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About Pirates of the brain
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The European roots of Somali piracy
LEIGH PHILLIPS 21.04.2009
"While the world has been quick to deal with the issue of piracy – the same cannot be said for action to deal with the humanitarian catastrophe engulfing nearly half of Somalia's population. It's time to show the same urgency about alleviating the suffering of millions of people," Ms Pattison said."
http://euobserver.com/9/27966
"Why We Don't Condemn Our Pirates in Somalia"
By K'Naan , URB Magazine. Posted April 14, 2009.
Can anyone ever really be for piracy? Well in Somalia, the answer is: it's complicated. ...
"In 2004, after Tsunami washed ashore several leaking containers, thousand of locals in the Puntland region of Somalia started to complain of severe and previously unreported ailments, such as abdominal bleeding, skin melting off and a lot of immediate cancer-like symptoms. Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the United Nations Environmental Program, says that the containers had many different kinds of waste, including "Uranium, radioactive waste, lead, cadmium, mercury and chemical waste." But this wasn't just a passing evil from one or two groups taking advantage of our unprotected waters, the UN Convoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, says that the practice still continues to this day."
http://www.alternet.org/story/136481/why_we_don%27t_condemn_our_pir...
" You Are Being Lied to About Pirates"
By Johann Hari, Monday, 5 January 2009
"Some are clearly just gangsters. But others are trying to stop illegal dumping and trawling"
"Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy – backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China – is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labelling as "one of the great menaces of our times" have an extraordinary story to tell – and some justice on their side.
Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" – from 1650 to 1730 – the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage Bluebeard that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often saved from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains Of All Nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence.
If you became a merchant or navy sailor then – plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry – you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked often, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages.
Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied – and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively, without torture. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls "one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century".
They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed "quite clearly – and subversively – that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal Navy." This is why they were romantic heroes, despite being unproductive thieves.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-har
i/joha...
NYT:
"Somali Pirates Tell Their Side: They Want Only Money"
"... The piracy industry started about 10 to 15 years ago, Somali officials said, as a response to illegal fishing. Somalia’s central government imploded in 1991, casting the country into chaos. With no patrols along the shoreline, Somalia’s tuna-rich waters were soon plundered by commercial fishing fleets from around the world. Somali fishermen armed themselves and turned into vigilantes by confronting illegal fishing boats and demanding that they pay a tax.
“From there, they got greedy,” said Mohamed Osman Aden, a Somali diplomat in Kenya. “They starting attacking everyone.”
By the early 2000s, many of the fishermen had traded in their nets for machine guns and were hijacking any vessel they could catch: sailboat, oil tanker, United Nations-chartered food ship.
“It’s true that the pirates started to defend the fishing business,” Mr. Mohamed said. “And illegal fishing is a real problem for us. But this does not justify these boys to now act like guardians. They are criminals. The world must help us crack down on them.”
The United States and several European countries, in particular France, have been talking about ways to patrol the waters together. The United Nations is even considering something like a maritime peacekeeping force. Because of all the hijackings, the waters off Somalia’s coast are considered the most dangerous shipping lanes in the world. ...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/world/africa/01pirates.htm
l?_r=2...
And you can tell an article written for people with a greater span of attention, even to a second language.
"'Toxic waste' behind Somali piracy"
By Najad Abdullahi
"... The Italian mafia controls an estimated 30 per cent of Italy's waste disposal companies, including those that deal with toxic waste.
In 1998, Famiglia Cristiana, an Italian weekly magazine, claimed that although most of the waste-dumping took place after the start of the civil war in 1991, the activity actually began as early as 1989 under the Barre government.
Beyond the ethical question of trying to secure a hazardous waste agreement in an unstable country like Somalia, the alleged attempt by Swiss and Italian firms to dump waste in Somalia would violate international treaties to which both countries are signatories.
Legal ramifications
Switzerland and Italy signed and ratified the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which came into force in 1992.
EU member states, as well as 168 other countries have also signed the agreement.
The convention prohibits waste trade between countries that have signed the convention, as well as countries that have not signed the accord unless a bilateral agreement had been negotiated.
It is also prohibits the shipping of hazardous waste to a war zone.
