Poem: De La Mano

You are a million miles away brother.
Why should I bother?
We do not share blood brother.
Why do I care?
I arrive, uncertain.
You offer me your bowl of colour,
that I’ve never tasted before…
sounds of drums that reminisce with me,
from the very first beat.
At first sight we may be perfect strangers.
So why?
Because your tears are clear like mine…
your fears are real and make-believe like mine.
Our mothers gave us the same side-ways glare
when we got too close to the rebel’s edge.
And so I will step over the ocean,
we’ll sit around our steaming cups and conspire to inspire…
chat for hours, speechlessly.
Brother, Sister,
I thought you needed a helping hand,
but you led ME to safety and sanity…
and away from the aimless thoughtless version of myself.
Gracias hermano.

Poem: Optimism

-image by Oswaldo Guayasamin

Seeing is receiving.
So take your gentle eyes and open them up to our upside-down world.
The pain pierces; your eyes shut then open again, tugged by Love.
How easy it would be to look away, and walk away;
but stubbornness and passion are long lost brothers
who reunite in the breath, voice, and angry trembling hands
of those who dare to see.
Maintain your solid gaze,
because eventually one sees that the insanity machine has been tampered with
by millions of weathered fingers…
and its pieces will soon be scattered and rusting
under tears of joy.

ESSAY: 'SUSTAINABLE' GROWTH

Lessons from the Past:
Sustainable Growth in the 21st century

Ricardo Segovia

All too often economic development is equated with human development. One of the possible means has usurped the end. We hear the metaphor of the rising tide floating all boats, while those who cannot afford the boats drown in the polluted waters of globalized capitalism. The type of economic development that is encouraged in this system is usually in direct competition with the land, water, and air that every living thing depends on. This stems from the irrational goal of never ending growth of consumption within a finite space. In this impossible equation it becomes necessary for the global citizen to regain possession of the words 'development' and 'sustainability' and re-define these with nature in mind. Indigenous societies that have sustained themselves by sustaining the environment now exist on the margins of the global economic system. However there are efforts underway to work within the system in order to reconcile economy and environment. Technology plays a significant but secondary role in this new economy and cannot simply act as a tool to accelerate consumption. The lasting solutions are internal. They consist of taking the attitudes of the Haida of British Columbia or the Mapuche of South America and applying them to our industrialized world.

QUESTIONING GROWTH

Monetary growth is a carefully constructed idea that has replaced any significant indicators of the health of our societies. This type of growth benefits those at the top of the financial pyramid who see their assets directly connected to this growth. As Naomi Klein describes in "The Shock Doctrine", many destructive events such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters can cause the economy to grow, which is little consolation for the families whose lives have been destroyed. This growth is fed by ever increasing consumption of resources and results in a contraction of the ecosystem. Growth, whether monetary or industrial, is a simplistic and shallow end goal. This kind of growth will inevitably have to reach its limit. For those in the Majority World, the growth of the north has always meant paying a high price in labour, resources, and pollution. Now, we may have already reached the point where, even in the north, the growth of the economy actually decreases our quality of life because of the toxic surroundings it creates.

TECHNOLOGY'S TROJAN HORSE

The belief that technology will be the magic bullet to solve our problems is pervasive, especially among my peers and professors of engineering. We already have all the technology we need but not the willingness to implement it within this exclusive economic system. The technologies that are free to flourish, such as Biofuels, Hybrids, and Genetic Engineering, are usually those that accelerate our ability to consume and extend the life of an unjust system.

Biofuels and nuclear power allow the continuation of our destructive lifestyle by creating an excess of energy beyond fossil fuels. Biofuels are also an example of the re-branding of destructive consumption. The name conjures up images of green fields and clean skies. In reality, the production of these fuels competes with food production, displaces populations, and provides a free ticket to pollute by creating 'carbon credits' for other industrial production. Hybrid vehicles help cleans our conscience(or carbon guilt) without affecting our individualistic approach to transportation. Looking at the production, lifetime, and disposal of all the materials used in these vehicles reveals the true cost to the environment.

Genetic engineering is less about saving starving people than it is about power. The patents on genetically modified seed give unprecedented control of food production to trans-national corporations. Even when the technology seems beneficial, such as vitamin enriched vegetables, access remains limited and expensive to those that need it most. In many cases, varied local production is replaced by monocultures that the locals refer to as "green deserts". Technology has its place in sustainable development, but can be destructive when used to defuse the urgency of necessary change or to sustain existing power structures.

