remodelled or rearranged.
In other words, the coup government continues to receive only a mild slap on the wrist, and the situation remains the same, as the near legitimacy of the military coup government endures with the inaction and neutrality of the international community. What is meant by neutrality is that most influential countries have condemned the coup in rhetoric only, and have done nothing to actually pressure or dislodge the illegal coup government. The U.S. for example has "condemned" the coup and acknowledged that Manuel Zelaya is the democratically elected President of Honduras, yet at the same time have said that the coup was not legal, but that it also wasn't illegal. This means the U.S. State Department has refused to officially label the incident as a 'coup d'etat', which would by law force the U.S. to suspend all financial support to the country, be it military or economic "aid". The U.S. has cut $ 16.5 million in military funding, but continues to flow $ 180 million of economic "aid". Experts have argued that cutting economic aid would hurt the population of Honduras directly, which is not entirely true. The complete suspension of economic support to the country could hurt a certain number of Hondurans, but only in the
long-term, and under the current far-right illegal government, the people of Honduras would never benefit from that money anyway. U.S. economic "aid" doesn't help in pulling ordinary citizens out of poverty, it serves only to assist private interests and foreign investment.
To further that point, it is noteworthy that the article also twice mentions business in the same breadth as political figures; "the Honduran business community" and the powerful "business leaders in Honduras". To be sure the military coup plotters have no interests other than the interests of the Honduran elites and of multinational corporations, and will attempt, as U.S. and international economic "aid" would have it, to re-establish and maintain an acceptable economic order. In fact the article goes on to mention that "one of those whom officials mentioned as a possibility" for a prominent international political figure to help solve the stalemate inside Honduras, "was Enrique V. Iglesias, a former president of the Inter-American Development Bank." The Inter-American Development Bank is the Latin American equivalent of the IMF or the World Bank, a facilitator of foreign interests, and is widely reported to have played a prominent role in the overthrow of democratically elected President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a 2004 coup d'etat in Haiti.
The article also mentions the legal position taken by the military government; "Honduran lawmakers and the supreme court have said that it was a mistake for the military to have forced Mr. Zelaya into exile, but that the accusations against him are valid. And they argue that the only way he should be allowed back is to face trial." This is a very weak, unimaginative attempt to try and paint a convincing legal argument against Zelaya's return. Lets take a closer look at the realities of the situation vs. the media distortions being presented daily, and the flawed legal logic of the coup government. The following are extracts from an article on the NACLA website (nacla.org/news), written on Monday August 3rd by Michael Fox entitled 'Honduras and Washington: A Few Contradictions':
"Along with many U.S. papers, the Post (The Washington Post) has painted Zelaya as a Hugo Chávez-backed caudillo, attempting to overtake the powers of the Honduran government. The Post quickly echoed the talking points of the coup plotters that Zelaya was ripped from office because he was attempting an unconstitutional referendum to extend his term in office. In fact, the Honduran President was actually planning a non-binding referendum that according to the Spanish news agency, EFE , asked the Honduran people if 'during the general elections of November 2009 there should be a fourth ballot to decide whether to hold a Constituent National Assembly that will approve a new political constitution?'"
Now the legal side.
"According to a legal memorandum prepared by Micheletti supporters on June 29 and available on the website of the conservative Virginia-based think tank, Americans for Limited Government, the Honduran Supreme Court had found the referendum 'illegal', because the Honduran Constitution explicitly states that certain Constitutional articles cannot be reformed; such as those that 'refer to the type of government, the national territory, the presidential term and the prohibition of serving again as President of the Republic.' The Supreme Court thus inferred that since a Constituent Assembly may have attempted to reform these articles, it was unconstitutional. Therefore, they said, a referendum on the possibility of holding a Constituent Assembly was also unconstitutional."
The coup plotters in this declaration are explicitly saying that they assumed Mr. Zelaya may have attempted changes to the type of government, and to presidential term limits, and therefore they were justified in staging a military coup. This sounds eerily similar to the aggressive preemptive logic of the United-States.
