| ANTI-AMERICAN
SENTIMENT |
| Politics
In Latin America |
| By Mark McMahon |
| I am often
asked if I encounter anti-American sentiment in my travels. Yeah, you bet!
See photo. It seems like more and more lately. But it has never been directed
at me personally. People seem to be smart and kind enough to distinguish
between a country's government and its citizens.
Having been
on the road in Latin America for the better part of the last four years,
I have come to appreciate the perspective of my own country from an outsiders
point a view. While I value my U.S. Citizenship, I have never been a particularly
patriotic person. I have always felt that being a citizen of the planet
should take precedence over national borders. My travels have only reinforced
this view. |
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I have noticed
that each country seems to have their own collective self-image. Many Latin
American countries have a definite self-esteem problem. Almost like a lack
of patriotism - but not exactly. There is still great national pride. It
is sort of a feeling that they, as a country, will never amount to much.
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The U.S. is perceived
as a bully big brother who could solve all of their problems but is more
likely to beat the crap out of them. The fear of becoming crapless is growing.
Recently I
spoke with an educated Venezuelan (PhD from the U.S.) who
was very fearful of the U.S. and their recent military posture. |
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| He thinks
Bush will use Venezuela’s governmental instability or even Venezuelan President’s
close relationship with Fidel Castro as an excuse to take over the country
and it’s immense oil and gas reserves.
Political instability
is a cliché in Latin America; as well as U.S. intervention that
follows. That is, when there is American money at stake. Bolivia is in
political disarray at the moment but there is no financial incentive for
the U.S. to intervene in this poverty-stricken landlocked little nation.
The people took dynamite to the streets to force a corrupt president to
resign. A huge sale of Bolivian natural resources was about to take place
and the people felt it was not going to benefit them but rather line the
pockets of the politicians. The revolt worked. The president resigned and
fled the capital in fear for his life.
The same political
pocket lining is happening in our country but there is no dynamite in the
streets. |
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| The White
House has become a Billionaires’ Consultancy Agency. Vice-President Cheney’s
former company, Haliburton, gets BILLIONS in government contracts. Cheney
had a series of secret meetings with Ken Lay of Enron prior to taxpayers
and pensioners getting bilked of BILLIONS. Why no dynamite in our streets?
Are U.S. citizens not informed and/or just don’t care? There are still
Big Macs at McDonalds and most of us can afford them. In Bolivia people
can’t afford a Big Mac, hence the corruption is taken a little more personally.
I am in Buenos
Aires at the moment and have been reading about Argentina’s Dirty War of
the 70’s. (I mentioned this in last month’s article.) It was the
'ethnic cleansing' of the reigning regime. It was political rather
than ethnic, but you get the point. Between 20 and 30 thousand people were
'disappeared'. Many were tortured. Many were drugged and dumped
from airplanes into the sea while still alive. Pregnant mothers were abducted
and murdered after giving birth. The babies were then 'adopted'
by the perpetrators. Truly diabolical.
As I read about
all of the thousands of people who were 'disappeared', |
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| I thought,
how could the citizens of Argentina have let this happen? Were they not
informed and/or just didn’t care? How could those "just following orders”
have actually followed those orders? Then I thought about what is happening
to the prisoners of the U.S. war on terror in Guantanamo Bay. 680
prisoners incarcerated indefinitely. No charges. No sentences.
No lawyers.
28 suicide attempts! (This is probably not because afternoon milk and
cookies were suspended.) Their civil and basic human rights are being
absolutely trampled at the hands of MY government. Alright, perhaps the
comparison to The Dirty War is a stretch, but not a big one. It is still
a travesty, skirting all laws and conventions of common decency of our
culture by keeping them 70 miles offshore.
In the eyes
of foreigners, our war on terror has made us into terrorists. |
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| And in my
eyes, our foreign policy is abysmally shortsighted, quite simply, sowing
the seeds of future generations of terrorists.
I have never
felt compelled to write about politics before. Why the sudden shift in
my awareness and writing? Good question. I think several things have contributed.
I was recently back in the U.S. and attended a wildlife film festival in
Jackson Hole Wyoming. These filmmakers are, almost by definition, committed
and frustrated environmentalists. I have never felt so at home with a large
group of people. I heard chimp-lady Jane Goodall speak and shook hands
with media-mogul Ted Turner.
Another speaker
at the festival, you might say from the enemy camp, was an Assistant Secretary
of State for the U.S. Department of State. I couldn't have disagreed more
strongly with some of his environmental assessments but I am nonetheless
very pleased that he requested to be added to my Adventure Alert List!!
That gives me just one degree of separation from our President. (Or
would that be two? I'm not sure how these degrees are counted. Either way,
it's pretty darn close to The Shrub.)
It is a big
world out there but we are all connected on a variety of levels. (At
the most basic: same water, same air) The movie SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
asserts that you are connected to every person on the planet by a chain
of six persons who know another person who knows another person...etc.,
etc.
My chain to
Osama Bin Laden is very short. A buddy of mine was in the World Trade
Center when the planes hit on 9-11. He made it out in one piece but his
life was changed. Subsequently his brother said he was taking the hunt
for Osama too personally. "Personal? You're damn right! He tried to
f#%*in' kill me!" was his reply. I am but one degree from that very
personal relationship.
Roundaboutedly,
this is getting back to my newfound political consciousness. It seems
there is NO degree of separation between the Bush Family and the Bin Laden
Family. I just read a book by Academy Award winning muckraker Michael Moore:
DUDE! WHERE'S MY COUNTRY? I would not presume to ask you to plunk down
a twenty for the book, nor would I even ask to read the whole book. I will
ask you this: Go to the mall, go to the bookstore and peruse the first
chapter. You're on your own from there.
Among other
things, the first chapter explains that during the days immediately after
9-11, when other air traffic was still grounded, a private jet was crisscrossing
the U.S. picking up MEMBERS OF THE BIN LADEN FAMILY! This was with the
assistance of U.S. Government Agencies -this was not for incarceration
or interrogation but for safe passage to France! Why did this not make
mainstream media?
CUBA, AND THE
POLITICS Of My Pet Project…
In the last
few weeks there has been a small burst of news stories about Cuba. Since
scheduling my seminar about traveling to Cuba in January (link:cuba seminar
info: http://www.filmtrips.com/htmlemail/cuba.html)
I have been
doing research and trying to stay abreast of current events. I have made
many Cuba-related contacts, some of which are helping to keep me informed.
The content of my seminar may change drastically with political and legal
shifts in the wind.
The is an official
press release from the Department of Homeland Security announcing the allocation
of "intelligence and investigative resources to identify travelers"
from the US to Cuba who may have been in violation of the embargo. Phew!
I am feeling so much more Security about my Homeland now!
http://cryptome.org/dhs101403.htm
Mark McMahon
is closing in on his goal: Tucson to Tierra del Fuego or Bust! His
lively adventures on the road are documented with photos and stories on
his webpage: www.filmtrips.com.
Visit the site and be sure to sign up for his email Adventure Alerts. |
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Articles
On Various Subjects Index ~ Argentina
Index ~ Cuba
Index ~ |
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