When I was young(er), I had something with pirates, the Sea, the Freedom, tattoo’s, beautiful women (even then), and overall, they seemed to be alright, OK, there was some plundering and the occasional killing, but they stole from the people that stole from others (think VOC or imperial Britain, who enslaved and killed millions in the process), so all and all, they were, to me, the Robin Hood’s of the water.
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)
