Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Protect the Xinane!

Two dozen officers tracked down and arrested one man, named as Joaquim Fadista. Mr. Fadista had already been detained in Brazil on trafficking charges and extradited to Peru. Officials believe Fadista was involved with a group trying to carve out new cross-border cocaine routes, or was working for loggers who covet the timber growing in the untouched forests where the group, called the Xinane, live. They are particularly worried at finding an arrow head in one of the trafficker’s abandoned backpacks.
Original Article

So here's a guy (Fadista) trying to do international trade and he doesn't care who gets exploited or who gets sacrificed in the process of maximizing his profits.  Doesn't that sound familiar?  Indeed, it should.  The only difference between this guy and sanctioned corporations is that corporations have permission to sell their goods.  And their goods don't have any "life-ground" litmus test.  For example,  people in the US think they are doing a great thing by recycling their old electronics. "These [recycling companies] typically go for the cheapest recycler to dispose of their collections and do not question, what exactly these firms do with the waste." (Article) But, this e-waste is shipped overseas and the wage slaves who sort through the "used goods" are exposed to toxins.  Does anyone measure the effects this exposure has on them?  Probably not, because very few actually care.

Pharmaceutical companies get to sell Oxycontin, perhaps the most infamous narcotic, and heaps of patients become addicted to them.  Is cocaine really that much more harmful?

Are junk food, fast food, and sodas any better?  That stuff is sold globally with few restrictions.  Loans are bought and sold.  Is that for the well-being of society?  We say cocaine can't be sold, but people still want it, so Fadista took up the cause of the free market and began selling his product to willing customers.  It just seems a bit self-serving to limit goods, not on the basis of what's healthy to society, but on the basis of who can extract profit.  And when I read the article about people and governments being so concerned about the Xinane, it screams of hypocrisy.  Are the poor people in a poor nation any less deserving of protection than people who use bows and arrows?  Apparently, the answer is, "yes."