Hard Times: June 2008 Archives

Grover Norquist is one of a "Gang Of Five" that redefined conservative politics in the United States and gave rise to neo-conservatism. He articulated the agenda of the neo-cons with a now infamous yet simple quote :

"Cutting the government in half in one generation is both an ambitious and reasonable goal," Norquist stated in May 2000. "If we work hard we will accomplish this and more by 2025. Then the conservative movement can set a new goal. I have a recommendation: To cut government in half again by 2050"

The problem with this strategy is rather obvious and David Michaelson, one of my co-bloggers at culturekitchen, pointed it out : When you drown the government, you drown America with it.

Neo-conservatism has been about maximizing profits for the corporations that keep alive the military-industrial complex --a term, by the way, coined by the Republican former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It's about making government so impotent, so incapable of taking care of it's duties to its citizenry that it obligates it then to farm out large portions of those duties. In effect, what neo-cons have always wanted was to have the closest thing to privatizing the government so corporations could make money out of their incompetency.

So now we're faced with yet another massive flooding in the United States. One that is indeed of Hurricane Katrina proportions.

Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, Greg Marinovich, and ProjectExplorer journalist, Ilana Fayerman, discuss the lifestyle of being a conflict photographer. From issues of access to severe injuries sustained, Greg shares his insights on this most dangerous of professions.

Reducing the recent wave of violence in South Africa to a simple instance of xenophobia fails to get at the heart of the problem. Oftentimes the portrayal of the South African narrative in the West ignores the phenomenal achievement of a peaceful transition from totalitarian regime to democracy at the fin de siècle, and instead goes in for one rife with AIDS and violence. That template of the typical African basket case is well-worn but wide of the mark. And the recent violence between immigrant workers from around the continent hoping to make a better life for themselves and their economic competitors the native South Africans unfortunately plays into that narrative.

"Makwerekwere" is a highly derogatory word used by black South Africans to describe non-black South African migrants. These migrants are fleeing from places like South Africa's economically distressed neighbor, Zimbabwe, which had an astonishing inflation rate of 165,000 percent in February. Nigerian and Mozambican nationals have also been tagged with the contemptuous term. The writer Pius Adesanmi has written what he calls the Amakwerewere Syndrome, observing, "It reminds one of how the ancient Greeks referred to foreigners whose language they did not understand as the Barbaroi." This Us-versus-Them ideology comes from poverty, according to the acute social observer and comedian Chris Rock, whose South African comedy tour coincided with the attacks. From The Sowetan:

"The saddest thing about xenophobic violence is that it is a 'broke-on-broke crime,' US actor and comedian Chris Rock said yesterday.

"I don't believe in black-on-black violence because everybody robs and kills people...,' he said at a media briefing in Sandton, Johannesburg. 'It's not black-on-black but broke-on-broke when people rob each other.'"

Because these new immigrants often compete for jobs with the South African poor, the tensions can become acute. In 1997, for instance, local South African street traders clashed with foreign vendors. That was a classic episode of poor on poor violence fuelled by poverty. On the economic underpinnings of these tensions, Mandela Rhodes Scholar Boitumelo Magolego writes on the ThoughtLeader Blog:

"'I believe that pre-democracy, the black population by and large had a very similar and flat income profile (barring the few families which had shops, butcheries and medical practices); this homogeneity I believe played down issues of who had what, because by and large everyone was the same. Enter black diamonds and some families can now afford more than others. This I think creates subliminal pressure and frustration among those who are failing to access and reap the benefits of the country's liberalised economy. You may argue that this is not unique to South Africa; yes, nonetheless it is a contributing factor."

[image: AP/WorldWide Photo]

The timing of this presentation by Democracy Now! is just eerie. It was published on April 28th of this year. By May 12th the earthquake had hit near the very area Yung Chang filmed his documentary, "Up The Yangtze".

One of the unfolding stories about the earthquake catastrophe is that the Three Gorges Dam may well have been the reason why the earthquake happened.

Back in 2006 the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks announced a study being conducted by one of their researchers in Giant Chinese Dam May Cause Earth to Move. Astoundingly, the Chinese government had not done any catastrophe assessment of how the millions of cubic tons of water they were damming would induce earthquakes by putting pressure on the tectonic plates that lie right underneath the Yangtze river.

What's most astounding is that little over a year before completion, Chang says in the clip that the Chinese government finally acknowledged in September 2007 that if there were a major catastrophe in the region, they would have to relocate at least 2 million people. That is 2 million more people after the 2 million they relocated for the building of the dam.

Unfortunately, the emergency management estimates by Chinese officials were off by 10 million souls.

Survivors of the earthquake that has devastated China are in danger of succumbing to exposure.

Their #1 request are tents : They have had to evacuate or relocate over 1 million people in the Sichuan region and do not have enough housing or shelter for them. There are places where they are fitting 15 people to a tent.

So here's a list of places you can send your donations :

American Red Cross, China Earthquake Relief

Medecin Sans Frontiere Shelter is the overwhelming need
following the Sichuan earthquake. To donate, go here.

Google's Support Earthquake Relief In China, Donation Page

Oxfam America : China Earthquake Relief and Recovery Fund