Writings by Dan Pearson

Down and Out in Shah Mansoor

Jeff Leys — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:44:41 -0500

Short Information Teaser

Pakistani citizens displaced by the fighting in the Swat Valley recount their experiences.

Excerpt

by Kathy Kelly and Dan Pearson
Islamabad, Pakistan
June 11, 2009

In Pakistan’s Swabi district, a bumpy road leads to Shah Mansoor, a small village surrounded by farmland. Just outside the village, uniform size tents are set up in hundreds of rows. The sun bores down on the Shah Mansoor camp which has become a temporary home to thousands of displaced Pakistanis from the Swat area. In the stifling heat, the camp’s residents sit idly, day after day, uncertain about their future. They spoke with heated certainty, though, about their grievances.

View photos from Pakistan delegation

Body

by Kathy Kelly and Dan Pearson
Islamabad, Pakistan
June 11, 2009

As soon as we stepped out of the car, men and children approached us. They had all arrived from Mingora, the main city of Swat, 15 days prior. One young man, a student, told us that bombing and shelling had increased in their area, but, due to a government imposed curfew, they weren’t allowed to leave their homes. Suddenly, the Pakistani Army warned them to leave within four hours or they would be killed. With the curfew lifted long enough for them to get out of Mingora, they joined a mass exodus of people and walked for three days before reaching this camp.

After being assigned to a section of the camp coordinated by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), they were provided with tents and plastic mats. So far, 554 tents are set up in this section, with an average of 6 – 10 people living in each tent.

Inside the tents we visited, families had few belongings. Some more fortunate families have a few cooking supplies and utensils. But for the most part, they now own little more than the clothing they wore when they fled from their homes. The neatness of the camp disguises the chaos that has afflicted its inhabitants.

A man who owned a small shop in Mingora described the carnage and chaos they had left behind. “There were not hundreds but thousands of dead bodies on the streets,” he said. “We had only enough time to dig a mass grave and cover some of the bodies with mud.” Since the media has been banned from entering Mingora, it’s impossible to establish facts about the numbers of civilians who were killed. But the men gathered around us nodded in agreement as the shopkeeper spoke. “They were killing us in that way, there, now in this way, here,” he said, pointing to the tents. “Aren’t we part of this country?”

“For the past two years,” the shopkeeper continued, “the government hasn’t killed the Taliban. They only kill our women and children.”

“The UNHCR has been helpful,” said another man, a farmer, “but so far no government official has come to ask how we are. Isn’t this our government?”

Along with disappointment in their government, they harbor resentment toward the wealthy people of Swat. The men we were talking to did not have jobs that would earn high incomes. One man was a fruit and vegetable vendor. Another drove a donkey cart. Several others were farmers. Many nodded as the shop keeper decried the rich people who, he said, are now in Islamabad, living in air conditioned places, just as they did in Swat. “These people got rich at the expense of the poor people,” claimed one of the farmers.

The circle opened up and an elderly man joined us. The shop keeper explained that the elderly man’s five room house was leveled by shelling. His three sons and five daughters are nowhere to be found. The older man stood with us, silent and trembling.

The shopkeeper told more details about difficulties they faced living in the tents. They sleep on the ground with no padding. They have no water for bathing. Four latrines were set up, but none of them have doors and they aren’t yet ready for use. The UNHCR officials have said they could provide electricity for this section of the camp. All they need is government permission, but it hasn’t yet been granted. A few days ago, the government sent a water truck, but the water was for sale.

The UNHCR recorded each person’s name when they distributed the tents. This is as close as these refugees have come to being officially registered. “The government announces that registration has happened,” said one man, speaking in English, “but it only happens on the air.”

The men we talked with said they were poor, in Mingora, but at least they had beds to sleep on. They could cook their own food, earn a living and provide the basic needs for their families.

The men believe the government should open up the roadblocks and let them go home. They are frustrated because fighting with the Taliban has gone on for two years. “The Taliban aren’t killed,” said one man, “just our women and children.”

The women rarely leave the tents which become insufferably hot in the afternoon. Listless little children were lying on the ground in one tent. Where the children come from, it is much cooler. Their mother said the children can’t adjust to the heat and always feel sick.

We asked the men if they could see any purpose for all of this suffering and violence. They said they think the purpose is to take their land and give it to someone else. When we asked to whom they thought their land would be given, they listed four countries: Afghanistan, India, China or America.

Perhaps they weren’t aware that U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke had visited another section of the camp six days ago. Richard Holbrooke assured that the international community would “try its best for provision of maximum facilities to the displaced persons of Swat, Buner and other affected areas.” (AP Pakistan, June 4, 2009)

But Richard Holbrooke’s plans have already been violently derailed in nearby Peshawar where he visited the premises of the luxury five-star Pearl Continental Hotel last week. The AP reports that, according to two senior US officials in Washington, the State Department had been in negotiations with the hotel’s owners “to either purchase the facility or sign a long term lease to house a new American consulate in Peshawar.” (AP, June 10) On June 9, a massive truck bomb destroyed the hotel, killing eleven people and wounding sixty.

As we ended our conversation, the shopkeeper pointed at three military helicopters flying overhead. “These are the same as those that shelled us,” he said. He handed the sick child he carried in his arms over to the child’s grandfather and pointed to the mountain nearest the camp. “We’ve seen these helicopters fire at this mountain. The explosives splinter the mountainside. The children are afraid that the helicopters will hit them again.” It’s difficult to see what can point to a new and better life for the people affected by this latest round of violence and war in Pakistan. A ban sign superimposed on a rifle is posted on a billboard at the entrance to the camp, announcing that weapons are prohibited. A true ban on weapon proliferation, agreed to by all parties involved, coupled with determination to equitably share resources with impoverished people in Pakistan would be one way to promise a better future for Pakistan’s children. For now, the little ones languishing in the camp are, quite literally, down and out in Shah Mansoor.

