Is this the Perfect World?

On September 10, 2007 I got an e-mail from the Humane Society, asking for support for a global demonstration against dolphin slaughter in Japan. I looked up the information and found that dolphins are being killed in horrible and cruel ways I could never have imagined. I could not stand watching the videos on the slaughters without doing something about it. I felt I had to make myself heard and do something to change that situation. I immediately picked up the phone and talked to several friends that I knew cared about animals and the environment. All of them said they would definitely support me but did nothing. Instead, I ended up doing everything by myself. I did not sleep for a week, wrote letters, made posters, called radio stations, prepared talks, sent e-mails and did all sort of things that I knew were going to get more people to participate.

Things went well at the end, from 700 people I talked or wrote to, about 50 actually showed up, and the rest of them either did not answer my letters or wrote me back asking me things like: Why are you doing this? Don’t you have better things to do? Why are you trying to interfere with the economic development of Japan? Some friends actually said that it was embarrassing for them to know me and receive those e-mails. With this, I realized something: I was not letting others think for myself, even less, letting the abstract and elusive market think and decide for myself. Why is it that some people my age do not seem interested in what is going on, and even less in doing something about it like past generations did? Why is it that most of them oppose the war and discrimination, are concerned with global warming, but are not willing to actually do something about it? How can we aspire to have a perfect world if we do not take a step to make it ourselves?

Mark Edmundson shows in his essay “On the uses of Liberal Education” that college students today lack the enthusiasm of their parents’ generation due to the consumerist society that creates an environment without any challenges for them. According to him, this generation seems unable to think outside the box and stand out for its convictions; in fact, they seem to completely accept the world they live in, and see education as a necessary step to “self-improvement, résumé building, and enrichment” (2). All they have to do is to keep up with the good work to be competitive and successful.

He identifies this “consumer Weltanschauung” (2) in the way students behave towards the authority and even the way they socialize outside an academic environment. In class, Edmundson claims, they always agree with the teacher, no matter what he thinks, and the only reason why they would not like a class, is because the teacher is boring. He believes that they are “more devoted to consumption and entertainment” than to the actual content of the class. I believe that it is not only a matter of boring and entertaining classes, but of awareness of a challenging world beyond their small comfortable group of friends and family. In my high school we had to take every year around eight core classes and one or two extra electives, my schoolmates would sign themselves in those classes where the teachers would not give them any homework or not even check if they were doing something. They did not even choose their classes for fun, I remember some of them falling asleep whenever the teacher was not around, skipping classes because they said it was not going to help them anyways, most of them only cared about going through homework as fast as possible to go out and party.

I say my generation is the “Party Generation”; I am also part of it. Going out and having fun with friends is not bad, but the problem comes as Edmundson mentions, when we care so much about having fun that we do not even seem aware of moral and ethical issues that need a voice and action.

He emphasizes that the problem is not that my generation lacks intelligence, but we just do not have the need to think, since we have had everything we have needed, and as Brook says on his essay “The Organization Kid”, all we have to do in life is climb the “meritocratic” (3) system we have been raised up in. “Consumption is the ultimate mechanism for co-optation. People will not risk their comfortable surroundings and life-styles for a cause that seems (is) far removed from their immediate reality.” (Rivera, Alberto. Personal interview. 1 February 2008.) Why would we need to think differently and question the professors’ lectures if what will make us succeed and be happy is getting good grades and being socially accepted? The answer Edmundson mentions several times “On The Uses of a Liberal Education” is that the thing we fear the most is “intellectual work” and “confrontation”.

Other than being cool with what we have, how are we not going to suppress ourselves when increasing scientific and technological advances are aimed to uniform and control behavior? Ritalin is telling an example. “[K]ids whose behavior subverts efficient learning are medicated so that they and their classmates can keep pace…” (Brooks, The Organization Kid, page 8). But what is the behavior we expect? “Methylphenidate is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, which means that it increases the level of the dopamine neurotransmitter in the brain by partially blocking the transporters that remove it from the synapses. Ritalin lowers the normal action and thinking process”. In common words, it inhibits the response time and the thinking process itself. What to think of a society that allows (encourages?) people to think less (do not question or adequately react to complex situations).

