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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2000)
Business as usual Investments routinely lack human rights considerations The challenge of the 21 st century is to place social and humanitarian objec tives above economic objectives. They are not one in the same. Economists and others in the busi ness college often argue that they are. They say a strong economy creates an equally strong and healthy society with the capacity to observe human rights. Note - this does not mean that they observe human rights. That kind of lan guage annoys them, unless, of course, you could put it into a grid shape that begins with the word “price” and ends in “quantity.” Now you’re speaking their language. I’m convinced that upon receiving a degree from CBA, you must join a secret capitalist misanthrope society that makes it taboo to speak of humani ty or human rights. For instance, what do our business friends say about corporate responsibil ity? What about their responsibility to claim right from wrong - to decide what is a moral investment vs. an immoral one? It is exactly this idea of a moral investment which they’ve forgotten about. Their lack of a moral consideration in investments epitomizes the history of financial relations with underdevel oped nations. Take the case of Africa. Almost every country, not to mention the gen eral history of the continent, has a gut wrenching story of human suffering for Westerners’ profit. In Nigeria, in the southeastern Niger Delta region, the Ogoni people are blessed with an abundance of oil. In fact there’s so much oil that investment agents in Shell, Texaco and Mobil have decided to take it from them without any compensation. The oil companies, in collaboration with what was a despotic and illegiti mate government, signed concessions securing government payoffs for cor porate ownership of Ogoni land. When the tens of thousands of Ogoni demanded some compensation for their land and oil, Shell had their homes razed to the ground, their lead ers executed and other activists tor tured, imprisoned and maimed in what appeared to be a premeditated contrac tual agreement with government “secu rity forces.” first to lock down a major deal on southern Sudanese oil with the north ern government. They surreptitiously constructed a mutually inclusive agree ment that not only gave them full power to their protect oil investment with deadly force if necessary, but the ability to displace local tribes of wandering nomads with gun ships and artillery fire. states delivered more man j l .0 billion worth of weaponry to Africa, making it No. 1 in global weapons exports (www.africapolicy.oig). In this optimistic time of nation building and promised prosperity for Africa, what kind of human rights con siderations could U.S. arms dealers possibly have had? Should they not be tried also as partially responsible for the civil wars and genocides those weapons have perpetuated? The fact is, many of me top U.S. arms clients - including Indonesia, Israel, Iraq and in Africa, Liberia, Somalia, the Sudan and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of me Congo or DRC) - have turned out to be me top basket cases of me 1990s in terms of violence, instability and economic col lapse. have continually invaded and defended diamonds under various corporate flags. For the Angolans, it’s meant 35 years of war, terror, rebel raids and work camps. For the diamond compa nies, it’s meant money, money, money! Sierre Leone has a similar yet dis turbingly more graphic story of rebel guerrillas, diamonds and mining com panies. If anyone has seen the recent CNN documentary “Cry Freetown,” he or she knows exactly the pictures I’m about to describe. In Sierre Leone, the rebel group Revolutionary United Front, which is supported, financed and backed by some of the world’s largest diamond mining companies, has chopped off- the hands of some 50,000 people. RUF pays particularly close atten tion to the hands of children, as they are the ones who will have the power to vote in the future, once democracy is restored. The group also seems to have a history of burning out the eyes of lit tle girls with blowtorches, after they’ve been raped, of course. You certainly can’t criticize their efficiency. It is awfully hard to vote without hands and eyes. On a hypocritical note, it’s nice to know that if I want to sell out to the cor porate life, there will always be a job for me in international finance locating new, disempowered and desperate regions of the world where we can avoid expensive corporate responsibili ty with high yield, ammoral invest ments. Economic development often requires foreign investment. But shouldn’t all investments require a comprehensive and holistic considera tion for human rights and social impli cations? This is the challenge of the 21st century. Shell operations (are) still impossible unless ruthless military operations are undertaken for smooth economic activities to commence. Witness the Congo, perhaps the world’s most resource-endowed coun try, now driven to complete chaos and collapse because the United States installed and supported the rule of the ruthless dictator