Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Revenge Of The Deep.....



Johann Hari from The Independent:

In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since – and the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.

Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury – you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."

At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters."

This is the context in which the "pirates" have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a "tax" on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia – and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence".

No, this doesn't make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters – especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies. But in a telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali: "We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas." William Scott would understand.

Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our toxic waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We won't act on those crimes – the only sane solution to this problem – but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 per cent of the world's oil supply, we swiftly send in the gunboats.

You can read the United Nations report here.

Again, we are forced to confront the problems that corruption and our own irresponsible, convenient actions have created. We have heard about the corruption in the waste disposal industry controlled by thge Italian mafia for years. The Mafia's practice of renting rotting ships, registering and insuring them, filling them full of toxic trash and then losing them at sea and not only collecting the fees for the waste disposal but the insurance money as well has been well documented.

But, the Italian trash disposal industry was cheap, and there were no messy questions to be answered as to where the waste was going. Well, now you know.


16 comments:

Dromedary Hump said...

Micro,
It is unavoidable to read your post and not interpret it as some justification for piracy... your denoucing of hastage taking not withstanding. C'mon, pal.

First...if the waters are so horribly fouled by dumping, then how is it the fish are so plentyful?

second... fishing offshore international waters, is as ledgitimate in Somalia as it is for Japenese fleets to fish off our west coast. It's international law. The somalians don't even fish deep waters, they never had, they don't have trawlers and fleets.

third... to believe anything the self serving bandits say, the solamia government says(if youcan even call it that), or the UN says is to be a tool of propaganda and the demonization of the west. We may as well justify the Muslim attrocity of 9/11 because of our support of Israel...afterall, thats the muslim radical's excuse.

The UN has traditionally demonized the west and supported muslim states. Muslims have a strangle hold on the UN. Just look at the human rights commission. Its become a tool of anti-Israel muslim states, has for many years.
Look at what the UN has done to intervene in Sudan, or Somolia... nothing.

Look. A country that lets its people die in droves; who allows militia to rule and murder and rape at will; to take private yachts and ships of soveregin states as booty and its sailors / tourists as hostages deserves no excuses or passes because of their trumped up justifications for heinous acts of violence. To buy into that crap is to be duped.

Yeah...and the third reich / WWII was an understandable response to the treatment of Germany after WWI. What did we expect? Right?

Please.

Hump

Unknown said...

Dromedary, Remind me to introduce you to my friend and frequent commenter Bob S. You two are so similar, if I didn't know Bob as well as I do I'd suspect you were the same guy operating two different names. I found Micro's post to be absolutely fascinating and extremely credible, in spite of the clearly elucidated points you raised. You must be one of them contentious guys.

microdot said...

Mr. Hump, you seem to want simple easy answers for every problem as long as it's no sweat off your back.

I think I presented a point of view and facts that you would never hear in a discussion of this problem in American popular media.

I have written a lot about the political realities of Somalia from the point of view of friends who have given me first hand accounts of being aid workers in Mogadishu.

To understand the world and begin to be able to operate in a fashion that acknowleges that we are all interdependant, actions in one place affect every other place and to be proactive, we have to be awre of the effects of our actions.

I take it that you couldn't give a fuck if Somalia is being treated as Europes toxic garbage dump because it doesn't affect you, today.

microdot said...

Dromedary, I don't want to be too negative in my reply to you, becauuse I really do not approve of the pirates actions in anyway, but I am pleased you read my post and it got under you skin enough towrite a reply.
Maybe, though, you can connect the dots and see the hidden bigger picture here.

Dromedary Hump said...

Micro..
Oh, I take no offense at yourreply... i hope you don't at my posts either.

I respect you and your opinion...well, as long as your opinion doesn't include believeing in the supernatural. The self deluded theists get little respect from me. :)

Hump

Dromedary Hump said...

sorry last thing, then I'll move on.

I just read the UNn report on somolia that you linked. did you (and Mike) read the whole thing?? The UN places the majority of blame for the economic problems on the tsunami of 2004 and the civil war, anarchy, and lawlessness that rages in somolia. Deforestation, drought, over use, lack of agricultural regulation...etc. etc. All is very detailed, over what... 5 or 6 pages??