In the other hand, we have technological breakthroughs like The GemTrack GPS Child Locator that “enables parents learn (sic) the precise location of their children with a few Internet keystrokes or simply by placing a phone call. Great for Children 10 and older.” (http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/geminitracking-gps-child-locator.html) The device also alerts parents when their children are leaving their defined area, just like home rest criminals. Teenagers on probation for minor law violations are often required to wear such device, and they are tracked day and night by police and family for not following rules. What is going on? This kind of control does not promote communication among family members or members of a community, therefore it acts only on the symptom but not on the source of the social disease which likely lie precisely in lifestyles that reduce or eliminate interaction and communication among people. It is only another expression of consumerism in society but again, we do not need to care about the cause of problems not apparent in a world where everything is in order.

Questioning things not only requires effort on our part, but it also has a social cost: anybody with different ideas is seen as a threat, so people are petrified at letting others know what they think. It has even got to the point were people think that “liberal-arts education is in crisis because universities have been invaded by professors with peculiar ideas” (Edmundson 2) different from those of the mainstream culture. If individuals with challenging ideas do not exist, how are we going to change things that are not working? Holding on to the things we have been doing will keep us in an eternal cycle where things that do not work keep on working that way. As my favorite Chinese proverb says, “If we keep on going in the direction we are heading, we will get there”. So it is crucial for education and society to have people that actually stand up and question our common believes and the status quo.

Edmundson claims that exposing students to different ideas and situations will not bring up any questioning from them, in contrast with what other educators think. What students actually do, faced with these situations is simply to say how fun, interesting, good or bad these ideas are; instead of critically showing how this or that affects us, and proposing ways to change it. In contrast with my parents’ activist generation that protested against the Vietnam War and other world dilemmas, my generation is a rather passive, navel gazing generation hoping to retain their sheltered and comfortable lives.

An example of this can be seen in everyday English classes, as it happened to me a few days ago. We were given the papers of two or three classmates to comment on them, and criticize their arguments as well as correcting grammatical and spelling errors. I finished my paper and right after handing it in, I started to feel uneasy about it, because I thought that instead of criticizing, as it was a Critical Response assignment, I was only summarizing the author’s point of view. I corrected my classmates’ and got mine corrected as well. I was expecting to get some harsh comments on my lack of critical analysis, my spelling, grammar and structure, but instead I got two or three marks showing me spelling errors, and comments saying that my anecdotes were interesting and funny, the same that happened to Mark Edmundson, during the teacher evaluation day. Either we are too politically correct, because later on I found too many errors and problems with my writing, or we are not interested on thinking and questioning other people’s arguments.

I am stunned. I have always been aware of a certain lack of participation and superficiality, especially in my generation, but this vicious cycle Emundson portrays “On the uses of a Liberal Education” scares me. Education changes as it increasingly becomes part of the market, and the demand for entertainment augments, leading to schools investing more in sports and clubs, and becoming more flexible with course requirements, like the example Edmundson gives of eliminating Greek and Latin classes from the Classics Department, because of the lack of interest. What is this? I thought education was supposed to develop in us independent critical skills to become responsible citizens and prepare us for whichever career or occupation we may have in the future. If this continues like this, who will lead us in the important changes that will have to take place in the near future? How are we going to redefine the world we live in if all we know is more of the same?

Femicide; Guatemala

Violence in Guatemala is part of the daily facts. It would seem like nothing surprises Guatemalans, not kidnappings, assaults, rapes or even murders. According to the United Nations Development Program Statistical Report on Violence the homicide rate in Guatemala in 2006 stood at 47 per each 10,000 population; what we do not see in these numbers is that more than 80% of the victims are women. Often TV news displays the corpses of women who have been tortured, raped and marked. The amount and frequency by which theses types of crimes happen, has led them to be named femicides, but just the way it appears on the news each morning, the crimes are forgotten that same evening. Homicides and femicides are both murders and should be given the same attention, but it is important to recognize that femicides in Guatemalan society are violent gender-based crimes against women that send a message to them that they are of no value and that they better keep to their traditional roles.

The word femicide means the murder of women, but it is not used for just any kind of murder. This type of crime refers to “killings characterized by extreme viciousness often involving rape, torture, mutilation and dismemberment” (UNPF 1). It is a especially vicious and gender based crime; women are not only murdered but also tortured, marked and sexually abused before dying, “by contrast to male murder victims, who are almost always killed by firearm” (Saver). The crime is not only a violent murder, but the way it is perpetuated sends a strong message about the value of women in the particular society where it happens.

