Focus Magazine , Issue 66 , Winter 2003

FFocus ocus

on Ireland and the wider world

The magazine of Comhlámh, development workers in global solidarity

Issue 66 Winter 2003 ISSN: 0790-7249 €3 Stg. £2

‘WAR AND AID’

‘Humanitarian space Under Threat’

Comhlámh Development Workers in Global Solidarity, Ireland. www.comhlamh.org Comhlámh is a membership based organisation working to promote global solidarity through support for returned development workers, development education and campaigning. Comhlámh was founded 27 years ago by returned development workers. Membership is open to all who are interested in development issues.

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Focus Winter 2003

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Focus Contents

Contents

EDITORIAL

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AROUND THE GLOBE

6

The views expressed in individual articles are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the collective or Comhlámh.

WAR AND AID Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Fiona O’Reilly

8

Global Military Expenditure

Mary Mangan

14

One Step Forward, Two Hops Back

Maebh Reynolds

16

Mineral Wealth And Endemic Poverty

James Walls

20

The Southern Africa Food Crisis

Sibo Banda

24

An Israeli Womans Perspective

Pnina Firestone

11

Deciding The Fate Of Iraq

Michael Birmingham

13

Afghanistan: A Land Of Tragedies

Noshin Samad

18

Why Sanction Cuba

Mary Downes

22

COUNTRY FOCUS

DEVELOPMENT ISSUES Arturo Escobar: Theories Of Development

Eilish Dillon

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Design, Layout and Printing: Elo Press Ltd., Dublin 8, Telephone 453 1257.

Front Cover Photo: Elsa Armindo Chela, 11, lost and eye because of a landmine while picking mangoes in angola’s central highlands. Her cousin lost his right leg in the sme incident. Kuito. Angola. 1997. © Tim Grant. Picture courtesy of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Focus Ethical Investment

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Page 8

Back Cover Photo: Kabul, Afghanistan.Photographer: Paul Hansen. Picture courtesy of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

© Copyright Comhlámh 2002 The editorial team wishes to thank all those who have collaborated in this issue of Focus. In particular we wish to thank our authors and contributors, listed elsewhere. We are particularly indebted to Tony Weekes who corresponded with us at length and attended two of our collective meetings – his was the inspiration behind this issue.

Special thanks also to Peter Gaynor of Fairtrade Mark, Ireland and The Fairtrade Foundation for the use of their excellent photographs and other assistance. Thanks also to Trócaire’s Anne Kinsella, Conall Ó Caoimh and Comhlámh members who made photographs available for use. Thanks to John Byrne, our cartoonist, and to Órla O’Sullivan & Emma Lane Spollen for technical assistance.

We have tried, sometimes without success, to contact all relevant photographers and agencies to seek their permission to use photographs. We apologise to those we have been unable to trace.

Editorial Team: James Walls, Mary Mangan, Mary Pierce, Martina Carroll and Colm Roddy (Office).

Publication of Focus is grant-aided by the National Committee for Development Education (NCDE).

Supplementary development education articles are co-financed by the European Union.

Correspondence Comhlámh, 10 Upper Camden Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Ph +353-1-4783490 Fx +353-1-4783738 E-mail: info@comhlamh.org Comhlámh, 55 Grand Parade, Cork, Ireland Ph +353-21-4275881 Fx +353-21-4275241 E-mail: comhcork@iol.ie Website address: www.comhlamh.org

Focus Fair Trade

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Focus

Focus on Ireland and the Wider World, established in 1978 and published twice a year, is Ireland’s leading magazine on global development issues. It is published by Comhlámh, Development Workers in Global Solidarity, Ireland, which works to promote global development through education and action. Focus is produced by an editorial collective of volunteers, with the support of the Comhlámh offices in Dublin and Cork. Both Cork and Dublin groups are seeking new volunteers. Please contact the Comhlámh offices if you are interested in any aspect of the production of this magazine. No prior experience is necessary.

Winter 2003 Focus 3

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Focus Winter 2003

Focus Editorial

Humanitarian Space Lost

W

hen this issue of Focus was first conceived, there was little cause to believe that we could be facing the prospect of another war, a foray by the world’s only superpower into a poorer part of the globe in a seemingly irreversible clash of cultures and interests.

The only hope this time round is that there seems to be little support amongst the US’s traditional allies in the west, despite the unease felt by many at the flouting of UN weapons inspections. Suspicion abounds though that this time other interests and agendas are behind the drive to war, with hazy plans emerging to re-arrange the political structure of the Middle East and forging or forcing a new consensus where the US need for oil security is unquestioned.

Some articles in this issue touch on this in a very credible way and serve to remind that a simple knee jerk response is most often the wrong response to an event. Look at the invasion of Afghanistan.

Certainly in any new post US-Iraq war scenario the non- militarists, including the NGOs, will be left to pick up the pieces. They will have an unenviable task trying to tread a middle line between the promotion of genuine empowerment on the one hand and dealing with realpolitik and the demands of donors on the other. As raised in her keynote article, Fiona O’ Reilly makes the

The heavy expenditure on weapons at over 800 billion dollars annually makes for sober reading when this is compared with the meagre sum allocated to non-military aid case for the restoration of humanitarian space in emergency aid operations.

The contrast in treatment of countries and issues comes in for scrutiny in the articles on Cuba and Israel. With Cuba sanctions have been pursued unilaterally to further domestic agendas. No international sanctions have been applied against Israel which has shown a flagrant disregard for UN resolutions and international law.

The heavy expenditure on weapons at over 800 billion dollars annually makes for sober reading when this is compared with the meagre sum allocated to nonmilitary aid. This is occurring at a time when several countries in Sub Saharan Africa are undergoing a catastrophic famine which has been blamed on domestic and international economic policies as well as natural and structural causes. The background to the famine is indeed deep-rooted and it is argued in this issue that the small farmer needs to be placed in the forefront of the fight for food

security.

In a general sense the historical circumstances of Africa, and its unique natural wealth, made it an object of envy and exploitation resulting in the collapse of traditional coping strategies and systems under the profiteering brought about by the demands of the new traders cum invaders.

