I would like to propose a new idea.

Let’s start a movement (petition wise or something) that raises votes to abolish the arms industry. Completely shut it down, I mean, you can’t wage war if there’s no weapons to do so with, and if you still want to, you can go at each other with sticks and knifes or something, no longer bothering innocent people with your bullocks.

The idea to push governments to shut down the investment in weapons and closing down the military seems reasonably impossible and –no doubt, people’ll start calling me a short-sighted idealist again. Then first of I’d like to point them to the philosophical argument of being an idealist (because I agree, I am one, yet not a short-sighted one), which would be idealism is; the philosophical theory that maintains that the ultimate nature of reality is based on mind or ideas.

-So, if a realist would come to me and argue of safety, I’d challenge him or her to quantify safety as an independent entity. Safety is a psychological entity that only exists in ideas or mind. I assure you that by abolishing the weapons industry we will be ‘safer’ as there are lesser external threads on the internal concept of safety. So that’s point one, point two would be that the world is more and more connected, and more and more people seem willing to overcome nationality, background, or ‘cultural heritage’ in favour of collaborating, discussing and creating a world that is ‘one’. Making it increasingly viable to –well, just give it a try. Governments are to be (especially in countries that claim to be democratic) subject to the people, and this would be an interesting chance to see whether or not we truly do live in a democracy.

Who’s with me?

Join the facebook group please.

I can’t say I have lost that sympathy for people that call themselves Pirates, now I am supposedly somewhat educated and ‘grown-up’ (although I do deny the latter).

And pirates are hot news, after Johnny Depp’s performance in the 3-piece Pirates of the Caribbean, people got the hots for pirates, with dress-up parties, Facebook themes, pirate language sprouting out of mouths you would not expects it to sprout from. But now, the the imperialists have started killing pirates again, and I think we’re on the verge of something interesting, in two ways.

The first group of pirates I’m addressing here are the ones in Somalia (and greater east coast of Africa). The recent taking hostage of several ‘Westerners’ and their ships, has led to increased (military) presence of western countries in one of the most impoverished countries in the World. (Call for improvement from within Somalia by Abdi-Noor Hadji Mohammed & a report by WorldVision (UK-based organisation).

The current ‘road of violence’ of these former fishermen (because that is what they are), comes from a history of ‘interesting’ developments. As most of you know, I think, we Westerners like out fish for dinner (and lunch). We have the luxury of choice when it comes to food, which is a different story for the fishermen in Somalia. After decades of internal war, Somalia sees itself faced with a collapsing local economy, polluted waters (more on that in a bit) and as a result, more violence (vicious circle?).

So, internal wars, why bother ‘our’ transport and fishing boats with that? Ehm, well, for instance, having Africa’s largest coastal line, means fishing is one of the countries biggest economical inputs. And fishing, with the ‘developed’ countries having over-fished their own waters, is something that results into fish, and we like our tuna sandwich and sashimi, so we go and get it. In the last decade, the amount of countries exploiting the internal dismal in Somalia and fishing in ‘their’ waters, is large. (article) The list includes countries such as China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Honduras, India, Italy and Japan. This, to me, sounds slightly ‘off’ as a country so dependent on fishing for it’s food-supply, should be given the opportunity to use it’s own resources to the fullest and not be raped by countries that, through their own wrong-doing, have a greater need for our sea’s creatures.

That’s one part of the story, the other is that there seem to be an increased number of deaths through poisoning in Somalia. Allegedly, this is caused by illegal and ‘legal’ (nuclear) waste dumping in the coastal waters of Somalia. There is a lot of ‘proof’ for this (here, here and here). The problem with these allocations is that nobody admits the dumps, almost nobody gives them as background information when it comes to reporting on the current ‘pirate-violence’ (please note that the Somali pirates have so far not killed a single person in taking them hostage, although this might soon change).

It might be an idea for us ‘little-people’ to simply ignore the mass-media hysteria that is about to break loose (mark my words, as soon as they killed a Westerner it’s going to be a big one), think twice about the fish you buy (try to eat locally caught fish, you will spare yourself the ethical question of whether you are eating the flesh of the ribs of a starving nation, AND (this is a popular one I’m sure) you help your local economy, and we all know we ‘need’ it)

By getting these pieces of information ‘out there’ I hope people will take the news of ‘piracy’ towards ‘our’ boats with a grain of salt, this is a problem created by the West and, as with a lot of things, attempted to be fixed by brutal force, murder and economic suffocation. With the increased accessibility of information from within a country, we ‘the little people’ have a chance to ignore the ever increasing preset paradigm that is created for us by our governments.. (and not in a ‘conspiracy kind of way but simply because ‘political agenda’s are to be met and continued no matter what (look at Afghanistan, or the Israel-Palestine conflict)) The fact is humanity has only one protector, and that is human behaviour. At the point where we keep buying into the supposed crimes of people that are, and have been, exploited in benefit of (Western) economic growth, we will at some point be unable to stop the ‘us’ & ‘them’ paradigm and I think will dwindle in the wind, sooner or later. It is simple, we are all one part of this planet, despite colour, race, geographical location or belief.

To end on a ‘grassroots’ note, this is what Somali-Canadian K’naan, who is AlterNet’s poet, rapper, and musician, has to say on the subject.

“It is time that the world gave the Somali people some assurance that these Western illegal activities will end, if our pirates are to seize their operations. We do not want the EU and NATO serving as a shield for these nuclear waste-dumping hoodlums. It seems to me that this new modern crisis is a question of justice, but also a question of whose justice. As is apparent these days, one man’s pirate is another man’s coast guard.”

I wish all love and peace, pirates included.

(P.S. I set out on this post to write about the other pirates too, PirateBay, yet this’ll come somewhere during the week)