All powerful gold

  

     Gold is the international measure of wealth; it is where investors have always turned when their faith in the local currency is tarnished.  Since the 1970’s the value of gold has held around 300 dollars an ounce, with only temporary spikes and drops in value.  Today the value of gold is at an all time high around 1,300 dollars an ounce.

     Guatemala is a poor country, poor in infrastructure and poor in governmental protection of human and environmental rights.  If gold is an international measure of wealth, Guatemala, with its large natural deposits, should be a wealthy country.  First the gold has to be accessed, accessed and extracted.   This is where the problems started for Guatemala.  Gold mining is a dangerous practice.  Heavy explosives tear apart the land where the gold is deposited, harsh chemicals are used to extract the gold, and the damage done to the surrounding area is severe.  Large corporations such as Gold Corp. Inc. have managed to secure government and political control.  This has been possible because the country’s leaders have a business agenda and want to open doors to foreign investments and infrastructure through business agreements.

      In class on Thursday we watched the film, The Business of Gold: The Chronicle of a Conflict Foretold.  It depicts the struggle that native people in Guatemala have undergone ever since the first plans for the Marlin mine in San Miguel were initialized.  Spokesmen for the company came to give information to the people who would be affected by the mining process.  When questions about environmental and health dangers arose in the conversation, the people were lied to, told that there existed no dangers and reminded of the job opportunities that would come instead.  The spokesmen did not tell of the open-pit, cyanide-leaching gold mine that would replace their mountainous backyards.  They did not mention that explosives would shake the earth and crack the homes of natives who have worked their entire lives to provide such homes for their families.  There was no mention of the health and societal effects that would take place such as, the opening of 39 new bars in the area or the 3 cases of anencephalic births. 

    Without proper, prior information of these risks some residents sold their land to Gold Corp with promises of 1% of the royalties of the extracted gold.  The Guatemalans who sold the land did not have sole rights to it and when the water sources started drying up and became contaminated beyond use, other Guatemalans began to speak out against these incriminations against their rights.  There has been a huge outpouring of voices against the mining, stories of skin rashes, hair loss and new diseases that have never before existed in the community.  Gold Corp. maintains that the allegations against them are false and there are no contaminants beyond those that are safe for exposure.  As a corporation, with enough money to buy the politicians blindness and support, no one in Guatemala, with sufficient power, will stand up for the rights of the environment or the people. 

     This forced the people to look outside their country and contact the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).  The IACHR asked the Guatemalan government to suspend mining in San Miguel.  Gold Corp. refused stating there was no merit to the claims against them and the Guatemalan government went along with them.  Because there have been many activists, intending to impede the progress of the mining, Gold Corp. started filing law suits against the people.  The judicial system is just as susceptible to the corporations’ power as the government is and so far progress for rights in Guatemala are at a stand still. 

     There are only a few ways to successfully fight an enemy.  One is to have knowledge of the enemy’s next move and bring stronger counter measures to the battle.  When fighting with an entity as ambiguous and powerful as a corporation, survival tactics have to be varied.  The people of Guatemala are using many different tactics, one of which is to have scientific data that counters the claims from the corporation; another tactic is rallying the people and getting the collective voices heard on the international level.  With luck, there may be a success story at the end of this uphill road.

References:

The Business of Gold: The Chronicle of a Conflict Foretold

Gold Corp. Reports Action Against Marlin Mine  www.earthtime.org

www.usagold.com/dailyquotes

Alarming Levels of Arsenic Found in Rivers Near Goldcorp Mine www.intercontinentalcry.org

water and control

                                                   

     It seems remarkable that the Chinese symbol for water is the same symbol they use for control.  Yet now, with a slightly larger grasp on the issue of water, as a finite resource, I see that the Chinese were light years ahead of the rest world on this issue.  After viewing, Blue Gold, World Water Wars, I have learned that the Bush family is making grabs at this control by obtaining land in Paraguay, as a means to control the Guarani aquifer.   The sense that they have helped to create this crisis and now are predicting the future haunts me.