The negative experiences of Africans over the centuries of European influence expose the myth that a ‘uniform’ order can be imposed worldwide - a lesson that has obvious relevance to the current situation in the Middle East also Finally the all important question of defining true development is examined in the debate between Arturo Escobar and others in the final pages of the issue. His central point is that new social movements and “border thinking” offer the best hope for pointing the way forward.

Perhaps some of the problems outlined will soon be resolved.

Possibly the ideas evoked will stimulate intellectually and promote activism, but at the very least it is hoped that the perspectives conveyed will provide a basis for a better understanding of the world.

James Walls

The only hope this time round is that there seems to be little support amongst the US’s traditional allies in the west…

Winter 2003 Focus

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Focus Around the globe

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Focus Winter 2003

Focus Around the globe

VMM 2002 IRELAND

…. …. ….

on a MISSION Licensed to inform ourselves and others a COCKTAIL of nationalities AWAKENED & STIRRED

Be an AGENT OF CHANGE! Get involved in VMM's Development Education programmes in 2003!

Contact: The Volunteer Missionary Movement All Hallows College (Senior House) Grace Park Rd. Drumcondra Dublin 9 Tel: 01- 8376565 E-mail: vmmeurgo@iol.ie Web: www.vmm.cjb.net

Winter 2003 Focus 7

Focus Around the globe

Focus War and Aid Conflicts between humanitarian and political aims often affect where and to whom humanitarian aid is delivered, writes Fiona O’Reilly, especially in conflict situations.

photo Kenneth O’Halloran

T

he access and resources to help people affected by conflict or calamity is known in the humanitarian community as ‘humanitarian space’. It is rarely a given but must constantly be fought for and maintained. International law recognises that those affected by calamity or armed conflict are entitled to assistance. However the ‘gatekeepers’, those who can allow or prevent access by external agencies to victims, are very often the

“Humanitarian space… must constantly be fought for and maintained.

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Focus Winter 2003

governments who oppress the people in the first place.

We can’t only blame repressive regimes Who succeeds in obtaining aid, and what resources are provided, is often biased by political and geo-strategic interests of western governments as well as media coverage. Also, there are ‘silent’ emergencies that receive little media interest and are marginalised in donor funding decisions. Aid is often apportioned in highly unbalanced and partial ways. UN consolidated appeals (CAPs) reflect this.

In 1999, the response to a UN appeal for former Yugoslavia was

$207 per capita compared to only $16 per capita for Sierra Leone and $8 per capita for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While these commitments partly reflect the relative costs of doing business in Africa and Europe, they also reflect the level of political commitment and interest.

The Afghanistan crisis did not start after the Taliban rulers were toppled. Conflict has been ongoing there for 23 years and the health statistics have been amongst the worst in the world. On top of this, in 1999, a severe drought commenced which eroded people’s ability to cope.

Prior to the fall of the Taliban there was a massive food crisis which evoked an under-resourced and

Focus Around the globe inadequate humanitarian response.

The massive humanitarian operation, which commenced after the fall of the Taliban, was due primarily to US political interest rather than humanitarian need.

This can be dangerous as there is no assurance that such leaders are legitimate representatives of their people. Other agencies have million dollar projects funded by single donor governments, which raise questions regarding independence.

Aid organisations come under pressure

Within affected populations, governments and so called representatives of the people often do not allow access to victims or manipulate aid for their own ends.

Currently UNAMA, a political peace-building structure in Afghanistan, is also responsible for co-ordinating humanitarian activities. This has been criticised by some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which have found that political and humanitarian goals are not always as one. Some would say that UNAMA has no other option but to work through the internationally recognised government. Others recognise that the need to work so closely with government means there is no longer room for criticism.

There are fears that protection, human rights issues and humanitarian principles will be swept under the carpet in order to maintain good relations.

Some NGOs (for instance Medecins Sans Frontières - MSF) have been very critical of UN co-ordination mechanisms which try to pull NGOs into a common framework. In order to stand outside the UN and donorled approaches, NGOs require a degree of financial independence.

Organisations like MSF have this and specify limits on donor funding.

After Sept 11, MSF refused to take funding from governments involved in the conflict. The International Committee of the Red Cross has flexibility and independence as its funding is not linked to specific activities or projects.

Most NGOs adhere to a set of principles which attempt to ensure that aid is given on the basis of need and will not be used to further a particular political or religious stand point and to ensure that agencies will not act as instruments of any government’s foreign policy.

Some NGOs have chosen to side with populations which are oppressed and with their leaders.

The Rwandan crisis After the Rwandan genocide some agencies felt uncomfortable with the mass relief operation aimed at supporting those fleeing in fear of reprisals. The camps established in neighbouring countries were full of those who, though in basic need, had been involved in the commission of genocide. Furthermore the powerful within the camps manipulated distribution systems so that most food went to the favoured, while those without connections ended up getting a fraction of the ration to which they were entitled.

Some agencies felt uncomfortable with providing assistance under those conditions especially as the international community had failed to prevent the genocide in the first place and it now appeared to be rushing to the aid of those who had committed the atrocities.

Attempts to distribute aid fairly can be frustrated In 1998, in South Sudan, food distribution in the rebel held areas was made to female-headed households as distinct from the authorities as a strategy to get food to women and children. This strategy very often proved futile as after distribution food was recollected by the leaders and

“Political and humanitarian goals are not always as one”.

redistributed according to their own criteria. The military commanders did not allow monitoring of the distributions.

Currently in Afghanistan, even after Taliban rule, agencies are struggling to gain access to women and children. Women are still confined to the house and community leaders and authorities still oppose programmes which involve women travelling outside their own mosque areas.

Such are the challenges for humanitarian aid that it is often virtually impossible to reach populations in need with adequate resources. Once they are reached, how aid is delivered in different contexts is crucial to ensuring it gets to the most vulnerable. Best practice includes utilising local societal structures and ensuring participation of the local community.

However, it is seldom the most vulnerable that are allowed to participate by the most powerful.

What can be done At times, however, strategies have been devised for various scenarios.

