> >>Continued from part I: >> >> >>Today's commentary: >>http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2002-01/23shiva.cfm >>================================== >>ZNet Commentary >>Terrorism As Cannibalism January 23, 2002 >>By Vandana Shiva >> >> >> >>These multiple processes are breeding new insecurities, new anxieties, new >>stresses. Cultural security, economic security, ecological security, >>political security are all being rapidly eroded. >> >>Could the violence being unleashed by humans against humans be similar to >>the violence pigs, chicken and cattle express when denied their freedom to >>roll in the mud, peck for worms, and roam outside the confines of animal >>factories? >> >>Could the coercive imposition of a consumer culture worldwide, with its >>concomitant destruction of values, cultural diversity, livelihoods, and the >>environment be the invisible cages against which people are rebelling, some >>violently, most non-violently. >> >>Could the "war against terrorism" be equivalent to the detoothing, >>debeaking, dehorning of pigs chickens and cattle by agribusiness industry >>because they are turning violent when kept under violent conditions? Could >>the lasting solution to violence induced by the violence of captivity and >>enslavement for humans be the same as that for other animals -- giving them >>back their space for spiritual freedom, ecological freedom, for >>psychological freedom and for economic freedom. >> >>The cages that humans are feeling tapped in are the new enclosures which are >>robbing communities of their cultural spaces and identities, and their >>ecological and economic spaces for survival. Globalisation is the overaching >>name for this enclosure. >> >>Greed and appropriation of other people's share of the plane's precious >>resources are at the root of conflicts, and the root of terrorism. When >>President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that the goal of the >>global war on terrorism is for the defense of he American and European "way >>of life", they are declaring a war against the planet-its oil, its water, >>its biodiversity. >> >>A way of life for the 20 percent of the earth's people who use 80 percent of >>the planet's resources will dispossess 80 percent of its people of their jus >>share of resources and eventually destroy the planet. We cannot survive as a >>species if greed is privileged and protected and he economics of the greedy >>set the rules for how we live and die. >> >>If the past enclosures have already precipitated so much violence, what will >>be the human costs of new enclosures being carved out for privatisation of >>living resources and water resources, the very basis of our species >>survival. Intellectual property laws and water privatisation are new >>invisible cages trapping humanity. >> >>IPR laws are denying farmers the basic freedom of saving and exchanging >>seed. They are, in effect, enclosing the genetic commons, creating new >>scarcities in a biologically rich world, transforming fundamental freedoms >>into criminal acts punishable with fines and jail sentences. >> >>Water privatisation policies are enclosing the water commons, transforming >>water into a commodity to be bought and sold for profit, creating water >>scarcity in a water abundant world. >> >>Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer had been using his own seeds for the past >>fifty years. His Canola seed was genetically polluted with Monsanto's GM >>Canola through wind and pollination. Instead of Percy being paid >>compensation in accordance with the polluter pay principle, the courts fined >>Percy on the basis of Monsanto's IPR case which argued that since the genes >>were Monsanto's property their being found in Percy's field made him a thief >>irrespective of how they came to be there. >> >>The violator becomes the violated, the violated becomes the violator in the >>perverse world of patents on genes, seeds and living material. Such perverse >>laws are transforming agriculture into police states and farmers into >>criminals. They are the invisible cages which are holding humans captive to >>market processes and corporate rule. >> >>The Privatisation of water is another threat to human freedom. >> >>Perhaps the most famous tale of corporate greed over water is the story of >>Cochabamba, Bolivia. In this semi-desert region, water is scarce and >>precious. In 1999, the World bank recommended privatization of Cochabamba's >>municipal water supply company (SEMAPA) through a concession to >>International Water, a subsidiary of Bechtel. On October 1999, the Drinking >>Water and Sanitation Law was passed, ending government subsidies and >>allowing privatization. >> >>In a city where the