bicyclemark

Militant Relief Force

Plotting my upcoming journey, Im looking at a map of Thailand, seeking the cities or towns that I will want to visit in my short time there. Among other places, the Burmese border has my interest. The internets tell me that I could normally take a day trip from one of these border locations, into Burma for a quick look around. As a person who is critical of the government there, and concerned for the state of its people, naturally I’m interested.

Meanwhile I’m listening to radio netherlands’ The State We’re In, and my friend Jonathan is talking about Burma and the aftermath of the terrible Cyclone Nargis. The theory they’re discussing, as millions of people have been affected by the aftermath of the storm, is that it is the responsibility of UN members to provide aid to victims. Furthermore, according to his guest – Jan Egeland (former relief coordinator of the UN) the Burmese junta does not have the right to block aid or decide if people can be helped or not.

On the one hand Im thinking about how it may not be possible to get into Burma with all this going on. And more importantly, on the other hand, I’m listening to Egeland and I’m thinking about the fact that there are governments who actively block their people from getting essential help after a disaster. Like when the US rejected doctors from Cuba and food from the EU, after hurricane Katrina. Or when China says no to foreign aid workers on their soil (but yes accepts money and other donations). Yet on the same hand we live in an era where military forces are used to change governments and bring what is referred to as freedom and democracy by force. It is seen by many as a legitimate way to do things.

Imagine they felt the same way about aid? Wouldn’t it be something to behold, a NATO force that feels so strongly about feeding starving victims of a hurricane or US marines pulling out buried people after an earthquake. And even if a government told them no, imagine they would still arrive, in an organized and determined fashion, in numbers and efficiency that the government could do very little to stop. Militant relief, there’s a doctrine for a future president or prime minister.

bmtv84 The Use of Facebook

Occasionally I like to share some useful knowledge I believe I have on how to use the internet in a way that allows you to get information and some degree of satisfication. This vlog entry is about the social networking site facebook; specifically – how to cut right through the crap, once and for all, and make use of the very handy and sometimes rewarding tools the system has (buried) for you.

A Good Snapshot of Mortgage Crimes

The latest edition of the This American Life podcast has one of the best portraits and break-downs of the so-called subprime mortgage crisis. I say it is one of the best because, as TAL is good at doing, it puts the very human face on both who lends this money and who is the recepient of these loans.

There is nothing more disturbing and real then hearing the voices and feeling the emotion (or lack there of) when a mortgage broker explains that their office has 12 million accounts and therefore a piece of 12 million homes, 12 million lives. Or when a father talks about how he expected to be able to pay the loan back in a few months and years later, found himself taking money out of what had long been preserved as his son’s college fund… that man breaks down crying.. and again there is nothing more real to me. It is especially important to have such a program out there available for us to hear, when so often the commercial media outlets just play the numbers game or give it new titles like “the credit crunch” and shy away from the cold hard facts that lives have been destroyed, and that someone benefited from all this or even that banks allowed this to go on despite all the known consequences.

I highly recommend listening to this edition, entitled “A Pile of Money”. ( I even enjoy the fact that Ira Glass can barely speak throughout, a refreshing change of pace.)

Iraqi Orfans

The crew at AliveinBaghdad put out a recent video entry about a Baghdad school and daycare for orphans. It is a very interesting and inspiring story. As usual AiB does what the mainstream is not willing to do, without trying to tug at your heartstrings or sensationalize the story, simply showing you what regular people can and ARE doing to make a better future.

Watch the video.

Breaking Away Bolivia

Santa Cruz has 1.5 million people, the largest city in Bolivia. It also has the most money in Bolivia, 30% of the country’s GDP. Where does that money come from? -Natural resources;natural gas.

When Evo was elected president, he had promised to do something about the plundering and exploitation of natural resources by international corportations, which had long taken the resources and made little to no investment in Bolivia to improve quality of life. His strategy has been to push for the nationalization of these resources, which – although popular amongst many social movements – has triggered a very strong and angry reaction from the upper class and business leaders who did manage to benefit in the old system.

Now Santa Cruz has held a referendum, and whether it is legitimate or not, the results show strong signs that the province wants full autonomy. This means the wealth it produces will be kept from the central government, kept from the rest of Bolivia to help pay for the running of the country.

It is a typical conflict of the last 50 years, whether you’re in Bolivia, Central Africa, or right here on the continent of Europe. The have’s want nothing to do with the have not’s, and they will go to great lengths to keep from losing anything to them.

Among the historical comparisons that come to mind, I think of the province of Katanga in Congo, which broke away from Congo at a most critical moment in the nation’s founding. Shored up by Belgian mining companies and the Belgian military, the government of the province would later get custody of legendary political leader and prime minister Patrice Lumumba, who they would torture, murder, and then see to it that each piece of his body would be chopped up and disolved in sulfuric acid, to ensure that no one could ever identify his body.

No comparison, different situation, certainly. But it reminds me of how far these kinds struggles for control of wealth can and do go.

Visited ASeed

While much of Amsterdam was outside enjoying yes another day of sunny spring weather, I ventured over to the zoo neighborhood to visit with Nina at the ASeed offices. Aseed is a nongovernmental organization that focuses on issues related to agriculture in Europe and throughout the world. My interest in meeting them today was to discuss the soy industry and what is going on in terms of who is doing most of the soy growing and what is its effect on the environment and society in general.

When I arrived at the building I realized it was a familiar squat (or former squat at this point) where I, in the past, had visited the wonderful artists of pipslab. The kind of building where the doorbells alone indicate that in this place, very creative, unique, and possibly crazy people- work. Naturally I felt welcome and most certainly in my kind of place.

Nina greeted me and led me into a large former auditorium of some sort, which let in lots of natural light, making it easier to see the large signs on the ground. The signs were being prepared by the Aseed people for an upcoming summit in Bonn, which I’ll be watching for developments that I might bring to you.

From the 19th to the 30th of May, Bonn, Germany will host a global summit on biodiversity. Though eventually 5,000 participants will make their way to Bonn, many activists, farmers, and concerned citizens will also be converging on Bonn. The issue is as important as ever; fighting for the rights of small farmers versus the mammoth multinational agribusiness corporations, and questions surrounding genetically modified crops and food – the growing lobby at the EU level, and much more.

In my few hours at Aseed Nina did sit down with me and we recorded a podcast on the Soy industry. She also informed me about alot of related topics which I hope to pursue in the coming weeks and months. Look for the podcast at the end of the weekend.