Tropic of Chaos (37 page)
Authors: Christian Parenti
12
Erving Goffman,
Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates
(New York: Anchor, 1961). General George Crook quoted in John A. Nagl,
Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam: Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005)
.
Erving Goffman,
Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates
(New York: Anchor, 1961). General George Crook quoted in John A. Nagl,
Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam: Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005)
.
13
If this sounds a lot like Judeo-Christian eschatology, that is because there was significant influence from the Mormon Church and, strangely, the Shakers on the founding leaders of the Ghost Dance Cult, like the Paiute prophet Wovoka. See Frank D. McCann Jr., “The Ghost Dance, Last Hope of Western Tribes, Unleashed the Final Tragedy,”
Montana: The Magazine of Western History
16, no. 1 (winter 1966): 25â34. For a historiographical survey of the literature on the Lakota ghost dance, see Michael A. Sievers, “The Historiography of âThe Bloody Field . . . That Kept the Secret of the Everlasting Word': Wounded Knee,”
South Dakota History
6, no. 1 (1975): 33â54; Raymond J. DeMallie, “The Lakota Ghost Dance: An Ethnohistorical Account,”
The Pacific Historical Review
51, no. 4 (November 1982): 385â405.
If this sounds a lot like Judeo-Christian eschatology, that is because there was significant influence from the Mormon Church and, strangely, the Shakers on the founding leaders of the Ghost Dance Cult, like the Paiute prophet Wovoka. See Frank D. McCann Jr., “The Ghost Dance, Last Hope of Western Tribes, Unleashed the Final Tragedy,”
Montana: The Magazine of Western History
16, no. 1 (winter 1966): 25â34. For a historiographical survey of the literature on the Lakota ghost dance, see Michael A. Sievers, “The Historiography of âThe Bloody Field . . . That Kept the Secret of the Everlasting Word': Wounded Knee,”
South Dakota History
6, no. 1 (1975): 33â54; Raymond J. DeMallie, “The Lakota Ghost Dance: An Ethnohistorical Account,”
The Pacific Historical Review
51, no. 4 (November 1982): 385â405.
14
Captain E. D. Swinton, D.S.O., R.E.,
The Defense of Duffer's Drift
(Washington, DC: US Infantry Association, 1916), 9.
Captain E. D. Swinton, D.S.O., R.E.,
The Defense of Duffer's Drift
(Washington, DC: US Infantry Association, 1916), 9.
16
Hans Schmidt,
Maverick Marine: General Smedley D. Butler and the Contradictions of American Military History
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998).
Hans Schmidt,
Maverick Marine: General Smedley D. Butler and the Contradictions of American Military History
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998).
17
For more on this, see Dunbar Ortiz, “Indigenous Rights and Regional Autonomy in Revolutionary Nicaragua,”
Latin American Perspectives
14, no. 1 (winter 1987): 43â66; Jane Freeland, “Nationalist Revolution and Ethnic Rights: The Miskitu Indians of Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast,”
Third World Quarterly
11, no. 4 (October 1989): 166â190. A famous innovator of small-war tactics and doctrine was Maj. Gen. Merritt A. Edson (USMC), who led, and later wrote about, a 1928 campaign to pacify Nicaragua's Rio Coco.
For more on this, see Dunbar Ortiz, “Indigenous Rights and Regional Autonomy in Revolutionary Nicaragua,”
Latin American Perspectives
14, no. 1 (winter 1987): 43â66; Jane Freeland, “Nationalist Revolution and Ethnic Rights: The Miskitu Indians of Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast,”
Third World Quarterly
11, no. 4 (October 1989): 166â190. A famous innovator of small-war tactics and doctrine was Maj. Gen. Merritt A. Edson (USMC), who led, and later wrote about, a 1928 campaign to pacify Nicaragua's Rio Coco.
18
On the last example, see the excellent article by Shane Bauer, “Iraq's New Death Squad,”
The Nation
, June 22, 2009.
On the last example, see the excellent article by Shane Bauer, “Iraq's New Death Squad,”
The Nation
, June 22, 2009.
19
United States Marine Corps,
Small Wars Manual
(Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1940), 2.
United States Marine Corps,
Small Wars Manual
(Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1940), 2.
20
This is from a report from the Brady brigade commander dated October 1919, quoted in Hans Schmidt,
The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915â1934
(New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995), 105.
This is from a report from the Brady brigade commander dated October 1919, quoted in Hans Schmidt,
The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915â1934
(New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995), 105.