LIVING EXAMPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY

"Oh, Great Spirit, who's voice I hear in the wind… Make my hands respect the things you have made… I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy, Myself." (Lakota Prayer)

This prayer reflects an attitude that is common among indigenous groups all over the world. It is an approach with deep reverence for nature like that of the Iroquois who look seven generations ahead when considering natural resources. Human beings are placed within nature rather then being in competition with nature. At the same time it is important not to place the Lakota, Mapuche, and Iroquois in some exotic framework of mystic rituals that is separate from our industrialized reality. Their societies must be seen as products of their dependence on nature for thousands of years; an evolution of values based on lasting survival which can be applied to any society. A striking characteristic of indigenous societies is that growth is never mentioned. Something so indispensable in western culture doesn't even exist in cultures that have sustained themselves for so long. The emphasis is on finding an existence in equilibrium with nature, not endless expansion.

NEW VERSIONS OF OLD VISIONS

As much as I would enjoy a simple life in harmony with the land, it is not realistic to expect the world to follow this example. We do not need to imitate the lifestyle of the rural Basotho people or tribes of the Amazon in order to sustain the environment. Instead, we need to take their philosophy towards the environment and apply it to any culture, industrialized or not.

On this interconnected planet the practices of destructive consumption are creeping into previously sustainable societies. The lure of cell phones and vehicles is understandable. Unindustrialized societies cannot be expected to resist these technologies for the good of the planet when Europe and North America had the luxury of developing in this comfort in the 20th century. The solution is to help these societies industrialize in a sustainable way and to take inspiration from indigenous practice. This approach was introduced during the climate talks in Copenhagen. According to Angelica Navarro, Bolivia's climate negotiator, rich nations are responsible for the vast majority of pollution and they should pay a 'climate debt' to those countries that want to develop sustainably. This is where simple technology can play a role in providing clean energy in the form of solar, tidal, geothermal, and wind energy rather than using the same destructive methods as the north.

This seemingly new approach coming out of Bolivia originates in the Andean belief of Sumaq kawsay (Living well). This kind of development separates itself from economic growth and focuses instead of human growth, spiritual growth, and taking care of Mother Earth (New Internationalist, 2010). Bolivia is an example of how sustainable indigenous practice can fit into a 21st century context. By taking the knowledge and philosophy of those that have lived sustainably historically and introducing some simple technology, the Majority World can be an example of sustainable development. The wisdom of the past is speaking up, and the industrialized world needs to start listening.

Works Cited

New Internationalist. 2010. To Live…. NI 430, March 2010. UK.

POEM: CLAY

CLAY

The thing that made me sits under a roof of dry palms,
in a humidity that humbles,
surrounded by a scent of cinnamon coffee that comes to rest on its forearm,
like a daughter's hand.
Once satisfied, this creator, lost in translation but not truth,
passes on the tiny ball of clay
to the many moms and dads of Santa Tecla.
Tina and Me, our 2 foot tall frames led by the hand,
through the deafening music and mangos,
would sometimes see the blank faces of soldiers riding past.
But we were taught only to play.
Innocence in times of fire,
like eucalyptus masking the scent of burning palms,
allows the clay to expand without cracking,
allows it to find a brother in the red earth across the ocean.
The hands of those that love us,
all contribute their contrasting and complex visions,
so now the clay can flow like melted chocolate,
around the tall and jagged obstacles,
or be a warm solid stone,
for life's soldiers to rest their heads,
and reclaim their innocence.

ESSAY: POVERTY AND VIOLENCE

"Only if a society upholds the social rights of citizens can members of the society fully exercise their civil and political rights or be expected to act as virtuous and caring citizens."

Free to Be Good:
Human Rights and Civic Responsibility

Ricardo Segovia

Sitting on the cracked front steps of an old concrete house in San Salvador, El Salvador, I read the words above and can see all around me exactly what the author must have had in mind. A free citizen can vote, collect a pension, receive medical attention, access education and, from this position of freedom, participate in building a thriving community. The citizen that is not free cannot be held to the same standards. The denial of social rights by other segments of society or by the state creates a broken anti-social citizen that does not think of themselves as a citizen at all. They no longer value their own lives or the lives of those around them. The best example of a shattered citizen is the Salvadoran gang member. A product of their circumstances, they cannot be changed until the system that created them is changed.

