Podcasting since 2004; Conversations, conflicts, adventures and monologues from around the world.
This is not the anniversary of a tragedy. This is the 2 year anniversary of the day the world saw and thousands of people felt the effects of a deliberate neglect, mismanagement, and sabatage of an entire region and the city at the heart of it. A campaign that continues, as does the suffering.
“We” includes more than just the people of New Orleans, “We” is us as a nation, as a planet, as humans… and “WE” are NOT ok.
Last week I talked about the rainbow families rescue work that Rob was involved in throughout the United States. Today I thought of him as I listened to RFI reporting about how extremely terrible the forest fires in Greece have now become. Photos of the earth published by NASA show just how huge the fires have gotten as the smoke is visible from space.
Amidst all this tragedy and the struggle to combat the fires, I get a strange sort of positive feeling from listening to the news reports. This is because I listen closely to the part about Firefighters coming from all over the world to battle the fires. France sends several hundred firefighters. Spain, Germany, and Italy also send firefighters who specialize in these types of fires. My dear Portugal, which struggles year after year with similar fires, sends re-enforcements. Canada, the United States, Russia, and Israel .. all send firefighters, water dropping planes, and equipment. Even Romania sends an elite unit of firefighters to take part in the battle to control the fires.
Imagine being there… being one of the firefighters standing amongst all those nationalities.. all those languages.. the different uniforms.. all with one common goal. So often in history the story is about some conflict or invasion where a few countries get together to kill another country’s people, or to defend people from being killed by killing other people… variations on that theme. Yet here we get to see what is possible.. the kind of world that CAN exist when nations put all the other issues aside and focus on one – helping each other.
I read a recent report from the AP that Venezuela gives more money to Latin American countries than the United States. An interesting fact, if it proves true.
Through direct investment, aid, and grant programs, Hugo Chavez’s government has offered 8.8 billion dollars for development and infrastructure to countries like Bolivia and Nicaragua.
Of course it can be said that through private companies and supragovernmental organizations like the world bank, the US provides more funding… but any student of history knows that a loan from the world bank is more often a curse then a blessing.
For all the criticism and hate directed towards Chavez’s administration, seeing this fact is an example where they’ve done right for the region. By right I mean leading the way to provide an alternative to the US influence and domination over the region. If nothing else, making it OK for Latin American nations to stand up and say “we can do things our way” instead of feeling dependent on international loan schemes or empty private investment promises.
Part of having a little office/studio space in an old squat means that I have to clock working hours on the actual building. Thankfully hammering, scraping, or painting are all tasks that allow me the mental freedom to listen to my favorite podcasts all day long.. stopping for the occasional watermelon break.
Today’s audio gem which I strongly recommend comes from On Point, with Tom Ashbrooke. Always a great program, the most recent episode focuses on the Amish population of the United States. It features an author who spent many years living next door to Amish, getting to know them and becoming good friends. He did extensive research about different Amish communities and provides some really eye opening information about them… what I would label as both positive and negative details.
One particular detail that opened my eyes was the fact that Amish communities, especially some of the most conservative ones, have seen population BOOMS in the last decade… more than doubling their numbers!
– Imagine that… living in the US, while all these non-amishpeople, media, objects, not too far from your home.. and yet.. a whole community not only staying out of much of it.. but actually growing!
Beyond that he presents important lessons that the amish could offer the rest of the world.. including: buying and selling local. He talks about their tremendous skill and capacity for farming, and the great tradition of selling locally, to communities down the street. Now of course he talks about issues of education and patriarchy which present some troubling realities… but overall I was very impressed with what he learned about the Amish.
After posting yesterday’s podcast, I sent Rob a thank you email. He responded and proceeded to tell me of another disaster going on right now that Rainbow Rapid Response is going to tackle: the catastrophic flooding of farms in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Record rainfalls have led to terrible flooding in that part of the US. A few people have died, and a tremendous amount of organic farm land has been ruined. The last number I saw estimated 8 million$ in crops were lost. It has also been reported that alot of farmers who had crop insurance will not receive anything for this type of damage. (familiar story)
The great thing, if anything positive can be found in all this, it is the spirit of the Rainbow Rapid Response people. Not waiting for the notoriously slow and incompetent emergency response from the white house or congress, they’re already on their way to feed and shelter people who’ve lost everything. They’ve already put out the call for industrial kitchen equipment, large tents, communications equipment, and response vehicles. The least I can do besides write about it, is echo that call and provide links for where you can get informed and involved.
A friend of mine, the man who introduced me to ulimate frisbee, started the first ever league in Liberia. Years later he would introduce the sport in Trinidad and last I heard he was in Madagascar surely throwing disc with the local population.
Over the weekend I’m sitting down to dinner after the first day of an exhausting tournament here in Amsterdam, and one of the more recent arrivals to our league started talking about his own experience. Having recently moved to the Netherlands from Colorado, he spoke about how confident he was that he wouldn’t feel alone or lacking in things to do since there would surely be ultimate in the Netherlands. Indeed I’ve noticed, just as he said, the fact that in a very short time, he has become a beloved member of the Amsterdam frisbee family.
And that’s the magic that made me want to write today… the global tradition that welcomes you no matter where you are. The social sport that transcends language and culture, giving you that sense of belonging even in a place where maybe you otherwise don’t belong.
Then there’s the typical statement you hear for all team sports… the bringing together of different people from different walks of life.. for a social meetup and sporting competition. Where conflicts are resolved peacefully on the field, and differences are embraced as something to be cherished and shared. Classic explanation of a sport, but as far I’m concerned, the world could use less talk of going to war and preparing to fight allegedly insane and dangerous “enemies” that are – of course – so different from us. If they only designated more parks and fields, and made more funds available for these kinds of activities.. then you’d see real conflict resolution and cross cultural understanding.
But of course, compared to the military business that helps make certain politicians and corporations unfathomably wealthy – encouraging a nonprofit peace enhancing sport is apparently bad business.