District of Columbia

The Washington DC flag is often presented with some additional information:


in order to protest the fact that the city has no power over its own governance, despite paying taxes like the rest of America. Though many campaigns of varying merit levels have been launched, the republican controlled congress is showing no signs of turning over any power. In fact, one of their first acts was to strip our rather powerless house representative of any symbolic voting rights. Many people here advocate for DC to become the 51st state- an idea I had never heard mentioned outside of the city. It makes perfect sense though. It certainly has been oft mentioned that this once majority black city (now down to less than 50% according to the latest census), filled with immigrants, ambassadors and delegates from all over the world, sporting some of the highest crime rates and an intense racial and financial segregation across the city, that this, our nation's capital, is governed by a bunch of white men in congress that we haven't even elected, and have no power to control. This feels like a quiet betrayal and outrage no matter where one lives these days, given the political state of things across the country.

But feeling helpless is not a useful state of being, and certainly DC residents are some of the most active, vocal, interested and motivated I have met. This, conversely, allows me to be active and to find community, support, and motivation everywhere I go. I have never experienced this level of openness or kindness from strangers anywhere in the United States. I suppose I should be grateful for the segregation, if it means I can be surrounded by folks like these, and not politicians and other climbers. Through Positive Force I have been organizing a day laborer support project and an anti-militarization, anti-violence, SOA Watch/Radio CPR collaboration concert, in addition to our usual fundraisers, protests, and community projects. I have also been working for the Latin American Youth Center supporting their ESL after school classes.

This week I attended two protest-action events. One was against the granting of a visa to war criminal General Molina, who will be running for president in the upcoming elections despite his bloody history. Anyone who has been watching the news on current events in Guatemala knows that the last thing this country needs is the continuation of decades of bloody persecution and suffering for farmers and activists. The second event was to save the DC safety net from budget cuts which would/will decimate services for DC's homeless, disabled, and disadvantaged, further widening the gap between the "haves and the have nots" of DC, and of course, the country at large. I was pleasantly surprised to find that both events had a major turnout of a diversity of strong, caring folks who were organized and respectful- each event featured speakers and informative materials as well as a place to express rage directly at the powers that be. Our city council chair even came out to be an asshole personally for the crowd. The council has vowed to block the Mayor's attempt to raise tax rates on the super rich, and will instead be cutting social services. Ah, the America of today.

That being said- rise up, collaborate, coordinate, and onwards! And solidarity to those in Mexico and beyond who are organizing for a more peaceful and just world.

m

Photos

Finally have some pictures up on my Flickr. Sort of a mess of 2006-now, will get around to sorting them and adding the rest at some point. Cheers


m

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mm-petrie/

On Water

World Water Day is coming up on March 22nd and we at PAHO are preparing our little discourse on the subject. This year the theme is "Water for Cities: The Urban Challenge". We will be focusing more on water as a human right, as declared by the United Nations (in a proposal initiated by Bolivia) last year. Water is often discussed as related to the Millennium Development goals: number seven promises a 50% improvement in access to water and sanitation. Yet as many experts have begun to point out, if we take the human right to water and sanitation seriously, then those coverage rates must be at 100%. And PAHO is often quick to point out that "access" and "improved sources"- an MDG term- are not great ways to assess the real conditions people face. Access to an "improved source", such as a faucet or well, which accesses water that is contaminated, polluted, and disease ridden should not qualify as progress toward an MDG. Yet it does- exactly because the MDG is concerned with levels of coverage, but not water quality levels. WHO and PAHO have long been one of the only institutions concerned with ensuring quality standards, amidst and avalanche of NGO's expanding coverage and building systems. Water quality is crucial because it protects health. Yet unbelievably, the water-health connection is still somehow not a political priority.


