In a message dated 3/11/1999 1:45:57 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< No, I was (genuinely) interested to hear that someone who sounded like she
might know what she was talking about (and it is now obvious, you do), felt
that traditional colonialists are _still_ responsible for the __majority__ of
bad things happening globally _today_. That is, that they are a bigger problem
than the multinationals and other governments and militaries. I am still
interested to hear your opinion on this specifc point (note the words
_"underlined"_). >>
The majority of the "bad things" that happen globally are driven by economics
and political strategism (i.e. having an "ally" (read: puppet) in "strategic"
areas, political support that fosters economic benefit). In Africa, France
still exerts a strong hold on the francophone countries successfully
intervening in governmental politics - it is a very weak position for a
potential official to be openly anti-france - Britain still hold a great deal
of sway over its former colonies and so on. People like Mobutu Sese Seko were
supported by both France and the United States (he was a savvy player of the
game) as long as he provided them with cheap and easy access to plunder the
hefty resources of Zaire. He stole hundreds of millions of dollars that should
have been used for the people of Zaire, and all western nations were aware of
it - and did nothing as long as he gave them what they wanted.
It has been well estimated that Mobutu stolen at least $7.7 billion dollars
and hid it in swiss bank accounts - money that came from the export of
diamonds and other precious metals, as well as diverted U.S. aid. The Swiss
government has admitted that it has $4 billion dollars - but impartial
investigators say it is at least $5 billion. Even a member of the swiss
parliament, jean ziegler, has stated that the banking system is lying to
protect its involvement and to keep the money. Money that should rightfully be
returned to DRo Congo and used to benefit the people. Corrupt leaders are
consistently supported by former colonies, as long as they keep the colonial
homefires burning - subverting the political will of the people.
Multinationals are simply extensions of the governments, and with the MAI in
particular, the governments are acting as advocates of the multinationals -
the goal for all is to sell their national products, get access to developing
markets, dump their corporate and farm subsidies into African nations (which
ends up displacing indigenous food supply income and in Africa the major of
the food producers are women) and tap into important natural resources (as
with the EU which has been fighting for equal access with large scale
equipment to fish African waters, without blocks to preserve fish
supply/environment or preferences for local, subsistence fishery). Even many
of the so-called non governmental organizations have gotten into corporate
partnerships to use particular products in their work and/or to advise
indigenous use of various equipment (farm, etc.)
Militaries are government militaries, are they not? Western militaries. Even
national militaries are often under the "training" of the militaries of the
former colonizers who are in place to "guide". The establishment of an african
peacekeeping force is constantly undermined by the need that former colonizers
have to have strict "guide" over national militaries.
Another hideous tactic has been how France and Britain have long played this
franco-phone and anglophone division in Africa to the heights of
destructiveness blocking even the obvious development collaborations of border
nations; apply trade obstacles such as that CFA (franc) which was basically
play money except with French products, companies - part of a long held goal
to keep Francophone nations hostage to french products. Threatened by America,
France has launched a project to support French language training for
countries like Ghana - ostensibly to also block efforts by african nations,
like nigeria and senegal to bridge the language gap by encouraging
french/english in their schools. The educational systems are another mess
helped along by neocolonial game playing.
Recently CARE Canada, in collaboration with the University of Toronto Program
on Conflict Management and Negotiation issued a report in which they advised
NGOs to hire private military forces, when national and international
governments refuse to pursue military intervention, and when the NGOs deemed
their projects to be in jeopardy. NGOs are a whole other contentious issue I
won't get into, except to say that NGOs hiring private military forces -
something they have already been doing, overtly and covertly, is not cool
beans.
I recently received a report that Canada, in its quest for oil in Sudan, has
raised the ire of quite a few Sudanese for its tacit support of an oppressive
government.
Actions like those noted above have a directly and continuous oppressive
effect on the people - culturally and politically, which ends up damaging
lives. Another tragic situation is the debt burdens, often incurred through
corrupt agreements with corrupt leaders supported by corrupt western
governments, which nations are forced to pay first - and thereby unable to and
not allowed to - through structural adjustment programs - apply proper funding
to such areas national infrastructure (roads, airports, etc.) much less the
all important areas of health care and education. Numerous studies, national
and international, link high maternal and infant mortality rates to
insufficient or non existant health care which is caused directly by money
instead going to debt payments. Persistant malnutrition, even famine, results
when the focus is placed on crops for export, rather than on food crops to
feed the people of a country. The typical media image is that such famines
occur because the people are unable to produce food (as if they don't know
how?) or because of poor land quality - the case is most often that when so
little focus is put on food crops, a drought damages what little crop there
was - and the best agricultural resources are placed on the crops which
provide export income. In Ethiopia, at the same time images of starving people
filled the world's television screens, lush fields of tea and coffee were in
that same country. Britain exerted a great deal of influence on Ethiopia to
make sure those crops were the focus.
Even "aid" given by donor nations is replete with "add-ons" and conditions
which exemplify the interests being for the donor nation even more than the
recipient nation. Current MAI legislation would make sure that nations which
contravene MAI regulations are punished by witholding of aid by all members -
meaning if a u.s. corporation is negatively affected by a disobeying of an mai
law, then other wto nations are required to also punish the offending nation.
Donor aid is often even not in the form of money, but in the form of corporate
treaties which rely on a pro-west exchange of resources, corporate access.
Let me not bore and make this longer as it undoubtedly could go on and on....,
except to really stress my main points that oppression is not simply "gone"
because a nation is no longer an official colony - that multinationals are
not entities without birth kin to their governments - that a hoarde of covert
and overt political and economic policies result in death, cultural
destruction and social suffering just as surely as any colonial occupying
force ever did.
Nicole