     During the Reagan administration, 1981-1989, Ronald Reagan teamed up with other world leaders, Margaret Thatcher, Deng Xiaoping, and Augusto Pinochet in support of a Neoliberal world.  This started the deregulating of corporations, the removal of state intervention in economic affairs and the privatization of major commodities.  Margaret Thatcher named water as a commodity and that is when the major trouble began.  Three main corporations own most of the world’s fresh water, Suez, Vivendi and Thames Water.  They own the water that is supplied to all of the large cities within the United States.  Since the privatization of water, the cost has skyrocketed while the quality has plummeted.

     The manner by which the world is currently using its water is disgusting.   Farmers in California operating under the appropriation doctrine are encouraged to waste water for fear of losing their water rights.  Golfers in Las Vegas stare out upon a sea of green while Lake Mead is being pumped into Las Vegas at 300,000 acre-feet of water per year.  One acre-foot of water equals 325,900 gallons of water.   The endless ways water is being misused is astounding, and that is only talking about in the U.S., where most people can afford to pay for water. 

     The film was very well developed and covered many issues worldwide.  It showed the case of many Africans, whose water is regimented by a meter, a coin is necessary to make the water flow, those without a coin go without water.  Or they go to a polluted water source, which is their only means of drinking, cooking or cleaning.  These sources produce cholera, tuberculosis, polio, miscarriages and other pathologies we may not even know of yet. 

     About 70 percent of the earth is covered in water, 97 percent of this water is salt water, of the remaining 3 percent, which is fresh water, the stuff life depends on, we have already polluted and contaminated beyond use.  So what do the big boys upstairs propose we do about it?  Create desalination plants!  They only cost huge sums of cash and waste huge amounts of energy and fossil fuels to create a source of water that life can depend on.  The problem is money.  Lusting for it, grabbing for it and doing anything to anyone in order to ensure your share of it.  We have to change consciousness.  We have to shift focus on private gain through exploitation to cooperation and sustention.   The planet cannot sustain us the way we have been operating.  And if it comes down to us against the planet, I’m betting on the planet.



 

References:

Blue Gold, World Water Wars, Sam Bozzo

Water Wars, Vandana Shiva

Lake Mead is Drying Up, Mark Frauenfelder

Cholera and the Age of Water Barons, Bill Marsden

Latin America After Neoliberalism: Turning the Tide in the 21st Century, Lars Schoultz

ownership of water

Owners of the Water: conflict and collaboration over rivers

   In the United States we have two types of laws governing water ownership, the first is called the riparian system, this system is mainly used in the eastern part of the country.  The law states that the owner of the land around which a water source is found have rights to the water to remain unpolluted and undiminished.  These rights even control landowners up stream from damaging the water flow and content.  The other system, which is primary used in the west, is called the appropriation doctrine.  This states that the first to use the water source in a beneficial way has the rights to it and retains the rights to the water as long as it remains in use.  There are other laws and rights in practice around water usage in this country but they generally follow these two systems. 

   So in a country that does not have a strong infrastructure guarding the rights to water ownership what does it mean to “own the water”?

   Can an owner claim the right to the land by way of family lineage tying them to the land for generations?   Can an owner secure property right from the county through funding of a project or the purchase of a deed?  Can an owner be an outside force operating through industrial or government agencies? 

   All of these questions were raised while watching the film, Owners of the Water: conflict and collaboration over rivers.  The film’s focus was on two major tribes in South America, the Wayuu and the Xavante.  The Wayuu live in a region on the border of Columbia and Venezuela, it is a very dry climate and the people travel for long distances to obtain clean water and bring it back home.  The Xavante live in central Brazil along the Rio das Martes.  This tribe was the main focus of the film.

   Brazil has become the world’s main producer of soy since 2005.  Soy crops have been most successful in the region of Mato Grosso, where the Xavante people have made their home since before the 17^th century.  This production of soy adversely impacts the environment due to the pesticides and fertilizers used in the process of production which rainwater then washes into the Rio das Martes.  The Xavante people rely the river for their food, drinking supply and ceremony.  They have lived harmoniously with the environment for centuries.  Now there is deforestation, which adds contaminants to the water as the top soil runs into the river, building of roads, which changes the ecology due to development and expansion of roads and congestion of traffic on these roads and the changes in the water quality due to industrial agriculture expansion. 