The identification of people in need is heavily influenced by political interests or their lack. An understanding on the part of those who provide aid, of the political context as well as of the vested interests and agendas is very important so that the aider does not become affected by them.

Humanitarian space has to be created. It is difficult to create.

Humanitarian efforts operate at times across religious boundaries, in defiance of governments and at the edge of the law.

Fiona O’Reilly is the director of the Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN). She is also co-director for the emergency training course run by APSO and a part-time lecturer in Trinity College, Dublin. She has worked in crisis situations in Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia.

Winter 2003 Focus

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Focus Ethical Investment

10 Focus Winter 2003

Focus Country Focus

An Israeli Womans Perspective People talk about Israel, but what does ‘Israel’ mean?

Is it Sharon? Is it the Israeli government?

Sharon and his military junta is not ‘Israel’. This junta is as dangerous for the Israelis as for the Palestinians. Sharon’s government is anti-Zionist – it is destroying the aims of Zionism – “to have a safe state for the Jews”.

result, we have become a very sick, aggressive society. It is clear on the roads, and in the rise of domestic violence. Aggression is everywhere!

It doesn’t stop when taking off the uniforms. The soldiers bring it back home.

The sole interest of the junta is to remain in power, regardless of the price. It is in their interest to keep the war going on. Even though Sharon’s election slogan was ‘peace and security’, he knew that had peace prevailed he would not have been elected.

Militarism versus freedom

They jeopardize the very existence of Israel. The endless wars kill our people physically and mentally. As a

I feel that my state of Israel was hijacked! As a result of the army’s central role, we have become a super militaristic society. Women are oppressed. Since women are not fighters, we do not count. Every walk of life is imbued with militarism: education, political decision making, advertisements,

economic decisions, funding and so on.

We have no constitution. Our democracy is very shaky. In October l999, 13 Israeli Arab demonstrators were shot dead by the Israeli police.

The government did not resign, the head of the police force was not fired, nor even the district commander replaced. Many laws are passed in the KNESSET intended to curb freedom of speech. Almost the entire media serve the government’s purposes. Recently some Knesset members expressed their fear that the Knesset might proscribe one Arab political party.

The very existence of the state of Israel is in danger.

The internal conditions prevailing now in Israel - socially, economically and psychologically – jeopardize the very existence of Israel.

Unemployment, hopelessness, economic crisis and fear and hatred of the stranger prevail as a direct result of the blunt aggression of this government. This is not an external danger. About six months ago, polls showed that 35% of those aged between 24 and 40 years were considering emigration. This government has drastically cut funding in education, health and social payments: i.e. in every single need of a civil society. We used to have an advanced welfare state. The present government has destroyed it all. There is no money for the needs of the population. But there are millions to spend on the war.

Winter 2003 Focus 11

Focus Trade The Hidden Israel A magnificent peace camp exists in Israel – but it is invisible because we do not exist in the media. We deal with many issues: support for refusniks (without enough soldiers, Israel will have to end the occupation); food and clothing convoys to the territories; rebuilding Arab houses destroyed by the IDF in the occupied territories; medical help; checkpoints watch; human rights; education and of course demonstrations! The movement is not formally united but the various groups cooperate. Together we are the hope for a better Israel [and Palestine].

should follow the experience of Northern Ireland: women took responsibility after men failed to bring peace. Women on both sides refused to be enemies – so there was an opening for peace. The Macho, instinctively, uses force. The feminist way is to cooperate, to heal, and see the whole picture

The role of women

If we want our children and grandchildren everywhere to go on living on this planet, women must learn to take responsibility for change – otherwise the Universe will be destroyed. We need potable water, clean air, unpolluted rivers and oceans. Rulers, the world over, know it, but continue destroying and polluting. We must change the political system if we want to take care of posterity.

As long as the macho ex-generals rule Israel I hold no hope for peace.

(I won’t comment on the crucial role of the Arab leaders – because this is not the issue in this article). We

We, in Israel and Palestine, must follow the example set in Northern Ireland. There, negotiations continued incessantly. Sharon and his junta are typical of the old

12 Focus Winter 2003

macho ruling tradition. Force and innumerable wars were the norm.

This way has only brought pain, agony and mainly disaster. Women are the most able economists in the world, after all they run 99% of private households in the world. But they have left the running of governments to men.

This article was written in August 2002 by Pnina Firestone, a grandmother and disabled activist in ‘New Profile’ and ‘Women Coalition for Just peace.’ She lives in Jerusalem. New Profile, a feminist organisation (including men) strives for a demilitarisation of Israeli society through education, it supports conscientious and political refusniks amongst others. It is part of Women Coalition for peace along with eight other organisations.

Pnina is 67 years old with three grandchildren described as the steering power behind her activities

Focus Global Concerns

Deciding the Fate of Iraq Now is Ireland’s opportunity to speak out for justice and human rights. It must oppose the US’s call for war against Iraq, says Michael Birmingham.

I

f and when the United States launches a massive military attack aimed at overthrowing Saddam Hussein’s government, it will be yet another unpredictably dangerous card played against the Iraqi people. Without doubt, many more Iraqi civilians will die.

Excuses for war The world will be told that the war is necessary to protect global peace and security. It will be said to benefit those oppressed by Saddam, with civilian casualties kept to a minimum. However, even a brief glance at the recent history of Iraq suggests that it would be naïve to believe such claims.

Since the 6th of August 1990, the Iraqi people have had to endure the harshest sanctions regime the UN has ever imposed. In 1999, UNICEF published a report which suggested that at that point half a million children may have died. Questioned about this figure on the ‘60 Minutes’ programme Madeline Albright, then US Secretary of State, said she considered this number of dead children a price worth paying.

Between January and March 1991, US led forces dropped 88,500 tonnes of bombs on Iraq. The country’s well developed water treatment and sanitation systems were devastated.

Much of the electrical supply and other life-sustaining infrastructure was destroyed. Those who died represent the top of a pyramid of destruction which has devastated a whole society.

