This morning I was reading team reviews from the Summer 2010 Partners in Service program and I found a couple of comments to be rather illuminating. They demonstrated a significant obstacle faced by indigenous nations in obtaining a meaningful part in contemporary political, philosophical, and academic discussions. One comment bemoaned the mixed messages delivered by HSP between “preserving Mayan culture and trying to bring progress to the Highlands.” So, the subliminal message to this dichotomy is that indigenous culture is primitive, backwards, and antiquated. Actually, one of the greatest struggles faced within indigenous communities is the internalization of this very message—that their culture is the cause of their poverty. That is to say that Westerners have a romanticized and erroneous view of indigenous culture. First, to believe that indigenous culture is to be dirt poor, living on the side of a mountain in a shack, unable to provide for the nutritional needs of a family, and existing in complete ignorance of natural cycles and causes of illness. The problem with this colonial worldview is that it is both factually off base and that it also impedes an introspective process for industrial Western societies to find their way back to a healthy and harmonious lifestyle.
In the book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas, written by Charles C. Mann and published in 1995, 1491 is not as much a story of the year itself as it is a story of what the Americas were like before Europeans arrived. As the book’s Amazon review observes, “The history books most Americans were (and still are) raised on describe the continents before Columbus as a vast, underused territory, sparsely populated by primitives whose cultures would inevitably bow before the advanced technologies of the Europeans. For decades, though, among the archaeologists, anthropologists, paleolinguists, and others whose discoveries Charles C. Mann brings together in 1491, different stories have been emerging. Among the revelations: the first Americans may not have come over the Bering land bridge around 12,000 B.C. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlier; the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed; and the Indians, rather than living in static harmony with nature, radically engineered the landscape across the continents, to the point that even "timeless" natural features like the Amazon rainforest can be seen as products of human intervention.” In regards to the cultures predating European arrival, the same review writes of Mann’s work, “But the most compelling of his eye-opening revisionist stories are among the best-founded: the stories of early American-European contact. To many of those who were there, the earliest encounters felt more like a meeting of equals than one of natural domination. And those who came later and found an emptied landscape that seemed ripe for the taking, Mann argues convincingly, encountered not the natural and unchanging state of the native American, but the evidence of a sudden calamity: the ravages of what was likely the greatest epidemic in human history, the smallpox and other diseases introduced inadvertently by Europeans to a population without immunity, which swept through the Americas faster than the explorers who brought it, and left behind for their discovery a land that held only a shadow of the thriving cultures that it had sustained for centuries before.” As Mann says, to judge indigenous culture by what was found in the years immediately following initial contact is comparable to judging European Jewish culture through the pathetic living conditions of Auschwitz survivors in Eastern Europe in 1945. What is important to understand is that indigenous cultures have very valuable understandings of science, philosophy, spirituality, metaphysics, and aesthetics. To assume that being ignorant and superstitious is synonymous with an indigenous worldview is to not realize the colonial blinders that are inhibiting an honest assessment of past and potential contributions of indigenous culture.
Another antidote concerns a time when we had a Mayan priest conduct a ceremony and had a participant complain that it would have been more authentic had the shaman not worn a cell phone on his belt. It’s interesting to contemplate that it was this shaman’s ancestral profession that independently came up with the concept of zero—something pretty dawgon important in computer operating systems, and, more notably, cell phone operating systems.
Mayan languages describe different periods of times as frequencies as well as contemplate variances in solar radiation—things that took Western societies hundreds, if not thousands, of years to understand and utilize. Therefore, one could look at Western observers at the Mayan ceremony and smile that their primitive and war-like societies have finally been able to harness powers that cannot be seen, touched, or dissected.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Global Consensus and a Unifying Vision: A 21st Century Solution to Materialism, Individualism, and Selfishness
I read a book a few years ago called The Story of B by Daniel Quinn. It emphasized the fact that vision is far more important that any particular theory, policy prescription, or program. It made me think--we could talk at length using development jargon, but unless we have some unifying vision, then all programming is really just window dressing. For the 21st century, the critical issue is just that—a lack of unifying vision or mythology.
This is especially true in relation to our existence on this planet. Historically, religion has played a social role by promoting values and norms that enable societies to function without tearing apart internally. Whether we are talking about a village shaman or the Pope, one function of religion is to provide moral instruction. Over the last century, however, one dominant vision has taken hold—a cancerous, myopic sense of materialism and selfishness. We even have a school of thought where greed is actually good. Traditionally, the role of religion was to balance out societies by recapitalizing social capital that was depleted by the drives of self-interest. Yet we have shifted away from this, towards a doctrine of individualism and materialism.
So what does the formation of this unifying vision require us to do? First of all, it asks us to be tolerant. It requires us to possess a sense of shared belonging to the same tribe as well as an understanding that religions are cultural processes. They are much like languages—different tribes and regions developed different languages, but the information being communicated was universal.
