Laos: Does Anyone Think the United Nations Will Help?
22 May 2019 [link youtube]
Does anyone think the U.N. will ACTUALLY support democracy in Laos, in China, or anywhere in Asia? Does anyone think the U.N. will do anything to change the status quo… ANYTHING to help?
I assume that absolutely nobody wants to click on the links to read the interviews with United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston, and that absolutely nobody thinks that his "final report" will have any real-world outcomes (changing the history of Laos now unfolding) in any way whatsoever, but… here are the links:
(1) https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/un-alston-laos-03182019170133.html
(2) https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/rfa-interview-alston-04092019172552.html
(3) https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/expert-03282019145123.html
Youtube Automatic Transcription
one of the strange sort of tissues of
morality in the 21st century is the game we play with white Western moneyed countries quote-unquote rescuing dissidents from dictatorships someone stands up and dares to criticize the government of China and they're thrown in prison say the American Embassy the French Embassy perhaps even the Canadian Embassy stands up and demand that this person be released and if released the white Western nation promises they'll take you in this critic of the dictatorship as a refugee in their own country and in this way sources of instability are recruited into the ranks of the underpaid underemployed new immigrants in Western countries and they ceased to be a source of criticism they cease to be a force for dynamic change in their countries of origin I know people pat themselves on the back for this they feel there's a sort of heroism in rescuing Wei Jingsheng for example from China any of the dissonance in China any of the distance from South Africa when I was a kid that was always the big story would be people in this sense rescued from South Africa and Chile dictatorships now largely forgotten forgotten for having repressed people who complained against them protest against them and so on the world would be in a profound and subtle way a very different place if the attitudes of those Western democracies was no the future of China is yours and not ours to decide and if you want democracy in China you shouldn't become a refugee living in Montreal you should stay in China organize antagonize speak your truth to power fight and it's tragic it's tragic to see what happens it's tragic to see that someone like Wei Jingsheng spent so much of his adult life in prison so many of the people have criticized China every despotism around the world even Saudi Arabia now end up in prison or end up disappearing but aren't we simply helping those critics of authoritarian governments to disappear in a very different sense aren't we just doing the dictators dirty work for them by absconding with these people and silencing them in a different sense by taking them away to a place like Montreal where they could no longer possibly be part of the political struggle in the country of origin there's a strange sort of moral pageantry to what the United Nations now is and does in the year 2019 the United Nations has an almost infinite budget compared to a tiny poverty-stricken powerless country like Laos in Southeast Asia the budget per annum for the United Nations is about fifty billion dollars a small intervention a small project from United Nations will spend something like three hundred thousand US dollars per year the amount paid even to United Nations volunteers in salary is infinitely high compared to you know local allow people struggling to make a living so when I was there a nurse at a hospital would make maybe fifteen US dollars per month a nurse who had really been to university was highly educated I knew of some who made forty five US dollars per month but they were receiving fifteen dollars from the Lao government and the other thirty government pardon me the other thirty dollars is coming from international donors it was precisely coming from agencies like the United Nations maybe not the UN maybe European or other other donors were increasing their salaries there were definitely medical doctors earning $30 a month and so on and you have the lowest level volunteer for the United Nations would be earning maybe three thousand US dollars per month of course full-time staff much much more than that they were as the title of the book says the Lords of poverty why were they there they were there supposedly in pursuit of the highest ideals set down by third-rate philosopher Immanuel Kant and fourth rate president United States FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt doctor to the Four Freedoms and so on all those pious resolutions that were made at the end of World War two the United Nations are supposed to embody and push for that kind of progress and what what do they actually do here's Philip halston set to visit Laos to examine poverty and human rights issues this is supposedly the advocate for positive social change this is supposedly the man is going to come and speak truth to power this is supposedly an advocate for democracy human rights freedom of expression all the things that in a tiny communist dictatorship like Laos people lack along with access to education clean drinking water the things that people in Western countries tend to take for granted un expert says Lao government policies make life worse for poor comma marginalized wow that photograph really tells you all you need to know about this total outsider arriving in a village in Laos with no knowledge of the language no knowledge of the history no own knowledge of how even the current bureaucracy