   It is the goal of the two tribes featured in this film to raise awareness, publicize the issues, unite and protect using media and images.  They also bring images of city life back to their indigenous people and vise versa.  They want to leave archival history of their culture, teach others and build respect.  In the film, the Xavante organized a peaceful protest and closed access to a major bridge on May 25, 2006.  It was interesting to see the people’s reactions, some said things like, “are Indians the only people with rights?” and  “kill all the Indians!”  The tribe did get their point across and drew attention to their plight.  A representative from FUNAI, Bureau of Indian affairs, came and confessed he had no idea about the poisoning that was happening to the Xavante.

  Living in a country where we have certain inalienable rights yet where we have the right to exploit other people, I feel many uncomfortable feelings.  I can see how the production of soy is necessary, but I know the rights to clean water are undeniably more important.  In a world where “money is king” and people are used in any way possibly to create more “kings” it is easy to feel powerless and morose.  I have easy access to clean water, if I ask myself what would I do if this access were cut off, my mind spins.  I would scream, but would I be as resourceful and powerful as the Xavante?  And what have their efforts really done to secure their future and the future of their water?  Will the pursuit of the dollar ever subside for the pursuit of what is right?

Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned
and the last fish has been caught
will we realize that we can't eat money

Native American Proverb

References:

Owners of the Water: conflict and collaboration over rivers, Laura R. Graham, David Hernandez Palmer, Caimi Waiasse

www.Thefreemanonline.org the ownership and control of water

Brazil’s soybean production and impact, George Flaskerud

the forgotten bomb

    Imagery is a powerful tool.  It can make the unreal suddenly and sharply become very real.  That was the case today while in class, we watched the documentary film, The Forgotten Bomb.
   My grandfather was in the navy during World War II and he published a book about his experiences as a prisoner of war for four years.  Even still, I have limited understanding of such a tremendous event and I have been ill-informed about steps leading up to the creation and the dropping of the atomic bomb.  With this lacking of background, the film shook me.  We will call it a brief overview or a skimming of the surfaces, for it left many unanswered questions and a desire to know more.  At the same time, I would rather shut my eyes to the horrific travesties that we, as a country, condoned and deemed necessary for our survival.  But that is not an option for me, I must know more, so that I can help facilitate the end of passing down of hate and ignorance from generation to generation.

   I type this, with the knowledge that right now, there are 150,000 bombs equivalent in strength to the bomb that was responsible for devastating Hiroshima, residing around this planet, and it makes me sick.  U.S. propaganda has focused on the healing power of the atom, but reports from radiation being the cause of healing are far outweighed by reports of the detrimental effects of radiation poisoning.  For some victims of nuclear activity, it is as if we are living on the planet of the apes.  Strange mutations have occurred to their genetic codes and they have been unsuccessful in the reproduction of healthy children.  Changes have taken place within humans, plants, animals, water, air, soil and still unknown entities that have the power to markedly affect what has been considered normal life.   Nuclear energy is touted as a reliable and affordable energy source, but the U.S. has spent in the trillions of dollars to develop a product, that has yet to yield a profit and the waste of which is a seemingly insurmountable task to dispose of.

   I now choose to revisit the imagery previously mentioned.  I have never seen an unrecognizable person.  I hope to never see a face with eyeballs hanging below the jaw line.  Yet these images exist and are very real memories for some survivors who have spoken out about their experiences of nuclear weaponry.  We have yet to see the full effects of what radiation poisoning will do to our future generations.  The three eyed fish from The Simpsons television show may very well become a reality. 
     It is said that the war with Japan would have ended without the need to drop the atomic bomb, but for whatever reason, our politicians felt it necessary to not only drop but continue production of atomic missilery.  This continued production has been a large factor in political and geographical feuding for much of the second half of the last century.  While this can not be erased, the future threat of nuclear holocaust can and must be eliminated.  There is no safe level of radiation.  Our lives and planet depend on decisive and responsible decision making, we must say, "Yes we can", stand up and let our voices be heard.
     Public awareness of this need has declined with the declination of testing, but the damage remains.  Nuclear power plants and the nuclear waste that they create remain on this planet, changing the global processes that have sustained the bio-diversity inherent to our world.  Viewing, The Forgotten Bomb, I am reminded that, their are forces for good, they are powerful and moving, and easily joined.  New technology has made these forces available to a much larger group.  It has risen awareness and offered a certain level of safety through exposure to those parties speaking out about injustice.  I turn an optimistic eye toward the future and hope this voice among the many, is heard.