Therefore, to create global consensus and tackle the environmental, ecological, and political crises facing humanity, we need to move beyond literal understandings of ancient text and begin to forge a unifying vision based on the meaning rather than the narrative.
This is especially true in relation to our existence on this planet. Historically, religion has played a social role by promoting values and norms that enable societies to function without tearing apart internally. Whether we are talking about a village shaman or the Pope, one function of religion is to provide moral instruction. Over the last century, however, one dominant vision has taken hold—a cancerous, myopic sense of materialism and selfishness. We even have a school of thought where greed is actually good. Traditionally, the role of religion was to balance out societies by recapitalizing social capital that was depleted by the drives of self-interest. Yet we have shifted away from this, towards a doctrine of individualism and materialism.
So what does the formation of this unifying vision require us to do? First of all, it asks us to be tolerant. It requires us to possess a sense of shared belonging to the same tribe as well as an understanding that religions are cultural processes. They are much like languages—different tribes and regions developed different languages, but the information being communicated was universal.
Therefore, to create global consensus and tackle the environmental, ecological, and political crises facing humanity, we need to move beyond literal understandings of ancient text and begin to forge a unifying vision based on the meaning rather than the narrative.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The Road Most Taken: LeBron James and the Individualist Construct
Listening to the fiasco of the televised “Decision” of LeBron James to play in Miami and the ensuing debate concerning the virtues of his choice provides a fascinating opportunity to dissect the philosophical strands that comprise the tapestry of contemporary American thought. There are two schools of thought in judging his choice to leave his hometown club in the backwaters of Ohio for the brighter lights and sultry nights of South Beach.
On the one hand, there are a number of people who question the virtue of LeBron’s decision to abandon both his hometown and his team for his own pursuit of wealth, fame, and status. The opposing view, dominant outside of Ohio, is that LeBron made a rational and moral choice because he was looking after his own best interest, which, in the end, represents the true American way.
Now, what I find interesting is how this discussion reflects the evolution of the philosophical and spiritual constructs of modern America. A significant difference between the religious practices of indigenous nations and modern Christianity is that, for tribal peoples, one’s relationship with the divinity is as a community, not as an individual. Contemporary North American theology, in contrast, talks a great deal about personal salvation and one’s relationship with God. Because many view LeBron’s decision as a “sinful” act, it is fruitful to look at different views of sin.
We can understand sin in a Christian sense—something a person does which goes against their culture’s understanding of God’s will or community law. Native spirituality, however, is practically void of any concept of sin. Instead, what is viewed as important is the maintenance of the tribe; the survival of the group. Therefore, there is no abstract, intellectual process to assess the value of an act. If it hurts the tribe or disrupts the harmony, it is bad. Furthermore, in a tribal society, one does not achieve for personal glory, but rather to further the interest of the group. Skills, abilities, and talents are deemed worthy only to the extent that they propel forward the lives of the entire collective nation.
What I find most fascinating with my interactions with communities that still maintain the tribal worldview is that one’s own life only has meaning within the context of their relationships with others in the community. In the indigenous cultures of the Southwestern United States, there are a number of rite of passage ceremonies for females that provide insight into the acculturation and socialization process of a tribal worldview. In one ritual, a young woman, just after her first menstruation, will have a weeklong initiation ceremony in which she is sequestered from the community for four days. She will walk for an entire day in one direction of the compass points, then return back to prepare an immense loaf of bread made from corn. She engages in a very laborious act to prepare sufficient bread to feed everyone in the community that entails many days of baking over a hardwood fire. During this time, different community members bring gifts of ceremonial attire and accouterments. When it’s time for the feast, she will emerge clothed entirely in these gifts—a symbolic showing of how her identity is drawn from membership in the community. She feeds the community while not consuming a single crumb for herself, again underlining the teaching that she exists not to further herself, but to benefit the community.
It is difficult to assess that LeBron’s actions were immoral when the dominant theology of the United States preaches individualism and personal salvation. Philosophically, it’s interesting to question whether commentators who applauded LeBron’s narcissistic choice would then encourage him to play for the Chinese national team if they were able to entice him before the next Olympics.
What I’m getting at here is the sense of group—because the U.S. is one constructed largely of immigrants, because very few people have ties to a community, and because many nuclear families split to live in different regions—there are no strong kinship, tribal, or clan affiliations with a place. This is relevant for development studies because we frequently witness the same dynamic. On the one hand, you have North American faith groups who believe they are furthering God’s will by preaching a gospel of narcissism and self-absorption. Then, you have development agencies promoting a survivalist economic agenda that fosters competition versus collaboration. We frequently see nurses, doctors, and community organizers who abandon their communities after receiving a subsidized education that was intended to enable them to serve their people. There are also community leaders who increasingly manipulate the system for their own benefit rather than the transformation of their group. This underscores the significance of civic virtue, cultural context, and moral instruction in the transformational development approach.
