Welcome to Columbia........

[anarchy1999]

http://www.dallaspeacecenter.org/arise.htm

from in the middle of essay:

Reluctant soldier

The nations come to Your light
and kings to your dawning brightness,
singing the praise of Yahweh,
bringing gold and incense.

One hot weekday around noon, the four of us decided to hold a vigil at the Navy base. The other three team members besides myself had met with the Colonel in charge of the base the day before. The taxi took us through two security gates, and we got out at the last one, with the base in sight. About ten soldiers were there in full uniform on guard duty. We told them we wanted to have a brief prayer vigil there at the gate and invited them to join. They said no problem, go ahead, but there was no enthusiastic response to the invitation. We lit the candle we had brought, placed it on the sidewalk and began a simple vigil, including readings, prayers and songs, some in English, some in Spanish.

When we were finished, one of the soldiers invited us under the shade of an open-walled structure outside the gate. Another brought a huge chunk of ice from somewhere, put it in a bucket with water and poured each of us a refreshing glass, which we needed after even a short time under the sun.

There was an awkward moment, soldiers and peaceniks not quite knowing how to break the ice. The ritual of handing out the fasting flier by now was becoming second nature. In this and other situations it provided an opening. After giving them a chance to read, Christine and I began to share that with our presence in Colombia we were seeking to promote and engage in active nonviolence. We expressed our remorse for the heavily military contributions of our (U.S. and Canadian) governments. I didn’t know how they would respond, since in effect we were criticizing both the fact of their being soldiers and the underpinnings of a system that provided their paychecks.

“I am from a poor family in the Urabá region,” said one of the soldiers. “It was not my first choice to be here. I wanted to be a veterinarian, but there was no way to pay for school. I looked for other things to do, but there were no jobs. I really want to do something productive for my people. It’s no fun being a soldier. When we are in public people look down on us. But the armed groups are the only people providing job opportunities. Why does your government give all this money for the military, when what is needed in Colombia are more schools, job training, and hospitals. If we had our basic needs met, the war wouldn’t be tearing our country apart.”

I was flabbergasted. Not only had he knocked down my pet myth of a monolithic militarism coursing through the veins of every rank-and-file soldier (a form of demonizing peace activists can be prone to), he had outdone me in articulating what is so clearly and fundamentally wrong in my country’s behavior toward his country.



The author of this article is going back to Columbia in the next few months and can be contacted through www.dallaspeacecenter.org



He deserves our support.

We can demand peace.

[Columbia]

1. Thanks!

Good to be here. :hi:

[cprise]

2. delete

.

[anarchy1999]

3. more: Some facts about drug crop spraying

Return to "Arise! Answering Colombian cries," Dallas Peace Times, June-July 2001

Some facts about drug crop spraying

• Roundup Ultra, which is said to be the substance used in the fumigations, cannot legally be applied by aerial spraying in the United States.

• Between 1996 and 1998, despite aggressive spray campaigns, coca production in Colombia increased by 50% and poppy production remained approximately constant. The effect of fumigation was to push cultivation into increasingly remote areas.

• A 1994 study by the RAND corporation estimated that investing in drug treatment programs in the U.S. was 23 times more cost effective than efforts to reduce drug production in source countries.

• At least 5,000 people left their farmlands and homes due to fumigations in southern Colombia in January and February, 2001. Many crossed the border to Ecuador or fled to other parts of Colombia, adding to the burgeoning internally displaced population of over 2 million.

• Aerial fumigation is carried out by a private corporation not accountable to U.S. Congress on a Pentagon contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars.


http://www.tni.org/drugs/

FORWARD OPERATING LOCATIONS



The only available justification, until recently, for establishing US Forward Operating Locations (FOLs) in Ecuador, El Salvador and Aruba/Curaçao been the War on Drugs. The host countries agreed to the establishment of the FOLs to facilitate military surveillance for the purpose of interdicting drug shipments. There is no evidence that the FOLs have made any discernible difference to the flow of illicit drugs to the USA, however. There is little question that the FOLs form part of a US military strategy towards Latin America and the Caribbean. There is evidence that the FOLs are being used for a number of purposes, besides the ostensible role in counter-narcotics efforts. This includes gathering intelligence on arms trafficking in the region and migrant boats destined for the USA. Serious concerns have arisen about the possible use of the FOLs in support of US military involvement in the Colombian conflict. The war on drugs has been explicitly incorporated into the “global war on terrorism”. Though the host countries have insisted on the limited anti-drugs mission of the FOLs, the mission has gradually shifted to support what is now called a “unified campaign” against drugs and terrorism.

New publication: Forward Operating Locations in Latin America: Transcending Drug Control
Drugs & Conflict nr. 8, September 2003

More in formation: Forward Operating Locations

ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT AND CONFLICT IN COLOMBIA

One of the greatest challenges in Colombia today is how to meet alternative development objectives in the midst of war. "Alternative development" refers in this context to the creation of alternative livelihoods for illicit crop farmers. In theatres of conflict, the debate centers not simply on the economic sphere, but on whether alternative development helps to create conditions in which human life and freedom are respected; whether local powers are truly exercising good governance; and the extent to which communities are being strengthened, people's possibilities for participation are increased and democracy is enhanced.

