Fishermen and Pregnant Women: More Victims of the War on Drugs

Early on Friday U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents opened fire on a fishing boat in the Honduran state of La Mosquitia. They mistakenly believed that the boat was trafficking drugs. Two pregnant women and two men were killed, with four others wounded.

The U.S. war on drugs is a failure. This latest incident is only a minor example of the devastation that U.S. drug policy, in coordination with Central American state governments, has had on those who are trapped in the violence.

The people who fish for lobster along the eastern coast of Central America are already an extremely poor population whose job is extremely hazardous. It's unacceptable that, on top of the other dangers they face, they face the danger of being murdered by U.S. troops.

The steps that are needed to eliminate incidents like this one are many, and the U.S. government is unlikely to take them any time soon. Despite a growing consensus among Latin American governments that decriminalization and regulation of drugs is the most effective way to end the drug-related violence that is devastating countries like Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia, the United States continues to focus on military solutions in producing and transit countries. Since 2008, the United States has given $361 million dollars  to Central American governments for the purpose of fighting drug trafficking, and is looking to give more. Much of this money goes to Honduras, where a military coup ousted the democratically-elected president in June, 2009, exacerbating the fragility of institutions in this country.

Journalists have been one group that has suffered after the coup, with more than 20 journalists murdered since the coup almost three years ago, including two in the last two weeks.

The U.S. drug war does not make Honduras a freer society, it does not protect civilians, it does not strengthen institutions; in fact, just the opposite is true. The U.S. drug war assists in repression, murders civilians, and allows those in power to operate with impunity.

Re: Upendo: Interconnected

On April 10 i shared a blog from my friend Jenny, who's working with the Peace Corps in Kenya, and promised a reflection. At last, here it is:

First of all, i'd like to say that i really resonate with Jenny's critiques of Western aid to developing countries. There are many destructive flaws in the ways that Westerners respond to poverty, and Jenny just touches the surface of what some of those flaws are. Funneling money towards photogenic projects, giving hearing aids to people who can't afford batteries, donating clothes that undermine the local textile economy, reinforcing a culture of dependence - even when we try to do good, we often look very clumsy and foolish.

A lot of the problems Jenny is describing can be recognized in that Westerner's pervasive response to poverty: "How is it fair that i have so much, while these people have so little?" This question betrays a faulty approach to poverty for a number of reasons. Jenny addresses one of them, which is that it is not true that wealthy people have "so much" while the poor have "so little." We are simply so well-trained to see others' worth in terms of the stuff they have, that we don't recognize the resources that the poor have to offer. The fact that we live on a vulnerable planet with limited resources only magnifies this problem. In a way, we have so much because they have so little. And you are right about at least one thing: It's not fair.

The question "How is it fair that i have so much, while these people have so little?" betrays another fatal flaw. The implicit emphasis is on those who have so little. The problem lies there, with those people. You could almost hear the question as "Why is everything so right with me, while everything is so wrong with them?" 

For this reason, i really appreciate Jenny's focus on her own journey through knee-jerk, guilt-induced reactions to poverty to some of the responses that she suggests later in her blog. And as her journey is personal, so are the responses that she suggests. She eats home-cooked good, fresh, local food with her friends. She enjoys the peaceful Kenyan evening absent of electric lights and TV. She debunks myths about Kenyans or USAmericans through her personal relationships. She suggests we show more humility and more responsiveness to the desires of those we wish to help.

Jenny is right that these responses seem much more complicated than simply writing a check to the monolith called "Charity." She's right that these responses take "legwork" - much more than we are inclined to put in. And a much larger portion of this legwork has to do with changing ourselves - our own patterns of consumption and coercive relationships - than our whites-in-shining-armor complexes might allow. 

Lastly i'd like to address one response that i'm tempted to make as i think about the issues that Jenny raises. I'm tempted to feel guilty for giving or resent those who do give. I'm tempted to think "Don't you know that you're probably just doing more harm than good, anyway?" I'm tempted to view all efforts by Westerners, including myself, to make a situation better as only arrogant and completely misguided. Basically, i'm tempted to allow the complexity and difficulty of truly working for more justice in the world to paralyze me in inaction. However, i think that those who allow the overwhelming challenges posed by the issues Jenny raises to defeat them before they even begin to try to address them are just as guilty, if not more so, as those who give their time and energies to work that is open to criticism. I think we should all try to be better, more generous, more loving people, knowing that our efforts will probably lead us to do some pretty ignorant, patronizing, even destructive things. But i think that through our failures we can, if we are open to criticism and self-reflection, learn to do things better. After all, it seems like Jenny has.

Take Action to Protect Honduran Human Rights Journalist

Almost three years after the coup that deposed President Manuel Zelaya, journalists still face intimidation and threats of assault, torture, and assassination in Honduras. Please consider taking action through Amnesty International to call on the Honduran government to protect Dina Meza, a human rights journalist.

For a full story on the plight of journalists in post-coup Honduras, view this mini-documentary.