To criticize LeBron James’s decisions is to criticize the American way, the Protestant Church, and the capitalist economy. When we travel to foreign lands to engage in a transformational process, we must be prepared to leave behind arrogant notions of cultural superiority. We must be prepared to reflect on our own value systems and not impose dysfunction in the guise of progress.
On the one hand, there are a number of people who question the virtue of LeBron’s decision to abandon both his hometown and his team for his own pursuit of wealth, fame, and status. The opposing view, dominant outside of Ohio, is that LeBron made a rational and moral choice because he was looking after his own best interest, which, in the end, represents the true American way.
Now, what I find interesting is how this discussion reflects the evolution of the philosophical and spiritual constructs of modern America. A significant difference between the religious practices of indigenous nations and modern Christianity is that, for tribal peoples, one’s relationship with the divinity is as a community, not as an individual. Contemporary North American theology, in contrast, talks a great deal about personal salvation and one’s relationship with God. Because many view LeBron’s decision as a “sinful” act, it is fruitful to look at different views of sin.
We can understand sin in a Christian sense—something a person does which goes against their culture’s understanding of God’s will or community law. Native spirituality, however, is practically void of any concept of sin. Instead, what is viewed as important is the maintenance of the tribe; the survival of the group. Therefore, there is no abstract, intellectual process to assess the value of an act. If it hurts the tribe or disrupts the harmony, it is bad. Furthermore, in a tribal society, one does not achieve for personal glory, but rather to further the interest of the group. Skills, abilities, and talents are deemed worthy only to the extent that they propel forward the lives of the entire collective nation.
What I find most fascinating with my interactions with communities that still maintain the tribal worldview is that one’s own life only has meaning within the context of their relationships with others in the community. In the indigenous cultures of the Southwestern United States, there are a number of rite of passage ceremonies for females that provide insight into the acculturation and socialization process of a tribal worldview. In one ritual, a young woman, just after her first menstruation, will have a weeklong initiation ceremony in which she is sequestered from the community for four days. She will walk for an entire day in one direction of the compass points, then return back to prepare an immense loaf of bread made from corn. She engages in a very laborious act to prepare sufficient bread to feed everyone in the community that entails many days of baking over a hardwood fire. During this time, different community members bring gifts of ceremonial attire and accouterments. When it’s time for the feast, she will emerge clothed entirely in these gifts—a symbolic showing of how her identity is drawn from membership in the community. She feeds the community while not consuming a single crumb for herself, again underlining the teaching that she exists not to further herself, but to benefit the community.
It is difficult to assess that LeBron’s actions were immoral when the dominant theology of the United States preaches individualism and personal salvation. Philosophically, it’s interesting to question whether commentators who applauded LeBron’s narcissistic choice would then encourage him to play for the Chinese national team if they were able to entice him before the next Olympics.
What I’m getting at here is the sense of group—because the U.S. is one constructed largely of immigrants, because very few people have ties to a community, and because many nuclear families split to live in different regions—there are no strong kinship, tribal, or clan affiliations with a place. This is relevant for development studies because we frequently witness the same dynamic. On the one hand, you have North American faith groups who believe they are furthering God’s will by preaching a gospel of narcissism and self-absorption. Then, you have development agencies promoting a survivalist economic agenda that fosters competition versus collaboration. We frequently see nurses, doctors, and community organizers who abandon their communities after receiving a subsidized education that was intended to enable them to serve their people. There are also community leaders who increasingly manipulate the system for their own benefit rather than the transformation of their group. This underscores the significance of civic virtue, cultural context, and moral instruction in the transformational development approach.
To criticize LeBron James’s decisions is to criticize the American way, the Protestant Church, and the capitalist economy. When we travel to foreign lands to engage in a transformational process, we must be prepared to leave behind arrogant notions of cultural superiority. We must be prepared to reflect on our own value systems and not impose dysfunction in the guise of progress.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Brujeria at the Beach
A couple of weeks ago, I went to Virginia Beach with Lupe and the kids and was reminded by Lupe just how shallow our lives can be as Westerners.
We were on the beach, the kids were swimming in the ocean, and we had packed all the necessary accoutrements: boogie boards, hummus, pistachios, etc. The deepest thought I had that day was thinking of a response to Brian’s question of, “If we swam across the ocean, where exactly would we land?”
Then I looked over at Lupe, who was performing some brujeria, or Spanish witchcraft. When I asked her what she was doing, she replied that, as a child, whenever her family went to the beach and someone went in the water, her grandmother would pray to the ocean, give her thanks, ask for permission to enter, and ask her to be gentle and protecting.
This made me reflect on the idea that we just jump in that same water without any deeper connection to the planet. Lupe’s little rituals underscore the sacredness of our planet, of relationships and family time; of life. They are like a compass point keeping you on track. We even see it now, as the Gulf oil spill rages on—causing conflicting sentiment over using petroleum products for transportation to and from the beach.