Madeline Albright said she considered this number of dead children a price worth paying

Even the formerly better off members of a burgeoning middle class in 1990, who had the resources to survive the sustained US-led onslaught, can do little more than survive. Avoiding death does not mean avoiding grinding poverty, painful sickness, or working longer hours to provide one’s children with an increasingly inadequate education.

Justification for war Justification for war is mainly focused around the question of whether Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction but weapons inspectors have cast doubt on this claim. Previously, when Iraq definitely did have these weapons and used them against Iranian and Kurdish people, it was still a valued trading partner. The US has the world’s biggest arsenal of all such weapons and on different occasions uses them against civilian populations. These are inconvenient truths best not pondered on the road to war.

Since beginning its two-year stint on the Security Council, the Irish Government has tried to steer clear of engaging with its responsibility for the heinous reality in Iraq.

Allowing the use of Shannon airport and failing to unequivocally condemn the sanctions and war may be all that is needed. Silence is complicity.

Inducements for war In her book on the UN, Phyllis Bennis outlines the lengths that the US went to in 1990 to ensure that all Security Council members complied with its war on Iraq.

Financial inducements by way of development aid were promised while sanctions and diplomatic isolation were threatened to ensure each nation voted correctly.

The effort that the US put into the Security Council then does suggest that criticism by members is something it really does not want.

Being a UNSC member at this crucial moment allows Ireland an enormous opportunity to be a voice for justice and human rights. The Iraqi people deserve that some courage be shown. It is not likely to come from an Irish government without considerable pressure being brought to bear by those who believe that this war, as well as the sanctions policy, are aberrations.

Suggested further reading: Iraq under Siege, 2000, ed. Anthony Arnove, South End Press - regarding the effects of the last Gulf War and the sanctions policy.

Calling the Shots by Phyllis Bennis, 1996, Olive Branch Press - on the relationship between the US and UN.

Michael Birmingham has been involved with the Campaign to End the Sanctions on Iraq - Ireland since it began three years ago. The campaign group is made up of people who are Iraqi, Irish and other nationalities living in Ireland.

(Article written early October 2002).

Winter 2003 Focus 13

Focus Global Concerns

Global Military Exp

…nearly $840 billion on weapons and other military expenditures, an av

US Military spending v. The W

Global Poverty Half the world's population lives on less than

$2 a day One sixth of the world's population (more

than one billion people) lives on less than $1 a day The same number lack access to safe drinking

water 2.5 billion lack access to sanitation A 1998 report from the UN Development

Programme estimated the annual additional cost to provide basic human needs to the world's population as: - $9bn for clean water and sanitation -

(http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/A

$13bn for basic health care and enough food to eat

- $6bn for basic education -

Allies = NATO countries, Australia, Japan a Rogues = Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Kore

$12bn for reproductive health care for all women

The US are not the only culprits, although they are by far In 1997, the ten top arms trading countries

Total: $40bn UN wants rich countries to give 0.7 % of their

national incomes In cash terms, the US gives $10bn per annum

1. Russia 2. France 3. UK

4. Spain 5. Germany 6. Netherlands

7. Ital 8. Uk 9. Mo

(more than any country except Japan which gives $13.5b) but this is only 0.1% of its national income.

Most of US development aid is allocated for

strategic reasons to middle income countries like Israel, Egypt and Colombia, the priority being foreign policy, not the poor.

About 40% of American development aid goes

to poorer countries without any particular emphasis on good governance or policy reform

Information sources: • Globalissues.org • Arms Sales Monitor • Fight Terrorism by Aiding Poor by John Mackenzie (Baltimore Sun) • US Aid: The Lifeblood of Occupation by Matt Bowles (The Washin • UN Development Programme Human Development Report 1998 • International Socialist Organisation

"What I have seen in the war in Chechnya"

Chechen children living in the refugee camps in Ingushetia drew the pictures in this gallery. They were asked to draw on war in Chechnya". Their subjects include the bombardment of Grozny, street battles, death, chaos, destruction, and their (Courtesy of Human Rights Watch - http://www.hrw.org )

14 Focus Winter 2003

Focus Global Concerns

penditure in 2001

verage of $137 per person (The 2001 UN Disarmament Yearbook)

World ($bn)

Israel - just one case study This year Israel is receiving $2.76bn in military aid and $720m in economic aid

from the US Up to 80% of this aid never leaves the US as it is earmarked for arms purchases

from US companies In addition, Israel also gets around $3bn in indirect aid: military support from

the US defence budget, forgiven loans and special grants Most of this aid violates US laws such as the Arms Export Control Act which

prohibits weapons sales for purposes other than internal security, legitimate self-defence and use in regional and collective arrangements that are consistent with the UN Charter.

and South Korea a, Sudan and Syria

ArmsTrade.asp)

which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognised human rights" Including this year's aid, since 1949 Israel has received from the US more than

$100bn in aid, both direct and indirect.

r the largest global arms traders. after the US were:

y raine oldova

Also the US Foreign Assistance Act prohibits military assistance to any "country

The primary interest of the US in the Middle East is to control the oil in the

region The US has turned Israel into a military outpost economically dependent on

10. Israel

) ngton Report on Middle East Affairs

n the theme, "What I have seen in the r new lives as refugees in Ingushetia.

the US Israel, a tiny state of six million people has the third or fourth most powerful

army in the world It routinely uses tanks, Apache helicopter gunships and F-16 fighters against

Palestinians who have no military and none of the protective institutions of a modern state US aid to Israel is different than that to any other country in that:

– Israel is not required to account for specific purchases – The sheer amount - roughly one third of the US's entire foreign aid budget, even though Israel has one of the world's higher per capita incomes. It receives more US aid than all of Africa, Latin America, and the Carribean combined not including Egypt and Colombia

"We who have fought against you, the Palestinians, we say to you today in a loud and a clear voice – enough of blood and tears.

Enough!"

- Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin at the signing of the Oslo peace accords at the White House in 1993.

Winter 2003 Focus 15

Focus Landmines

One Step Forward, Two Hops Back Maebh Reynolds reports on the harrowing consequences of landmines and the current efforts made to ban their use.