21
Like the cavalry, the marines, emphasizing small mobile units, adopted local methods of transportationâon rivers, mountain trails, or country roads. Resupply was limited, and marines tended to live off the landâwhich is to say, the local population. Discussing marine suppression of rebellion in Haiti during America's intermittent fourteen-year occupation there, Lester Langley gives this description of tactics: “Marine commanders in the guard had to adapt to rebel tactics. A patrol could travel twenty to thirty miles in a day, moving single file along trails flanked by dense growth, stopping usually at midafternoon to rest. Since pack mules ordinarily moved slower than men, animals were limited to the minimum necessary for carrying blanket, rolls, food, and ammunition. . . . Everything was sacrificed to speed on the trail, to having men in condition to fight. . . . What could not be scavenged was flown in by the air squadron.” Lester D. Langley,
The Banana Wars: United States Intervention in the Caribbean, 1898â1934
(Wilmington, DE: SR Books, 2002), 207. This was the age of gun boat diplomacy, and the manual refers explicitly to the imperial nature of such engagements: “Small wars, generally being the execution of the responsibilities of the President in protecting American interests, life and property abroad, are therefore conducted in a manner different from major warfare. In small wars, diplomacy has not ceased to function and the State Department exercises a constant and controlling influence over the military operations. The very inception of small wars, as a rule, is an official act of the Chief Executive who personally gives instructions without action of Congress.”
Like the cavalry, the marines, emphasizing small mobile units, adopted local methods of transportationâon rivers, mountain trails, or country roads. Resupply was limited, and marines tended to live off the landâwhich is to say, the local population. Discussing marine suppression of rebellion in Haiti during America's intermittent fourteen-year occupation there, Lester Langley gives this description of tactics: “Marine commanders in the guard had to adapt to rebel tactics. A patrol could travel twenty to thirty miles in a day, moving single file along trails flanked by dense growth, stopping usually at midafternoon to rest. Since pack mules ordinarily moved slower than men, animals were limited to the minimum necessary for carrying blanket, rolls, food, and ammunition. . . . Everything was sacrificed to speed on the trail, to having men in condition to fight. . . . What could not be scavenged was flown in by the air squadron.” Lester D. Langley,
The Banana Wars: United States Intervention in the Caribbean, 1898â1934
(Wilmington, DE: SR Books, 2002), 207. This was the age of gun boat diplomacy, and the manual refers explicitly to the imperial nature of such engagements: “Small wars, generally being the execution of the responsibilities of the President in protecting American interests, life and property abroad, are therefore conducted in a manner different from major warfare. In small wars, diplomacy has not ceased to function and the State Department exercises a constant and controlling influence over the military operations. The very inception of small wars, as a rule, is an official act of the Chief Executive who personally gives instructions without action of Congress.”
27
Danilo Valladares, “Youth GangsâReserve Army for Organized Crime,” Inter Press Service, September 21, 2010.
Danilo Valladares, “Youth GangsâReserve Army for Organized Crime,” Inter Press Service, September 21, 2010.
28
Dennis Rodgers, “Living in the Shadow of Death: Gangs, Violence and Social Order in Urban Nicaragua, 1996â2002,”
Journal of Latin American Studies
38, no. 2 (2006): 267â292: 267.
Dennis Rodgers, “Living in the Shadow of Death: Gangs, Violence and Social Order in Urban Nicaragua, 1996â2002,”
Journal of Latin American Studies
38, no. 2 (2006): 267â292: 267.
29
Here is a random sampling of stories on the postwar violence: “Gunmen Slaughter 14 Football Players,”
Independent
(UK), November 1, 2010; Valladares, “Youth Gangs”; Nick Miroff and William Booth, “Violence Accompanies Mexican Drug Cartels As They Move South,”
Washington Post
, July 27, 2010. And here are academic articles analyzing the crisis: Sonja Wolf, “Subverting Democracy: Elite Rule and the Limits to Political Participation in Post-War El Salvador,”
Journal of Latin American Studies
41, no. 3 (2009): 429â465; Rodgers, “Living in the Shadow of Death.”
Here is a random sampling of stories on the postwar violence: “Gunmen Slaughter 14 Football Players,”
Independent
(UK), November 1, 2010; Valladares, “Youth Gangs”; Nick Miroff and William Booth, “Violence Accompanies Mexican Drug Cartels As They Move South,”
Washington Post
, July 27, 2010. And here are academic articles analyzing the crisis: Sonja Wolf, “Subverting Democracy: Elite Rule and the Limits to Political Participation in Post-War El Salvador,”
Journal of Latin American Studies
41, no. 3 (2009): 429â465; Rodgers, “Living in the Shadow of Death.”
