The Heart of the Beast

Last week, two developing country organizations, Mercosur and the Non-Aligned Movement met in Latin America. Of course the US press largely ignored the many calls for third world unity coming from the reunions, except to paint Chavez as alone in his dislike of the reactivation of the US Navy's Fourth Fleet or in his condemnation of the EU's new anti-immigrant law. But a cursory glance at the Spanish language press reveals widespread backing of both views. Brazil's Lula, among others, is also concerned as to why the US intends to send a huge naval battalion to a "region at peace" (that is if you don't count Colombian airstrikes backed by the US). Lula believes it's a little more than a coincidence the 4th's reactivation occurred "now that we have discovered oil 300 kilometers from our coasts."

Other highlights from the meetings include:

- The Margarita Declaration, an agreement to create a Non-Aligned Movement information network between African, Asian, and Latin American countries.

- A proposal for OPEC, or some of its members to subsidize oil for the 50 poorest countries.

- A proposal for Venezuela to contribute $1 of every barrel of oil sold over for $100 towards an emergency food fund for Latin America.

- There were many other proposals, but overall, the theme was more 3rd world unity. Or as Cristina de Kirchner said, "integration" is the "new independence."

Pooling resources to benefit the Global South? Man this Chavez is such a d-bag.

# posted by Crooked : 3:06 PM  1 comments

I could never be angry at someone immigrating in the hopes of providing themselves and their family with better standards of living. Why should I be so privileged simply because I was born here? Rarely do we think about why people immigrate in the first place. Recent waves of immigration like many in the past are primarily driven by inequalities in economic development. In other words conditions in the destination country are better than those of the native country, which of course is something immigrants have absolutely no control over. Capitalism has fueled and in fact thrives on this uneven development of nations. Whether or not you believe there are alternatives to Capitalism, that Capitalism can be reformed or that there is no alternative (TINA) doesn’t change this fact. Global Capitalism has created these conditions and until we acknowledge this there is no way we can adequately address the issue. We need international dialog not inhumane and ultimately ineffective state policies that fail to acknowledge the roots of immigration let alone address the economic conditions that bring about such migration to begin with. If increasing food prices continue to price large segments of the global population out of the market and as global warming brings about predicted climate change, developed nations are likely to see more immigration not less.

# posted by Crooked : 1:50 PM  0 comments