Robin Hood or just innate knowledge of what is right!

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1123415520070411
If the US (Western world) have this trait for compassion after being taught that "man eat man" and "the strongest will survive" is the way society should be there is hope for us all!

There will be no prison which can hold our movement down. Huey Newton

I see the human race as a people being stabbed, poisoned, kicked, bitten and sodomised by a brutal machine which has no heart, no blood and no consciousness of thought. There are many good people in the world putting band-aids on the wounds of this people and performing resuscitation to maintain it's pulse. There are people which remain asleep, unaware of the damage, busy with something which obscures the realisation that they are feeding the machine.

I want to be one of the ones attacking the machine!

Those giving out the band-aids are seen as great kind-hearted people by the sleepers. Those attacking the machine are a noise which annoys the sleepers but rarely suffices to wake them.

Thoughts and Actions!

Friends,

Time for some conclusions and a statement of intent.

My trip has a little less than 3 weeks remaining. I have been to 21 countries in Europe and Latin America with only Chile remaining. I left home looking for a clearer path and a better understanding of the world I live in. I wanted to speak another language and know another life. For the most part I feel that I have achieved these goals, some thoughts of which I have shared with my mailing list and those who've been to my blog ( http://www.searchingforchange.blogspot.com/). With so little time remaining and almost a year passed I do feel like I have gained a lot from my trip.

I left a confused man with a fire smouldering inside me about something I couldn't put into words. I didn't share my thoughts about with many people but now I´m ready to return. I have learnt to share these thoughts and with them in the open air they have been able to transform into a fire. For what do I burn?

I want a better world.
That´s clear and a thought that I´m sure everybody has at some time in there life whether it's: as a child learning that there are children starving in Africa in a world with an overproduction of food; as a teen unhappy with the prospect of becoming a slave to a wage and a mortgage; as a college student seeing people young and old dying in war all over the world for a needless greed or a tyrannical leader; or as an old man on a park bench wondering why a life's work hasn't left him with enough to live on cursing the corruption of politics and the history they have lived to see repeated. I want a better world.

So what does it mean?
Everybody knows that governments have the power and young people are idealists who will sooner or later fall to the system and into silence. So I guess that leaves me with some weeks, months or years of idealism before I´m muzzled by my own quest for a house and car.. ..

What am I complaining about?


This child was a victim of the 2003 bombing in Iraq.

1. War (Blanket bombing as a war tactic) - The cost of war is increasingly paid by citizens innocent of whatever crimes there government may have invoked war (in Iraq its 80% civilian deaths, Vietnam was more than 50%, WW1 was 20%). The threat of more war the means used and nuclear proliferation are all a call to action!


2. Misinformation by media and use of propaganda to manufacture consent (more people have been in the street to protest the Iraq war in the US than went to the streets against Vietnam but still the media debates fringe arguments neither of which condemn an illegal war.)

3. "Democracy" - It´s the catchphrase of the US government used to justify war and sabotage of every movement which threatens the western model of capitalism. Strong words such as "fascist" and "dictatorship" have been used sometimes with and sometimes without justification to describe the governments of all that opposed modern day capitalism, in Russia, Vietnam, Latin America and other third world nations. In the rich world this prized word disgraces us all if the world that we are running is democratic. We cannot separate ourselves from our government if we believe that we live in democracy. If we don´t live in democracy what do we live in? If we want democracy what are we doing about it?


Democracy is really the issue . .
*If we have a democracy in Australia what kind of people are we going to war with Iraq killing more than a million of their citizens.
*Why are we opting out of the Kyoto protocol which would have allowed us to continue as the most polluting country per capita?!
*Why do we have a sub-population of Australian's, who have been persecuted in a way that should be condemned all over the world and is by those who know about it, continuing with a life expectancy of 20 years less than their non-indigenous country men.
*If we are so free what are we doing with this freedom
*How can we even debate about whether the wars waged are just or not when none of us live through this in our own country?