Water impacts health in a number of ways- from water borne diseases to sanitation to the ability to practice good hygiene. Yet these issues are more and more often eclipsed or ignored within the more pressing discourses on water scarcity, conservation, resource management, and environmental health. These issues are all important, but they are all inter connected. PAHO's health focus is particularly important because it incorporates a human rights focus. We pay particular attention to the way in which the most marginalized and vulnerable groups - the indigenous and the isolated rural communities, urban slum communities, and women - access water. Without water there can be no health, and without health there can be no well being and limited economic productivity. I won't bore you with stats, but they are quite stunning, and the impact of water borne illness on human well being and global GDP is quite high. Lack of access compromised communities in a multitude of ways.


Of course lack of access is not a logistical issue. It is a political one. The communities that do not receive services are those neglected or deliberately targeted by governments. In areas where there is simply no money for systems, you must wonder where the priorities are, where the money is going instead, and what role private interests are playing to keep it that way. Control over water resources is fast becoming a crucial issue across the globe, especially as climate change and water scarcity contribute to further instability in water resources. In the United States private companies bottle public (and often contaminated) water and sell it back to us. In Bolivia it famously led to a "water war" for public control over water. Riots over food and water security are becoming more and more common. As Naomi Klein recently wrote- environmental justice and economic justice have become intrinsically tied. One could add that all forms of social justice are now tied- which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Where once we could pursue our own causes, now we must commit to the sea-change, as it were. As Naomi writes, there is no change now that can be made and leave the status-quo untouched. The Middle East may serve as our guiding beacon here. And if for once there is the possibility for change, we better have a plan for the future, but that's another story.

We are working on water and human rights by promoting the creation of national policies and institutions which treat water as a human right. PAHO can bring together key figures and make a plan, and we are in the first steps of this process, but still it is exciting. Exciting as one piece is what is, as outlined above, a massive struggle. Last week we went to a congressional hearing on the right to water. It was quite fascinating and yet there were less than 50 people in the room, including witnesses and representatives and their staff. To me water has become one of the must urgent and central concerns, a part of the web which will dictate the most pressing issues of our time. To most it is still a passing thought, a distant concern. That will not be the case for long.

Almost Half of Bolivia has been Declared a Natural Disaster Area

read here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1134227.stm

look here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12594585



We could get into the politics of natural disasters and the intersection of climate change, environmental policy, poverty, and politics of exploitation and exclusion... but I'm at work, so perhaps now is not the time. Of course a multitude of massively interesting political developments have also been going on in Bolivia (and the entire Latin American region!) as per usual, so please check out my links or drop me a line to learn more. Or add more in the comments section!

Also interesting- they filmed this while I was in Cocha and the Chapare, and while I spent more time than is probably wise looking for friends-as-extras and streets-I'd-walked-down, I think the movie came out alright. It is perhaps a little to vague regarding what actually happened in the water wars, which could have really highlighted what a powerful fight and victory that moment was, but it avoiding being preachy, so I'll take it.

New home

I have been meaning to write a real post for the last six months... in short, I have been working for the Pan American Health Organization in DC on issues related to water, sanitation, and human rights, which has been extremely fascinating and has its inspirational moments, and also its long interminable hours at the computer screen moments. I have been writing a great deal. I have also been working on an initiative promoting healthy tourism initiatives which has forced me to reconsider some generally cynical attitudes I may have been harboring. In general I have thought long and hard about giant fancy UN work (WHO is a UN agency) vs. local NGOs vs. movements, but as usual my conclusions are rambling and probably contradictory. So is life, I suppose.

For now I am content to be inspired by the folks all across the Middle East and here at home, for once, in WI and the other states, as at last we get just a few folks upset enough about the awful things happening to our country to do something about it. Anything at all. I also do community organizing and arts stuff with these folks. Come visit! And cheers, all!

xo
m

home:

Colombia

My mother and I decided to to defy the state department warnings and take the advice of all my dear Colombian friends, met years ago in Buenos Aires, who have always insisted that I visit their homeland. Colombia is a contentious word filled with connotations- violence, drugs, gorgeous women, a natural wonder, a jewel, Cartagena, romancing the stone, poverty, afro-colombian, Medellin, Cali, Bogota, oppression, human rights violations, police, dancing... Pretty much your standard mess of ideas associated with a place that holds hundreds of years of history and culture and a host of ecological climates and populations.