We were on the beach, the kids were swimming in the ocean, and we had packed all the necessary accoutrements: boogie boards, hummus, pistachios, etc. The deepest thought I had that day was thinking of a response to Brian’s question of, “If we swam across the ocean, where exactly would we land?”
Then I looked over at Lupe, who was performing some brujeria, or Spanish witchcraft. When I asked her what she was doing, she replied that, as a child, whenever her family went to the beach and someone went in the water, her grandmother would pray to the ocean, give her thanks, ask for permission to enter, and ask her to be gentle and protecting.
This made me reflect on the idea that we just jump in that same water without any deeper connection to the planet. Lupe’s little rituals underscore the sacredness of our planet, of relationships and family time; of life. They are like a compass point keeping you on track. We even see it now, as the Gulf oil spill rages on—causing conflicting sentiment over using petroleum products for transportation to and from the beach.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Development Through People and Not Things
I recently attended the Association of Private Enterprise Education (APEE) conference in Las Vegas. I had the luck of stumbling into a session with Karol Boudreaux, of George Mason University, presenting a paper titled “Land Reform as Social Justice: The Case of South Africa”. I was interested in the title as social justice is not a theme you encounter much at APEE events unless it is demonstrate how us egg headed idealist tend to mess things up in our attempts to realize a more just world.
While her paper focused on examining South African land reform policies in the context of Hayek’s arguments about social justice, she mentioned private land reform policies that offer a comparative sample for evaluating land reform programs.
Her research found that state directed land reform policies were a disaster. The numbers demonstrated that transferring functioning agricultural holdings to poor farmers only decreased output with the majority of farmers abandoning the lands within a decade. While not providing very much analysis on why they failed, it appears that the primary issues were the lack of technical and business capacity to manage competitive commercial enterprises.
An exception to the failed attempts at justice through government intervention was the land distribution program of the sugar growers association. While their motives were self-serving, they wanted to lessen the demands for redistributing white sugar growing lands to blacks by increasing the number of black growers, their results where much better. The primary difference I was able to observe in the presentation concerned the focus of the private sector programs to assure success by not only distributing land but also providing capital, technical assistance and guaranteeing a market while the new farmers got their feet on the ground.
After her presentation, we talked about different land reform models and she commented on how the most successful agricultural programs in South Africa were not based on land or capital. It was working with women living in the slums to understand local markets. They were able to identify an urban market for the housewives in Johansburg looking for organic gourmet produce. With knowledge, these women were able to start producing and growing their business.
The South African land distribution program demonstrates that capital and land are not the critical elements of successful transformational development programming. People have to be empowered to use these tools. These resources are transformed into wealth by ingenuity and hard work. Programs that do not stimulate these attributes while at the same time undermining them create worse results then the injustices they seek to remedy.
HSP’s methodology to focus on the empowerment of people is demonstrated to be the critical factor in successful development programming. While this is obvious to development people, community organizing and empowerment programs are the least funded off all charitable, justice and anti-poverty pursuits. The reason is that these transformational programs are more expensive.
The challenge is to educate funding sources, be they the World Bank or Aunt Jane Doe, about the benefits of investing in real transformation.
While her paper focused on examining South African land reform policies in the context of Hayek’s arguments about social justice, she mentioned private land reform policies that offer a comparative sample for evaluating land reform programs.
Her research found that state directed land reform policies were a disaster. The numbers demonstrated that transferring functioning agricultural holdings to poor farmers only decreased output with the majority of farmers abandoning the lands within a decade. While not providing very much analysis on why they failed, it appears that the primary issues were the lack of technical and business capacity to manage competitive commercial enterprises.
An exception to the failed attempts at justice through government intervention was the land distribution program of the sugar growers association. While their motives were self-serving, they wanted to lessen the demands for redistributing white sugar growing lands to blacks by increasing the number of black growers, their results where much better. The primary difference I was able to observe in the presentation concerned the focus of the private sector programs to assure success by not only distributing land but also providing capital, technical assistance and guaranteeing a market while the new farmers got their feet on the ground.
After her presentation, we talked about different land reform models and she commented on how the most successful agricultural programs in South Africa were not based on land or capital. It was working with women living in the slums to understand local markets. They were able to identify an urban market for the housewives in Johansburg looking for organic gourmet produce. With knowledge, these women were able to start producing and growing their business.
The South African land distribution program demonstrates that capital and land are not the critical elements of successful transformational development programming. People have to be empowered to use these tools. These resources are transformed into wealth by ingenuity and hard work. Programs that do not stimulate these attributes while at the same time undermining them create worse results then the injustices they seek to remedy.
HSP’s methodology to focus on the empowerment of people is demonstrated to be the critical factor in successful development programming. While this is obvious to development people, community organizing and empowerment programs are the least funded off all charitable, justice and anti-poverty pursuits. The reason is that these transformational programs are more expensive.
The challenge is to educate funding sources, be they the World Bank or Aunt Jane Doe, about the benefits of investing in real transformation.