In June 12, 2004, the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre had an article on the murder of the 17-year-old woman Andrea Fabiola Contreras Bacaro; for which the description of the crime included sexual abuse and torture.

She was found with her hands tied in a plastic bag which had been thrown into a ditch used as a rubbish dump. Her throat had been cut, she had wounds and cuts on her face and chest and she had been shot at close range in the head. She had been raped; her plastic sandals, white blouse and underclothes were found next to her body (Parliament 3).

The crime had not been perpetrated with the sole purpose of getting rid of the victim, but also sexually abuse and torture her, then dump her like a piece of garbage. “Femicide is said to be a result from a climate of generalized violence and discrimination against women and leading to the attitude that ‘women’ are expendable and can be routinely used abused and discarded” (Parliament 4).

The feminist activist, specialized in the topic of femicide Marcela Lagarde explains it as “a hate crime against women, a misogynous crime forged by the enormous social and state tolerance of gender violence” (Parliament 6). The reason why it is classified as a gender-based crime is because the sex of the victim seems to be an important factor in the crime, influencing the reasons and motives, the context in which it is perpetrated, as well as the type of violence that women suffer.

Another important characteristic of femicide is the impunity of the crimes, the lack of punishment to the perpetrators. In Guatemala the impunity comes on one hand from the common people, their values and traditions, and on the other hand, from the State that has an inefficient and corrupt judicial system, and the Government’s lack of attention to this issue. There is a common “perception that violence against women and especially domestic violence is not a serious crime” (Parliament 5). The Guatemalan Ex Vice President Eduardo Stein said to the press that the government was having problems gathering statistics and that after all “the same level of violence exists in other Latin American countries” (Saver). The country’s administration plays a major role in the impunity of the crimes. There is no interest on researching and investigating crimes, and there is no sex-disaggregated data in official documents according to the European Parliament Report on femicide in Guatemala and Mexico.

The numbers presented by the police for 2004 attribute 175 deaths to gunshot, 27 to knife wounds and 323 to “other causes”. The categories, however, conceal the gender-based brutality and sexual nature of many of the killings in which victims present evidence of rape, mutilation and dismemberment. Other categories such as death from multiple trauma, head trauma or abdominal trauma do not distinguish whether the deaths were accidental or the results of intentional harm, for example, being beaten to death. (Parliament 5)

The Guatemalan constitution nowadays continues to have major flaws that also allow perpetrators to stay unpunished, the most noticeable is the article 200, Chapter VII of the Código Penal, which exonerates perpetrators of rape if he marries the victim and the victim is over 12 years old. The only way the perpetrator would be punished would be if there was proof that the victim did not provoke him, which leads to a direct blaming of the victim.

The other major factor that contributes to the impunity of this crimes in Guatemala, is the machismo culture of manliness, male virility and pride that imposes the submission of women in all social, emotional and sexual levels, and ends up supporting misogyny or hatred towards women. “Violence is positive within machista culture: it is a central component of the masculine identity’s attributes of toughness, force and aggression” (Parliament) and violence against women happens as a reaction against the changes that have allowed women to be politically involved and conscious about their freedom to decide for their life’s and bodies.

The ideal role of women in most societies around the world is limited to having children, childrearing and housekeeping, sometimes accompanied by agricultural and animal husbandry tasks. Often these tasks involve long hours of tedious drudgery or endless task fetching water, wood, tusking, etc, where they are also exposed to high risks of gender violence. Any intent to change or violate these roles represents a threat to men’s supremacy, so the control of the women’s body becomes and important device to maintain their power status, which is beginning to be questioned. Violence against women can be seen as the result of historic unequal power relations between genders that have led to male domination, which wants to be preserved by stopping women’s full advancement according to the report on femicide to the European Parliament.

Most of the serious violence perpetuated against women is done in the name of preserving virginity and marriage vows or punishing women for violating those vows… Female genital mutilation, honor killings, public beatings, lashing, and stoning are all carried out primarily in the interest of preventing sexual behavior outside marriage. (Forsaken 12)

Another factor for impunity and increasing violence is female education. Education for women has not been of major interest for Guatemalans until the mis-1990’s, and this is something that creates a major gap between men and women making women question less and make less use of their rights. “The ability to read is one of the most fundamental skills to social order. Furthermore education provides new perspectives and open dialogues about ideas an concepts that may challenge traditional authority.” (Forsaken 35) In the case of education it can be also seen as a cause of the increasing amount of femicides as it threatens male supremacy as mentioned before, if there is not enough protection from the authorities for women pursuing their education.