New Publication Cross Purposes: Alternative Development and Conflict in Colombia
Drugs & Conflict nr. 7 - June 2003

Eradication pacts with coca-farmers in the Putumayo in exchange to the suspension of aerial fumigation of coca crops risk failure because of government imposed conditions: a deadline of one year to eradicate all the coca contemplated under the various pacts or face the threat of renewed fumigation; and implementation of the various pacts under conditions which subverted the notion of sustainable development originally advocated by the communities.
Eradication Pacts in Colombia: A Failure Yielding Many Lessons
Drugs & Conflict nr. 4 - March 2002
Eradication Pacts: Trust or Blackmail?
Drugs & Conflict nr. 1 - April 2001

THE FUTURE OF ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Alternative Development, aimed at encouraging peasants to switch from growing illicit drug crops, are a good idea. The record of success, however, is a sorry one. Decades of efforts to reduce global drug supply using Altenative Development have failed. TNI argues for a reconceptualisation of the strategy – delinking alternative development from the threat of forced eradication and law enforcement, and guaranteeing peasants the support required for a sustainable alternative future.
Alternative Development and Eradication: A Failed Balance
Drugs & Conflict nr. 4 - March 2002
Important issues at stake at UN drugs commission
TNI Press Release - March 8, 2002

More on Alternative Development

THE CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WAR ON DRUGS

Chemical herbicides are used fighting the war on drugs from the supply side. While they damage human health and the environment, these fumigations have had little impact on the total amount of coca and opium cultivation wordwide. Consequently, pathogenic fungi are being tested to kill illicit drug crops in forced eradication programs. These biological agents also endanger human health and the enviroment. Moreover, they threaten to undermine the global ban on biological weapons.

See TNI's latest publications:
Vicious Circle: The Chemical and Biological 'War on Drugs'
TNI Briefing - March 2001

Fumigation and Conflict in Colombia: In the Heat of the Debate
Drugs & Conflict nr. 2 - September 2001

The United States is the main advocate of chemical fumigations in Colombia, claiming it is harmless. TNI and Acción Andina have written a Fumigation Contra-Fact Sheet to counter the one-sided information of the U.S. State Department. See also:
Forced Aerial Eradication of Illicit Crops: A Reply to the State Department

More information:
▪ Chemical Fumigations
▪ Biological Warfare in the War on Drugs

DRUGS AND PEACE IN COLOMBIA

TNI and Acción Andina announced a detailed alternative policy proposal on illicit drug crops and the peace process in Colombia. The ‘Proposal for Peace’ has been presented at the International Hearing on Illicit Crops and Environment on June 29/30, 2000, in the demilitarized zone in southern Colombia, hosted jointly by the FARC guerrilla and the Colombian government involved in peace talks.
Read the Press Release

See the Executive Summary:
Drug Crops and Peace Process in Colombia - A Proposal for Peace

More Information:
▪ Drugs and Peace in Colombia
▪ Europe and Plan Colombia

[anarchy1999]

4. And to add to: Al Giordano rocks. Period.

http://www.narconews.com/Issue32/article888.html

Narco News Reborn
A $30,000 Matching Grant, and a New Model for Authentic Journalism


By Al Giordano
Publisher
January 1, 2004

Happy New Year, kind readers… I bring good news. Here’s the short version:

Narco News will begin publishing again – “reporting on the drug war and democracy from Latin America” – in a matter of weeks.

You can take that to the bank, literally: Narco News is coming back.

In gratitude to all of you who made this happen, we will shortly be opening the floodgates of publishing at Narco News to our reliably expanding circle of Authentic Journalists, volunteers, and donors.

You used to be able to read it. Now, many more of you are going to be able to help write it, too.

If you’ve helped us (or if you soon will help us) with your time, with your talent, or with your money, then we invite you to become one of our hundreds – and eventually, a thousand or more – of “co-publishers.”

This will bring you, among other opportunities, the ability to comment, immediately and without advance moderation, on the news stories we report, and to do some reporting and commenting of your own on the Latin American beat for all our readers.

You’ll still be able to count on our pool of Authentic Journalists in Latin America for news and reports from the front. In fact, you’ll be reading more reports, from more of us, than ever before.

Additionally, Narco News is “going interactive.” No newspaper that we know of has yet opened the doors to participation by the readers in the extreme ways that we are about to do it. Over the next few weeks, as we reassemble our team of Authentic Journalists, we’ll also be conducting a public dialogue with you, a consultation, to determine how we reconstruct this monster together.


Introducing: The Fund for Authentic Journalism

First, let me introduce you to our new fiscal sponsor, The Fund for Authentic Journalism, which will now allow our journalists the press freedom of having a newsroom that keeps “the money side” separate from the editorial side of the newspaper.