Friday, February 19, 2010
The Haiti Aid Debacle: A Case for Community Organizing
It is becoming increasingly evident that the lack of local engagement by large international organizations has resulted in a breakdown of relief efforts in Haiti.
There are numerous reasons why international organizations do not foster coordination with and empowerment of local actors. A primary factor is the time and expense involved in developing local community infrastructure. Efficiency and scale are the primary measures that agencies are judged by in the development industry. Furthermore, community organizing does not produce an emotional response in potential donors. In the typical marketing that HSP avoids when it comes to development and relief services, it is understood that a message needs to be easily communicated and pull at the heartstrings.
If we visualize the development and relief industry in traditional market terms, we would have to ask what is the supply and who is the demand. Understanding that the foundation of market relationships is meeting demand, that becomes the salient question. While we would like to imagine that development engineers focus on the needs of an impoverished community, the reality is that they must meet the demands of donors. Without the donor’s funds, the majority of programming activities simply would not be possible. Therefore, it becomes paramount to meet the donor’s ideological, political and theological world view.
Another factor is the corporate structure of international development, relief, charity and faith organizations. Semantically, the difference between a corporation and a cooperative is very small, but in practice this difference has a tremendous impact on programming. A corporation exists to make itself money while a cooperative exists to make its members money. Investors gain value with the growth of a corporation. In a cooperative, the entity exists to facilitate the growth of the member.
If we analyze the usual relationship of community members with international development agencies, we can see relationships akin to an investor in a corporation. The community members are passive recipients. A significant difference is that they typically do not have any voice and management policies as a shareholder would have in a private enterprise. Their benefit is dependent on how large the agency becomes. Increases in funding are typically directed towards growing the size of the agency. Staff and personnel allegiances are with the agency rather than the community and are compensated based on the growth of the agency.
The relevance of these issues are striking when considering reports like those on today's Democracy Now.
Sasha Kramer witnessed that aid arrived quickly but was not able to be distributed for lack of local coordination. She noted that when the big aid organizations do circulate around Port-au-Prince they are in large vehicles with their window sealed. They are not able to develop good relationships with the community and do not speak Creole. These organizations are that have worked in Haiti for decades, but do not have the local contacts or organization to go out in the communities themselves.
Catherine Lane commented on how the security concerns before the earthquake limited the type of interactions you would expect people to have after working in the country for a long time. She said this lack of connections in the community is the main reason they are not able to get things out quickly and that this is a major failure in the way larger aid organizations function and in general.
This underscores HSP's methodology in focusing on community empowerment and fostering agency with partner organizations. This reinforces our commitment in staying the course even though it is very challenging.
There are numerous reasons why international organizations do not foster coordination with and empowerment of local actors. A primary factor is the time and expense involved in developing local community infrastructure. Efficiency and scale are the primary measures that agencies are judged by in the development industry. Furthermore, community organizing does not produce an emotional response in potential donors. In the typical marketing that HSP avoids when it comes to development and relief services, it is understood that a message needs to be easily communicated and pull at the heartstrings.
If we visualize the development and relief industry in traditional market terms, we would have to ask what is the supply and who is the demand. Understanding that the foundation of market relationships is meeting demand, that becomes the salient question. While we would like to imagine that development engineers focus on the needs of an impoverished community, the reality is that they must meet the demands of donors. Without the donor’s funds, the majority of programming activities simply would not be possible. Therefore, it becomes paramount to meet the donor’s ideological, political and theological world view.
Another factor is the corporate structure of international development, relief, charity and faith organizations. Semantically, the difference between a corporation and a cooperative is very small, but in practice this difference has a tremendous impact on programming. A corporation exists to make itself money while a cooperative exists to make its members money. Investors gain value with the growth of a corporation. In a cooperative, the entity exists to facilitate the growth of the member.
If we analyze the usual relationship of community members with international development agencies, we can see relationships akin to an investor in a corporation. The community members are passive recipients. A significant difference is that they typically do not have any voice and management policies as a shareholder would have in a private enterprise. Their benefit is dependent on how large the agency becomes. Increases in funding are typically directed towards growing the size of the agency. Staff and personnel allegiances are with the agency rather than the community and are compensated based on the growth of the agency.
The relevance of these issues are striking when considering reports like those on today's Democracy Now.
Sasha Kramer witnessed that aid arrived quickly but was not able to be distributed for lack of local coordination. She noted that when the big aid organizations do circulate around Port-au-Prince they are in large vehicles with their window sealed. They are not able to develop good relationships with the community and do not speak Creole. These organizations are that have worked in Haiti for decades, but do not have the local contacts or organization to go out in the communities themselves.
Catherine Lane commented on how the security concerns before the earthquake limited the type of interactions you would expect people to have after working in the country for a long time. She said this lack of connections in the community is the main reason they are not able to get things out quickly and that this is a major failure in the way larger aid organizations function and in general.