Even if women are educated the lack of trust in the authorities lead to intimidation from husbands and men, that may avoid their taking of steps to denounce any type of sexual or domestic violence. According to the Femicide Report for the European Parliament “a third of all cases of murder take place within the family after the victims have suffered violent incidents and attacks, often in silence, for many years” before being murdered, some of them have been murdered for complaining about ill treatment by a partner or sometimes because they refused to join a gang or wanted to leave one.

In the case of Guatemala the political and social changes that have taken place during the last half of the twentieth century have affected women’s life’s creating a precedent of violence against them at the same time as giving them more rights and opportunities, but nevertheless this has increased their vulnerability in the workplace, family, community and society.

This dates back as much as fifty years ago, when the democratic elected President Jacobo Arbenz expropriated lands of the United Fruit Company. With this happening the CIA directed a military coup that led to the sprouting of guerrillas, and later on the creation of paramilitary groups supported by the United States to get rid of insurgent groups. This led to one of the worst and most violent civil repressions in Latin America.

During the Cold War the United States government continued to support the Guatemalan military and paramilitary groups to protect their interest in the country. These groups gained control of large portions of land killing many people, mostly Mayans. This series of massacres are now recognized as one of the worse genocides in the world. Political opponents were killed and women raped, mutilated and murdered; pregnant women had their wombs opened and fetus hung from trees.

Upon closer examination, women are disproportionately, victimized when war civil unrest, and poverty exist… Not only are they directly affected by war-induced violence, but the social violence that results from civil unrest also puts women at great risk… And of course women are particularly at risk within cultures where unchallenged patriarchy and misogyny are embedded in political, religious, or social systems. (Forsaken 13)

After 36 years of armed conflict and horrendous massacres and tortures, were more than 200,000 had been killed, 40,000 disappeared and 1,3 million Guatemalans had become refugees (Toomey), the United Nations started the negotiation for a Peace Treaty, between the Military, the Paramilitary and the Guerrillas.

After all this happened the Catholic Church that had been keeping record of the dead and disappeared, publicly denounced the fact that 93% of the deaths and disappearances had been on the hands of the military, the police and paramilitary groups. Right after this was published Monseñor Juan Gerardi, the bishop who had published this work, was killed in front of his house and years later three officers were condemned for the homicide.

Recognizing that the United States government had supported the armed groups, the UN Peace Treaty demanded the reform and reduction of the Armed Forces and the Police. Nevertheless while they were re organizing these institutions, the members kept on being the same and the people responsible for the worse massacres remains unpunished, to the point that General Efraín Ríos Montt became President of the Guatemalan Congress. So impunity for crimes in Guatemalans is not something new, and as Christine Toomey mentions in the article “Feminicidio en Guatemala”, in a country that has witnessed so many atrocities and law violations it is not surprising that life is worth nothing. And in a land with such a marked machismo culture, it is expected that men will be already used to think that they can kill, torture and rape women and remain unpunished.

During the Peace Treaty negotiations, women were given more rights that afforded them to be political and active in public life, this caused a culture shock that men have not yet accepted. The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights says that the point of these crimes is to “send a message of terror and intimidation” (Sauer) that women should leave the public space and end their role in the development of their country. Once again we encounter the obstacle of a machista and misogynous culture with this response from men to this changes.

The Peace Treaties are an important factor, but there has been a “dramatic rise in violent crime in recent years often linked to organized crime, including drugs, arms and people trafficking, pornographic rings and prostitution, or the activities of street youth gangs known as ‘maras’ ” (Parliament 5); from 184 women murdered in 2002, to 250 in 2003 and 300 in 2004 for these records. (Sauer) Nevertheless most of the victims of gangs and organized crimes are not marked and their bodies moved to other places after being killed. “To do so would require a degree of logistical organization that the gangs simply do not have, ‘but the government uses the maras as an excuse to divert attention away from the fact that it is not living up to its responsibilities.” (Garza) According to Manuela Garza the marking and moving of the bodies are characteristics of military victims, as it happened during the genocide.