Throughout my trip I have had people telling me that people are bad. There are bad people everywhere that I need to be scared of robbing me stabbing me or kidnapping me. I acknowledge this is a possibility but where does the blame for this lie? To me it's clear that desperate people do desperate things. I would steal if I was hungry without food. I would probably steal if I grew up in a broken home in a bad neighbourhood and I wanted drugs or a new phone or a gold chain! I believe that it is the social environment that we live in that creates these "bad people. "


The German citizens supported the Nazi's just as the US government had majority support from its citizens in polls at the beginning of its wars in Vietnam and Iraq. (Not all US citizens can see that there government has been willing to go to any length to maintain its economic status but when you learn about them testing chemical weapons on their own citizens and soldiers its not hard to see how they could torture in Guantanamo or train in the art of torture at the School of the Americas.) Does this mean that people in the US or Nazi Germany are bad people? I don´t believe it is so. I think these people were born or educated into a way of thinking which allowed there governments to carry out acts which they themselves would describe as inhumane in a different time or from a different point of view!

What I´m getting at here is where I get my hope from. I think that people have innate traits of compassion, empathy and solidarity. This can be seen in all groups of people who identify with each other whether it be a team, rural community or family. I believe in the human ability to survive through terrible events to achieve great things. I believe in the human ability to create and innovate and one day that this will be for the good of man rather than for the dollar. (Even medical research is made obscured by the inability for us deliver drinkable water and food to all the people of the world or affordable AIDS drugs to the parts of the world most effected). All the barriers that we have to a peaceful livable world such as nuclear proliferation and capitalist materialist consumer driven pollution can be overcome.

The root of the problem?
I see a world where most government driven conflict and suffering comes from economic roots whether for mineral or oil rich lands or to maintain a global the global system of exploitation known as the global free market economy. I see a world were most local crime is driven by bad social circumstances and lack of education. People are scrambling to survive and feed real and imaginary needs by any means.

Conclusions?
I believe we need a global system of co-operation not competition. As demonstrated by the European union, where countries are economically working together war becomes unthinkable. (The probability of a French - German war while the EU exists in zero! Nobody thought that was possible 100 years ago). We need a new system of mutual interest internationally to work the same way that the nation-state has ended intra-country regional wars in the developed world.

Locally we need money for education, we need children to be supported by parents, we need sick people to be able to see doctors. When we end the fear of hunger and sleeping on the streets crime will fall! When we concede that drug addicts are citizens that need help not jail crime rates will fall! When we stop teaching about bad people, just wars and that killing is cool, crime rates will fall!


Why don´t we have the environmental reforms and peace agreements that all citizens fundamentally want ?(Air, food and water that won´t poison them and security they are not going to be shot or blow-up.)
I think the best explanations I have come across are from "The Corporation" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pin8fbdGV9Y http://www.thecorporation.com/) which explains the why and Noam Chomsky´s "Understanding Power" ( www.amazon.com/Understanding-Power-Indispensable-Chomsky-Noam/dp/1565847032) which explains everything! If I was to put it in 2 sentences. Business goals have come to influence media and government in such a way the both people and government are acting in ways which don't represent their purpose. People are educated that they must live in a way that meets the needs of business and governments are not representing what their populations really want because they need financial backing and media support to retain power. Nowhere is this more clear than the US who´s reforms are spreading across the developed world causing a scramble for third world lands and labour to exploit to stay ahead in the competition of economy. The drive for lower prices is the same thing that drives worse working conditions, worse pay, fewer environmental controls, lower corporate taxes, higher personal taxes, less money for welfare etc. The means the US has been willing to go to in order to enforce this system is best explained by Bill Blum´s, Rogue State - A guide to the world's only superpower.


