Oil, Immigration, and Greed

Back home, 3 major events have happened recently. Epic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the state of Arizona passed a blatantly racist immigration law, and Obama nominated a new Supreme Court Justice. All of these things would be consuming my life were I back home surrounded by CNN and my restaurant patrons reading me the newspaper every morning. Not to mention I would probably be sitting around drinking wine and/or coffee debating the reprocussions of such issues with people, who, like myself, will never be directly effected by such crisis. In regards to the oil spill and the Arizona law,  I have been thinking about the relationship of the US to the rest of the developing world. From where I sit here in El Salvador I have a small window to see the imbalance and inequality. From this perspective, all I can see is greed and irresponsibility on the part of both corporate heads and our supposed government regulatary bodies.

Company builds oil rig. Government is in bed with company, therefore doesn´t enforce regulations. Company is not accountable for safety precautions. Oil rig malfunctions. Workers die. People start pointing fingers. Oil begins to spill into the ocean by the thousands of gallons. People continue to point fingers. No one has a feasible plan. Oil continues to poor into the Ocean. Fish, turtles, and Birds turn up dead. Pundits blame Obama. Oil continues to to spill into the Gulf.

Company X shows up to El Salvador to mine a mountain. Company X takes minimal precautions to protect the environment while mining. The runoff from the mining kills the fish and pollutes the water system:the life source. El Sal Government finds out and takes away the mining permit. Company X decides to sue the government of ES for billions of dollars in lost profits under CAFTA.

Corporations are greedy and the law treats them as citizens with rights. However,  when one person´s right infringes on another person´s rights, like the right to life (como agua) it seems to me like the person with more money wins i.e. the corporation.

It doesn´t matter if all  all of El Salvador is covered with churritos bags and agua en bolsa which then run off into the lakes that are then polluted with chemicals from mining runoff and then the people go to the lake and catch fish with cancer and then eat them. The people at the top will continue to seek the bottom line, profit.

There is alot we can do as volunteers here in the form of grassroots organizing and day to day health education. We can educate people to seek a better future for the next generation, and that is what we are fighting for. However, it is very discouraging to look back home and see that the root of all of these problems is that the developed world continues to exploit the developing world.

We, the industrialized world, are the ones with the education and the knowledge. We know better, supposedly. However from where I sit, it sure doesn´t look like it. If we know better, and we are still behaving in a way that takes the right for something as simple as clean water away from our fellow human beings, what does that say? That sounds like evil on purpose, and I am not okay with that.

Chelsea