Monday, October 31, 2005
Camping at Walmart
Globalization siezes to amaze me as much as it has engulfed me. Tonight my grandparents stopped by on the way to florida (yet more snow birds offering thier trailer to the hurricane gods). So they call us up and tell us to meet them in the Walmart parking lot as the trailer is too big for the city streets. So we arrive and they have a whole set up ready to go. My grandma goes and buys cookies and water in Walmart. The boys hang out in the camper and drink beer. If it was sunny, we would of set up four frickin chairs in the parking lot and hooked up the BBQ. Instead we wondered to the Boston Pizza on the other side of the lot. I tell you, there is something totally wierd about stumblin out of somebody's house after a few pops and finding your self among a swarm of families shopping...how out of place you feel. "Hey, who put that damn shopping cart in front of the door?" The reality is that Walmart has found another way to attract customers and kill local businesses. While the trailers pile up at walmarts accross continental North America, the trailer parks go bankrupt and the local businesses are blurred by the parking lots lights. In Whitehorse, Yukon, Walmart has set up plugs and water points for the trailers. The zombie travellers flock there cause it is free and convienient. Personally, I understand the reasoning behind it, but it is still fucked up.
Friday, October 07, 2005
Self reflection and self-judgement are probably the two hardest things that a person, an institution or an entire discipline can do. This is certainly true of the development paradigm and hence the theme of this submission. The past two years in East Africa studying development studies, conducting research and working and volunteering for development organizations has taught me the realities of developmet intervention. I once wrote of "development gone awry" and post-development argues that "development stands as a ruin on the intellectual landscape," but what does this mean? I have seen many human made miracles, mostly at the grass roots level and those experiences inspire me in my profession, but I have also seen alot of, well, bullshit. "Experts" who run entire development programs, but have never been to the villages where they are implemented, lavish spending on land cruisers, conferences, needless air travel, hotels, fancy meals, and just plain old misuse of funds...read: CORRUPTION. I cannot say that I stand outside of this critism, and I think that is why these words are on this page. I can't get out of my mind the night I met these guys in Tanzania during the rainy season. They were digging a trench in the middle of a river where cars crossed and they told me the best thing the NGO community has done for them is get stuck with thier land cruisers because they pay 20 dollars to get pulled out. That conversation serves as an echo of reality. Enjoy the poem below.
The Development Set
Ross Coggins
Excuse me, friends, I must catch my jet
–I’m off to join the Development Set;
My bags are packed, and I’ve had all my shots,
I have travellers’ cheques and pills for the trots.
The Development Set is bright and noble,
Our thoughts are deep and our vision global;
Although we move with the better classes,
Our thoughts are always with the masses.
In Sheraton hotels in scattered nations,
We damn multinational corporations;
Injustice seems so easy to protest,
In such seething hotbeds of social rest.
We discuss malnutrition over steaks
And plan hunger talks during coffee breaks.
Whether Asian floods or African drought,
We face each issue with an open mouth.
We bring in consultants whose circumlocution
Raises difficulties for every solution –
Thus guaranteeing continued good eating
By showing the need for another meeting.
The language of the Development Set,
Stretches the English alphabet;
We use swell words like ‘epigenetic’‘Micro’, ‘Macro’ and ‘logarithmetic’.
Development Set homes are extremely chic,
Full of carvings, curios and draped with batik.
Eye-level photographs subtly assure
That your host is at home with the rich and the poor.
Enough of these verses – on with the mission!
Our task is as broad as the human condition!
Just pray to God the biblical promise is true:
The poor ye shall always have with you.
The Development Set
Ross Coggins
Excuse me, friends, I must catch my jet
–I’m off to join the Development Set;
My bags are packed, and I’ve had all my shots,
I have travellers’ cheques and pills for the trots.
The Development Set is bright and noble,
Our thoughts are deep and our vision global;
Although we move with the better classes,
Our thoughts are always with the masses.
In Sheraton hotels in scattered nations,
We damn multinational corporations;
Injustice seems so easy to protest,
In such seething hotbeds of social rest.
We discuss malnutrition over steaks
And plan hunger talks during coffee breaks.
Whether Asian floods or African drought,
We face each issue with an open mouth.
We bring in consultants whose circumlocution
Raises difficulties for every solution –
Thus guaranteeing continued good eating
By showing the need for another meeting.
The language of the Development Set,
Stretches the English alphabet;
We use swell words like ‘epigenetic’‘Micro’, ‘Macro’ and ‘logarithmetic’.
Development Set homes are extremely chic,
Full of carvings, curios and draped with batik.
Eye-level photographs subtly assure
That your host is at home with the rich and the poor.
Enough of these verses – on with the mission!
Our task is as broad as the human condition!
Just pray to God the biblical promise is true:
The poor ye shall always have with you.