Abdi Ismail Samatar, professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota, told Al Jazeera that because an international coalition of warships has been deployed to the Gulf of Aden, the alleged dumping of waste must have been observed."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/20081091742
232186...
"Case Name: Somalia Waste Imports and Civil War"
..."The Deadly Trade: Toxic Waste Dumping in Africa." Africa Report
(September-October 1988).
"Africa: Wastebasket of the West." Business and Society Review
(Fall 1988).
Concern over Toxic Dumping." Times of Oman 12 (September 1992).
"Italian Firm Denies Somali Waste Deal." The Guardian (September
11, 1992).
"Italy Demands Inquiry on Toxic Waste Dumping in Somalia."
European Information Service (September 12, 1992).
"Italy Denies Export of Toxic Waste to Somalia." Agence France
Presse (September 14, 1992).
"Somalia: EC says it Cannot Stop Toxic Waste Dumping in Somalia."
Inter Press Service (September 30, 1992).
"Somalia: European Firms Dumping Toxic Wastes, UNEP to Probe."
Inter Press Service (September 10, 1992).
"Somalia: Italy Under Fire for Toxic Dumping Reports."
Inter Press Service (September 11, 1992).
"Somalia: OAU Concerned Over Toxic Waste Dumping." Inter Presse
Service (September 24, 1992).
"Somalia: UN, Evacuates Relief Workers, Denies Reports of Toxic
Waste Dumping" The British Broadcasting Service 3
(October 1992).
"Somali Government Allows Toxic Waste Dumping." Saudi Gazette
13 (September 1992).
"Switzerland asks UN help on Somalia Toxic Waste Links."
Reuters Limited (September 11, 1992).
"Toxic Terrorism invades Third World Nations." Black Enterprise
(November 1988).
"Toxic Waste Joins Somalia's List of Woes." Chicago Tribune
(September 11, 1992).
"Toxic Waste Shipment to Somalia Believed Aborted: UNEP." Agence
Presse France (October 6, 1992).
"Trans-Boundary Waste: UNEP Team Explores Dumping in Somalia."
Inter Press Service (September 30, 1992)...."
http://www1.american.edu/TED/ice/somwaste.htm
The European roots of Somali piracy
LEIGH PHILLIPS 21.04.2009
"While the world has been quick to deal with the issue of piracy – the same cannot be said for action to deal with the humanitarian catastrophe engulfing nearly half of Somalia's population. It's time to show the same urgency about alleviating the suffering of millions of people," Ms Pattison said."
http://euobserver.com/9/27966
"Why We Don't Condemn Our Pirates in Somalia"
By K'Naan , URB Magazine. Posted April 14, 2009.
Can anyone ever really be for piracy? Well in Somalia, the answer is: it's complicated. ...
"In 2004, after Tsunami washed ashore several leaking containers, thousand of locals in the Puntland region of Somalia started to complain of severe and previously unreported ailments, such as abdominal bleeding, skin melting off and a lot of immediate cancer-like symptoms. Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the United Nations Environmental Program, says that the containers had many different kinds of waste, including "Uranium, radioactive waste, lead, cadmium, mercury and chemical waste." But this wasn't just a passing evil from one or two groups taking advantage of our unprotected waters, the UN Convoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, says that the practice still continues to this day."
http://www.alternet.org/story/136481/why_we_don%27t_condemn_our_pir...
" You Are Being Lied to About Pirates"
By Johann Hari, Monday, 5 January 2009
"Some are clearly just gangsters. But others are trying to stop illegal dumping and trawling"
"Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy – backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China – is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labelling as "one of the great menaces of our times" have an extraordinary story to tell – and some justice on their side.
Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" – from 1650 to 1730 – the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage Bluebeard that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often saved from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains Of All Nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence.
If you became a merchant or navy sailor then – plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry – you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked often, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages.
Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied – and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively, without torture. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls "one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century".
They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed "quite clearly – and subversively – that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal Navy." This is why they were romantic heroes, despite being unproductive thieves.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-har
i/joha...
NYT:
"Somali Pirates Tell Their Side: They Want Only Money"
"... The piracy industry started about 10 to 15 years ago, Somali officials said, as a response to illegal fishing. Somalia’s central government imploded in 1991, casting the country into chaos. With no patrols along the shoreline, Somalia’s tuna-rich waters were soon plundered by commercial fishing fleets from around the world. Somali fishermen armed themselves and turned into vigilantes by confronting illegal fishing boats and demanding that they pay a tax.