and government works just a total ignoramus with an infinite budget showing up making his tour of the countryside in 11 days the Lao government's economic policies have worsened the living conditions of the nation's poor and marginalized populations while widening the gap between the haves and have-nots a United Nations rights expert said Thursday at the end of an 11 day official visit to the country in a statement issued at the end of his March 18th to 28th where is it visit Philip halston the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and Human Rights said that improvements in the lives of the poorest lotions had not kept pace with the country's economic development despite important progress in reducing poverty to Lao government's economic growth strategies have too often destroyed livelihoods and trenched vulnerability and actually made some poor people poorer by taking away their access to land livelihoods and resources mm-hmm here are some quotations from an interview he gave at the end of his in-depth 11 day trip to Laos quote I spent 10 or 11 days in Laos and I was looking mainly at the situation of people who live in poverty but the reality is that in Laos the model of economic development that's been followed has made the wealthy very rich and created an also wealthy middle-class but the rest of society has not benefited so they've had huge and record economic growth but they've also put almost no serious resources into health education Social Protection and so people are not getting access to good schools they have very low levels of health care the education standards are bad and the government has just not invested in the human capital which it needs to do now let me ask you if you were the government of Laos would you respect this man's opinion if you were the common people of Laos would you respect this Minister if you were even a journalist just covering events and Lao si devoted years of your life to learning the language history and politics why would you have any respect for this man's analysis based on ten or eleven days of work he doesn't know the language he doesn't know the history he really doesn't know anything he's a man with a ruler who's shown up to take the measure of the nation but let's carry on for a moment here what are his recommendations is he calling for democracy is he calling for revolution is he calling for some fundamental changes it's lives of the poor is he calling for some fundamental changes so that Laos lives up to those ideals that the United Nations was set up to protect per pound and enshrine question what specific obstacles must the government face in order to improve the lives of average low citizens oh here comes the answer I think the challenge is for the government to adopt a policy which is less centralized they need to permit a much greater of openness within civil society they need to move towards more transparency and government people need to be able to know what sort of contracts have been signed with foreign investors you know you don't think they need to be able to vote for more than one political party you don't think they need to be able to elect who's in charge you don't think they need to be able to recall members of government and put them in prison when they've been found to be corrupt or taking bribes you don't think they need to have that's no Vic you think the poor in Laos need to be able to examine contracts that have been signed with for investors are you sure you're not representing say a neoliberal foreign investors interest rather than the interests of the poorest of the poor gee how did you get how did you get your priorities so mixed up here it sounded like just a minute ago you were saying the problem is that they have very poor education very poor health care so on and so forth how do you think they're gonna change that how do you think you're going to have a government that's by the poor and for the poor but I think more transparency in the signing of contracts with foreign investors there needs to be a way for those who are being resettled to make complaints which will be taken seriously and not met with brutal repression oh so your point is the people are gonna be resettled anyway but their complaints should be taken seriously what about what about a democracy where you don't live in a military dictatorship that just resettles you whenever it's in the government's convenience to build another goldmine both another highway so on and so I don't know I just sounds to me like you're not really dealing with the fundamental issues here after your 10 or 11 days in the country um quote I actually don't think that those changes would require too much of the present government it has done some very positive things it has started to crack down on corruption they say that every year it has consulted on some issues but it hasn't yet gone your far enough to really make sure that the people are aware of what's going on and that it's receiving the necessary information about the actual situation in the country look guys the problem with the United Nations is not just the evil that it does it's not just its direct involvement in you know some of the worst atrocities in the history of the world after World War Two and it's not just wrapping those atrocities in the in the flag of the United Nations there's a real question of opportunity cost here there's a real question of what might have been I think it's very sad that the main source of discontent in these countries is being in a sense recruited into silence but being taken away year after year generation after generation as refugees the people who could be the conscience of the nation the people who could be the canary and the coal mine and the people who could be crying for political change organizing for instigating political change are ending up in the suburbs of Paris and Montreal and some of them in New York and some of them in Long Beach California big Lotion community in Long Beach and then on the other hand the people whose job really is to advocate for country like Laos to meet the minimum standards of human rights and democracy are instead the most corrupt people in the world they're the United Nations they are the Lords of poverty [Music]