The Fund for Authentic Journalism has taken on Narco News and the School of Authentic Journalism as its first two projects. The Fund is now registered in the state of Michigan, and has applied for 501c(3) nonprofit tax-exempt status with the federal government of the United States; we believe that approval is likely to come in a matter of months.

Any contribution you send today to The Fund for Authentic Journalism will be doubled, by a pending matching grant from the Tides Fund for Drug Policy Reform, up to a total of $30,000. We are already almost one-third of the way to that goal. With your participation, we hope to meet that challenge by Narco News’ fourth birthday, on April 18, 2004.

As a “matching grant,” we may only receive this total if we raise an equal amount from you. Help us cheer the triumph of Authentic Journalism, again, over Big Money’s attempts to boss all media, and join in the celebration with a contribution of any size, no matter how small or large, and send it to:


The Fund for Authentic Journalism
P.O. Box 71051
Madison Heights, MI 48071 USA

Or, you can donate, via credit card, through the Fund’s website:


http://www.authenticjournalism.org

Your contribution today will be doubled by the matching grant. If you give fifty bucks, your donation will become a hundred dollars. If you give $250 dollars that will effectively make for a $500 dollar contribution. Very small contributions – a dollar bill, a five-dollar bill, a ten or a twenty… – are now doubly important to this effort.

Your contribution, once the check or online payment clears, will be reflected in the charts over at The Fund for Authentic Journalism website that will measure our progress toward our goal.

That’s not all. Your contribution of any size, no matter how small, or even if it’s not a financial contribution but, rather, in the form of your donated time and labor, will bring you deeper into our circle: Your voice will be invited onto Narco News in a way that has never been attempted by any media organization.


And more:

http://www.narconews.com/jschoolopen.html


"The deepest urge in human beings is the revolt against definition and the fixities of life."

- Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1866


Opening Day Remarks from
College President Al Giordano


October 1, 2002

Good morning, and welcome, everybody, to the first day of classes.

Today we begin the online semester of the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism.

This online Training Program in Authentic Journalism will culminate next February in the real world - that oasis of directly lived experience that still exists somewhere outside of this screen - when six scholarship winners, a yet undetermined number of additional students, and a top-shelf faculty come together for in an intense ten-day journalism training program on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

If you haven't heard about this scholarship program yet, see:

http://www.narconews.com/scholarship1.html

Why have we started a J-School? We want you to report on the drug war and democracy from Latin América, with authenticity as your sword.

The Drug War and Democracy beat grows larger, the conflict, heavier, every day. América is about to explode in ways that few have fathomed or reported. We need more journalists of conscience to break the information borders between human beings in our América.

[anarchy1999]

5. kick up for the early morning crowd.

Time to pay attention to all points south.

[anarchy1999]

6. This should be more important than Mel's movie,

more important than same sex marriages, just as important as what is happening in Iraq, Haiti and all of the MidEast. Along with all of South America.

Wake up folks.

Let the distractions fall by the wayside.

Do not let the Right distract us all with this mindless bs!

Champaigne with Jessica and the new boat, same sex marriages and Mel's movie, get it behind us.

What are the real issues.

War profiteering, criminal misconduct, secrecy, lies, deception and the list goes on!

[anarchy1999]

7. one last try to get someone to care besides me.

anyone out there?

Anyone not gripped to death by Mel's movie, or the gay marriage issue?

Hey folks, what's up?

[whatelseisnew]

8. yes we are here, thanks for posting this

[iverglas]

10. oh yeah

I feel your frustration. ;)

I try too from time to time. The bit I like to emphasize is the effect of armed conflict on children and other civilians, including on their economies and environments.

An oldie but goodie: http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0326-03.htm

Meanwhile, the violent war on drugs has driven 1 million Colombians off their land. That may be the whole point.

"The U.S. has a hidden agenda in the war on drugs," Panetta said. "It is getting and keeping control of Colombia's resources: gold, silver, copper. Colombia may have the largest oil reserve in the Americas. The U.S. wants to control it." Gamboa Zuniga agreed: "The armed participants in this conflict are fighting for control of strategic places for business."

and this one: http://www.fpif.org/commentary/0108arms_body.html

The Bush administration may think that it has struck a blow in favor of the Second Amendment by attempting to sabotage the recent UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms. But U.S. obstinacy has consequences in all the Americas, most notably Colombia and the surrounding region.

They may be called small arms, but they're big business. In Latin America, the problem of small arms trafficking extends from Mexico, where guns smuggled from the United States fetch prices three to five times higher on the black market than their original cost, to Colombia, currently embroiled in a long running civil conflict, to Brazil, which has one of the highest gun homicide rates in the world.

... In the Americas, the consequences of ambivalence could be substantial. When peace comes to Colombia, thousands if not millions of small arms and light weapons--many of U.S. origin--will need to be decommissioned before they filter throughout the region and overseas. ...

And allow me to recommend the excellent report on "The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children", by the worthy Graca Machel, for UNICEF.

http://www.unicef.org/graca/

.

[rman]

9. thanks for all that. added to my archive.

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