I

Photographer: Jim Holmes, Oxfam UK. Picture courtesy of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

n the week that brought Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, John Prine and Elvis Costello to Dublin as part of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), Indian authorities were pushing ahead with the planting of a 1,800 mile mine field along the India/Pakistan border. This threemile deep minefield will dwarf even the Western Front of the Second World War and every other conflict where mines have been deployed over the past 50 years. In January, 29 people died when a truck with munitions rolled over some landmines placed along the border The effects, in human, socioeconomic and environmental terms, are not just confined to the time of the conflict. Experience worldwide reveals that landmines continue to maim and kill people and curb development for many decades after a violent conflict ends.

Individual and communal consequences The British Medical Journal in 1991 described the effects of landmines on “lucky” survivors as follows“Landmines have a ruinous effect on the human body: they drive dirt, bacteria, clothing and metal and plastic fragments into the tissue causing secondary infections. The shock wave from an exploding mine can destroy blood vessels well up the leg, causing the surgeon to amputate much higher up the leg than the site of the primary wound”.

Children walk to school along routes cleared of mines.

Althougth mines can be found in all surrounding areas in Cambodia.

16 Focus Winter 2003

The result for the individual is typically a series of painful operations, often followed by life on

Focus Landmines the margins of society. Often entire communities are forced to move from their land, fertile land is left barren and poverty is exacerbated as a consequence of the presence or even fear of landmines. These days reports are common of thousands of people being compelled to leave their farms along the Punjab border, afraid to return in the near future.

In one of many such cases, 10,000 people deserted the village of Mapulenge in Southern Mozambique having been told it had been badly mined. A three-month clearance operation costing tens of thousands of dollars yielded only four landmines. Four antipersonnel mines costing US$40 resulted in years of fear and a huge cost before people could return.

Successes and Setbacks The third Landmine Monitor Report published in September 2001 detailed the tremendous strides made in relation to landmines through the work of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). 137 countries have now ratified the landmine treaty. Since countries began to implement the treaty the number of deaths due to landmines had halved, the number of mines being laid had dropped and the scale of the cleanup operations had increased. It was recognised that a key reason for the successes noted in early 2001 was the fact that there had been reduced levels of conflict globally.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) believes that any use of antipersonnel mines is a violation of humanitarian law. The weapon is inherently indiscriminate, and its use clearly fails to meet the proportionality test of humanitarian law: the short-term benefits are far outweighed by the long-term human and socio-economic costs. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. HRW views any use of landmines as an indiscriminate attack within the meaning of customary humanitarian law, as codified by article 51 of the additional protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

A key issue to be addressed is the fact that the US, India, Russia, Pakistan and China have refused to sign up to the Landmine Treaty (or Ottawa Landmines Convention).

Maebh Reynolds is a member of the Health and Development Group in Comhlamh

FACTFILE

Why are landmines worse?

Given the threats posed by nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, many ask why they should focus their attention on the banning of landmines. Why? Because they are an unseen, hidden threat to the community. They are indiscriminate, their main victims being peasant men, women and children maimed or killed when grazing animals, collecting firewood or carrying water from the well.

One Angolan soldier described them as “the worst sort of environmental pollution you can find.”

Unfortunately, the very day prior to publication, events in New York triggered a series of events that have undermined the previous successes and have reversed the progress made on mine clearance since the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.

Events in recent months will prepare us for a less optimistic report in 2002.

Landmines have claimed 1 million victims since 1995.

Over 90 countries are affected directly by landmines.

There are more than 110 million landmines buried worldwide. Removing them will cost US$33 billion and will take 1,100 years at present de-mining rates.

100 million landmines are stockpiled.

Each mine can cost as little as US$3 to make but more than US$1,000 to clear. For every hour spent sowing mines more than 100 hours are needed de-mining.

70 people are killed or injured every day by mines-more than 25,000 people a year.

Half of all adults who stand on a mine die before they reach hospital. Children are more likely to die.

Most minefields are unmarked. Many landmines are simply washed out of the ground and deposited elsewhere, often on previously clear land, complicating further the task of clearance.

Winter 2003 Focus 17

Focus Afghanistan

Afghanistan: A land of tragedies!

Noshin Samad writes about the suffering of Afghan people as a result of the US air strikes following the September 11th attacks.

photo Tony Kelly

Women in Afghanistan.

U

ndoubtedly September the 11th was a day of tragedy that bled not only the hearts of American people but indeed all those with a sense of humanity. I was having dinner with my family when the breaking news appeared on BBC that shocked all of us. My sister hurried to phone her friends in the US and convey our condolence. But who knew then that it would be we who would pay the price for that attack.?

18 Focus Winter 2003

War and Interests War was declared by Bush and many countries jumped on the bandwagon of “War Against Terror”. This war targeted my country, believed to be hosting terrorists. I was astonished, asking myself repeatedly: Did the soil of my country, give birth to these terrorists or did my people elect the Taliban and give shelter to Al-Qaida? I found the answer on www.rawa.org, the

website of RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan).

“Taliban, Osama and Co., and other fundamentalist bands in Afghanistan are all creatures of myopic US policies vis-à-vis the Afghan war of resistance against Soviet aggression. As long as such Frankenstein monsters were useful for the pursuance of US policies, successive US governments

Focus Afghanistan The shattering of a dream

Boy (14) from Agam district in Jalalabad who lost both hands and a foot in US bomb attacks.

Picture from video by RAWA

supported them and persistently turned a blind eye to the higher interests of the people of Afghanistan and to the consequences of such support for freedom and democracy in our country and the region.”

Double standards When a US bomb hit a wedding ceremony in Urzgan, killing more than 40 civilians instantly and injuring 100 others, the only response from the Pentagon was that “a bomb went astray”. The killing of thousands of innocent Afghan women and children during the US air strikes on Afghanistan was part of a “war of civilization”!