This underscores HSP's methodology in focusing on community empowerment and fostering agency with partner organizations. This reinforces our commitment in staying the course even though it is very challenging.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Wolfowitz should have studied Che
I recently watched Steven Soderbergh’s two part film project based on Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara’s memoir “Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War”.
I found it to be extraordinarily pertinent for community organizers. It shows that development can only be sustained from within. This constant is demonstrated through the difference of Che's role in Cuba and then Bolivia with a clear view of the results.
In Cuba, Che played a supporting role in Castro' s revolution. On various occasions, Che was relegated to medical support rather than leadership of a column. This validates the appropriate and most functional role for outsiders engaged in organizational efforts. Che provided critical support in a role that he was trained to perform. A role that was needed and there was not sufficient local capacity to perform. When a Cuban capable of performing the role appeared, he moved on to another training role.
The documentary makes clear that the Cuban revolution was an indigenous effort led by Cuban nationals who had investments in the process on different levels. You see the importance of family and professional networks that went well beyond ideological solidarity or strategic interests.
A second significant role that Che played for the Cuban revolution was that of international spokesperson. As a highly educated vagabond documented in the motorcycle diaries, Che had the life experiences and literary flair to play the role of international revolutionary rock star. He played this role in support of and with the direction of an indigenous movement. He was not an outside media star imposing a strategy or ideology on a third-party; rather, he was a spokesperson for that movement.
Analyzing his tragic adventures in Bolivia we can witness the disastrous results of failing to follow the prime directive of community organizing. In the Bolivian experience, we find Che and his merry band of international zealots attempting to jump start a peasant revolution. Che's frustration is almost palatable as he begins to experiences the lack of commitment and integrity of his Bolivian counterparts. In him, we also see the arrogance of the expert attempting to impose a strategy rather than fostering of local leadership. In Che's Bolivian experiment, we witness the problems of not engaging family networks, lack of personal ownership over processes, lack of ego or material investment in the process and impatience in building community capacity and organizational infrastructure. In the end, Che's failure to follow basic organizing practices is a fatal error that is as costly for the Bolivian peasants as it is for his band of Cuban followers.
Therefore, community organizers must support local community development whether we are attempting to spread a worker's utopian revolution or democracy in the Middle East. Unless we have a Messiah complex, the rule of development must be followed lest we wish for others to suffer along.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Haitian Relief Through Fair Trade
Now you can support relief efforts in Haiti by purchasing beautiful Haitian fair trade crafts and jewelry. AlterNatives, HSP's sister fair trade boutique, has created a Haiti Relief section of its web page for products from fair trade producers in Haiti. We are going to donate 50% of sales from the Haitian product to Lamp for Haiti.
While emergency assistance is very important, assisting in job creation and opportunity in the next few weeks is going to be critical in rebuilding a positive and transformed Haiti. I’ve experienced in Guatemala that the communities who were helped through the market and business development had far more sustainability and positive results then their neighbors who were supported as long as it was the cause célèbre, but then abandoned when the next crisis took precedence. We can all see how the widows of Chontola are much better off for the investment in threads then corn 25 years ago. Chontola was one of the very first villages HSP worked with, first helping the women literally rebuild their community and then critically helping them form their own cooperative, Ruth y Nohemi, now an internationally successful business.
After hurricane Mitch hit Nicaragua, we focused on marketing the pottery from San Juan del Oriente. It really worked out that they were able to not only recapitalize from lost inventory but to sustain growth that continues today.
We do not feel that it is correct to “profit” off of the calamity and therefore are donating all proceeds from the sales of the product to sustained efforts to train and advocate for the poor of Haiti.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Blame for the Victim and Praise for the Predator: Haiti in the Wake of Devastation
A recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times by David Brooks demonstrates the worst colonial mentality of blaming the victim. In a piece titled The Underlying Tragedy, Brooks argues that the voodoo culture and poor work ethic are the underlying causes of the economic woes of the country. He postulates that other former colonies have been able to pull themselves up by the boot straps and ask why not Haiti. He proposes to fix Haiti by changing the Haitian culture through programs to teach hard work, responsibility and thrift.
Mr. Brooks is either ignorant or overlooks a critical difference in Haiti’s history. The Haitian people have struggled under a significant debt load since colonial times as a price for their “freedom”. The islands example of liberation has caused fears in Northern capitals for two centuries and to this day the island’s attempts at self rule are blocked by anxious outsiders worried by the example Haiti could represent to its neighbors.
Haiti became the third revolutionary republic of the modern era, joining the USA and France, when François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture successfully defeated the French, then the Spanish and finally the English to obtain liberation for the enslaved population of the island. This liberation was short lived as chains of force were replaced by chains of debt. While the United States initially supported the revolution through the policies of President John Adams, this was changed by Thomas Jefferson who feared an independent state of black people so close to the United would influence the South’s enslaved population. Jefferson went so far as to advocate the emancipation and colonization of American slaves to Africa to prevent another Haiti.
Haiti was left isolated after the revolution and had no friends in the colonial West. Besides slave holding United States, all of her neighbors were colonies that depended on slavery.
