2008.12.05: December 5, 2008: Headlines: COS - Guatemala: Speaking Out: The Advocate: Kim Kohler describes her experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala and her opposition to mega-projects of industrial growth in Central and Latin America
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2008.12.05: December 5, 2008: Headlines: COS - Guatemala: Speaking Out: The Advocate: Kim Kohler describes her experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala and her opposition to mega-projects of industrial growth in Central and Latin America
Kim Kohler describes her experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala and her opposition to mega-projects of industrial growth in Central and Latin America
Kim Kohler said the Guatemalan people wanted to develop their country from the inside, not with foreign companies who pollute the land. She said the mega-projects displace thousands of people, contaminate the area, do not benefit the local communities, impoverish people, create conflicts within villages, and severely threaten the spirituality and world view of the indigenous people. She said the people have a horizontal view of the world, where man, woman and nature are on the same level. But she said the foreign corporations have a vertical view of the world where man is above woman who is above the nature, and the people must conform to survive. The Kohlers discussed two cases to show the devastation that the foreign corporations are bringing to Central and South America. The first was the Marlin Gold Mine, where Jerry Kohler said workers are subject to cyanide exposure and dynamite blasts in order to search for gold. He said people who protested were arrested as terrorists because the government leaders are the ones who make the most money from these corporations, saying they are only doing it to benefit the people. The second situation was on the proposed Xalala Mega-Hydroelectric Dam in the Ixcan region of Guatemala. Kim Kohler said the Guatemalan government wants to build the dam where three rivers join, which she said would flood the region above the dam and displace 33 communities.
Kim Kohler describes her experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala and her opposition to mega-projects of industrial growth in Central and Latin America
Father, daughter support Guatemala’s indigenous people
Kelsi L. McKenzie
The Advocate
Caption: Accounting instructor Jerry Kohler and daughter Kim joined to inform people about the foreign corporation involvement in Guatemala and the resistance of the indigenous peoples. Photo: Kelsi L. McKenzie/The Advocate
The father-daughter pair of MHCC accounting instructor Jerry Kohler and Kim Kohler described Tuesday their experiences in Guatemala and their opposition to mega-projects of industrial growth in Central and Latin America.
The presentation to more than 60 people was called “The Stacked Deck: The current war on the indigenous people of Central and South America” because the Kohlers said everything is stacked on these people and hope is being crushed by corruption in the central government of Guatemala.
Kim Kohler was a volunteer in the Peace Corps, stationed in Guatemala for two years where she became fluent in Spanish and parts of the indigenous language there. She worked with the Network In Solidarity with the people of Guatemala (NISGUA), located in Oakland, Calif.
Jerry Kohler spent a lot of time reading books and researching where his daughter would be going and the reasons the Peace Corps was trying to help the indigenous people of Central and South America.
“I was just shocked that my country was a part of that (referring to the 1954 coup in Guatemala that started a 50-year civil war),” he said. “I made a decision right then to do something to combat what my country was doing.”
The father-daughter team talked about corporations from the United States, Canada and other countries starting mega-projects in order to outsource jobs and “benefit the local communities.”
Kim Kohler said the Guatemalan people did not ask for that type of development. Instead, she said they wanted to develop their country from the inside, not with foreign companies who pollute the land.
She said the mega-projects displace thousands of people, contaminate the area, do not benefit the local communities, impoverish people, create conflicts within villages, and severely threaten the spirituality and world view of the indigenous people.
She said the people have a horizontal view of the world, where man, woman and nature are on the same level. But she said the foreign corporations have a vertical view of the world where man is above woman who is above the nature, and the people must conform to survive.
The Kohlers discussed two cases to show the devastation that the foreign corporations are bringing to Central and South America.
The first was the Marlin Gold Mine, where Jerry Kohler said workers are subject to cyanide exposure and dynamite blasts in order to search for gold. He said people who protested were arrested as terrorists because the government leaders are the ones who make the most money from these corporations, saying they are only doing it to benefit the people.
The second situation was on the proposed Xalala Mega-Hydroelectric Dam in the Ixcan region of Guatemala.
Kim Kohler said the Guatemalan government wants to build the dam where three rivers join, which she said would flood the region above the dam and displace 33 communities.
In May 2007 the people put together a “consulta,” she said, which is a community organized vote that the Guatemalan government allows. The consulta results showed that 19,000 people voted “no” on the Xalala dam, and that gave the people hope.
Kim Kohler said she saw that the people felt energized to have a legal voice since the government said the consulta was legal. However, it wasn’t binding and they did not cancel the search for contracting bids.
She said because of the strong resistance by the people, no foreign corporations bid to construct the dam. Now the Guatemalan government is looking within the country for local companies who want to build the dam.
She said the Guatemalan government blamed the economic crisis in the United States for the lack of international bidders, but added that the people don’t believe this. She said 30 years ago the Guatemalan government promised to get electricity, new jobs, and better houses for the people, but they still have yet to do those things.
She said the people are not resisting development, but rather are resisting forced development and conforming to the vertical view of foreign companies.
“By resisting mega-projects, they are saying yes to life,” Kim Kohler said. “They are resisting conforming to the vertical view of take, take and never give back.”
People who are wanting to support the Guatemalan people, and other indigenous groups facing the same problems, can be more aware of the resources we throw away every day, Jerry Kohler said.
Kim Kohler said that to help, people can oppose free trade agreements and buy as much fair trade products as possible, as well as send letters to large corporation CEOs expressing discontent for what they are doing in order to help people in Central and South America.
“They are resisting the assault on their culture and spirituality,” she said. “The struggle continues.”
For more information, visit the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala website at www.nisgua.org.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: December, 2008; Peace Corps Guatemala; Directory of Guatemala RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Guatemala RPCVs; Speaking Out
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Story Source: The Advocate
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