In Guatemala another contributor to the large numbers of victims is domestic femicide, which “refers to the murder of women by current or ex partners – marital, dating, cohabitating, and so forth.” (Sheryl 422) According to various sources 33% of the victims are related to their murderers, which can be interpreted as victims of domestic femicide. As explained in Forsaken Females “Political and social upheaval, changing environmental conditions, and exposure to change in family roles may affect women’s safety in the home, aside from any culturally sanctioned forms of violence that may coexist” as social bonds are broken and men undergo more pressure from the community and society.

Nowadays feminist groups are working hard to put an end to this impunity and atrocious acts. “They want the government to make violence against women a public issue by funding research and investigation.” One step they have taken independently from the government is to let people know what is happening. With a lack of detailed reports on the news about the sex violence behind these murders, the feminist newspaper “La Cuerda” has been constantly presenting cases and sex disaggregated data, letting more people know what is going on in the country and putting more pressure on the government to act, “but they’re dismissed as ‘man-hating lesbians’ ” (Sauer).

The Presidential Secretariat on Women has created a Specific Commission to address Femicide that is helping the state develop strategies to eliminate this trend of crimes, but the changes are too slow and the victim’s relatives and Human Rights organizations are looking outside the country for help and support.

This is the case of Rosa Franco who has been working hard for the last six years to start a proper investigation of the murder of her teenage daughter María Isabel. One night in the news she recognized the corpse of her daughter lying down in a field. Rosa started pressuring the Police, for them to find the murderer, she showed evidence to the police that he daughter’s cellular phone had been used after her death and study the testimony of some people that witnessed the dropping of the body from a car. The Police accused her of messing around with them and publicly declared that her daughter was a prostitute (Toomey). This stigmatization and blaming of victims is blocking the investigation and proper functioning of the law.

Just as Rosa Franco, Cervelia Roldán has been encountering many obstacles; her daughter Manuela Sachaz was 19 years old and took care of a 10-month-old baby. Her body was found over a pool of blood. She was raped, mutilated, her breasts and lips had been amputated; her legs had holes. The baby was sitting on its sit, with her breakfast in front of him. Both had been decapitated. Crying and holding a picture of her grandson, Cervelia Roldán points out that her neighbor who happens to be a policeman used to flirt with Manuela and disappeared right after the double murder. The authorities have not shown any interest in investigating this crime (Toomey). This lack of interest might be due to the fact that the authorities, the military and the police are not only involved in the crimes, but tacitly agree with these acts, because they are all part of the misogynous and machista culture.

Just as these two cases, the authorities ignore many more every week in Guatemala. Strong and perseverant women inside and outside the country are accomplishing slow changes. It is hard to change a whole country’s mindset to create awareness of this crimes happening and make both men and women recognize women’s rights, but the constant work and pressure for the government will be able to make a change for these women.

Works Cited
Benítez, Inés. “Guatemala: Homicide Rate From Bad to Worse.” Inter Press Service. 12 Dec. 2007. Inter Press Service. 2007. Inter Press Service. 28 May. 2008.
European Union. European Parliament. Feminicide The Case of Mexico and Guatemala. Brussels: EU Parliament, 2006.
Garza Ascencio, Manuela. “Guatemala – Violence Against Women Unchecked and Unpunished.” Alterinfos 30 Nov 2005. Alterinfos América Latina. 2005, Alterinfos América Latina. 28 May. 2008.
Grama, Sheryl. “Sociocultural Considerations of Domestic Femicide.” Journal of Family Violence (2001): 421-435. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Shoreline Community College Lib. 26 April 2008
Guatemala. Congress. Código Penal. Art. 200 Ch. VII. Ciudad de Guatemala: 1973.
Parrot, Andrea, and Nina Cummings. Forsaken Females. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Little Field, 2006.
Sauer, Jen. “Fighting Femicide In Guatemala.” Off Our Backs. March 2005: 36-38. Proquest. Shoreline Community College Lib. 26 April 2008
Toomey, Christine. “Feminicidio en Guatemala.” Mujeres Iberoamericanas 02 Jan. 2006. Mujeres en red. 2006. Mujeres en red. 28 May. 2008.

Actuar no cuesta nada

La compasión: ¿un bien con demanda inélastica?

