by zjurhgvc » Fri Jun 09, 2006 7:05 pm
Umm...so the Europeans who came to America should logically have adapted to Native American culture? The Africans were left little choice--but they should DEFINITELY stop listening to and performing that awful music--they need to fit into "Our" culture. And, why, the Chinese! They need to learn to speak English better, too! How is it that we allow those exclusivist ethnic enclaves, those Chinatowns? And the Irish and Italians--we would have been much better off if they hadn't tried to not fit in for so long.<br><br>The whole 'Mexican' thing is a massive mindjob being perpetrated on the 'American' people, out of some truths, some half-truths, and an enormous amount of lies. Meanwhile, the anti-Castro Cubans are practically driving policy, and a lot of other things, besides. How come we don't hear about them? <br><br>Let's look at it the other way around--guess who goes abroad in huge numbers to take jobs away from qualified 'host country national' professionals? You got it--Peace Corps Volunteers, USAID officials, and hordes of other administrators and consultants. And we're not the only country that does this--experts from around the world get paid much, much better overseas than in their own countries, by the laws of the countries themselves and the countries who export them (where do you think all those extra European PhDs go to teach? The US and all over their former colonies). <br><br>I've lived this reality in Latin America and it is a very sore point. Host country elite parasites--the ones who REALLY love out-migration (it's called the 'safety valve'--getting rid of the discontents the cheap way, and providing the number one contribution to GNP as well)--get foreign consultants essentially for free and thus don't need to spend their own budgets to hire their own people. They can pocket their budgets instead. The Peace Corps was infamous for several decades in supplying teachers and other 'experts' (who usually didn't know shit, having to be trained in their tasks before becoming Volunteers) who then took the jobs of local people. There have been lawsuits against Peace Corps and against the agencies it contracts with for this reason.<br><br>A USAID consultant from the US will make at very least $150 a day, and often far, far more, plus a generous allowance including staying in the best-fortified 5-star hotel and nice receptions; the qualified host-country professional with an identical degree, let's say from a US university--and who speaks the native language like a native and not like a gringo--will be lucky to earn $150 a week if they are lucky enough to actually get a consultant job as well. If they are simply working for AID's partner agency, they may see $150 in a month. The entire system is unbelievably exploitative and disgusting, and I haven't even mentioned how it works in the corporate world. Thanks to corporate globalization and such things as NAFTA and CAFTA, local businesses and franchises are being put out of business because it is more profitable to opena a McDonalds--not because locals like to eat at McDs, but because local food is no longer available. There have existed local hamburger franchises, but owners now don't have to pay taxes on foreign franchises. Meanwhile, most gringos just think that US-based stores and restaurants are opening everywhere because host country nationals are jettisoning their own cultures, so much do they love that of 'America.'<br><br>I could go on and on., but basically teh point is that most Latin Americans understand the Open Veins of Latin America (read Galeano), not to mention the Monroe Doctrine, have internalized 5 centuries of oppression, can do a rudimentary class analysis, and also know what happens in most cases when you stand up to your government and the elites in power. They have opted for the safety valve and they see all this as payback; most would rather stay in their home countries but they have to provide for their families.<br><br>Our corporations largely control the world and certainly have virtually enslaved Latin America since the mid- to late-1800s. But now we are all freaked out by a few 'Aztlan' followers who would like to take back the Western US?<br><br>By the way, guess who freed their slaves first? Guess who provided equal rights to many minorities, including women, before us? Guess which countries AREN'T run by fanatical, right-wing Christians and aren't drowning in evangelical Christianity? Even the idea of evolution not being taught in schools in many Latin American countries would be as ridiculous as it is in Europe. In many ways, we're the backward ones.<br><br>This is also a reason that Bolivia is experiencing a revolution, and other countries are not. It is too far away from the US, and it is extremely difficult for Bolivians to get here; many of the poorest have actually stayed. If the pporest knew that they had no way out of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, etc., there would be revolutions within all those countries within a year. Unlike in the US, in Latin America people constantly organize en masse to strike and to protest, to negotiate, to have peaceful marches (little of this is covered on the mainstream media), but most of those protesting can only stay alive in any case because of whatever is sent back by families in the States. As far as I know, they don't have 'free speech' zones in Latin America...<br><br>The issue might solve itself this way--the US economy will collapse, and it will no longer be attractive for immigrants. <p></p><i></i>