minimum wage is less than $100 a month, water bills >>reached $20 a month, nearly the cost of feeding a family of five for two >>weeks. In January 2000, a citizens' alliance called La Coodination de efensa >>del Agua y de la Vida (The Coalition in Defence of Water and Life) >>was formed. >> >>The alliance shut down the city for four days through mass mobilization. >>Within a month, millions of Bolivians marched to Cochabamba, held a general >>strike, and stopped all transportation. At the gathering, the protesters >>issued the Cochabamba Declaration, calling for the protection of universal >>water rights. >> >>The government promised to reverse the price hike but never did. In February >>2000, La Coordinadora organized a peaceful march demanding the repeal of the >>Drinking Water and Sanitation Law, the annulment of ordinances allowing >>privatization, the termination of the water contract, and the participation >>of citizens in drafting a water resource law. >> >>The citizen's demands, which drove a stake through the heart of corporate >>interests, were violently rejected. Coordinadora's fundamental critique was >>directed at the negation of water as a community property. Protesters used >>slogans like `Water is God's Gift and Not A Merchandise' and `Water is Life'. >> >>In April 2000, the government tried to silence the water protests through >>market law. Activists were arrested, protesters killed, and the media >>censored. Finally on April 10, 2000, the people won. Aguas del Tunari and >>Bechtel left Bolivia and the government was forced to revoke its hated water >>privatization legislation. >> >>The water company Servicio Municipal del Agua Potable Alcantarillado >>(SEMAPA) and its debts were handed over to the workers and the people. In >>the summer of 2000, La Coordinadora organized public hearings to establish >>democratic planning and management. The people have taken on the challenge >>to establish a water democracy, but the water dictators are trying their >>best to subvert the process. Bechtel is suing Bolivia, and the Bolivian >>government is harassing and threatening activists of La Coordinadora. >> >>By reclaiming water from corporations and the market, the citizens of >>Bolivia have illustrated that privatization is not inevitable and that >>corporate takeover o vital resources can be prevented by people's democratic >>will. >> >>The resource hunger of a corporate driven consumer culture is attempting to >>enslave own and control every plant, every seed, every drop of water. >> >>The suicides of farmers are one aspect of violence engendered by a violent >>world order based on markets, profits, consumerism. Suicide bombers are >>another aspect. One is directed towards the `self'. The other is directed >>towards the `other'. And in a fragmenting and disintegrating world, where >>everyone feels caged, everyone has potential to become the dangerous >>'other'. Like animals in factory cages, we are attacking ourselves or each >>other. >> >>Animals have the animal liberation movement to speak for them and set them >>free when the industry which has held them captive under violent conditions >>perpetrates further violence to deal with the cannibalism that captivity is >>causing. >> >>What is needed is an animal liberation movement for humans -- a movement >>sensitive to the captivity of consumer culture and global markets, a >>movement compassionate enough to sense the deep violations humanity is >>experiencing, a movement that recognises that it is not the teeth of pigs, >>beaks of birds, horns of cows that need to be removed, but the cages. >> >>The multicoloured, diversity based movement against the structural violence >>of global markets and the consumer culture has elements that could grow to >>liberate the human spirit from the degradations and deprivations of >>corporate globalisation. Reclaiming our freedoms and spaces from the new >>enclosures is as essential to us as it is to other animals. >> >>Animals were not designed to live imprisoned in cages. Humans were not >>designed to live imprisoned in markets, or live wasted and disposable if >>they cannot be consumers in the global market. >> >>Our deepening dehumanisation is at the roots of growing violence. Reclaiming >>our humanity in inclusive, compassionate way is the first step to peace. >> >>Peace will not be created through weapons and wars, bombs and barbarism. >>Violence will not be contained by spreading it. Violence has become a luxury >>the human species cannot afford if we are to survive. Non-violence has >>become a survival imperative. >> >>========= >>- >> >> >> >>--------------------------------------------------------------------- >>To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