Unfortunately this has been a longstanding tradition of so called ‘free press’ reporting: to glare intensely at atrocities committed by elements they believe threaten the big powers while flashing the briefest of glances at atrocities committed by the same powers themselves. A careful reading of the press might discover that Afghan casualties of the bombing now exceed the loss of life on September 11. But this ‘collateral damage’ represents a small fraction of the total horror inflicted on Afghanistan Now, despite the defeat of the Taliban and promises of massive aid from the international community, the true depth of the disaster is

emerging. Jehadi warlords, better called Northern Alliance, with their track record of numerous massacres, looting of national assets and archaeological riches, extortion of defenseless people and perpetrating countless other crimes, still dominate the political landscape.

These criminals deserve only to sit in the dock in international tribunals beside other war criminals, not at the helm of a government.

The plight of women Afghan women are still the prime targets of the Jehadi fundamentalists’ tyranny. Even in Kabul where there is believed to be more security women prefer not to remove their burqa. Countless appalling stories about how women are being suppressed and humiliated by the local warlords are reported daily by the foreign journalists. The West may see the Northern Alliance as an improvement on the Taliban, but Afghan women do not see it that way.

The killing of thousands of innocent Afghan women and children during the US air strikes on Afghanistan was part of a “war of civilization”!

Loya Jirga (The grand tribal council) was convened to put the country on the road to democracy and fulfill the people’s dream of diminishing the power of Jehadi warlords. But this dream ended in bitter disappointment as Zahir Shah, the former king who enjoyed a landslide vote of the delegates, was mysteriously and abruptly pushed aside by the Jehadis with full US collaboration. Hence the Jehadi were once again allowed to tighten the noose around the fragile Karzai cabinet. The assassination of a member of the new-appointed cabinet Haji Qadir, in Kabul in the presence of the 5000 strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was the second in six months.

Democratic vacuum The pouring of billions of dollars into a country where the fundamentalist mafia are still in power can little benefit the Afghan people. It will result only in filling the coffers of the religious Cosa Nostra and funding their terrorist agendas inside and outside Afghanistan. In a country like Afghanistan with no trace of a legal infrastructure or even a quasi-democratic government, most social and economic issues must be addressed as political issues. The satisfactory management of social and economic problems in Afghanistan and their resolution in the interests of the people of Afghanistan depend first and foremost on the formation of a democratic Afghan government.

Noshin Samad is a supporter of RAWA. Born in 1974 in Kabul, she is now pre-medical student in Pakistan.

She has written many articles about Afghanistan, some of which have already been published in the RAWA publication, Payam-e-Zan. Noshin has been living in Pakistan as a refugee for the past 10 years but visits Afghanistan regularly on RAWA missions.

She wrote this article in July 2002 Winter 2003 Focus 19

Focus The Natural Resourses of Africa

Mineral Wealth and Endemic poverty James Walls attempts to rationalise the endless difficulties in sub-Saharan Africa with a look at the natural attractions the continent held for foreign traders The earth’s oldest and most stable landmass with the richest reserves of important minerals, with three countries, Congo, Angola and South Africa, unequalled in terms of potential extractive wealth, is also the poorest and politically least stable. Is this coincidental?

The poverty of its peoples has certainly increased, by any absolute or comparative measure since the advent of imperialism. European domination, achieved through a process of attrition of tribal and traditional societies, and formalised by the Berlin Treaty of 1885, led eventually to the effective subjugation of the continent. It also led to the demise of sustainable use of natural riches or their application in the service of development of indigenous peoples.

The conclusion cannot be dismissed that Africa’s (and in particular subSaharan Africa’s) material and mineral wealth have contributed to it’s tragic situation.

Trade contacts Indeed it can be argued that from the moment of the first European contact, the demand for resources such as salt, gold and even peppers led to the stimulation of a wholly unsustainable economic process with negative consequences for those involved in its production. The relationship was always unequal.

Slavery entered the scene in exchange for gold and vice versa, led by the demand for labour for new sugar plantations established by the Portuguese in the Canaries. The

feudal and often brutal rule of the Ashante monarchy was based on the trading of gold for European products and this in turn compounded the instutionalisation of slavery.

Ancient Punt, in latter day Somalia, was a source of riches for the Pharaohs – the real wealth ivory, gold, rare animals all moving out of sub-Saharan Africa in exchange for less valuable articles such as cloth.

Whatever the reason for the seemingly unequal trade relationships in the beginning, who could foresee the horrific genocidal exploitation of rubber in the Congolese rain forest from 1890 to 1910 by the Belgian King Leopold II? An estimated 8 million lost their lives directly and indirectly in what was in effect a private police state.

Indeed the present fault lines in Congolese society may arguably have many of their origins in that period of infamy.

Wars and Minerals Today, conflict continues in the Congo, Africa’s World War, and Angola’s war would not have continued without access to government controlled oil supplies and diamonds from UNITA held areas. The war in Sudan is being fought partly for control of oil found in the Christian South by a fundamentalist Islamic regime in the north.

In Rwanda and Congo today tantalum from the metal ore called Coltan is ensuring the imminent extinction of the eastern lowland 20 Focus Winter 2003

Focus The Natural Resourses of Africa gorilla and is funding various groups, not least the remnants of the Hutu Interahamwe who still pursue their genocidal plans and actions against the Tutsis. Tantalum, a heat resistant powder with a high electric charge, is used widely in mobile phones and in computers. It’s production, much like the Gold frenzy in 1800’s California, also advances environmental degradation in the rain forests.

South African colonists introduced the hated apartheid system to maintain their regional supremacy.

Their economic domination created a socially destructive system controlling labour from neighbouring states into mines and farms.

Can we really ignore the reality of the enormous natural riches of the continent when analysing the present virtually continuous cycle of crises? Is it not ironic that Africa has less than it’s equitable share of cultivable arable or pastoral land on

which any human development must depend? Europe, in the main, developed citadels and faster growing populations largely because of ease of food production. Once solved, ruling classes then looked elsewhere to enhance their riches.

Compromise and choice - not coercion African societies were most stable when they were adopting minimalist sustainable farming and food production strategies. For example near Djenne in the inland Niger delta an urbanised settlement, peaking at 27,000 in 800 AD, spanned 1600 years without interruption. It was not a hierarchical society but depended more on authority of elders and coreliance between the various specialised occupational groups living there. No evidence of devastating conflict has been recorded.