What can I do?
1. Become more informed through formal and informal study.
2. Join organisations (such as Standup.org.au , Greenpeace and whichever others fit with that I'm thinking)
3. Try to meet other people that think about things like I do that are involved in actions that meet with the change I want to see
4. Encourage people to take their own journey to be more informed about the wold
5. Encourage people who are not content with the world they live in to take actions to help a transition toward the world they would like to live in.
6. Continue to look for ways to take action


So when I get home this is what I will be dedicating myself to. What I´m hoping for by sending this email is for a small part to tell people what I´m doing but for a much bigger part a call for support. I would love to hear not only about which ideas you support and disagree with but about where you see the future, what advice you have for me, what you are doing . . .

This is a call please give me something!

With love,
Keegan Smith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c4Cc09aETU








(Me with Fernando my crack addict friend in Colombia http://searchingforchange.blogspot.com/2007/01/fernando-can-you-hear-him.html.)
We need to end the war on drugs. It´s killing people all over the world for the secret economy that has grown every year without impediment. It turns our brothers and friends into criminals for something which hasn't harmed anyone but themselves. It puts addicts on the streets, on the edge of society making them a danger to themselves with unsafe practices and to the rest of society with their need to get money without a job to feed their chemical needs.


I hate to say it but "I told you so" - George Orwell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYRx_GmFIwI&mode=related&search=

Che

Well I'm finally in Argentina. The place where "Che" means "mate". It´s also how Ernesto "Che" Guevara got his nickname when he was organising with Fidel Castro to invade Cuba. I spent a bit of time reading today some of Che´s writings from http://www.che-lives.com/home/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=2 If you take a glance its very intense stuff. I have read about him before in Biographies and 2 of his diaries but even still this took my thoughts about him to a new place. It´s obvious that he was a very intelligent and had a vivid image of what he wanted to be a part of. He demanded amazing discipline from himself and all those around him both in the time of revolutionary struggle and as a government official. He was known for working through the night into daylight regularly. I admire the self-discipline and dedication that he had for what he believed in.

In this letter he explains why the socialist citizen has more liberty than a citizen under a capitalist regime. He describes the ideal of listening to the demands of the people and making all decisions with them in mind which will in turn be endorsed by the people and carried out with enthusiasm. This is the way that he came to think after travelling through Latin-America and seeing the suffering and repression at the hands of imperialist backed regimes. (Motorcycle diaries and before he was involved with Fidel in Mexico). If you have seen "motorcycle diaries" or read the book it is clear that he experienced a big change both during that trip and in the time between then and his writings in Cuba. My point is that everyone is in a different stage of awareness about the world and many will never cross paths. This is something I have thought about before when dreaming about a united world. The education and experiences that separate people that Che also talks about as a key to uniting them. The influence of there fellow citizens in encouraging consciousness and understanding of political life.

My conclusion is that even Che himself probably would not have fit within his ideas for the "new man" before his trip in Latin America and that people cannot be forced into thinking about the world much less to come to the same conclusions.

I see him as an example of what man is capable for his qualities of passion and belief in human capabilities. I also know that he executed a traitor that nobody wanted to execute then described the entry and exit wounds of the bullet and recounted that he slept very well that night with no trouble from his famous respiratory ailments

Bolivian ?

What does it mean to be Bolivian? From a tourists point of view there are the dramatic mountainous landscapes scaling over 7000 m, the traditional music with windpipes and symbols, the costumes brought out for special occasions which can be worth over $20 000 US with the amount of gold they contain and the dances that accompany them. There are the strange looking religious symbols from before the Spanish brought Jesus to them, the stories or if you're lucky the live viewing of Llama sacrifice and the intriguing coca leaf sold by the little old lady hand made clothes on the corner.

Looking a little deeper from some conversations and little reading it seems that the 80% of Bolivia's with pure indigenous blood have been subjected to heavy political and social discrimination for 500 years. Right up until the current president Evo Morales the first indigenous president since colonisation it was normal for indigenous people to change there clothes to enter the city to be served in stores and avoid racism. Parents told there children that "I don't want you to suffer like me, you have to abandon our language and customs and have a European education" to have a chance of a life without discrimination. People were told to go elsewhere to make there purchases for speaking there native tongue to people who they knew understood the language but had turned there back on it. A little further back speaking of a god other than a Christian one carried the death penalty.