The position of the Honduran coup government, and the media statements mentioned above, thus far have all been based on lies, false accusations, and assumptions. Since Zelaya's ouster over a month ago, the mainstream media namely The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Spain's El Pais have all juggled their lies and misinformation. Zelaya has been kicked out of Honduras either because of his close ties with Hugo Chavez, because he was operating with recklessness in planning an "unconstitutional" referendum for a constituent assembly which he had not yet carried out, and/or because he was planning to try and pass a constitutional amendment to extend his term in office. Now in early August, the military government in a public address has made allegations that Guerrillas are being trained in Nicaraguan encampments, with the support of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Hugo Chavez, and the FARC(Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.) It is amazing, ridiculous, almost amusing how the elites and the media have decided to just throw in the FARC, almost as an added bonus; why not include them as well? The web they are trying to spin is to link all the forces opposed to neo-liberalism in Latin America, as a sort of big, incredible, socialist alliance of guerrilla subversion. In the past week alone, the media has reported that Colombia has found arms that belonged to the FARC, arms that had undoubtedly been provided to them by Venezuela. They have resurfaced a story which made headlines in March of 2008 when Colombia had bombed a FARC camp inside Ecuador and allegedly retrieved laptops containing information that provided absolute proof that Venezuela had been providing funds and facilitating arms deals for the FARC. And now, they claim that Guerrillas are training inside Nicaragua with the support of President Daniel Ortega, of course Hugo Chavez, and the FARC. They see opportunities to link different stories together, and to inculpate several groups simultaneously through various networks of misinformation. This latest attack on Honduras is not just an attack against Honduras, it is an attack on a continental social movement that is growing, an attack on the will of Latin Americans everywhere.
The Times article goes on to quote an unnamed official; "'Today is an important day,' said one of the officials who spoke about Mr. Micheletti's call to Mr. Arias. 'President Arias essentially has Mr. Micheletti calling to say he thinks the San Jose Accord is a good framework." So all of a sudden Mr. Micheletti, the leading representative of the de facto, illegal, military coup government is a goodwill ambassador, a brilliant messiah with a solution to a nasty, unworkable conflict. The media is trying to twist the story and to portray Micheletti almost as a unifying figure, or at least as a promising, moderate element of the coup leadership. The situation is almost comparable to that of Israel and Palestine; allow the aggressors to commit the injustices, and then glorify them for making insignificant, arrogant, hypocritical concessions.
According to the article, "The officials said Mr. Micheletti warned President Arias that he had not been able to persuade other parts of the Honduran government, or the leaders of the Honduran business community, to go along with the proposal. So he asked Mr. Arias to consider sending a prominent international political figure to help him stem the fierce opposition." This means simply that the dynamic of the situation between the military government and the international community will remain unchanged, only the tone of the crisis is being adjusted, and the media interpretation and presentation of information regarding the conflict is being altered; the media story is being remodelled or rearranged.
In other words, the coup government continues to receive only a mild slap on the wrist, and the situation remains the same, as the near legitimacy of the military coup government endures with the inaction and neutrality of the international community. What is meant by neutrality is that most influential countries have condemned the coup in rhetoric only, and have done nothing to actually pressure or dislodge the illegal coup government. The U.S. for example has "condemned" the coup and acknowledged that Manuel Zelaya is the democratically elected President of Honduras, yet at the same time have said that the coup was not legal, but that it also wasn't illegal. This means the U.S. State Department has refused to officially label the incident as a 'coup d'etat', which would by law force the U.S. to suspend all financial support to the country, be it military or economic "aid". The U.S. has cut $ 16.5 million in military funding, but continues to flow $ 180 million of economic "aid". Experts have argued that cutting economic aid would hurt the population of Honduras directly, which is not entirely true. The complete suspension of economic support to the country could hurt a certain number of Hondurans, but only in the
long-term, and under the current far-right illegal government, the people of Honduras would never benefit from that money anyway. U.S. economic "aid" doesn't help in pulling ordinary citizens out of poverty, it serves only to assist private interests and foreign investment.
To further that point, it is noteworthy that the article also twice mentions business in the same breadth as political figures; "the Honduran business community" and the powerful "business leaders in Honduras". To be sure the military coup plotters have no interests other than the interests of the Honduran elites and of multinational corporations, and will attempt, as U.S. and international economic "aid" would have it, to re-establish and maintain an acceptable economic order. In fact the article goes on to mention that "one of those whom officials mentioned as a possibility" for a prominent international political figure to help solve the stalemate inside Honduras, "was Enrique V. Iglesias, a former president of the Inter-American Development Bank." The Inter-American Development Bank is the Latin American equivalent of the IMF or the World Bank, a facilitator of foreign interests, and is widely reported to have played a prominent role in the overthrow of democratically elected President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a 2004 coup d'etat in Haiti.