The waste dumping by europeans appears almost as an after thought in a one page block. And in proportion to the natural effects of the tsunami and miserable management conditions and war etc., the eurpoean dumping obsenity hardley registers as a blimp in comparison.

But, you'll note the pirates latch onto THAT and ONLY THAT as their justification to wage their campaign of terror against every country's ships. How convenient they never blamed anything or anyone else.

There using you, and youre letting them.

anyway...
Hump

Anonymous said...

OK. Am I brain addled, m, or did you just post a comment in which you somehow painted criminals as patriots? Assuming that everything you wrote about dumping was true, these guys are in it only for the $.

T

microdot said...

No, I did not paint the pirates as patriots. I did try to explain the fact that there are different groups operating. There are out and out pirates who have been reposnible for the outrages we all want to condemn.

It also helps to know what circumstances led to the conditions in Somalia now.
In an earlier post, I wrote of the open arms markets in the Bazaars of Mogadishuu.
I wrote a legnthy piece on the use of the drug khat.
To compare the Somalians to the German Nazis is a huge leap of the imagination.
To ignore the conditions which have led to the degradation of the society and social order there and merely label everyone as criminal monsters deserving of being eliminated because that is how they are portrayed in the popular media is wrong.
I agree that the Somalian pirates are a problem that has to be dealt with, but you will note that in a hisorical perspective, the piracy only arose after 2004. It is a relatively new phenomena.
I also have written about the refugee crisis as people try to flee Somalia by boat to Southern Yemen.

It is well documenteds that the arms industry dumps arms in Africa.
This is an unregulated huge market.
The undocumented, unregulated flow of arms into Africa is the life blood of lawlessness and the material used by these pirates to attack Western boats.

Our corrupt practices, the arms industry, political hypocrusy, corrupt waste disposal, unregulated fishing have all contributed to the chaos and destruction in Somalia.

Again, I want to emphasize the connection and interaction the entire world shares when a disaster unfolds as it has been in Somalia.

Anonymous said...

Really cool post! Very brave, given the fact that most Somolians won't be reading your post and can't respond to it.

I have always wondered why the public is so relieved to send foods to countries, like Somolia. Sure, it's a good thing if the food stock isn't full of maggots and roaches.

But, one responder missed the point, that the intrnational fishing industry are fishing illegally by dropping huge nets and discarding killing unwanted aquatic creatures. The ban includes international waters. Duh!

If Somolia has become more of a territory or region instead of a country, then, local rule is its justice. Obviously, the international community cares less and less about Somolia's countryship. Being a truism, then, stay away from Somolia. It's a simple solution.

Last, there are NGOs workig inside Somolia, making a difference in communities. The Clinton Foundation is one. The Gates Foundation is another. Provide food, yes. But, assist in building up a people who cannot build up.

microdot said...

My buddy worked for Medicins san Frontieres in Somolia in the 90's and has some pretty hair raising tales about the life threatening journies he had to take every day just to get to his work locations. He was a sanitation expert and set up refugee camps and managed waste and water.

Even then, he was amazed at the arms bazaar that operated in the town.
If it existed, you could buy it...
or someone could get it for you.
We are talking ground to air racket launching systems here....

microdot said...

By the way, I agree thta some of the responders missed the point, either by not reading throroughly or deliberately....
Still.....

steve said...

Hey, my USMC helo squadron evacuated the US embasy in 1991.. I spent 5 minutes on somalian soil! (this was way before blackhawk down) This was on our way back from the the first gulf war. My squadron, after spending 11 months at sea, went back to Somalia a year later. My time was up in the interim so I didn't go with them. Praise Jesus!

Dromedary Hump said...

Uh...who compared somalia to nazi germany??

I simply pointed out that the rise of the third reich and their subsequent militarization was "BLAMED" on the allied powers during WW1 who at the treaty of versailles "decimated" the german economy and power. THAT was their EXCUSE, thyeir JUSTIFICATION for what they eventually became and wreaked on Europe!!

I asked if you buy into THAT crap, as readily as you buy into the lawkess war lord's self serving statement that piracy is in response to, a result of, Italian/european dumping.

I also asked if in the liberal mind one would also justify N Korea's missle testing over Japan, and development of nuclear weapons a just response to US aggression and treat. Afterall, thats N Koreas justifcation. Why not buy into it as well?