Colonisation has been a tough process from the early 1500's up until 7 months ago was ploughing ahead regardless of the human cost. The election of an indigenous leader for the first time has struck fear in the hearts of those perpetuating the image that to be indigenous is a bad thing all the way to the White House who have called Morales everything from a drug barren to a dictator. Despite this many people see hope with his efforts to bring indigenous languages and customs into formal education and to make economic reforms to end servitude of the people and lands of Bolivia. They have made efforts to nationalise resource industries the most important of which is their natural gas which is one of the biggest reserves in the region. They also have valualble minerals and petrol which have been extracted since the land was called Alto Peru with minimal benifit to the people. The most obvious example is the former richest and most populated city in the world Potosi which is a poor city with little infrastrucure to show for its boom.

Morales wants to give dignity to his people and help them to be proud of who they are and where their customs come from. This has led to a call for independence from the region of Santa Cruz where the population claims to be more European than Bolivian and oppose the constitutional changes proposed by Morales.

The integration of Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba and Ecuador in a new body called ALBA (Alternativea Boliviarna for Latin America) as well as the revitalising of Mercasaur and other regional economic and social networks. The creation of Banco del Sur, an alternative source to the World Bank for aid funding is another worrying sign for Washington's control over the region which they has been maintained politically through various clandestine operations and economically through tied aid deals and corrupt business dealings. Perhaps even more threatening is the shift in thinking towards a socialist society away from the dreams of free market capitalist competition. People all across the region have lost faith in its ability to improve there lives after many years of painful reforms which brought a flood of foreign companies and a jump in prices with no benifits to the average worker.

Morales is a key figure in this shift speaking a little more quietly about the flaws of Bush and his men than his roudy Venezuelan friend but with no less determination to change his coutries future and restore pride in what it is to be Bolivian.

Buried dead or alive!

Today I visited the mines of Potosi. It's a well known tourist attraction which over the years as more people make there way to Bolivia becomes more organised and somewhat sterile. That said I don't think what I did today would be permitted in too many places in the world. Scaling ladders and ducking through a maze of 1.5m tunnels over 5 different levels. My tour-guide a miner from the age of 12, a 3rd generation miner brought this inanimate mountain to life.

A little history: the silver was discovered in the 1540's by an indigenous guy who was meant to report his findings back to the Spanish conquistadors who were spreading there ways and taking what they could from there newly found treasure trove (Latin America). It was a secret for 2 years before falling out with a friend who went and told the Spanish. They immediately put the indigenous people to work along with African slaves brought specially to work. The conditions described were 24-36 hour shifts. Many workers didn't last 6 months in the conditions of high altitude, heavy labour, new diseases and terrible living conditions away from the mine. It is estimated that there were 200 000 people living in Potosi in the 17th century making it the biggest city in the world ahead of modern-day monsters London and Madrid. (Funnily enough the population here has remained at around the same number.)

In modern times the history involves a worker revolt in 1952 against private owners which was a blood bath. There are reports of the army tying workers together and using the same dynamite used to liberate the Silver and Zinc of the mountain to end the lives of those calling for better pay and better conditions. The blood shed did bring about the changes that the workers called for, the mine was nationalised and workers started to have the benefits of a regular wage, life insurance (10 years was the average working period in these times before death or illness forced a change) and health insurance. This lasted until 1985 when a crash in silver prices lead to a crises in the mine. The result was a new structure of co-operatives. The idea was that whatever could be gained would be shared but unfortunately this didn't come true resulting in the current situation.