Alternative societies Africa’s woes began when the element of exploitation for surplus wealth was introduced. This upset the pattern largely in place before the advent of Europeans.

It is now realised that exploitation of natural wealth has social as well as environmental consequences. A study of the history of the African continent confirms this. It is impossible to turn back the clock but sustainable practices and alternative models for societies must be the blue print for improvements in conditions for the peoples in sub-Saharan Africa.

Can these be found in the rush to industrialise that globalisation has fostered today?

James Walls is a returned development worker who worked as an engineer for eight years in Mozambique. He is a member of the Focus editorial collective.

Winter 2003 Focus 21

Focus Sanctions

Why Sanction Cuba?

The US stance on Cuba looks increasingly contradictory in the light of its support for countries such as China, writes Mary Downes.

US sanctions against Cuba, in place for four decades, were actually eased last year, with food and medicine exempted from the embargo. However, Cuban politicians highlight the fact that authorisation for companies to sell food and medicines in Cuba is so restrictive that it renders such trade almost impossible.

Many in the US favour an end to the embargo Many farmers and businesses in the US support the further easing of economic sanctions while most Republicans fiercely oppose such moves. Politicians and human rights campaigners who oppose the current embargo say that the victims in Cuba are mainly the poor and the sick. More contact between Cuba and the US would help weaken Castro’s grip on power, they argue.

In May 2002, President George Bush said he would oppose any additional weakening of the trade penalties until Cuba frees political prisoners, allows democratic elections and tolerates free speech. It seems odd that the most powerful country in the world feels it necessary to continue an embargo against Cuba on the grounds that it is an undemocratic country. Until recently it was offering its support to wealthy countries such as Saudi Arabia where elections are as common as themed pubs.

By chance, Bush’s announcement came just as he set off for a fund-raiser in Miami for his brother, Jeb, who was running for re-election as governor of Florida and who receives financial support from the large CubanAmerican community in the state.

More crucially the opponents of Castro in Cuba believe that the sanctions merely strengthens his hand. Also, former president Jimmy Carter, who opposes the embargo, has vocalised “the point of view of the great

“Many farmers and businesses in the US support the further easing of economic sanctions” 22 Focus Winter 2003

silent majority in both countries who want better relations”. More and more the embargo appears to have little function but to appease a vindictive CubanAmerican lobby.

US Policy towards China For the last several decades, US policy towards the People’s Republic of China has consistently subordinated human rights concerns to geopolitical or economic interests. China’s human rights record has deteriorated significantly over the last few years.

US policy initiatives to promote human rights in China have not matched the intensity of the pro-human rights rhetoric emanating from both Democratic and Republican candidates in the last US presidential election. Under its Foreign Assistance Act, the US government is required to advance international human rights through its voting power in the international financial institutions. China is the World Bank’s biggest client. However, the US and its allies have failed to ensure that World Bank loans are conditional upon a country’s respect for human rights norms.

Focus Sanctions “US policy initiatives… have not matched the intensity of the pro-human rights rhetoric…

include recommendations for executive or legislative action. Hopefully, this body will offer the US the opportunity to work constructively with China on human rights concerns.

in the last US presidential election

But what about Cuba?

China is envisioning a 21st century in which the People’s Republic becomes ever stronger through economic globalisation and interdependence. Global politics in the next half century is likely to be dominated by the relationship between the US and China. The largest remaining communist state is the only nation capable of challenging US economic preeminence. The most populous country on earth presents a temptingly vast market for US products.

The UN General Assembly continues resoundingly to criticise the United States for maintaining sanctions on Cuba and urges Washington to lift them as soon as possible. Hopefully these pleas to the Bush administration are not falling on deaf ears. The US restrictions have failed to end Castro’s hold on power while making life harder for ordinary Cubans. Dialogue between the two countries is needed.

Each year the Congressional Executive Commission on the People’s Republic of China, founded in 2000, must report to the President and Congress on China’s compliance with international human rights law and

Mary Downes is a freelance journalist and is a member of the Focus editorial collective.

Winter 2003 Focus 23

Focus

THE SOUTHERN AFRICA FOOD CRISIS The policy maker’s ambivalence to the small farmer contributes to the problem, argues Sibo Banda.

T

he Southern Africa region is currently gripped in a food security crisis that threatens the lives of millions of its poor people. Yes, it is true that climatic conditions in the region have in recent years been erratic. However, anti-poor domestic and international policy decisions must, equally if not more, also shoulder the responsibility for the current famine in the region.

The small farmer’s dilemma Although agriculture remains the mainstay of the region’s economies the sector is struggling to prove to the domestic and international policy makers that it is still relevant to the development agenda of the region.

Unfettered trade has recently become ‘the big idea’ and the fear of being left behind has dragged the developing state along what are clearly uncharted waters.

Frequently development experts are compelled to produce statistics and case studies in order to prove the truth of what is already widely accepted - agriculture is still relevant as it was thirty years ago! The British Department for International Development’s (DFID) consultation paper entitled Better Livelihoods for Poor People: The Role of Agriculture, is a manifestation of this trend. A new role is proposed for DFID aimed at ‘ realising rights through creating opportunities for the poor…[and] to ensure that agricultural development takes place and small scale farmers…participate fully in it.’

This ‘discovery’ of the importance of the small holder farmer in agriculture is not new. About half a century ago it was widely accepted that the small holder farmer is strategically important if food security is to be achieved. Colonial rule introduced the notion of the ‘progressive indigenous farmer’ as purveyor of food in tandem with the expatriate large holding producer. The ‘progressive farmer’ and the dual large

This ‘discovery’ of the importance of the small holder farmer in agriculture is not new.

24 Focus Winter 2003

holder/smallholder sectors in agriculture have been carried over to the post-independence era. However food production has not experienced dramatic changes on the scale of Asia’s green revolution. The small holder farmer has frequently been made a scapegoat for this failure.

