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A SPECIAL ISSUE ON CRISIS AND RECONSTRUCTION
A SPECIAL ISSUE ON CRISIS AND RECONSTRUCTION
Article published by: Focus on the Global South
http://www.focusweb.org/main/html/Article588.html?POSTNUKESID=1e008fd659c8888ddc57db2c44f61ea7
In this issue of Focus on Trade, Indra Lubis and Isabelle Delforge report from Aceh on the impact of the tsunami on local agriculture and explore the potential impact of foreign food aid on local producers, the Indonesian governments efforts to protect its domestic market, and long-term food sovereignty. In a different context, but not without similarities, Ben Moxham looks at the recently reported starvation deaths in East Timor and traces the centuries-old continuity between occupation and starvation that persists even today.
The third article by Shalmali Guttal is a comprehensive weaving-together of twenty years of post-conflict reconstruction. Looking at the experiences of Haiti, Cambodia, East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq, Nicaragua and El Salvador, she shows that countries subjected to a reconstruction regime of economic rationalism and democratisation face growing social and economic disparities and that, for many, peace with justice is still a dream. Guttal goes even further and argues that by ensuring continuing state failure, the reconstruction model guarantees that countries become the burden of the international community and thereby hostage to whatever form of intervention this community decides.
The post-conflict reconstruction paradigm that Guttal describes could well be the template for post-tsunami reconstruction in Asia. Indeed, the global elite has a tremendous aptitude for maximising its opportunities post crisis -- whether its post-financial, post-dictatorship, post-conflict, post-coup, post-Communism, post-war or post-occupation. (Indeed, post- (fill in the blank) means nothing more than pre-neo-liberal.)
Post-tsunami reconstruction will be another chance for them to trot out this dangerous and out-dated model. This time, however, there will be some resistance, both from national governments who have their own interests to protect and from local communities, grassroots organisations and social movements who are increasingly wary of the promises of those selling neo-liberal snake-oil. If you are interested in supporting some of these groups, the UK magazine Red Pepper has compiled a list of local unions, social movements, political groups, NGOs and grassroots organisations in the tsunami-affected countries. The address is http://www.redpepper.org.uk/tsunami.htm
Find this article : http://www.focusweb.org/main/html/Article588.html?POSTNUKESID=1e008fd659c8888ddc57db2c44f61ea7
Article published by: Focus on the Global South
http://www.focusweb.org/main/html/Article588.html?POSTNUKESID=1e008fd659c8888ddc57db2c44f61ea7
In this issue of Focus on Trade, Indra Lubis and Isabelle Delforge report from Aceh on the impact of the tsunami on local agriculture and explore the potential impact of foreign food aid on local producers, the Indonesian governments efforts to protect its domestic market, and long-term food sovereignty. In a different context, but not without similarities, Ben Moxham looks at the recently reported starvation deaths in East Timor and traces the centuries-old continuity between occupation and starvation that persists even today.
The third article by Shalmali Guttal is a comprehensive weaving-together of twenty years of post-conflict reconstruction. Looking at the experiences of Haiti, Cambodia, East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq, Nicaragua and El Salvador, she shows that countries subjected to a reconstruction regime of economic rationalism and democratisation face growing social and economic disparities and that, for many, peace with justice is still a dream. Guttal goes even further and argues that by ensuring continuing state failure, the reconstruction model guarantees that countries become the burden of the international community and thereby hostage to whatever form of intervention this community decides.
The post-conflict reconstruction paradigm that Guttal describes could well be the template for post-tsunami reconstruction in Asia. Indeed, the global elite has a tremendous aptitude for maximising its opportunities post crisis -- whether its post-financial, post-dictatorship, post-conflict, post-coup, post-Communism, post-war or post-occupation. (Indeed, post- (fill in the blank) means nothing more than pre-neo-liberal.)
Post-tsunami reconstruction will be another chance for them to trot out this dangerous and out-dated model. This time, however, there will be some resistance, both from national governments who have their own interests to protect and from local communities, grassroots organisations and social movements who are increasingly wary of the promises of those selling neo-liberal snake-oil. If you are interested in supporting some of these groups, the UK magazine Red Pepper has compiled a list of local unions, social movements, political groups, NGOs and grassroots organisations in the tsunami-affected countries. The address is http://www.redpepper.org.uk/tsunami.htm
Find this article : http://www.focusweb.org/main/html/Article588.html?POSTNUKESID=1e008fd659c8888ddc57db2c44f61ea7
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