Message-ID: <32F5E73A.6068@mind.net> Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 13:25:14 +0000 From: "B. Diamond" <mailto:bdiamond@MIND.NET> Subject: Re: THEORY: Shall I accept this consulting assignment? To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
mailto:EUNSteve@aol.com wrote:> In the world in which I live, and I think many "developers" like me, those
> who propose to engage us do not allow us to dictate to them the terms of our
> engagement.
>
> If the Minister says he is the legally charged official with whom I am
> contracting, and that he has done all the consultation necessary, and do I
> want to do the work on his terms or not, what do I do?
>
> I think you are suggesting a position that ends with my not getting the
> assignment: someone else will be offered the job.
Is this any differant from the moral/ethical dillemas we face every day? If you find a wallet on the street with $500 dollars in it, do you turn it in to the police--or keep it? Chances are if you just leave it where you found it, someone else will come along and pocket the money, so what's to stop you from doing the same? We all have choices to make... If you are in development work just for an income, then your choice is quite clear, take the contract no matter what--it's a paycheck. If you are in development work because you want only to make a difference, then your choice is equally clear, do not accept a contract that is morally/ethically suspect. If, however, you want to both earn a living and make a differance, then there is room for negotiation. I beleive that development prjects can be win-win if people take the time to work them through.
> I would be happy to get any examples you can give me of the "modernization"
> process, particularly those involving education in science and technology,
> that did not drive forward into extensions of the market economy and
> consumerism. I would feel much better about helping to "modernize" the school
> system if you could furnish the evidence that the process often stops there.
> Not logic, or intense anguish for the fate of the poor whose culture I might
> help to destroy, or rhetoric, but examples.
This is the first five examples that come to mind, there are many, many others. The Kayapo (Brazil/Venezuela), Penan (Malaysia), Kogi (Columbia) Korowai (Irian Jaya), Guarani (Paraguay). The Kayapo are a particularly interesting example. When gold was discovered on their lands in the early 80's, miners flocked to the area in a gold-rush." Despite numerous attempts to steal the gold rights from the Kayapo, the Brazilian government (under heavy preasure from human rights orgs) held up a legal decision that entitled the Kayapo to receive a 30% royalty from all the gold removed from their lands. To date, the Kayapo have approx. $50 million (US) in the bank. The interesting part is that when the elders decided to allow mining, there was a split between the Kayapo between those that thought it was a good idea (schools, houses, t.v., etc) and those who thought that with the money would come the death of their culture and their environment. The Kayapo then split into two factions, the modern group and the traditional group. Interestingly enough, the latest report from those working with the Kayapo reveal that the "modernists" are abandoning their cinder-block homes, street lights, satellite dishes, etc. and retreating back into the jungle to join the traditionalists faction. Why? Along with the mining has come devasting mercury poisoning from the mining tailings, the Kayapo now experience an 70% birth defect rate. The miners brought guns, crime, prostitution, and disease to the jungle, as well as alcohol--all of which combine to threaten the Kayapo's very exisitance. They have issued an edict to kick the miners out, and they now plan to use their $50 million to attempt to clean up their lands, and to ensure that they can successfully stave-off any future attempts to exploit the large gold deposits that still remain. The have tasted the "modernworld," and all that it encompasses, and they have decided that they are better off without it.
> Do you have examples, say in India, or the Eastern Carribean, or Latin
> America that I could use to bolster your contention that often--not in a rare
> instance or two, but often--native people don't fall for tube wells, and
> Western medicine, and schools, and Big Macs, and rock?
See the above, there are many others.
> <<Is a central school with busses, and roads, and airports, infrastructure
> etc. all really
> necessary? >>
>
> Isn't that the business of the indigenous--like the Minister--to decide, not
> me? Or you?
The minister does not live in that village, shouldn't the villagers themselves have say in their destiny?
>
> The representatives of the local culture with legal responsbilities for,
> their government represented officially in The United Nations, wants roads
> and busses. Do I listen to them, respect the? Or do I tell them off, tell
> them what I believe?
>
> You might be right about education, and I might agree with you--but isn't it
> the right of the local authorities to decide how to improve education, not
> you or me?
"Telling them off" and "telling them what you believe" aren't necessarily the same thing. The long and short of it Steve is that you have to decide your own moral and ethical guidelines. I believe that you can make a living and help people while working only on projects that respect all of the people ivolved, not just the local elites.
> I've tried to give you full disclosure of the assignment I've been offered,
> and the conditions under which I've been offered it. You've made clear once
> more what you believe, but haven't indicated whether you think I should
> accept the assignment under the limits of its offering.
I would not accept the assignment as presented, what you do is your choice.
BD