32
Mike Davis, “The Pentagon As Global Slumlord,”
TomDispatch.com
, April 19, 2004,
www.alternet.org/story/18457
.
Mike Davis, “The Pentagon As Global Slumlord,”
TomDispatch.com
, April 19, 2004,
www.alternet.org/story/18457
.
33
See Greg Grandin's excellent
Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism
(New York: Metropolitan, 2005), 87â88.
Chapter 4See Greg Grandin's excellent
Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism
(New York: Metropolitan, 2005), 87â88.
1
On Africa, the IPCC writes, “Warming is
very likely
to be larger than the global annual mean warming throughout the continent and in all seasons, with drier subtropical regions warming more than the moister tropics. Annual rainfall is
likely
to decrease in much of Mediterranean Africa and the northern Sahara, with a greater likelihood of decreasing rainfall as the Mediterranean coast is approached. Rainfall in southern Africa is
likely
to decrease in much of the winter rainfall region and western margins. There is
likely
to be an increase in annual mean rainfall in East Africa. It is unclear how rainfall in the Sahel, the Guinean Coast and the southern Sahara will evolve.” Susan Solomon, Dahe Qin, Martin Manning, and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group I,
Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 850.
On Africa, the IPCC writes, “Warming is
very likely
to be larger than the global annual mean warming throughout the continent and in all seasons, with drier subtropical regions warming more than the moister tropics. Annual rainfall is
likely
to decrease in much of Mediterranean Africa and the northern Sahara, with a greater likelihood of decreasing rainfall as the Mediterranean coast is approached. Rainfall in southern Africa is
likely
to decrease in much of the winter rainfall region and western margins. There is
likely
to be an increase in annual mean rainfall in East Africa. It is unclear how rainfall in the Sahel, the Guinean Coast and the southern Sahara will evolve.” Susan Solomon, Dahe Qin, Martin Manning, and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group I,
Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 850.
3
M. Boko et al. “Africa,” in
Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
, ed. M. L. Parry et al. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 440.
M. Boko et al. “Africa,” in
Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
, ed. M. L. Parry et al. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 440.
5
The Kalenjin are made up of the Kipsigis, Nandi, Tugen, Keiyo, Marakwet, Pokot (in the past called the Suk), Sabaot, and Terik. Many of these tribes live in the Mount Elgon region, overlapping the Kenya-Uganda border. They were the political base of Daniel Arap Moi. Kalenjin political identity had first begun to take shape in the 1940s, among independent but culturally and linguistically similar tribes. Kalenjin translates roughly as “I tell you,” and it seems to have emerged among servicemen who were shipped off to fight for Britain in World War II. These men addressed each other as
kale
(which referred to one who had killed an enemy in battle). Wartime radio broadcasts hailed them with the plural
kalenjok
. After the war a Kalenjin political club formed at Alliance High School and at Makerere College. From the beginning the Kalenjin united to counterbalance the power of the Kikuyu, who had lost most of their land to the British, then led the Mau Mau rebellion and were soon to dominate postindependence political and economic life in Kenya. By 1948 there was a Kalenjin Union in Eldoret and a monthly magazine called
Kalenjin
in the 1950s. See Benjamin E. Kipkorir,
The Marakwet of Kenya
(Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 1982).
The Kalenjin are made up of the Kipsigis, Nandi, Tugen, Keiyo, Marakwet, Pokot (in the past called the Suk), Sabaot, and Terik. Many of these tribes live in the Mount Elgon region, overlapping the Kenya-Uganda border. They were the political base of Daniel Arap Moi. Kalenjin political identity had first begun to take shape in the 1940s, among independent but culturally and linguistically similar tribes. Kalenjin translates roughly as “I tell you,” and it seems to have emerged among servicemen who were shipped off to fight for Britain in World War II. These men addressed each other as
kale
(which referred to one who had killed an enemy in battle). Wartime radio broadcasts hailed them with the plural
kalenjok
. After the war a Kalenjin political club formed at Alliance High School and at Makerere College. From the beginning the Kalenjin united to counterbalance the power of the Kikuyu, who had lost most of their land to the British, then led the Mau Mau rebellion and were soon to dominate postindependence political and economic life in Kenya. By 1948 there was a Kalenjin Union in Eldoret and a monthly magazine called
Kalenjin
in the 1950s. See Benjamin E. Kipkorir,
The Marakwet of Kenya
(Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 1982).
6
“Clashes in North Kenya over Cattle Raiding Kill 26,” Associated Press Worldstream, August 1, 2008.
“Clashes in North Kenya over Cattle Raiding Kill 26,” Associated Press Worldstream, August 1, 2008.