CREATING A BROKEN CITIZEN

Born into the violence of the last days of the civil war, the gang members of today were taught violence while still in the womb. Being mostly from rural communities, their parents were surely exposed to attacks by the state and paramilitaries forces. When the bullets subsided the people were free, but these freedoms included the freedom to feel hunger, the freedom to be unemployed, and the freedom to die from a curable disease. In this environment of total denial of social rights, the broken citizen is born. They feel a complete lack of control of their own existence. In the search for empowerment they find the gangs of extortionists and drug dealers that have been deported from the U.S. The recruiters for the gangs focus their campaigns on the youngest kids in the neighborhood who, at times, learn the gang sign language before they learn to read. They tell the kids that nobody cares about them, that they are forgotten, and that the only friends they have on this earth are the gangs. Unfortunately, most of the time, they’re telling the truth.

STATE RESPONSE: "MANO DURA"

The gangs of El Salvador (MS and 18) are notoriously violent. The citizens are worked into a frenzy of fear by the daily news and their macabre coverage of the day’s murders. The frightened citizen believes the gangs are lurking in the shadows waiting to dismember them and looks to the state as their protector. Thus begins the policy of “Mano Dura”, roughly translated to “iron fist”, which looks to counter violence with violence. In these campaigns the police become judge, jury, and executioner. This policy actually increases the recruitment into gangs by providing proof that the state is at war with the kids from poor neighborhoods. The problem is made worse by the violent response, but the state stays its course because without the broken citizens they do not have the frightened citizen. The frightened citizen is one that does not ask any questions and does not demand a change to the anti-social self interested policies of the government. It is to the benefit of those in power to have as many frightened citizens as possible and so the violence continues.

ELECTIONS: DENYING POLITICAL RIGHTS

Elections in El Salvador resemble a TV season of American Idol but with fewer regulations. The status quo receives a hefty sum of money from the U.S and the ruling party colours (ironically red, white, and blue) cover every square inch of the country. Campaign ads feature images of the left wing opposition party leaders dressed up like Osama Bin Laden. The voter registry includes Honduran citizens who are brought across the border on buses and given fake documents and 20 dollars for their vote. Also registered are individuals (including one of my relatives) who are long dead. The citizen is denied access to a fair democracy. This causes further alienation and lessens the desire to participate as a political citizen. Those who crave change but know the game is rigged prefer to stay home rather than waste their time at the polling stations. This apathy is another benefit to those in power. In addition to the frightened citizen who votes for the savior and protector they now have the disillusioned citizen who votes for no one.

PERSEVERANCE OF THE CITIZENS

In this environment of alienation, fear, and apathy, the virtuous citizen still exists. They are the ones who’s concern for the community increases when faced with scarcity, violence or a crisis of their democracy. They still carry with them the sense of obligation to the individuals around them that was necessary when subsistence farming was the principle livelihood. The virtuous citizen is not willing to accept a lifetime of obscurity. These citizens organize unions to achieve more just working conditions and community groups to counter the misinformation of the mainstream media. They organize marches to protest the cynical policies of the government and register voters in isolated corners of the country where limited means could prevent citizens from registering themselves. After enough perseverance, the virtuous citizen inspires some of the others and social transformation can take place. In the case of El Salvador, change finally came in the form of presidential elections where, despite the usual tricks, the ruling party was finally toppled.

THE END OF VIOLENCE

Citizens of El Salvador are realizing that their demands are no longer falling on deaf ears. This has a huge impact on the national psyche. Knowing that change is taking place inspires the disillusioned citizen to begin to take part in political life. Measures are being taken to prevent voter fraud and this gives greater credibility to this young democracy. The frightened citizen now has access to rational discourse on the problem of gangs. They can see that the problem is not caused by inherent evil but by social abandonment and that it can be solved by preventive rather than reactionary measures. Investments are already being made to empower the most vulnerable kids in order to reduce the lure of the gang. As the country continues on its path towards becoming a just society, the violence will slowly subside. I see the possibility of an end to the violence within one generation. Citizens now feel free to be part of the decision making process. This new freedom of political expression seems to have inspired a sense of responsibility. Previously, taking part in civic life was, for some, like working on a car without an engine. Now the citizens are back and not only does the car have an engine, we are also the drivers.