Toys do not always come in a fancy gift wrap: Children of the World, Part B

I am holding a book in my hands by Ishmael Beah, a young Sierra Leonese who currently resides in New York City. If the name of the 26-year old does not sound familiar to you, there is nothing wrong; he is not to be found among the annals of African literature and story-telling tradition along with Soyinka, Achebe or Gordimer, but this makes his book no less important. In fact, it is precisely the hitherto "anonymity" of its author what is the defining element of the book: "A long way gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" is the story of Beah, a child-soldier in the Sierra Leone Civil War, one of many. Beah's memoir is truly the "voice" of many anonymous child-soldiers from Sierra Leone and abroad who have been trapped in bloody conflicts. It is the book of Beah's brother, Junior, who disappeared one fine day and was never to be seen again, it is the book of his classmates, of his friends, it is the book of other youngsters who could be in his position writing the book, but, sadly, did not "live to tell the tale" [to use the title of Garcia-Marquez's recent novel].

Like flies trapped in a spider web, the children caught by guerrillas (or the government army) are virtually at the mercy of their captors. And yet unlike flies, their death will not be quick and (presumably) painless but, instead, long and brutal. They surrender body and soul, agency and childhood. They get in return the only toy they are allowed to have: a gun boxed in instructions about killing and killing and obeying the superiors. This is because the voracious appetite of the leaders will not be satiated unless the children mutate into obedient recruits capable of satisfying any cause that appears "worthy" to the leaders. Generalized as this description may be, it resonates with the testimonies of several child-soldiers from different countries, Sierra Leone being just one example. A notorious case involves the now-indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) guerrila leader Joseph Kony of Uganda whose group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), has abducted some 20,000 children.

Whether it fits the definition of child labor or not, the truth remains that the brutality and exploitation of children-converted-into-soldiers in combat zones and conflicts is repugnant and intolerable. The "institution" of child-soldiers consists, naturally so, an outright violation of the essence of the major human rights texts like the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" (1948) or the "Convention on the Rigths of Children" (1989)- in fact, it is safe to argue that captors of child-soldiers nullify the very notion of human rights, let alone of children rights. Conversely, it needs not be repeated how damaging participating to wars is to children; what must be mentioned though is that even the children that manage somehow to escape or are rescued by the international community even at an early stage -like Ishmael Beah who was saved by UNICEF- need to undergo tremendous treatments in order to recover, to heal and to come in terms with their past.

The 11-year conflict that tore apart Sierra Leone erupted in 1991 with the first expedition of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a guerrila group who wanted to oust the All People's Congress (APC) government. The conflict ended in 2002, leaving thousands dead and an estimated 2 million people displaced. Statistics of the children-soldiers are harder to tabulate and largely do not make headlines during and even after the conflict ends. However child-soldiers are a distinct reality of warfare today, particularly in Africa, notably in Uganda, DR Congo and Angola, but elsewhere too, as in Colombia and Lebanon. According to Amnesty International some 300,000 children soldiers -close to the population of such capitals as Ljubljana, Slovenia or Canberra, Australia- fight in conflicts today. On the legislation front, progess has been achieved by the entry into force of the "Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Children on the involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts" in 2002 although sadly not all countries that are party to it have ratified it. Against the distressing reality and in lieu of any conclusion, I have decided to quote from Amnesty International's website a 15-year old girl, a former child-soldier of Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda - she tells: "I would like to give you a message. Please do your best to tell the world what is happening to us, the children. So that other children don't have to pass through this violence."

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Reference: Child Soldiers, Amnesty International

Toys do not always come in a fancy gift wrap: Children of the World, Part A

Yesterday was the World Day Against Child Labor and I, like many, was dumbfounded by the statistics of UNICEF and the ILO: over 132 million children work worldwide in agriculture, the largest "employer" of children. Children work also in private households, factories, mines - the list, sadly, goes on.. And one could take the discussion a step further, only to discover more misery, only to realize how systematic the violations of such major conventions as the Convention of the Rights of Children (1990) or the ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (1999) are...

One of the worst forms of child labor, or shall I say, child exploitation, is occurring in Thailand today: Muay Thai, or Thai Boxing "for children". Children as young as four are taken to booting camps where they are trained -from dawn to dusk and beyond- to participate in "children boxing", a sport that scors high in popularity among many Thais. In fact, behind children boxing there is an entire industry of bookmakers, trainers and parents who collectively and conscientiously exploit children in order to make profit: yes, it is about children fighting for the pure enjoyment of adults and the money-making that comes along.

Even though it has been illegal since 1999, child boxing continues to date - causing acute physical and psychological violence to children, often hampering their physical and mental growth. The industry, however, remains undeterred partly because it is lucrative, partly because of the underlying cultural argument [that Muay Thai is part of the culture of Thailand] - which is true except that it needs not to violate human rights, let alone the rights of the most vulnerable, the children. The version of Muay Thai that is revived in the poor neighborhoods of Bangkok seems closer to a misappropriation of the cultural heritage of the country, rather than anything else.

