CPTnet
3 November 2007
COLOMBIA REFLECTION: New gods, prophets and crusades
by Julian Gutierrez
On 29-30 September, CPTers Michele Braley and Julian Gutierrez participated
in the 2nd Annual Encounter of the Coalition of Colombian Social Movements
held in Bogotá. A sage from the Witoto indigenous nation told a story, an
adaptation of Witoto mythology, that illustrated how multinational
corporations were affecting the world. As the earth continued to warm, gods
asked the multinational companies, "Too hot yet?" "No" they responded. The
gods asked again, "Too hot yet?" Once more, they responded, "No." The gods
repeated the question and the companies answered in the same way, until the
heat killed them as well as everything else.
According to Argentinean writer, Ernesto Sabato, "People have believed in a
superior being since they first walked the Earth. There is no culture that
has not had its gods." Western culture has them, too, although in our
excessive rationality we believe we are above them. For example, we
obviously believe in the Goddess of the Liberty, as proven by the statue in
New York Harbor. The problem is that that this goddess seems to have
encouraged us to challenge the sun, contaminate the water, destroy Mother
Earth, and to exploit one another.
We have created the Goddess of Productivity. We live for her and sacrifice
everything; although we never ask ourselves how much of which this Goddess
offers is necessary. We also adore the Goddess of Property. We exist for
the God of Time, although I am not sure that Time and the Goddess of
Productivity are different Gods. It was once common for people to 'kill
time' by sharing a cup of coffee, reclining in a hammock, and having
conversations with friends, neighbors or anyone who happened by. Now, it is
time that kills us.
There are also 'prophets' of the modern gods of Liberty, Time, Property, and
Productivity. Some of these prophets are multinational corporations, which
take their 'sacred' ideas to all the corners of the world. One of those
corners is the Calderas Nasa indigenous reservation, in the Department of
the Cauca, where the 'prophet' Coca-Cola announced to the indigenous people
that they could not continue manufacturing and selling their drink, Coca
Sek. By doing so, they were violating the First Commandment of the new
religion, the Fundamentalism of the Marketplace: 'Thou shalt not make
something that has been patented by a multinational, even if it is your own
creation.' The Calderas Nasa people were using the word 'Coca' and making a
drink from their traditional medicinal herb, the coca leaf, two creations
that Coca-Cola has claimed the rights to. In order to assure the obedience
of the Calderas Nasa people, Coca-Cola can count on the support of the
Colombian Government, one of the military commanders of the New Crusades,
which ordered its soldier, the National Institute of Monitoring of Medicines
and Foods (INVIMA in Spanish initials) to prohibit the commercial sale of
the indigenous drink.
So, at this time, members of the Calderas Nasa cannot market their
invention, Coca Sek.
Too hot yet?"
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