From Mr J. M. Cachia

‘For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.’

Nicolo Machiavelli

As if to burst the bubble of human greatness, infallibility and perceived omnipotence, Earth has once again let loose powerful vibrations on her once pristine surface, in a sudden instance of horrific oceanic energy killing hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings and laying waste vast coastlines throughout Asiatic lands bordering the Indian Ocean.

The utter devastation left in the tsunami’s wake is a reality never contemplated. What is left are vast territories in ruins, villages, towns and resorts razed to the ground, survivors confronting death, misery, disease, thirst, hunger and the realisation that nothing will ever be the same again. Hundreds of thousands of natives, together with thousands of European tourists, have vanished.

It is in such times of natural calamity that humanity rises to assist those devastated by what Earth has wrought, contributing money, aid and assistance and helping in any way it can. This is a wonderful manifestation of humanity, yet we must not wait for such a natural disastrous phenomenon before we help those who desperately need aid and food and shelter and opportunities.

In this latest calamity, as private relief agencies, such as the International Red Cross and the Red Crescent, have been diligently and effectively working to provide assistance to victims, undertaking actions fully in accord with their stated purposes, the involvement of publicised relief efforts, especially by governments, cast certain doubts on their morality and may be less desirable. In such cases, in any welfare State, the choice here is made for the individual.

From beginning to end the one-day summit on the Asian tsunami disaster, held in Jakarta recently, reeked of hypocrisy. Representatives of the world’s richest nations, who only a fortnight ago had announced derisory amounts of aid, paraded as benefactors of the downtrodden of Asia. The international media reported in effusive terms the large amount of aid donated by the world’s major powers, now over $4 billion.

However, concerns have also been raised that the money pledged for the victims of the tsunami will simply be taken from funds previously allocated to other disasters.

Furthermore, governments continue to insist on playing the insufferable game of what “countries” should win the “most charitable” award. It is a farce based on fraud. The entire charade rests on a fraudulent assumption that charity can be coerced.

One of the more glaring examples of self-interest was provided by Australian Prime Minister John Howard who stole the media limelight in Jakarta with an offer of A$1 billion in aid to Indonesia. Howard was unapologetic about the fact that the money would not be channelled through the UN as it would only go to Indonesia, not to any other affected countries. In his comments, Howard declared that the aid programme was “a historic step in relations between Australia and Indonesia”. The package – A$500 million in direct aid and A$500 million in loans over five years – will involve the dispatch of Australian officials to Jakarta to supervise operations. So Canberra would be holding the whip hand in the management of funds.

During his whirlwind tour of the tsunami-devastated nations of South Asia, the US Secretary of State Colin Powell let slip that the belated funding, begrudgingly offered by Washington to the ongoing relief effort is all part of its “global war on terror”.

Is there any anti-terrorism component in this? What is the US Administration concerned about – that the terrorists might take advantage of the situation? Enough of this, please!!

Noting that the majority of the victims of the tsunami were Muslims, the US Secretary of State continued, “We’d be doing it regardless of religion, but I think it does give the Muslin world and the rest of the world an opportunity to see American generosity, American values in action.”

The US Secretary of State was accompanied by Florida’s Governor Jeb Bush, who, quite conveniently, seems to be acting as a personal emissary for his older brother, while exploiting this international tragedy to further his own political ambitions by appearing to grapple with a global crisis.

As Powell acknowledges, the aid is part and parcel of the “war on terror” that is directed at furthering US global economic and political hegemony by means of military power and aggression.

Generosity implies selflessness, hardly a characteristic of US foreign policy.

Moreover, there is growing alarm in several of the countries hit hard by the tsunami disaster at the sudden appearance of US troops in the role of aid-givers. More than 13,000 US military personnel, backed by warships, planes and helicopters, have been dispatched to the area, making it the largest Pentagon operation in Asia since the Vietnam War. They may stay for six months!

US Rear Admiral Doug Crowder told The Washington Post that he expected the joint efforts to improve prospects for resuming full military ties with Indonesia.

In Britain alone, the public donated a record one million pounds every hour, forcing the government to increase its donation from £15 million to £50 million. But even that was quickly outstripped. A week after the tragedy, the sum of £76 million had been collected from the public.

Yet, as the scale of the catastrophe became apparent, government ministers denied there was any need for Blair to cut short his holiday.

How does one account for this state of affairs? In Britain, as elsewhere, the tsunami disaster has thrown into stark relief the gulf between the concerns of millions of working people and those of the ruling elite.

The Prime Minister’s indifference is the sharpest expression of the reactionary character of big business politics the world over. Only when such callousness has become more and more politically embarrassing and potentially destabilising, have governments been forced to increase their efforts.

Alienated from the mass of the British people, and apparently ‘off-message’ as regards his more powerful US ally, Blair’s arrogant disclaim has quickly given way to political paralysis and stripped him of his humanitarian pretences.

Natural calamities such as earthquakes may seem evil, unleashing death and destruction on humanity, yet it is man

that has and will continue to kill more of our kind than all natural calamities combined.

The goodness of humankind should not wait for tsunamis to rise from the ocean floor because every day is a tsunami for billions of fellow human beings who are being swept out into the ocean of lost lives and shattered dreams. It is time we wake up to this reality, knowing that behind every tsunami-like catastrophe lies an even greater man-made tragedy.

Joseph M. Cachia

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