Workers today in the mine are allotted a part of the mine to work in by there co-operative owner. The owner may have up to 20 different areas each of which will be delegated to a "second-hand" the second hand is the one that works! The second hand then has the obligation of bringing 8 tonnes of raw material to the surface to be processed each week. They may decide to bring assistants on board with them, usually 2 to 4, which will bring the expected yield up by 8 tonnes per person. Each tonne on average contains 50grams of silver which at market price now (which is up currently) is worth $18. This works out to around $560 per month per 8 tonnes (or per worker) if all goes to plan. The helpers who are the hardest workers with least experience can expect to gain around $80, the second hand $240 and the owner of the co-operative $240. When you multiply that out the second hand gets around $800 (with 2 other workers) and the owner makes $800 from this section, if they have 20 areas they make $16 000. I met some of the owners at the top drinking beer hanging around to make sure the workers are working hard!

The difference in wage is massive. The workers are likely to suffer all sorts of injuries and illness for $80 while the owners rest for $16 000. If the miners are unlucky and don't find any silver for a week they get nothing! 5 and a half days a week doing 10 hour days which sometimes doesn't pay! Needless to say there is a lot of animosity between the workers and owners. Some bosses pay a little if they don't come out with any silver others call there workers lazy.

There are no engineers to tell them what they can blow up and can't which resulted in a collapse last week and is apparently common in the wet season. Those who have been working in the mine the longest are those considered educated to make the big decisions. To add to this workers have to pay for all there own equipment including dynamite, helmets, lights, tools, coca, cigarettes and alcohol. Part of the deal with the tour is to pay a little to the tour guide and bring with you some coca leaves, alcohol and cigarettes for the workers and to bless there gods. Ancient tradition is still a big part of the underground culture where Quechua is the most spoken language (in contrast to the Castillano, a dialect from Spain which is spoken in the city of Potosi) and gifts of the above substances and annually a sacrifice of Llama blood are given to appease their gods. They pray to this god for luck finding there fortune in the mountain and to the Christian god for health and more spiritual rewards. This is a shift that has come over time.

For the workers here they are stuck. Most started working here in there early teens and don't know anything else. They are a part of the culture and they dream only of progressing up the chain to a second-hand or owner in the time they have in the mine. They pray every day to the land and their gods that it won't be there last. For my guide Willie he got out of the mine after his father and grandfather fell victims to lung cancer caused by the silicon and arsenic in the air in the mine the most common way to die slowly in the mine. He has learnt English and started the company that I visited through and he plans for his children to study for a different life which seems to be the best thing the miners can hope for. Most of this generation of 18 000 workers already trapped in the mine.

In the next part I will explain some of the discrimination of the past and a more general picture of Bolivia as well as the role of coca in Latin America..

Chavista?

"Are you a Chavista" is something I have been asked a few times in the last few days. It means "Are you in support of Chavez?" There are people in the street with his red shirts saying things like, "10 million votes against imperialism." If you are wearing a red shirt or a red hat it's a symbol of supporting Chavez here. This is the way that the people speak and represent their political persuasions in Venezuela. Everybody knows if there friends and family are with him or against him and some even have parted ways because of it. To answer this question I really need to think about how far along an ideological path I am.

I have been thinking about politics a lot for the last year or two and have always had thoughts about the way things are but they have never really been any kind of subscription, never as part of a group. I have got to a point of being quite sure about our destructive path and lack of world leadership. I believe in change but the question is down what path. To me Chavez represents hope for a region destroyed economically by IMF and World Bank policies and politically by foreign interventions against democratically elected governments and other meddling mostly by the US since the second world war under the Munroe Doctrine. When people hear this they think I´m a fanatic in supporting him but really I just think that he gives a hope for economic independence from the US by forming alliances and perhaps even a monetary fund outside their (direct) influence. Does this mean that I love Chavez?

I think to get out from under the US's economic pressures is a good thing. In that I support Chavez and I hope that the links he is creating with the other governments of the region, such as to exchange oil for doctors and other professionals with Cuba, are fruitful for all parties involved. The examples of open markets versus protected markets, South East Asia vs Latin America suggest that greater protectionism is needed from free market pressures enforced for funding by the world bank and in the free trade agreements that the US is in the process of negotiating or has just completed with the majority of countries in Latin America. Chavez speaks out against these agreements as history shows for Mexico it was a disaster and other markets that were "opened" after the fall of the Communist block also saw very hard times. In Russia poverty rose from 2% to over 20% coming out of their oppressive communist regime. I agree with this stance.

