STOP THE WORLD,
I WANT TO GO OUT
A letter from
Colombia, by Amparo Jaramillo-Restrepo
Dear readers, I
hate to sound pessimistic, but I don’t see any light at the end of
the tunnel despite all the good intentions of so many peace loving
people around the world.
The Iraq and
Afghanistan wars go on, even if President Obama wants to end them,
and no matter how much money the United States government has to
squander buying useless deadly weapons, because some Congressman
want to keep the military industry going on. It’s sad to learn
how many people are protesting the health plan reform because
apparently it coast a lot of money, but keep supporting two wars
even if everyday they have to sacrifice their own children and keep
destroying far away cities.
There is not
light at the end of the tunnel in Latin-American either where many
rich countries, from the United States to Sweden, Russia, China,
Israel, Spain, to name only a few have found a good market for their
weapons in the third world impoverished countries. Who cares if some
of our children are dying from starvation, and our school systems
are obsolete or not existing? Who cares if we have to deny medical
attention to a big sector of our population? Who cares if some of
our cities don’t have running water, our rivers are more
contaminated every day, our air is polluted, and our jungles have
been systematically destroyed? Let’s buy weapons to improve
security.
What kind of
security? Third world countries are the dumping place for deadly
garbage, deadly and some times defective weapons, deadly pesticides,
outdated drugs, cheap and useless goods. Are we more secure because
all those imports? No way, because some of those weapons end up in
the hands of criminal gangs or illegal groups. That’s the reason why
some of our big Latin-American cities are becoming more violent
everyday, and police forces
are powerless to
stop them. Furthermore, most of those sophisticated and expensive
weapons, are useless to stop the personal mines or a terrorist
attack perpetrated with home made bombs planted on a donkey, a doll,
or an ambulance.
However,
regardless this scenario, some of our leaders don't get it. Their
war mentality is so blind that they keep buying weapons and building
jails instead of schools, hospitals, or decent houses.
That’s why it’s
so difficult to see a light at the end of the tunnel. War is one of
the most profitable businesses in the face of the world, and some of
our politicians are so corrupted that is very ease to buy them.
So, don’t blame
me dear readers if I feel like screaming:
STOP THE WORLD.
I WANT TO GO OUT
