Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.91.960611073545.543A-100000@purple> Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 07:45:37 -0400 From: Tom Abeles <mailto:tabeles@TMN.COM> Subject: Re: COMMUNITIES ALWAYS RIGHT! To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Larry Comvalius responded with:I would like to know how the project was conceived. Were the needs and priorities of the people who are to benefit from this project taken into account? Why must development be imposed on the developing countries ? Do we really think that we know what is good for everyone? Does culture matter? --------
In the metaphor of the movie, "The Graduate", MARKETING- the fulture is in marketing. And the developed countries are the best marketers.
The American Indian didn't own the land- but we had to teach them about such ownership so we cold legally take the land away from them. Similar issues with other nomadics internationally. Cargo cults and other experiences about the desirablity of acquiring- without the social consciousness of the potlatch.
Just let me get my BMW and TV and. . .. , then we can talk about saving the rain forest, or whatever
saving native plants and "endangered species"- who or what is really on the endagered list?
Eat natural foods, wear organic clothes-- but look for the designer label and check the country of origin. Jerry Mander's seminal work, In the Absence of the Sacred" may be right.
Whose on welfare? The social workers or the inner city folk, the international consultant or the recipient of energy efficient stoves. Rumor has it that 90% of USAID is returned to the US- probably a verifiable fact.
tom abeles mailto:tabeles@tmn.com