It is my firm belief that cultures, and more so cultural traditions must be preserved for the people that cherish them as part of their heritage and for the rest of us, outsiders, to be able to observe and enjoy. However one must be alert to potential misappropriation of culture in the name of some obscene goal: it is easy for the culturally sensitive to be overtaken by some mélange of cultural righteousness and a dose of "cultural relativism" discourse. Muay Thai, as practiced today, looks less like a cultural tradition and more like a distorted version or an ill-twisted reflection of something "cultural".

Humbled as I am by my limited knowledge of Thai culture and practices, I have refrained from expressing an inflexible position, even if subtantial evidence has tempted me to do so. Hence in my post so far I have favored "likelihood" over "certainty" when making culturally-related statements. However if there is one thing I am certain of, then this is that the four year-olds appearing on the footage of both France 24 and TV5 Monde did not make a rational and conscientious decision to join the boxing camps, if they made any decision at all, simply because at the age of four one is not in a position to make such decisions. They were taken there. Hence I have grounds to doubt that the physical or psychological torment that children undergo is in any manner or shape acceptable to them. I am even concerned that they may not have the opportunity to express an opinion (about pretty much anything) because of punishment (or fear thereof).

Profit needs not "guide empires" only (to borrow a line from a famous Greek song). Profit needs not be found in modern, industrialized, free-market societies only. Profit can be found in poor, rural Thailand too. And so can voiceless, vulnerable and exploited children - only that news about children ought to surprise us, economics not.

Links

The poignant video of France 24: Muay Thai: No child's play In English. Footage is graphic.

On Child Labor

En français: L'agriculture emploie 70 % de la main-d'oeuvre infantile

Στα ελληνικά: Το δικό σου σουβενίρ ποιο Κινεζάκι θα το φτιάξει;

Silver and Salt: so much in common

Bolivia, they say, is a "big street market" and I think they are not wrong: The country's few buildings and occasional stores are confined in bigger cities like La Paz or Santa Cruz. Homes, wherever they are located, are tiny and barely hold essentials; people do not shut themselves behind closed doors and windows or else they would (likely) suffocate. To work or celebrate Bolivians also head to the streets (or even further, to the fields) except perhaps for the occasional Mass which unites the community to church. This also makes sense considering that the vast vast majority of the population is in farming, animal raising or the mines; celebrating is something that Bolivians know very well and streets fill during local Carnivals: the Carnival of Oruro is said to be the second in South America after that of Rio.

Such "openness" creates a level of transparency that almost "dictates" that people grow together. People collectively benefit from shared experiences and interpersonal relationships that take place in common spaces - both psychologically and in material terms, through the sharing of resources. This becomes particularly important since few Bolivians have substantial individual posessions, whether material or non-material, to meet their needs on their own. At the same time grievances and adversities are also collectively experienced, magnifying thus the number of affected individuals.

The documentary of Richard Ladhkani and Kief Davidson "The Devil's Miner" confirms just this; although it focuses on Basilio Vargas and his family, the film shows how mining affects the entire community of the city of Potosí in south Bolivia. Cerro Rico, the mountain that "hosts" the mines five centuries now, is often referred to as the "eater of men" [because of the dead miners] and members of the commmunity openly talk about it. At the same time workers and outsiders know they all depend on the mines for survival. For such reasons the entire community participates in the ceremonies to appease the spirit of the mine, Tio (pictured like a Devil), so that he does not take the lives of miners.

If there is one thing that transparent societies are not good at, this is keeping secrets. It is common knowledge to workers and outsiders that there are many children workers in the mines, like Basilio who is 14 and his brother, Bernandino, 12. Many miners openly express their discontent stating that children are unsuitable for such an unhealthy profession. Yet what comes out from the film is that child labor ultimately is not a choice, it is a matter of survival. For single parent families like the Vargas family, working is indeed a necessity as the mother, Manuela, makes only US $25 per month and, hence, is unable to financially support her three children and herself. What is perhaps the toughest part of the film is the moment where Basilio admits that he would not have to work, if his father was alive - "If only..."

"The Devil's Miner" is a "difficult" movie both because its subject matter is a tough one and the scenes in the mine are not particulalry pleasant to watch; also, because it has no "plot" it may appear "slow" - and yet these are precisely the elements that make it an excellent documentary, the very fact that Ladhkani and Davidson capture reality and shun ornaments. Regardless of its technical ans artistic merits the documentary is worth watching for yet another reason: it deals with the major plague that many states in Latin America and elsewhere face, the exploitation of mine workers. A phenomenon that goes back to colonialism, it has taken many forms in the centuries and sadly continues almost unabatted today. In that sense, "The Devil's Miner" echoes Peruvian author Ciro Alegria and his famous novel "El Mundo es ancho y ajeno" (The world is broad and alien); Alegria condemns among others the maltreament of locals in the mine of Navilca at the beginning of the 20th century.



Typical communal meal that is shared among peasants in rural Bolivia; all parties involved contribute by bringing some food of their choice.




Everything can be a reason to celebrate. Here, a children's [sic] road run organized by a television station, near La Paz.




A yet another demanding job is the production of salt. Much like miners producers of salt have to masticate leaves of coca and protect themselves from the harmful fumes that accompany the purification of the salt. Colchani, Potosí.