“From there, they got greedy,” said Mohamed Osman Aden, a Somali diplomat in Kenya. “They starting attacking everyone.”
By the early 2000s, many of the fishermen had traded in their nets for machine guns and were hijacking any vessel they could catch: sailboat, oil tanker, United Nations-chartered food ship.
“It’s true that the pirates started to defend the fishing business,” Mr. Mohamed said. “And illegal fishing is a real problem for us. But this does not justify these boys to now act like guardians. They are criminals. The world must help us crack down on them.”
The United States and several European countries, in particular France, have been talking about ways to patrol the waters together. The United Nations is even considering something like a maritime peacekeeping force. Because of all the hijackings, the waters off Somalia’s coast are considered the most dangerous shipping lanes in the world. ...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/world/africa/01pirates.htm
l?_r=2...
And you can tell an article written for people with a greater span of attention, even to a second language.
"'Toxic waste' behind Somali piracy"
By Najad Abdullahi
"... The Italian mafia controls an estimated 30 per cent of Italy's waste disposal companies, including those that deal with toxic waste.
In 1998, Famiglia Cristiana, an Italian weekly magazine, claimed that although most of the waste-dumping took place after the start of the civil war in 1991, the activity actually began as early as 1989 under the Barre government.
Beyond the ethical question of trying to secure a hazardous waste agreement in an unstable country like Somalia, the alleged attempt by Swiss and Italian firms to dump waste in Somalia would violate international treaties to which both countries are signatories.
Legal ramifications
Switzerland and Italy signed and ratified the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which came into force in 1992.
EU member states, as well as 168 other countries have also signed the agreement.
The convention prohibits waste trade between countries that have signed the convention, as well as countries that have not signed the accord unless a bilateral agreement had been negotiated.
It is also prohibits the shipping of hazardous waste to a war zone.
Abdi Ismail Samatar, professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota, told Al Jazeera that because an international coalition of warships has been deployed to the Gulf of Aden, the alleged dumping of waste must have been observed."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/20081091742
232186...
"Case Name: Somalia Waste Imports and Civil War"
..."The Deadly Trade: Toxic Waste Dumping in Africa." Africa Report
(September-October 1988).
"Africa: Wastebasket of the West." Business and Society Review
(Fall 1988).
Concern over Toxic Dumping." Times of Oman 12 (September 1992).
"Italian Firm Denies Somali Waste Deal." The Guardian (September
11, 1992).
"Italy Demands Inquiry on Toxic Waste Dumping in Somalia."
European Information Service (September 12, 1992).
"Italy Denies Export of Toxic Waste to Somalia." Agence France
Presse (September 14, 1992).
"Somalia: EC says it Cannot Stop Toxic Waste Dumping in Somalia."
Inter Press Service (September 30, 1992).
"Somalia: European Firms Dumping Toxic Wastes, UNEP to Probe."
Inter Press Service (September 10, 1992).
"Somalia: Italy Under Fire for Toxic Dumping Reports."
Inter Press Service (September 11, 1992).
"Somalia: OAU Concerned Over Toxic Waste Dumping." Inter Presse
Service (September 24, 1992).
"Somalia: UN, Evacuates Relief Workers, Denies Reports of Toxic
Waste Dumping" The British Broadcasting Service 3
(October 1992).
"Somali Government Allows Toxic Waste Dumping." Saudi Gazette
13 (September 1992).
"Switzerland asks UN help on Somalia Toxic Waste Links."
Reuters Limited (September 11, 1992).
"Toxic Terrorism invades Third World Nations." Black Enterprise
(November 1988).
"Toxic Waste Joins Somalia's List of Woes." Chicago Tribune
(September 11, 1992).
"Toxic Waste Shipment to Somalia Believed Aborted: UNEP." Agence
Presse France (October 6, 1992).
"Trans-Boundary Waste: UNEP Team Explores Dumping in Somalia."
Inter Press Service (September 30, 1992)...."
http://www1.american.edu/TED/ice/somwaste.htm
1 Comment
-
Comment by Noor Anisa on August 9, 2009 at 5:34pm -
island of the zombies by piratas de dios
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