¿La compasión es racional? He estado leyendo acerca de la psicología evolutiva y no encuentro una cita específica que diga que la compasión es racional. De todas maneras la psicología evolutiva es sólo uno de varios acercamientos al comportamiento humano, pero en vez de eso encontré lo siguiente: “Llamamos compasión a la capacidad de sentirnos próximos al dolor de los demás y la voluntad de aliviar sus penas… La compasión es el deseo de que los demás estén libres de sufrimiento.“ (Dalai Lama) Aquí no estamos hablando de comportamientos instrumentales, es decir acciones calculadas para lograr un efecto de beneficio personal, sino beneficio para otros, cosa insólita para quienes utilizan la metáfora y el modelo del mercado para explicar cualquier comportamiento humano.

¿Por qué mis acciones no son racionales? Una acción racional es aquella en la que se analizan los medios de los que se dispone para alcanzar fines propuestos de la mejor manera posible. Prejuzgar como irracionales acciones que se desconocen es irracional. En este sentido, este evento no fue organizado de la noche a la mañana. Es parte de un movimiento mundial coordinado a través de la Internet y con presencia en los medios masivos de información desde el año pasado, empezando con la emisión del documental del americano Ricco Barry y su esposa en la BBC en el 2006 y, previo a esto, una página de Internet: http://savejapandolphins.org/ , sin fin de blogs e inclusive facebook, además de ser divulgado por organizaciones como la Humane Society International, Greenpeace, etc.

Localmente, el evento se planificó de manera que la información llegara a más gente, se informara, nos apoyara y no juzgara sin conocer lo que estábamos haciendo. La presencia de la gente y los medios de comunicación estaba encaminada a hacerle presión al cuerpo diplomático japonés. Así, se contactaron periódicos, revistas, radios, organizaciones y cuerpos estudiantiles para invitar a escribir cartas y participar en la manifestación, lo mismo que a enterarse del tema. Facultades como la de veterinaria y el CEMA en la USAC y biología en la Universidad del Valle hablaron del tema en sus clases, se llego inclusive a hablar de esto en algunos colegios y finalmente se logró convocar a más de sesenta personas el martes 25 de septiembre, documentado por dos noticieros, dos radios y una prensa escrita. Entregar una carta al embajador le da a la manifestación un tono más serio ante el gobierno japonés. Entregarle una canasta con más de 500 delfines en origami hechos por niños del Interamericano muestra un compromiso con evitarle el sufrimiento a los seres sintientes que te podría servir de ejemplo.

Gracias por enviarme las explicaciones de la economía en tiempos de guerra, yo ya había oído acerca de la falacia de la ventana rota de Bastiat, pero escuchar esto me ayudo a poner en perspectiva el caso de los Estados Unidos. Bastiat habla de los gastos a los cuales el dueño del establecimiento tiene que incurrir al tener que gastar el dinero previsto para un “suéter” en la reparación de su ventana rota; lo cual entiendo y estoy absolutamente de acuerdo. El llegar y arruinar el timbre de mi casa le dará trabajo a un electricista, al vendedor de la tienda, al que cuida la tienda, al del bus que toma el electricista para irlo a instalar etc..., pero para mi eso significará no poder ir al cine con mi mejor amiga y tener que apretarme el cinturón durante una semana. Pero, por el contrario, si yo soy la dueña de una cristalería y la ventana de mi vecino que vende chocolates se rompe por la razón que sea, y por supuesto yo soy la única cristalería en el área, eso va a representar entradas de dinero que de ninguna manera me están privando de otros bienes o actividades.

El punto aquí es que la industria militar de guerra gringa no está destruyendo la capacidad industrial instalada de los USA (a ellos no les importa que daños causa en Irak) y si está generando empleo y riqueza para los capitalistas que invierten en tal empeño. El sólo hecho de producir misiles sin usarlos ya es una actividad productiva que genera riqueza. Los recursos podrían ser mejor invertidos, pero eso es harina de otro costal y ese costal está siendo debatido en este momento en que para los USA la guerra sólo trae de vuelta jóvenes en cajas de aluminio, sin mencionar los cientos de miles de iraquíes muertos.

Oponerse al desarrollo de una bomba “antipersonal”, la bomba diseñada para que los heridos se conviertan en una pesada carga dejando heridas dolorosas y permanentes pero no matando puede ser un gran negocio que promueva el desarrollo económico pero ciertamente, al igual que con la cacería de los delfines, es otra causa a la cual me opondré.