In 1825 Haiti was forced to sign a treaty with France to prevent another invasion and forced slavery by European forces. France’s king agreed to recognize Haiti's independence only if the new republic paid France an indemnity of 150 million francs and reduced its import and export taxes by half. By comparison, the United States paid France 60 million francs for the much larger Louisiana Territory.
Haiti was forced to borrow money from private European banks to pay the indemnity. The banks charged high interest and administrative fees that further increased the debt burden. The nation did not finish paying the French for their freedom until after WWII. The repayment of these loans has been a major factor in the continued invasion and occupation of Haiti by the United States. From the 1960’s and beyond, Haiti has suffered under International Monetary Fund management that has done little but assure that all GDP would be channeled to serving debt hosted upon the Haitian people by the governments imposed upon this people by governments acting on behalf of international banking.
While CNN commentators are praising the American response to this crisis, there seems to be little understanding of why we invaded Haiti so many times in the 20th century or the continued role of the United States in defending the interest of banks. There is even less understanding of the long term structural issues created by these policies.
Mr. Brooks is either ignorant or overlooks a critical difference in Haiti’s history. The Haitian people have struggled under a significant debt load since colonial times as a price for their “freedom”. The islands example of liberation has caused fears in Northern capitals for two centuries and to this day the island’s attempts at self rule are blocked by anxious outsiders worried by the example Haiti could represent to its neighbors.
Haiti became the third revolutionary republic of the modern era, joining the USA and France, when François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture successfully defeated the French, then the Spanish and finally the English to obtain liberation for the enslaved population of the island. This liberation was short lived as chains of force were replaced by chains of debt. While the United States initially supported the revolution through the policies of President John Adams, this was changed by Thomas Jefferson who feared an independent state of black people so close to the United would influence the South’s enslaved population. Jefferson went so far as to advocate the emancipation and colonization of American slaves to Africa to prevent another Haiti.
Haiti was left isolated after the revolution and had no friends in the colonial West. Besides slave holding United States, all of her neighbors were colonies that depended on slavery.
In 1825 Haiti was forced to sign a treaty with France to prevent another invasion and forced slavery by European forces. France’s king agreed to recognize Haiti's independence only if the new republic paid France an indemnity of 150 million francs and reduced its import and export taxes by half. By comparison, the United States paid France 60 million francs for the much larger Louisiana Territory.
Haiti was forced to borrow money from private European banks to pay the indemnity. The banks charged high interest and administrative fees that further increased the debt burden. The nation did not finish paying the French for their freedom until after WWII. The repayment of these loans has been a major factor in the continued invasion and occupation of Haiti by the United States. From the 1960’s and beyond, Haiti has suffered under International Monetary Fund management that has done little but assure that all GDP would be channeled to serving debt hosted upon the Haitian people by the governments imposed upon this people by governments acting on behalf of international banking.
While CNN commentators are praising the American response to this crisis, there seems to be little understanding of why we invaded Haiti so many times in the 20th century or the continued role of the United States in defending the interest of banks. There is even less understanding of the long term structural issues created by these policies.
Friday, January 15, 2010
AMA Women Act & Inspire Solidarity with those in Haiti
Great news for everyone! The Mayan women of AMA have made their donation to their peers in Haiti, through the grassroots organization Rights Action. And better still, HSP has heard back from lots of people about how AMA's story of sacrifice and solidarity inspired to them to give to the relief efforts even though they themselves are struggling with economic hard times right here in the U.S. Here's just one of the many responses we received:
"Ben, thanks for that thoughtful and inspired breakdown. I will figure out a way to make some kind of a donation, especially considering the example of AMA. It becomes too easy with the amount of bills to be paid in the US to lose track of how lucky we are to be able to pay those bills." - Susan Posey
Folks have also really appreciated the recommendations and analysis. More is on the way, and we're really glad to see people carefully considering how to best support those in need, both through urgent short-term and necessary long-term efforts.
"Ben, thanks for that thoughtful and inspired breakdown. I will figure out a way to make some kind of a donation, especially considering the example of AMA. It becomes too easy with the amount of bills to be paid in the US to lose track of how lucky we are to be able to pay those bills." - Susan Posey
Folks have also really appreciated the recommendations and analysis. More is on the way, and we're really glad to see people carefully considering how to best support those in need, both through urgent short-term and necessary long-term efforts.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Haiti Relief - How to Really Help
We all want to help the people of Haiti as they deal with the horrific consequences of yesterday’s earthquake. While HSP isn’t capable of doing emergency relief work outside of Guatemala, we can recommend good folks who do, that you can donate to. Personally, I’ll be donating through Oxfam to help provide immediate emergency assistance.
HSP’s sister nonprofit in Guatemala, AMA(Asociacion de Mujeres del Altiplano), is also planning to donate funds as an organization. The impoverished Mayan women in AMA’s women’s circles plan to raise $250 for women and families in Haiti by the end of this week. These AMA women and their families live on an average of $300 a year, less than $1 a day, making their donation all the more meaningful.