morality in the 21st century is the game we play with white Western moneyed countries quote-unquote rescuing dissidents from dictatorships someone stands up and dares to criticize the government of China and they're thrown in prison say the American Embassy the French Embassy perhaps even the Canadian Embassy stands up and demand that this person be released and if released the white Western nation promises they'll take you in this critic of the dictatorship as a refugee in their own country and in this way sources of instability are recruited into the ranks of the underpaid underemployed new immigrants in Western countries and they ceased to be a source of criticism they cease to be a force for dynamic change in their countries of origin I know people pat themselves on the back for this they feel there's a sort of heroism in rescuing Wei Jingsheng for example from China any of the dissonance in China any of the distance from South Africa when I was a kid that was always the big story would be people in this sense rescued from South Africa and Chile dictatorships now largely forgotten forgotten for having repressed people who complained against them protest against them and so on the world would be in a profound and subtle way a very different place if the attitudes of those Western democracies was no the future of China is yours and not ours to decide and if you want democracy in China you shouldn't become a refugee living in Montreal you should stay in China organize antagonize speak your truth to power fight and it's tragic it's tragic to see what happens it's tragic to see that someone like Wei Jingsheng spent so much of his adult life in prison so many of the people have criticized China every despotism around the world even Saudi Arabia now end up in prison or end up disappearing but aren't we simply helping those critics of authoritarian governments to disappear in a very different sense aren't we just doing the dictators dirty work for them by absconding with these people and silencing them in a different sense by taking them away to a place like Montreal where they could no longer possibly be part of the political struggle in the country of origin there's a strange sort of moral pageantry to what the United Nations now is and does in the year 2019 the United Nations has an almost infinite budget compared to a tiny poverty-stricken powerless country like Laos in Southeast Asia the budget per annum for the United Nations is about fifty billion dollars a small intervention a small project from United Nations will spend something like three hundred thousand US dollars per year the amount paid even to United Nations volunteers in salary is infinitely high compared to you know local allow people struggling to make a living so when I was there a nurse at a hospital would make maybe fifteen US dollars per month a nurse who had really been to university was highly educated I knew of some who made forty five US dollars per month but they were receiving fifteen dollars from the Lao government and the other thirty government pardon me the other thirty dollars is coming from international donors it was precisely coming from agencies like the United Nations maybe not the UN maybe European or other other donors were increasing their salaries there were definitely medical doctors earning $30 a month and so on and you have the lowest level volunteer for the United Nations would be earning maybe three thousand US dollars per month of course full-time staff much much more than that they were as the title of the book says the Lords of poverty why were they there they were there supposedly in pursuit of the highest ideals set down by third-rate philosopher Immanuel Kant and fourth rate president United States FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt doctor to the Four Freedoms and so on all those pious resolutions that were made at the end of World War two the United Nations are supposed to embody and push for that kind of progress and what what do they actually do here's Philip halston set to visit Laos to examine poverty and human rights issues this is supposedly the advocate for positive social change this is supposedly the man is going to come and speak truth to power this is supposedly an advocate for democracy human rights freedom of expression all the things that in a tiny communist dictatorship like Laos people lack along with access to education clean drinking water the things that people in Western countries tend to take for granted un expert says Lao government policies make life worse for poor comma marginalized wow that photograph really tells you all you need to know about this total outsider arriving in a village in Laos with no knowledge of the language no knowledge of the history no own knowledge of how even the current bureaucracy and government works just a total ignoramus with an infinite budget showing up making his tour of the countryside in 11 days the Lao government's economic policies have worsened the living conditions of the nation's poor and marginalized populations while widening the gap between the haves and have-nots a United Nations rights expert said Thursday at the end of an 11 day official visit to the country in a statement issued at the end of his March 18th to 28th where is it visit