Mobutu. For 26 years, with U.S. support, Mobutu stole tens of billions of dollars from his country and deposited it into his Swiss account. For 26 years, with U.S. support, Mobutu mercilessly mas sacred his own people, erected million dollar shrines to himself and pro claimed himself president for life. And for 26 years, in return, Mobufr granted mining concessions to U.S. firms for Zairian diamonds. The inter national investment lobbyists who seem to control foreign policy must be held accountable for the repercussions of their actions. Diamonds have played an increas ingly key role in human suffering in Africa. In Angola the diamonds have been the fuel for a violent civil war that has lasted 35 years. Local warlords A memorandum between Shell and the police force explicitly explains Shell’s consideration of human rights and moral investments: “(further) Shell operations (are) still impossible unless ruthless military operations are under taken for smooth economic activities to commence” (Human Rights Watch, 1999). Recently, a great deal of oil was found in the southern regions of the Sudan. Southern Sudan also has no political representation to lobby for its causes, as the north has all political power. This scenario has existed and does exist in various parts of the world and repeatedly produces exploitative investments and human rights abuses - or, in CBA terms “high return on assets and profit margin potential” (International Business 101). Canada’s Talisman Inc., one of the world’s biggest oil producers, was the This despicable violation of a pow erless people for the sake of profit and greed is made that much easier by the devaluation of the “primitive” lifestyle of those who are displaced and ignored As one local recently put it, “Did the Canadian oil company ask our permis sion to take our oil, and sell it?” (http://www.afficapolicy.org). Social and moral repercussions are often ignored equally in our govern ment’s trade considerations, particular ly in regards to U.S. arms dealers. These dealers bear heavy responsi bility for the cycles of violence and economic problems plaguing Africa. Throughout the Cold War, the United David Baker is a senior African studies, anthropology, and sociology major and a Daily Nebraskan columninst. Sit down, shut up Contrary to their belief, boomers not beneficial to class Today, in my ridiculous literature class (I won’t mention the name of it for fear of being horribly beaten by well meaning, sane people), the class boomer gave his two cents on anachronism Oh, yeah, the I See Only boomer. You know ^ this kid. Every one clear class of less than 30 people has one. Plan Of Sometimes he r J even shows up in action. We lecture classes. He s that over must destroy Sh'“^ these insipid wreakers of *n"asft; mpntnl those of us with generously sized hnvnr Whpn Postienors)- He navoc. VV nen usually sits incon .7 spicuously in the ine second or third 7 .. row, trying to revolution throw brown-nose 7 haters off the scent COWieS, trie and ingratiate him 7 *77 self with us normal boomers Will kids who just don’t 7 7 want any trouble. be the Jirst These kids . 7 were usually against the debaters in high 11 school, which Wall! would explain not only the tremen dous decibels at which they speak, but also their inevitable daily attempt to grill the professor on some obscure topic which has nothing to do with the lecture. Here is my advice to boomers: First, unless you are at least a grad student, don’t even think about challenging the professor on the subject at hand; second, don’t pull the “obscure fact” card - you’re only hurting yourself; third, get a haircut. The boomer in my class, or as Hike to call him, Le Grand Cochan, today actual ly uttered the phrase from his fat, greasy lips: “Feminism in this book is anachro nistic.” Anyone who feels it is necessary to introduce the well-covered debate of anachronism simply so he can use the dime word has serious scholastic issues. And last time I checked, feminism was the belief that women should be treated equally. I don’t care if a book is set during the Ice Age, chances are there were a few women who, although they didn’t have an “-ism” for their beliefs, thought equality was a pretty good thing. Here’s what kills me, though. Regardless of how inane the boomer’s comments are, I am incapable of simply ignoring them and writing them off as idiocy. Mentally, I struggle with their intel lectual heresy until I’m on the brink of madness (this may explain why I’m in that literature class). So now I feel com pelled to bore readers with my acidic crit icisms. You see the vicious cycle emerg ing. Well dear readers, I see only one clear plan of action. We must destroy these insipid wreakers of mental havoc. When the revolution comes, the boomers will be the first against the wall! Only then can order be restored to the hierarchical world of academe. Yes, we must put these n’er do wells in their place by any means necessary. And to all die boomers out there: No one wants to hear your jargon-filled rhetoric and your ear-drum-shattering voice. And buy some new pants. r David Jane/DN Francesca Petty is a senior news-editorial major and a Daily Nebraskan guest columnist