AMA's intentions remind us of the parable of the Widow’s Gift (Mark 12:41-43), in which a poor widow gives her last two copper coins, and thus the greatest gift of all – all she has. AMA will be making their donation through Rights Action, an organization that supports grassroots humanitarian organizing internationally.
Give Now to these HSP recommended organizations
Oxfam has long experience in Haiti and is rushing in teams from around the region to respond to the situation where our assistance is most needed.
Rights Action funds and works with community development, environmental justice, human rights and disaster relief organizations in Guatemala and Honduras, and also in El Salvador, Haiti, Oaxaca and Chiapas.
Direct Relief has an ongoing "Emergency Pre-Positioning Program" and a program in Haiti that stages essential medical materials on site with key partners for immediate use in emergency situations.
Learn More about how to best support emergency relief and long-term aid
This post from the Blood And Milk blog is a good summary of relief vs. aid funding:
"Humanitarian relief programs are focused on rapid start-up, and rapid impact. Implementers of humanitarian programs need to gear up as fast as possible, and start providing necessary assistance as fast as possible. Their primary focus is not building local capacity, sustainability, or monitoring and evaluation. Their primary focus is getting help to people in need. They end when the emergency ends. Relief can come from the outside, and it is a response to some kind of breakdown or disaster.... Development programs are focused on achieving long-term change of some kind, with the intent of improving people’s lives and the lives of their descendants. They involve rigorous planning and ongoing operational research. They are rooted in local capacity building, because they are aimed at change which continues after the project ends. Even if it has outside support, development in the end has to come from inside.”
The blog, Good Intentions Are Not Enough has a great post entitled “Choosing organizations to donate to after the Haiti earthquake.”
AidWatch has posted “Haiti Earthquake: Help Navigating Complex Terrain of Disaster Relief.”
Tales from the Hood, written by an experienced aid worker, has a post—“Haiti”—just out providing information for donors as well.
Philanthropy Action has also posted “Advice for Donors to Haiti - providing advice based on research from the World Bank and the Fritz Institute”
An article “Haiti's Coming Public Health Challenges”, written by Alanna Shaikh at UN Dispatch.
An article from Michael Maren, the author of The Road to Hell – “From an expert: Haiti Donation Advice”
HSP’s sister nonprofit in Guatemala, AMA(Asociacion de Mujeres del Altiplano), is also planning to donate funds as an organization. The impoverished Mayan women in AMA’s women’s circles plan to raise $250 for women and families in Haiti by the end of this week. These AMA women and their families live on an average of $300 a year, less than $1 a day, making their donation all the more meaningful.
AMA's intentions remind us of the parable of the Widow’s Gift (Mark 12:41-43), in which a poor widow gives her last two copper coins, and thus the greatest gift of all – all she has. AMA will be making their donation through Rights Action, an organization that supports grassroots humanitarian organizing internationally.
Give Now to these HSP recommended organizations
Oxfam has long experience in Haiti and is rushing in teams from around the region to respond to the situation where our assistance is most needed.
Rights Action funds and works with community development, environmental justice, human rights and disaster relief organizations in Guatemala and Honduras, and also in El Salvador, Haiti, Oaxaca and Chiapas.
Direct Relief has an ongoing "Emergency Pre-Positioning Program" and a program in Haiti that stages essential medical materials on site with key partners for immediate use in emergency situations.
Learn More about how to best support emergency relief and long-term aid
This post from the Blood And Milk blog is a good summary of relief vs. aid funding:
"Humanitarian relief programs are focused on rapid start-up, and rapid impact. Implementers of humanitarian programs need to gear up as fast as possible, and start providing necessary assistance as fast as possible. Their primary focus is not building local capacity, sustainability, or monitoring and evaluation. Their primary focus is getting help to people in need. They end when the emergency ends. Relief can come from the outside, and it is a response to some kind of breakdown or disaster.... Development programs are focused on achieving long-term change of some kind, with the intent of improving people’s lives and the lives of their descendants. They involve rigorous planning and ongoing operational research. They are rooted in local capacity building, because they are aimed at change which continues after the project ends. Even if it has outside support, development in the end has to come from inside.”
The blog, Good Intentions Are Not Enough has a great post entitled “Choosing organizations to donate to after the Haiti earthquake.”
AidWatch has posted “Haiti Earthquake: Help Navigating Complex Terrain of Disaster Relief.”
Tales from the Hood, written by an experienced aid worker, has a post—“Haiti”—just out providing information for donors as well.
Philanthropy Action has also posted “Advice for Donors to Haiti - providing advice based on research from the World Bank and the Fritz Institute”
An article “Haiti's Coming Public Health Challenges”, written by Alanna Shaikh at UN Dispatch.
An article from Michael Maren, the author of The Road to Hell – “From an expert: Haiti Donation Advice”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