Philip halston the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and Human Rights said that improvements in the lives of the poorest lotions had not kept pace with the country's economic development despite important progress in reducing poverty to Lao government's economic growth strategies have too often destroyed livelihoods and trenched vulnerability and actually made some poor people poorer by taking away their access to land livelihoods and resources mm-hmm here are some quotations from an interview he gave at the end of his in-depth 11 day trip to Laos quote I spent 10 or 11 days in Laos and I was looking mainly at the situation of people who live in poverty but the reality is that in Laos the model of economic development that's been followed has made the wealthy very rich and created an also wealthy middle-class but the rest of society has not benefited so they've had huge and record economic growth but they've also put almost no serious resources into health education Social Protection and so people are not getting access to good schools they have very low levels of health care the education standards are bad and the government has just not invested in the human capital which it needs to do now let me ask you if you were the government of Laos would you respect this man's opinion if you were the common people of Laos would you respect this Minister if you were even a journalist just covering events and Lao si devoted years of your life to learning the language history and politics why would you have any respect for this man's analysis based on ten or eleven days of work he doesn't know the language he doesn't know the history he really doesn't know anything he's a man with a ruler who's shown up to take the measure of the nation but let's carry on for a moment here what are his recommendations is he calling for democracy is he calling for revolution is he calling for some fundamental changes it's lives of the poor is he calling for some fundamental changes so that Laos lives up to those ideals that the United Nations was set up to protect per pound and enshrine question what specific obstacles must the government face in order to improve the lives of average low citizens oh here comes the answer I think the challenge is for the government to adopt a policy which is less centralized they need to permit a much greater of openness within civil society they need to move towards more transparency and government people need to be able to know what sort of contracts have been signed with foreign investors you know you don't think they need to be able to vote for more than one political party you don't think they need to be able to elect who's in charge you don't think they need to be able to recall members of government and put them in prison when they've been found to be corrupt or taking bribes you don't think they need to have that's no Vic you think the poor in Laos need to be able to examine contracts that have been signed with for investors are you sure you're not representing say a neoliberal foreign investors interest rather than the interests of the poorest of the poor gee how did you get how did you get your priorities so mixed up here it sounded like just a minute ago you were saying the problem is that they have very poor education very poor health care so on and so forth how do you think they're gonna change that how do you think you're going to have a government that's by the poor and for the poor but I think more transparency in the signing of contracts with foreign investors there needs to be a way for those who are being resettled to make complaints which will be taken seriously and not met with brutal repression oh so your point is the people are gonna be resettled anyway but their complaints should be taken seriously what about what about a democracy where you don't live in a military dictatorship that just resettles you whenever it's in the government's convenience to build another goldmine both another highway so on and so I don't know I just sounds to me like you're not really dealing with the fundamental issues here after your 10 or 11 days in the country um quote I actually don't think that those changes would require too much of the present government it has done some very positive things it has started to crack down on corruption they say that every year it has consulted on some issues but it hasn't yet gone your far enough to really make sure that the people are aware of what's going on and that it's receiving the necessary information about the actual situation in the country look guys the problem with the United Nations is not just the evil that it does it's not just its direct involvement in you know some of the worst atrocities in the history of the world after World War Two and it's not just wrapping those atrocities in the in the flag of the United Nations there's a real question of opportunity cost here there's a real question of what might have been I think it's very sad that the main source of discontent in these countries is being in a sense recruited into silence but being taken away year after year generation after generation as refugees the people who could be the conscience of the nation the people who could be the canary and the coal mine and the people who could be crying for political change organizing for instigating political change are ending up in the suburbs of Paris and Montreal and some of them in New York and some of them in Long Beach California big Lotion community in Long Beach and then on the other hand the people whose job really is to advocate for country like Laos to meet the minimum standards of human rights and democracy are instead the most corrupt people in the world they're the United Nations they are the Lords of poverty [Music]