Larry Hollon (who worked for 12 years for such orgs as Bread For the World and Church World Service writes about Colin Powell’s warnings that this Tsunami will require long term attention, to avoid a deep rift in society that could spiral into social chaos and security problems for years to come (such as Ethiopia and Somalia, both now centers of unrest and chaos):
When Secretary of State Colin Powell said on CNN that long-term developmental assistance for the tsunami-struck region would be required by the United States, I stopped in my tracks. When he went on to say that food insecurity leads to civil instability and that this is a security issue for the United States, I sat down and listened.
There is so much embedded in this message that if we really hear it and act upon it, it can change how we deal with conflict resolution. It is proactive. it is solution-based. It is not reactive. It is not based on the force of arms for conflict resolution. It can be preventative of the economic dynamics that leave the poor outside the mainstream economy by providing them with resources to develop sustainable small businesses. It is rooted in providing opportunity, not in using the military to keep people down. It mitigates unrest by including people in self-development. All of that in this simple soliliquiy by Secretary Powell, you say? Yes, I say with hope. My, how things have changed.
I heard a guy on NPR this morning (Steven Radelet, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development) talking about the ways in which the U.S. Military Aid involvement could be a turning point IF it is perceived to be there for long-term , sustainable aid and not simply to keep their own interests under lock and key (IOW, don’t be up and leaving after a brief “fix”; or allow the elements that do stay around to communicate some kind of strong-armed, authoritarian control). Link to NPR audio
This is a lesson in the kinds of justice work that is neccessary for avoiding the need for “defense” against the effects and results of human chaos, which tend to radiate outward to conflict with the centers of power. Hunger and desperation breed resentment. The spiral of violence begun only feeds back into the root of the problem. Tony Campolo often speaks about fighting terrorism at its roots, and likens it to fighting misquitos by attacking the breeding grounds for misquitos. Which brings us back to Iraq, and how we are widening the breeding grounds for increased terror.