The article also mentions the legal position taken by the military government; "Honduran lawmakers and the supreme court have said that it was a mistake for the military to have forced Mr. Zelaya into exile, but that the accusations against him are valid. And they argue that the only way he should be allowed back is to face trial." This is a very weak, unimaginative attempt to try and paint a convincing legal argument against Zelaya's return. Lets take a closer look at the realities of the situation vs. the media distortions being presented daily, and the flawed legal logic of the coup government. The following are extracts from an article on the NACLA website (nacla.org/news), written on Monday August 3rd by Michael Fox entitled 'Honduras and Washington: A Few Contradictions':
"Along with many U.S. papers, the Post (The Washington Post) has painted Zelaya as a Hugo Chávez-backed caudillo, attempting to overtake the powers of the Honduran government. The Post quickly echoed the talking points of the coup plotters that Zelaya was ripped from office because he was attempting an unconstitutional referendum to extend his term in office. In fact, the Honduran President was actually planning a non-binding referendum that according to the Spanish news agency, EFE , asked the Honduran people if 'during the general elections of November 2009 there should be a fourth ballot to decide whether to hold a Constituent National Assembly that will approve a new political constitution?'"
Now the legal side.
"According to a legal memorandum prepared by Micheletti supporters on June 29 and available on the website of the conservative Virginia-based think tank, Americans for Limited Government, the Honduran Supreme Court had found the referendum 'illegal', because the Honduran Constitution explicitly states that certain Constitutional articles cannot be reformed; such as those that 'refer to the type of government, the national territory, the presidential term and the prohibition of serving again as President of the Republic.' The Supreme Court thus inferred that since a Constituent Assembly may have attempted to reform these articles, it was unconstitutional. Therefore, they said, a referendum on the possibility of holding a Constituent Assembly was also unconstitutional."
The coup plotters in this declaration are explicitly saying that they assumed Mr. Zelaya may have attempted changes to the type of government, and to presidential term limits, and therefore they were justified in staging a military coup. This sounds eerily similar to the aggressive preemptive logic of the United-States.
The position of the Honduran coup government, and the media statements mentioned above, thus far have all been based on lies, false accusations, and assumptions. Since Zelaya's ouster over a month ago, the mainstream media namely The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Spain's El Pais have all juggled their lies and misinformation. Zelaya has been kicked out of Honduras either because of his close ties with Hugo Chavez, because he was operating with recklessness in planning an "unconstitutional" referendum for a constituent assembly which he had not yet carried out, and/or because he was planning to try and pass a constitutional amendment to extend his term in office. Now in early August, the military government in a public address has made allegations that Guerrillas are being trained in Nicaraguan encampments, with the support of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Hugo Chavez, and the FARC(Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.) It is amazing, ridiculous, almost amusing how the elites and the media have decided to just throw in the FARC, almost as an added bonus; why not include them as well? The web they are trying to spin is to link all the forces opposed to neo-liberalism in Latin America, as a sort of big, incredible, socialist alliance of guerrilla subversion. In the past week alone, the media has reported that Colombia has found arms that belonged to the FARC, arms that had undoubtedly been provided to them by Venezuela. They have resurfaced a story which made headlines in March of 2008 when Colombia had bombed a FARC camp inside Ecuador and allegedly retrieved laptops containing information that provided absolute proof that Venezuela had been providing funds and facilitating arms deals for the FARC. And now, they claim that Guerrillas are training inside Nicaragua with the support of President Daniel Ortega, of course Hugo Chavez, and the FARC. They see opportunities to link different stories together, and to inculpate several groups simultaneously through various networks of misinformation. This latest attack on Honduras is not just an attack against Honduras, it is an attack on a continental social movement that is growing, an attack on the will of Latin Americans everywhere.
The Times article goes on to quote an unnamed official; "'Today is an important day,' said one of the officials who spoke about Mr. Micheletti's call to Mr. Arias. 'President Arias essentially has Mr. Micheletti calling to say he thinks the San Jose Accord is a good framework." So all of a sudden Mr. Micheletti, the leading representative of the de facto, illegal, military coup government is a goodwill ambassador, a brilliant messiah with a solution to a nasty, unworkable conflict. The media is trying to twist the story and to portray Micheletti almost as a unifying figure, or at least as a promising, moderate element of the coup leadership. The situation is almost comparable to that of Israel and Palestine; allow the aggressors to commit the injustices, and then glorify them for making insignificant, arrogant, hypocritical concessions.
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