He quoted Noam Chomsky´s book "Hegemony or Survival" and called Bush the devil. I agree with this in some ways. The world does need to speak out against tyrant leaders of which Bush is surely one and Noam Chomsky is someone that everyone who cares to know about the world should read. These actions however really pushed away those not in support of him even further by being so extreme and outspoken. He does say what he wants and speaks out about many things on a daily basis here in Venezuela. So maybe I do love Chavez?

The next thing is to look at spending. He talks about helping the poor by getting them cheaper food, more access to cheap housing, free education, free health care and employment. It seems from most statistics that I have seen and people I have spoken to that he is making some changes in all these departments. The main criticisms in this area are that by providing for people he is taking away the incentive to work and that he really needs to invest in big business and the rest will follow. I'm definitely with Chavez on this one, people should be provided with these basic rights as a first priority and that is the function of government to strive to provide them to the highest level through economy. The argument of a disincentive to work doesn't come true when you look at the welfare states of Europe who provide much more for free (at least for now) than Chavez can.

Military spending? I don't know the numbers but he is definitely growing his army with a target of 1 million soldiers and using free education plus pay as an incentive to join. He is also acquiring weapons mostly from Russia (most of the world are buying them from Israel and the US - big business). I don't agree with military on the whole but with the coup against him in 2002 and the US history of military interventions against governments that oppose there economic or ideological goals he could make a case that it's necessary. I really don't like this reality.

Advertising and propaganda! Chavez and slogans supporting his government are on every wall in the city. You can see slogans about capitalism and about freeing Palestine paid for by government funds. In someways it's a good thing to get people thinking about things like Palestine but Chavez is really investing a lot of money to get his face and words everywhere he can. In the current war of publicity he faces against the world media telling his people everything he is doing is bad he does need to try to keep people loyal but I think if I lived here it would bother me seeing him so much.

So I guess from all that I have said it looks like I will be putting his poster up on my wall! In fact though what this has all really taught me is that politics shouldn't be about making heroes or demons from politicians. This goes for "the devil - Mr Danger - Bush" and Jugo Chavez they should both by individual policies and the merit of each rather than the ideology they represent. What actions their governments take should each be judged on there merits rather than creating cults of blind support or hate. Another thought I have had to go along with this is that individual policies and changes are really what a government is about.

It seems obvious that each policy is important to what legacy a government will leave but really if that is what government is about how does our democracy function. We don't have any say in policy making! We can say something every 3-7 years depending on which democracy we are a part of but in between there is little that can be done about how your country is running. Many big decisions such as going to war or privatizations are made without public consensus. This is not what the Athenian's intended for the democratic system as far as I know. They had a meeting of all men who would be required to fight a war where they would all be allowed to make statements for or against and about how the war would be carried out. Of course there were some popular voices who swayed opinion but the did require a consensus and allow input. We don't have that! In Switzerland they have referendums on big decisions every few months which requires people to take more of an interest in the decisions that there government although some seem to abuse this privilege by just towing the media line according to my friend from there.

What does this all mean about Chavez and Bush and Howard (Australian Prime Minister). It means that loving or hating your leader really isn't what politics is about. It's about making decisions to make the life better for the people that live in area being governed. I also think that we need to make a move away from governments with immunity to make big decisions about war and economy, which will affect many people both in the country they are made and abroad, to a system where what people want is reflected in policy.

From my travels I see that people want Peace, Environmental reform (people with more education value this more than those without generally) and welfare (food, housing, health, education etc.) The direction of neo-liberal regimes is away from all these goals according to all evidence in privatisation and war! Democracy ?!

So for now I'm with the ideas of Chavez but really I don't love him more than I hate Bush. I think they would both be good to have a beer with if there was no politics involved. Policies not personalities, participation not isolation from decision making.