The problem with visiting Colombia is not the violence, per say, but a misunderstanding of what's happening there. To over simplify and be as short as possible- Uribe and the current government have managed to decrease levels of violence in the armed uprising of revolutionary forces, or the FARC, and other narco "terrorist" groups. It should be noted, however, that these groups began as social movement based efforts to fight the drug money funded inequalities in Colombia. These groups later developed tactics which prayed on the Colombian people, as hostages and victims, to achieve their aims. The government sent in police and paramilitaries to deal with these groups and, ostensibly, to deal with the drug producers themselves. Yet it is widely noted that these counter attacks by the government largely target social activists and organizers. The Colombian population has thus suffered years of internal violence at the hands of pretty much everyone. The government is responsible for a high level of human rights violations. Communities continue to face threats from drug producers, FARC forces, the police, and the paramilitaries. Communities of peace rely on the presence of outsiders to deter full assaults. The US has consistently supported and funded this oppressive government as a part of the "war on drugs", publicly viewed by most as a failure, a waste of money, and a high level political strategy which ignores root causes of drug production and suffers from political corruption on the national and international level.


And yet most of the country moves on normally, as must all countries and people, in the end. Colombia is host to a number of beautiful cities, regions and parks which make popular tourist destinations. I was hesitant about what our presence as tourists might "mean", in terms of implications of support for what's happening there. In the end though, my old friends and my mother convinced me. So much of tourism is how you chose to approach, understand, and interact with the place you end up. Doing it in a positive manner must be possible.


Of course a few weeks before we arrived, flooding had begun in earnest. Much of the country was underwater, as were huge parts of Venezuela, Pakistan, and Australia. But we won't get into what we know that means. There were any moments in which my mother and I could only look at each other- dogs sniffing us for explosives on our way into the hotel? Our bus driving passing over 100 ropes pulled across the road by children begging for money? But those moments were not always bad. How about, an iguana just fell twenty feet out of a tree and is sitting on our patio? Or, a secret turquoise cove flanked by a giant inflatable snowman? A beach at night full of families and accordion players and rum? Treasures, certainly.

The XXXII International Conference on Environmental Sanitation Engineering

I attended this conference as a part of PAHO's sustainable development and environmental health team. As a partner of AIDIS, we arrived in the Dominican Republic early to host a series of panels on the future international culture of water, and the implications of the changing context for the resource to human health. We also hosted a panel on health in disaster situations. I was there to assist with our pilot project on water and human rights, as well as with conference logistics.


Tropical storm Tomas was in full swing on the island, dumping rain and leaving a steamy, humid after effect. The conference center must have hosted a dozen weddings in the week we were there. The most surreal part, however, was our proximity to Haiti. Nothing about Punta Cana indicates that the poorest country in our hemisphere is some 300 miles to the west. To be fair, nothing about Punta Cana indicates the existance of any other place could be possible. The beach was quite pretty and idyllic and made me think of (real, old fashioned) pirates and the first discoveries of the Caribbean islands, which then made me quite sad. Though Haiti may be the starkest example of the oppression, exploitation, and devestation wrecked by brutal colonization, slavery, and more modern forms of domination, no Caribbean island is without these traces. Haiti was the first country in the America's to win their independence, back in 1804, and yet today they cannot even choose their own president.


While we were in Punta Cana we drank a lot of bottled water and talked about the cholera crisis next door and about engineering techniques. This juxtaposition was not lost on folks, but what could we do, at that moment, to counter act it? Yet you end up in a fancy conference center on the beach taking about clean water and you begin to wonder how you got there and why exactly its useful. I do believe that, for engineers and others with practical skills and jobs in the area, the whole thing was necessary and beneficial, so I am not all complaints. Many talks were quite inspiring or innovative or informative.


The international effort is so necessary and so frustrating. Coordination is perhaps not a human strength. But giving ourselves opportunities to be together offers a network of support that I think makes this work possible. And I include everyone when I imagine "ourselves" or "our work", it is in partnership and in solidarity that we move forward.