7
On the population and geography of this culture, see Elliot Fratkin, “East African Pastoralism in Transition: Maasai, Boran, and Rendille Cases,”
African Studies Review
44, no. 3 (December 2001): 1â25. Fratkin writes, “Pastoralists occupy 70 percent
of the total land of Kenya, 50 percent of Tanzania, and 40 percent of Uganda. But their populations are numerically small (fewer than 1.5 million of Kenya's 30 million, Tanzania's 35 million, and Uganda's 23 million people), and they find themselves politically disempowered and economically marginalized in national polities that are dominated by people from agricultural communities. Pastoralist groups of East Africa include cattle-keeping Maasai (300,000 in southern Kenya and 150,000 in northern Tanzania), Samburu (75,000), Turkana (200,000), Boran and Orma (75,000), and Karimojong, Dodoth, Teso, and Jie peoples in Uganda (total about 200,000). Camel-keeping pastoralists occupy the drier regions of northeastern Kenya, southern Ethiopia, and Somalia and include Afro-Asiatic-speaking Gabra (25,000), Rendille (25,000), and pastoral Somali (about 1 million of Somalia's 6.5 million people). In addition, many agricultural groups in East Africa raise large herds of cattle, including Kalenjin speakers (Nandi, Kipsigi, Pokot) in western Kenya and Bantu-speaking Ba Ankole in western Uganda and Tutsi in Rwanda and Burundi” (3â4).
On the population and geography of this culture, see Elliot Fratkin, “East African Pastoralism in Transition: Maasai, Boran, and Rendille Cases,”
African Studies Review
44, no. 3 (December 2001): 1â25. Fratkin writes, “Pastoralists occupy 70 percent
of the total land of Kenya, 50 percent of Tanzania, and 40 percent of Uganda. But their populations are numerically small (fewer than 1.5 million of Kenya's 30 million, Tanzania's 35 million, and Uganda's 23 million people), and they find themselves politically disempowered and economically marginalized in national polities that are dominated by people from agricultural communities. Pastoralist groups of East Africa include cattle-keeping Maasai (300,000 in southern Kenya and 150,000 in northern Tanzania), Samburu (75,000), Turkana (200,000), Boran and Orma (75,000), and Karimojong, Dodoth, Teso, and Jie peoples in Uganda (total about 200,000). Camel-keeping pastoralists occupy the drier regions of northeastern Kenya, southern Ethiopia, and Somalia and include Afro-Asiatic-speaking Gabra (25,000), Rendille (25,000), and pastoral Somali (about 1 million of Somalia's 6.5 million people). In addition, many agricultural groups in East Africa raise large herds of cattle, including Kalenjin speakers (Nandi, Kipsigi, Pokot) in western Kenya and Bantu-speaking Ba Ankole in western Uganda and Tutsi in Rwanda and Burundi” (3â4).
9
Eleanor J. Burke, Simon J. Brown, and Nikolaos Christidis, “Modeling the Recent Evolution of Global Drought and Projections for the Twenty-First Century with the Hadley Centre Climate Model,”
Journal of Hydrometeorology
7, no. 5 (October 2006): 1113â1125.
Eleanor J. Burke, Simon J. Brown, and Nikolaos Christidis, “Modeling the Recent Evolution of Global Drought and Projections for the Twenty-First Century with the Hadley Centre Climate Model,”
Journal of Hydrometeorology
7, no. 5 (October 2006): 1113â1125.
10
Dr. David Kimenye, “Life on the Edge of Climate Change: The Plight of the Pastoralists in Northern Kenya,” Christian Aid, November 13, 2006, p. 2.
Dr. David Kimenye, “Life on the Edge of Climate Change: The Plight of the Pastoralists in Northern Kenya,” Christian Aid, November 13, 2006, p. 2.
11
Mwaniki Wahome, “For Agriculture, Larger Budget Allocation Vital,”
The Nation
, June 12, 2008; see also the introduction of Victor A. Orindi, Anthony Nyong, and Mario Herrero, “Pastoral Livelihood Adaptation to Drought and Institutional Interventions in Kenya,” in
Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World
(occasional paper, Human Development Report Office, United Nations Development Program, 2007/2008).
Mwaniki Wahome, “For Agriculture, Larger Budget Allocation Vital,”
The Nation
, June 12, 2008; see also the introduction of Victor A. Orindi, Anthony Nyong, and Mario Herrero, “Pastoral Livelihood Adaptation to Drought and Institutional Interventions in Kenya,” in
Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World
(occasional paper, Human Development Report Office, United Nations Development Program, 2007/2008).
