Comments on: Of Waves and Walls: Climate Change and Structural Racism http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/09/23/of-waves-and-walls-climate-change-and-structural-racism/ Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:51:34 +0000 hourly 1 By: Jay Taber /2009/09/23/of-waves-and-walls-climate-change-and-structural-racism/#comment-18922 Jay Taber Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:57:51 +0000 http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/?p=2932#comment-18922 As fundamental forms of social organization, institutions (church and state) and markets wield considerably more control of most societies than tribes and networks. While not monolithic, the state and market do have near monopolies over finance and communications through control of key centers of power. Perspectives that contest their agendas of privatization and globalization are thus relatively easy to exclude or smother. One of the reasons the world indigenous peoples' movement (and other anti-globalization players) have had to deploy spectacular initiatives. We won't, of course, hear anything from Secretary Clinton or President Obama about globalization, the main engine driving poverty and displacement in the developing world. Free Trade is neocolonial theft, globalization is mass murder, and the Obama/Clinton team are leading both. As fundamental forms of social organization, institutions (church and state) and markets wield considerably more control of most societies than tribes and networks. While not monolithic, the state and market do have near monopolies over finance and communications through control of key centers of power. Perspectives that contest their agendas of privatization and globalization are thus relatively easy to exclude or smother. One of the reasons the world indigenous peoples’ movement (and other anti-globalization players) have had to deploy spectacular initiatives.

We won’t, of course, hear anything from Secretary Clinton or President Obama about globalization, the main engine driving poverty and displacement in the developing world. Free Trade is neocolonial theft, globalization is mass murder, and the Obama/Clinton team are leading both.

]]> By: Andrew Grant-Thomas /2009/09/23/of-waves-and-walls-climate-change-and-structural-racism/#comment-18758 Andrew Grant-Thomas Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:26:27 +0000 http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/?p=2932#comment-18758 Outstanding piece on a devastating issue, Dave. My mind immediately went to the plight of Somalis fleeing a 20-year civil war in Somalia, many of them trying to bribe their way INTO the world's largest refugee camp in Kenya: 300,000 people living under hideous conditions in a camp built for 90,000. Overflowing toilets. People sharing space with garbage. Children suffering from malnutrition and dehydration. Rape a common occurrence. Not enough water, not enough medicine. From Europe, the US, the UN: some wringing of hands, some talk of resolutions, almost no help. So, yes, in re Matthew Glass' book, there's abundant reason to fear that the future is now, only worse. Outstanding piece on a devastating issue, Dave.

My mind immediately went to the plight of Somalis fleeing a 20-year civil war in Somalia, many of them trying to bribe their way INTO the world’s largest refugee camp in Kenya: 300,000 people living under hideous conditions in a camp built for 90,000. Overflowing toilets. People sharing space with garbage. Children suffering from malnutrition and dehydration. Rape a common occurrence. Not enough water, not enough medicine.

From Europe, the US, the UN: some wringing of hands, some talk of resolutions, almost no help.

So, yes, in re Matthew Glass’ book, there’s abundant reason to fear that the future is now, only worse.

]]> By: Jay Taber /2009/09/23/of-waves-and-walls-climate-change-and-structural-racism/#comment-18671 Jay Taber Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:16:09 +0000 http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/?p=2932#comment-18671 Of course, we don't have to wait twenty years to see the genocidal effects of climate change. The world's indigenous peoples have already been targeted for their forests and resources, and indeed ethnic cleansing is underway from the Amazon to the Yukon. As one of the four countries to vote against the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the US has gone to great lengths to make sure major media pays no attention to the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change. Of course, we don’t have to wait twenty years to see the genocidal effects of climate change. The world’s indigenous peoples have already been targeted for their forests and resources, and indeed ethnic cleansing is underway from the Amazon to the Yukon. As one of the four countries to vote against the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the US has gone to great lengths to make sure major media pays no attention to the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change.

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