Adjunto te mando toda la información que se estuvo pasando por medio de facebook, además de websites del evento: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2343030965
http://www.facebook.com/s.php?q=taiji+dolphins&init=q
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/15624
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2245440826
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2211889722http://www.earthisland.org/news/new_news.cfm?newsID=903
http://www.bluevoice.org/

Continuo salvandólos

Mil gracias por tomarte tu tiempo en contestar algo fundamentado, de todas maneras siempre queda espacio para aclaraciones y preguntas de ambas partes.

Comenzando por el hecho que definitivamente la compasión no es racional, no pretendo hacerle creer a nadie que mis motivaciones sean racionales ya que no es más que compasión lo que me ha llevado a analizar estos casos y por supuesto como tu ya lo dijiste el bien intrínseco de la satisfacción de no quedarme de brazos cruzados ante algo que a mi opinión es inhumano. Pero son entonces las acciones las que considero racionales ya que nosotros activistas, pensamos y coordinamos bien las maneras de expresarnos y ser escuchados este pasado 25 de septiembre.

Es cierto que lo animales no poseen derechos constitucionales aquí en Guatemala. Nosotros, en la tradición occidental, como tu bien lo mencionaste, nos hemos atribuido el derecho universal sobre las otras especies, dada nuestra posición como seres racionales y por supuesto privilegiada anatomía que nos han permitido desarrollarnos tecnológicamente dándonos una superioridad sobre los otros seres. Pero por esto mismo somos responsables de administrar los recursos a nuestra disposición. Prefiero pensar que no estamos en la punta de la pirámide, dominando todas las especies, sino que somos parte de la red de la vida. Bastante cliché, pero no por eso debo dejar de recalcarlo.

¿Esta bien matar a un ratón? La verdad no creo que este bien matar a ningún animal, pero lastimosamente necesitamos sacrificar otras especies para sobrevivir nosotros, en el caso de ratas y ratones debemos tomar medidas drásticas para evitar enfermedades virales transmitidas por estos animales. De todas maneras la mayoría de métodos utilizados para matarlos causan gran sufrimiento a estos animales. Es cierto que los delfines no son animales que representen una amenaza para nuestra especie, pero no por esto los estoy defendiendo. Puede que este alucinando, pero no recuerdo haber dicho que no sienta compasión por los ratones o por el contrario que sea ternura lo que siento por un delfín y alfalfa lo que quiero que coma el mundo entero para matar más delfines que ratones. Y si se trata de poner las cosas en perspectiva, el ganado en el mundo causa más contaminación de CO2 que el transporte automotor. Comer granos si resultaría en un doble beneficio.

Es muy importante antes de seguir respondiendo a los comentarios, aclarar para los que no se enteraron del trasfondo del movimiento “Japan Dolphin Day”, por que se estaba haciendo lo que se hizo. Las leyes japonesas desde hace varios años prohibieron la venta de carne de delfín dado que la misma contiene altos niveles de mercurio que pueden causar serios daños a la salud de la gente, aún así se continuo con esta práctica y la carne se vende sin ninguna etiqueta en supermercados y se le da a los niños en las escuelas. Todo esto debería de importarle a la gente que vela por el bienestar de la propia gente y por supuesto la manera de llevar a cabo esta caza a personas con sentido de compasión desarrollado por los animales nos hace movilizarnos para pedir que se fomente el cumplimiento de la ley ya existente.

¿Dije en algún momento que quería que se le dieran derechos a los animales? Lo único que busco y sueño es que la gente sienta compasión por ellos y evite las prácticas que les cause sufrimiento y contribuya con el desequilibrio ambiental. Al atribuirnos derechos sobre otras especies estamos metiéndonos en un juego con reglas que nosotros mismos desconocemos.

Los comentarios acerca del desarrollo económico causado por la guerra no se tratan de una creencia popular sino de un hecho concreto; no en vano los Estados Unidos es el principal productor y traficante de armas del mundo y la industria de guerra ayuda a la economía particularmente cuando hay recesión.

Es fácil entender que el desarrollo sea simplemente un incremento en el consumo o en la capacidad de consumo, porque necesariamente tendría que incluirse los intangibles y los inconmensurables que los economistas a puro tubo quieren medir. Es decir: lo que esta más allá de la razón, lo que tiene valor pero no precio.