I found this wonderful quote on dams in the book "The Indigenous Voice."
"Development" plans which destroy Native peoples and lands are often rationalized on the basis that "a few sometimes have to make sacrifices for the larger population." Aside from the questionable morality of placing the "right" of a large people to electric toothbrushes and air conditioners over the right of a small people to survive, there are other considerations which are usually not mentioned. The "6,000 Crees vs. 6,000,000 Quebeckers" rationalization is used to hide the fact that "development" is not promoted for the good of the larger population but for the power and profits of a few, and that in the long run, the larger population pays the penalties as well.
Gayle High Pine, referring specifically to the James Bay hydro-project in Quebec, quoted from Akwesasne Notes, Akwesasne, late Spring 1978, p. 24.
As CAFTA has been ratified and the United States is extending its grasp on the resources and economies of our southerly neighbors, please take this message into account as you consume and as you vote. Hundreds of dams from Mexico to Panama have been proposed and/or are in the works to provide electricity for exportation to the United States. Instead of building new dams, we should implement energy conservation/reduction strategies. Just a little food for thought.
One Proposed Dam Site
Dos Montanas, Pacuare River
The Simple Life Riverside
Cabecar Indians, Costa Rica
Save the Rivers, Save the People
Sylvia, Cabecar matriarch and friend
About Me
Fishing for Machaca
Salta de Bobo, Upper Pacuare
3 comments:
I think it's always a good exercise to think about who benefits from "progress." It's important to give voice to the voiceless: the environment, the disenfranchised, and future generations.
You're reading the right stuff, but among the difficult things is drawing a connection between what you're reading and what you know to be the case in the field: It's a major sort of disconnect that isn't always an easy issue to resolve.
... and the food's tasty, though a little spare, of late. It'd be great to see more of what you're working on, in an informal basis. Remember, pictures and words matter!
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