US Marines seize the tools of Afghanistan's poorest
In the Washington Post today:
Marines try unorthodox tactics to disrupt Afghan opium harvest
Essentially, the US Marines operating in the former Taliban enclave Marja are confiscating tools off of some of the world's poorest people in an attempt to 'crack down on a key part of Afghanistan's drug trade'. Marines are stationed on the routes to Marja to try to dissuade seasonal migrants from entering and seize their harvesting tools, robbing them of their most basic means of earning a livelihood. Furthermore, they are offering compensation to farmers who plow under their fields. Apparently, 730 farmers have signed up since Sunday. This offer is open to all farmers, so as not to discriminate against those not farming poppies. Thus, the purported success of the plan to eradicate poppy fields appears rather dubious, though not more so than the idea itself. An intrusive and complex policing operation has been put in place to pay Afghans to destroy their crops and take away their farming tools, hoping the people will still be able to eat in the aftermath.
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Comments
US Marines seize the tools of
This story brings this poem to mind, I think:
Rice can be had down the river.
People in the remoter provinces need their rice.
If we can keep that rice off the market
Rice is bound to get dearer.
Then the men who pull the barges must go short of rice
And I shall get my rice for even less.
By the way, what is rice?
Don't ask me what rice is.
Don't ask me my advice.
I've no idea what rice is:
All I have learned is its price.
In winter time the coolies need warm clothing.
Then you must buy cotton so that
You can keep cotton off the market.
When a cold spell comes, then clothes get more expensive.
Our cotton spinning mills pay too high wages.
And cotton's too plentiful in any case.
By the way, what is cotton?
Don't ask me what cotton is.
Don't ask me my advice.
I've no idea what cotton is:
All I have learned is its price.
Working men need too much feeding
And this makes a man's work dearer.
To provide for his feeding you need women.
Our cooks can make a meal cheaper but look at
Those eaters making it dearer.
And we could use more men here in any case.
By the way, what is a man?
Don't ask me what a man is.
Don't ask me my advice.
I've no idea what a man is:
All I have learned is his price.
Music sample © 1999 Festival Records. Translation by John Willett in Bertolt Brecht: Poems and Songs from the Plays © 1990 by Methuen London.