12
USAID FEWS NET, Weather Hazards Impacts Assessment for Africa, December 13â20, 2007.
USAID FEWS NET, Weather Hazards Impacts Assessment for Africa, December 13â20, 2007.
13
Jeffrey Gettleman, “Ripples of Dispute Surround Tiny Island in East Africa,”
New York Times
, August 17, 2009.
Jeffrey Gettleman, “Ripples of Dispute Surround Tiny Island in East Africa,”
New York Times
, August 17, 2009.
14
Barnabas Bii and Kennedy Masibo, “Banditry Death Toll Rises Now to 74,”
The Nation
(Kenya), August 5, 2008; “Kenya to Forcefully Disarm Pastoralists in Rift Valley,” World News Connection, August 3, 2008; Lucas Ng'asike, “Raiders Shoot Dead 30 Herders,”
The Nation
(Kenya), August 12, 2008; “11 Killed As They Pursue Raiders,”
The Nation
(Kenya), August 20, 2008; Peter Ng'etich, “Ten Herders Die in Bomb Raid,”
The Nation
(Kenya), August 22, 2008; “âSudanese Raiders' Kill Eight in Northwestern Kenya” (text of report by Kenyan privately owned TV station KTN on 30 August), BBC International Reports, Monitoring Service, August 30, 2008; Peter Ng'etich and Oliver Mathenge, “Two Reservists Killed in Raid,”
The Nation
(Kenya), September 2, 2008; Peter Ng'etich, “Two Killed As Raiders Steal Cattle,”
The Nation
(Kenya), September 4, 2008.
Barnabas Bii and Kennedy Masibo, “Banditry Death Toll Rises Now to 74,”
The Nation
(Kenya), August 5, 2008; “Kenya to Forcefully Disarm Pastoralists in Rift Valley,” World News Connection, August 3, 2008; Lucas Ng'asike, “Raiders Shoot Dead 30 Herders,”
The Nation
(Kenya), August 12, 2008; “11 Killed As They Pursue Raiders,”
The Nation
(Kenya), August 20, 2008; Peter Ng'etich, “Ten Herders Die in Bomb Raid,”
The Nation
(Kenya), August 22, 2008; “âSudanese Raiders' Kill Eight in Northwestern Kenya” (text of report by Kenyan privately owned TV station KTN on 30 August), BBC International Reports, Monitoring Service, August 30, 2008; Peter Ng'etich and Oliver Mathenge, “Two Reservists Killed in Raid,”
The Nation
(Kenya), September 2, 2008; Peter Ng'etich, “Two Killed As Raiders Steal Cattle,”
The Nation
(Kenya), September 4, 2008.
15
Claire McEvoy and Ryan Murray, “Gauging Fear and Insecurity: Perspectives on Armed Violence in Eastern Equatoria and Turkana North,”
Sudan Issue Briefs
14 (July 2008): 10: 14.
Chapter 5Claire McEvoy and Ryan Murray, “Gauging Fear and Insecurity: Perspectives on Armed Violence in Eastern Equatoria and Turkana North,”
Sudan Issue Briefs
14 (July 2008): 10: 14.
2
Where the trade winds collide and the air rises, we find an area of strange calm, known to sailors as the doldrums.
Where the trade winds collide and the air rises, we find an area of strange calm, known to sailors as the doldrums.
3
Muhindi et al.,
Rainfall Atlas for Kenya
, 7. John E. Oliver,
Encyclopedia of World Climatology
(New York: Springer), p. 430.
Muhindi et al.,
Rainfall Atlas for Kenya
, 7. John E. Oliver,
Encyclopedia of World Climatology
(New York: Springer), p. 430.
4
Recall the basics: as the Earth, tipped on its axis, revolves around the sun during the course of a year, the sun focuses more forcefully on one, then the other, hemisphere. In the process, it slowly transits north and south across the equator. During its summer, the Northern Hemisphere is tipped toward the sun, and the ITCZ is pulled north toward the Tropic of Capricorn. As the season changes, the Southern Hemisphere receives a greater portion of sunlight, and the ITCZ is pulled south across the equator toward the Tropic of Cancer.
Recall the basics: as the Earth, tipped on its axis, revolves around the sun during the course of a year, the sun focuses more forcefully on one, then the other, hemisphere. In the process, it slowly transits north and south across the equator. During its summer, the Northern Hemisphere is tipped toward the sun, and the ITCZ is pulled north toward the Tropic of Capricorn. As the season changes, the Southern Hemisphere receives a greater portion of sunlight, and the ITCZ is pulled south across the equator toward the Tropic of Cancer.
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