I also asked if the 911 terorists were justified, because of american ploicy toward Israel. We all ok with what they did there? Its OUR fault?

These are very simple questions. Yet they go unanswered. They have direct bearing on this somolian justification propaganda that some here seem to espouse.


Yes, after 2004!! THATS WHEN THE TSUNAMI HIT THEM. Read the UN Report, they specifically empahsisize the fact somolia spun into chaos and total economic collape after that. They never rebuilt their infrastructure.

the Ita;lians dumping is just an afterthought that you insist on blowing out of proportion and allow somalian criminals to use as a justification for crime.

Sorry, but will some one show me how the foreign fishing fleets who are aledgedly using techniques in violation of internatinal law off the coast of somalia, in international waters, are doing so with impunity; are doing so only THERE,; and how this is directly effecting an imploded country that doesn't possess deep sea fishing fleets/technology; and how this justifies pirating against every cargo carrying merchant ship within range?

Look.. I don't care how liberal, or how anti-american/ pro-underdog, how anarchist, how anti-capitalist, anti-west or self hating american one might be. At some point one needs to slap them self awake and stop making the West the justification for every terrorist and criminal act perpetrated by a lawless or rogue country. Thats all.

Dromedary Hump said...

Uh...who compared somalia to nazi germany??

I simply pointed out that the rise of the third reich and their subsequent militarization was "BLAMED" on the allied powers during WW1 who at the treaty of versailles "decimated" the german economy and power. THAT was their EXCUSE, thyeir JUSTIFICATION for what they eventually became and wreaked on Europe!!

I asked if you buy into THAT crap, as readily as you buy into the lawkess war lord's self serving statement that piracy is in response to, a result of, Italian/european dumping.

I also asked if in the liberal mind one would also justify N Korea's missle testing over Japan, and development of nuclear weapons a just response to US aggression and treat. Afterall, thats N Koreas justifcation. Why not buy into it as well?

I also asked if the 911 terorists were justified, because of american ploicy toward Israel. We all ok with what they did there? Its OUR fault?

These are very simple questions. Yet they go unanswered. They have direct bearing on this somolian justification propaganda that some here seem to espouse.


Yes, after 2004!! THATS WHEN THE TSUNAMI HIT THEM. Read the UN Report, they specifically empahsisize the fact somolia spun into chaos and total economic collape after that. They never rebuilt their infrastructure.

the Ita;lians dumping is just an afterthought that you insist on blowing out of proportion and allow somalian criminals to use as a justification for crime.

Sorry, but will some one show me how the foreign fishing fleets who are aledgedly using techniques in violation of internatinal law off the coast of somalia, in international waters, are doing so with impunity; are doing so only THERE,; and how this is directly effecting an imploded country that doesn't possess deep sea fishing fleets/technology; and how this justifies pirating against every cargo carrying merchant ship within range?

Look.. I don't care how liberal, or how anti-american/ pro-underdog, how anarchist, how anti-capitalist, anti-west or self hating american one might be. At some point one needs to slap them self awake and stop making the West the justification for every terrorist and criminal act perpetrated by a lawless or rogue country. Thats all.

Anonymous said...

It is well documenteds that the arms industry dumps arms in Africa.

could you please link to this documentation? because the claim doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, on the face of it.

wait... maybe it's a terminology issue. what do you mean by "dumping"? i was thinking you referred to the aggressive trade practice of selling below cost so as to drive out competition, but that would really make no sense when selling to impoverished third-world nations where the competition will always be on cost alone. "dumping" in that sense would only drive out your competition until you had to stop dumping and tried to recoup your loss, at which point it would reappear.

Dromedary Hump said...

Nomen,
Good point.

I see we are blaming everything but the somolians for their woes. Now its the evil western arms dealers. Oh my.

Never mind that if there wasn't demand for guns by War Lords for their armys, that there would be no market for guns. No. Blame those who supply them.

Maybe if arms dealers just stopped supplying the demand Somalia would be a kinder gentler place, the pirates would give up their practice, the war lords would disband their armys, the government would end its corruption, somolian inflation could get down to under 500%, and 75% unenmployment would end. Hallelujah!!!

here we go again. Blame the west (or china, or russia, who are the primary suppliers) and blame guns. There seems to be no end to this bizarre mantra.