I'm really excited about Trini; sun, sea and gorgeous beaches to unwind on, especially after the week I've had. Piracymania all the way, if I'm not preparing a report, interview or news item on piracy I was being interviewed for TV and radio on piracy. And even when I do clock off at work I still need to stay glued to the radio, TV and my google alerts just in case there was any breaking news on the matter. Phew! It looks like we haven't reached the end though as the plight continues on the shores of my country. The highlights of the week were when I was interviewed on VOA's In Focus, which is the TV section of VOA Africa, and when I interviewed Ahmedou Ould-Abdalla, the UN's special envoy to Somalia, both dealt with piracy.
What gets a bit on my nerves is that nobody is addressing the problem of which piracy is a symptom, the lawlessness of my country. The underlying problem of what has now become a worldwide phenomenon has been going on for many years and people were simply ignoring it but now that some Somalis have taken matters in to their own hand and businesses ferried by sea have been affected, everyone is all ears. Where was the world's media when international ships were illegally dumping biochemical, nuclear and biological waste on the shores of Somalia? Where were they when they were cleanig our coast from all its fish, leaving nothing for the local fishermen to live on? How were they expected to cope and feed their families with no government supporting them and no law defending their rights to survival? Were they expected to continue starving in silence? Piracy is an offspring of this problem and therefore the only solution lies inland, by bringing stability and security back to the streets of Somalia. The world can send as many warships as it desires, it will not solve the problem until the root cause is addressed. I do not support piracy by any means, whether it is off the coast of Somalia or Indonesia but I do condemn the world for watching people starve in silence and only come running when their livelihood is in danger. The local fishermen who have not turned to piracy are still being severely being affected by this crisis and ships continue to dump their toxic waste on the Somali shores, killing thousands along the way. Who's speaking on behalf of them? Yet pirates kidnap one American life and the world's focus shifts on him, like his life is more important than the thousands that die everyday on the coast of Somalia. They killed three pirates to free captain Richard Phillips and the surviving one is now destined to be tried in New York. Whilst the family of the captain has captured the world's sympathy and affection, no one is blinking an eyelid to the families who are mourning their sons' deaths whilst living in severely poor conditions. They did not send their sons to commit piracy activities and are suffereing just like any other family would suffer the death of a family member. Furthermore those boys, by the way, had little other choice but to turn to the path they chose as they lived in a country where there is no governing law or security and hasn't been over 18 years. There are no job opportunities, no education, no safety, no healthcare, nothing of the everyday things we take for granted. They are alien to a functioning country. Their lives were at risk everyday as the gun is the only rule of law that demands respect in Somalia. Keeping that in your mind, imagine what you would do if someone offered you a few hundred dollars to merely kidnap an unarmed ship when your yearly income is below that?
Anyway moving on to more harmonous topics, I just came back from a good run around my area and for some reason that has lifted my spirits. I look forward to a hectic week ahead and even more to the week following as I fly off to soak in some long-awaited sunshine and a dip in the seas of Trinidad. A break from piracmania! (Obama is there at the moment, wonder if I can catch him there lol.)
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