Food sufficiency versus export earnings On the contrary, domestic policy decisions bear some responsibility. Agricultural policy has been quick to respond to the needs of the export market at the expense of local food production. Furthermore policy responses to the needs of the large holder have been frequently made at the expense of the small holder farmer. For example the small farmer’s markets have been restricted and restrictions were also imposed on the type of crop grown.

Is access to land enough?

The region is also plagued by inequitable distribution of natural resources and land is one of them. Inequity in land applies to both the quantity and quality of land.

The region’s population is still on the increase. The agriculture sector is still the single most important provider of livelihoods. However many people have to be content as employed workers in a sector where wages are not sufficient to meet a person’s most basic needs.

In this context land access is a topical issue. Previous land reform measures in some of the countries have proven ineffective or were never completed. Currently land reform programmes have been initiated in almost every country of the region. The case for land reform is not in doubt. However an issue of strategic importance if food security is to be achieved is the need to develop a sustainable framework of support for the small farm food producers. This element has been missing since the ‘discovery’ of the small farmer. On this score, the actions of the governments of the region have not matched the enthusiasm revealed in their earlier rhetoric.

Focus Sanctions

The small holder farmer is strategically important if food security is to be achieved.

Policy on farm and food subsidies – the hypocrisy Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs), as mechanisms for improving the food security of the region, have not fared any better. A view from the inside on the impact of the SAPs, given by Joseph E. Stiglitz in his Globalisation and its Discontents, in fact vindicates what others have already voiced. At a time when the small food producers needed all the help they could get, SAPs ‘advised a voluntary’ withdrawal of the little help that was already there. Consequently funds for land reform are definitely off limits. Farm and food subsidies have been identified as inimical to ‘development’. Propoor institutions have been dismantled because they introduce ‘imperfections’ in the service markets. This ‘economic fundamentalism’ is misplaced, ideologically motivated and has little efficacy in the specific circumstances of the region. Furthermore, the so-called advice reveals the institutional hypocrisy of international financial institutions and their

photo: Zimbabwe. Vivant Univers

shareholders. It contradicts what is actually happening in agriculture in the developed world.

The way forward Domestic policy makers in Southern Africa and their international counterparts must be honest enough to own up to the fact that the Southern Africa food crisis is also a direct consequence of their ‘expertise’. The small farmer is the last person to point a finger at.

Biog?

Winter 2003 Focus 25

Focus Development Issues

Arthuro Escobar: Theories of Development Arturo Escobar is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina and author of Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third Worldi. Following his visit to Ireland as a guest of the Comhlámh Aid Issues Group in July 2002, Eilish Dillon examines his theories of development.

Development and Alternative Developments?

While in Dublin, Arturo Escobar attended a seminar held by the Equality Authority at which he was asked to address the question: “What is Development About?”

Associated with a radical critique of development, Escobar’s ideas are particularly challenging, especially to practitioners who are trying to reform development.

He has argued that Western developed countries have systematically “been able to…control, and in many ways, even to create the Third World politically, economically, sociologically and culturally.” This stands in contrast to the commonly held view that the Third World is ‘better off’ through development.

Many people share at least some of his criticisms of the effects of colonialism and of neo-liberalism on the Third World. However for some of his critics, including Andy Storey who was also present at the seminar, Arturo Escobar presents too homogeneous a view of development. Storey suggests that we need to ask if there are alternative conceptions of development that are not about domination.

Beyond Alternative Development Central to this debate has been the question of ‘what is development about?’ Should development be reformed or transformed? Is it possible to imagine a future where development ceases to be the central organising principle of social life? He argued that development is tied up with modernisation “as the most powerful global designs to arise out of the local history of the West in the post-World War II period”.

For him, alternative ways of thinking about development are not enough because they remain within the language and “conceptual universe of modernity” (associated for Arturo Escobar with, among other things, the economisation and technification of 26 Focus Spring/Summer 2002

the world). Concerns were raised about his points in this regard by participants at the seminar who asked how it is possible to deal with development ‘realities’ while challenging mainstream development constructions. Some argued the importance of combining questions about the meaning of development with considerations of how to deal with poverty and human rights abuses around the world.

New Social Movements and ‘Border Thinking’ At a public meeting in Wynne’s Hotel, Escobar shared a platform with Deirdre De Burca and addressed the question “Can the New Social Movements Influence Globalisation?” In his recent work, Arturo Escobar has put his hope for re-imagining the future not in alternative development, but in new social movements and ‘border thinking’. This ‘border thinking’ is important he argues, because it is “another thinking from the perspective of the colonised”. He believes that we need to think in terms of “another logic of organising the world”.

This raises some challenges for development practitioners and activists involved in ‘anti-capitalist’ and solidarity movements. Do new social movements really offer hope in this regard? Storey reminded us that we can’t assume that new social movements are all guaranteed to be inclusive or that they occupy a space outside the hegemonic control of development. However Escobar’s point was taken up by Deirdre De Burca, who argued that “the greatest contribution that new social movements can make to the transformation of the current global order is to make use of their imaginations….The assumptions we have inherited about progress, advancement, civilisation, scientific expertise, the market, competition and efficiency, all inhibit our abilities to really imagine how things might be different”.

Focus Development Issues ‘Another World is Possible’ Arturo Escobar’s conclusion is not one that offers easy answers. He argues that “social movements …must hold in tension three co-existing processes and political projects: alternative development, focused on food security, the satisfaction of needs and the well-being of the population; alternative modernities, building on the counter-tendencies effected on development interventions by local groups and toward the effective contestation of global designs; and alternatives to modernity, as a more radical and visionary project of redefining and reconstructing local and regional worlds from the perspective of practices of cultural, economic,

and ecological difference – according to a network logic and in contexts of power”.

His central point here is that it is not enough to try to do development better. Alternative development must be accompanied by more radical ways of constructing ‘globality’, i.e. relations in a global context, which are founded on diversity and equality. This is an argument against complacency. It is one that raises many difficult questions of what can often be taken for granted in relation to development. It is inspired by the political contention that another world is not only possible, it is also necessary.

Spring/Summer 2002 Focus 27