–––-

Kathy Kelly, Dan Pearson, Gene Stoltzfus and Razia Ahmed are concluding a delegation to Pakistan.

Walk Blog: Dan Pearson, July 21

Dan Pearson — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:02:31 -0500

Project

WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul

Short Information Teaser

Witness against war: from Oak Creek to Milwaukee

Excerpt

By Dan Pearson
July 21, 2008

VIEW PHOTOS

More than twenty locals from the Milwaukee area joined us yesterday to walk from Oak Creek to Milwaukee, galvanizing the eight of us who’ve been walking since Chicago. Among them were members of Peace Action, Voces de la Frontera, Vets for Peace, Casa Maria Catholic Worker, students from Marquette University and a member of the Oak Creek chapter of Iraq Vets Against War. The Vets for Peace Chapter of Sheboygan, WI greeted us with a generous lunch in Humboldt Park on the south side of Milwaukee. We were then welcomed with an enthusiastic rally by another 20 or so people at our stopping point in downtown Milwaukee at the well known and somewhat contentious sunburst sculpture, jokingly described by some locals as the “big, orange asterisk.”

Body

By Dan Pearson
July 21, 2008

VIEW PHOTOS

Later that evening a crowd of a hundred or so gathered for music and a cookout at the Friends Meeting House followed by an evening Witness Against War presentation. We effectively included all of the main walkers with their various talents and even some others we knew from the audience to be part of an improvised role-play seeking to provoke a better understanding of what motivates different people in Iraq and illustrating how difficult the choices can be in a time of war.

Members of Voces de la Frontera joined us this morning in a pre-walk from Casa Romero across the historic 6th street bridge and into Zeidler Park where we held a joint press conference and began the day’s walk to Brookfield. Today’s guest walkers included local members of Peace Action, Casa Maria Catholic Worker, the Candlelight Coalition, Vietnam Veterans Against the War and others no doubt. Paul Melling and Heléne Hedberg were the featured speakers at tonight’s event at the Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield; both were well received.

On most days our most immediate support vehicle comes in the form of a bicycle and small trailer provided by our resourceful friend, Tim Herlihy. This addition has proved to be most useful as it allows us to have plenty of water, informational leaflets and a first-aid kit close at hand. It proved useful even after the walk yesterday when I was making my way along the Oak Leaf bike path toward the Friends Meeting House where our event that evening was to be held; I happened upon a father and his young son who’d just taken a spill on his bike, suffering a skinned-up knee in the process. The first-aid kit in the trailer was immediately put to use treating the wound, the tears turned to smiles and as we parted ways the father offered words of support and encouragement for this undertaking of walking and challenging the occupation of Iraq.

Neglect and Projection

Dan Pearson — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:21:45 -0500

Short Information Teaser

Dan Pearson writes from the Yarmouk Camp near Damascus

Excerpt

in Damascus, Syria

July 12, 2007

Rooftop Neighbors: photo by Dan Pearson

For my Iraqi neighbors living here in Yarmouk Camp, the Palestinian example is hardly an uplifting reminder that it could be a very long time before they can safely return to their homes and lands. But, they were lucky enough to escape the nightmare of U.S. freedom and democracy in Iraq, and at least there is usually electricity here and clean water to drink, so they try to put on a happy face. Yarmouk, one of the three most popular destinations for the estimated 2,000 Iraqis crossing into Syria every day, is a primarily Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus.

Body

in Damascus, Syria

July 12, 2007

Rooftop Neighbors: photo by Dan Pearson

Countless Iraqis are hoping for a chance to gain asylum in any country that will take them. Enormous crowds spend entire days waiting just to get an appointment for an interview with the over-loaded UN Refugee Agency up to six months away. Those trying to stick it out here face a growing crisis; their visas do not allow them to work and the future is bleak. Although some of them have found work in the black market economy or as unskilled laborers, many others are praying that help will come before their meager savings run out. They dread having to join the throngs of other Iraqis begging in the streets.

Syria is stretched to the limit dealing with the crisis with little help from the international community. Official estimates claim that as of this month (July) there are 2 million Iraqis in Syria, a number increasing by 30,000 every month. This sudden influx has put a tremendous strain on the public health care and education system. It has also caused inflation, which means the prices of food and housing have risen dramatically. This adds to the growing frustration among Syrians who initially welcomed their Iraqi brothers and sisters gladly. There is also the ominous sense that the sectarian violence in Iraq could spill over into Syria at any moment.

In May, Condoleeza Rice briefly met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moalem, ending U.S. diplomatic isolation of Syria, but recent meetings don’t qualify as “carrot and stick” diplomacy unless we accept that “the only carrot is no stick.” Rather than offering assistance to the Syrian government or the UN to deal with the heavy burden of so many people escaping circumstances that it has created, the U.S. maintains a series of sanctions by way of the Syria Accountability Act of 2003, which include the following: • Ban on exports of products of the United States; • Ban on U.S. businesses investing or operating in Syria; • Restriction on travel of Syrian diplomats to within a 25-mile radius of their posting in the United States; • Prohibition on Syrian air carriers from take-off, landing, and overflight of the United States; • Reduction of U.S. diplomatic contacts with Syria; or • Blocking U.S. persons from engaging in any property transactions with the Syrian government.

The Syria Accountability Act of 2003 ostensibly aims to “hold Syria accountable for the serious international security problems it has caused in the Middle East.” This may seem crazy, but that’s because it is. In psychology this is a combination of defense mechanisms commonly used by psychopaths. Namely denial and projection, in which confrontation with a problem or reality is avoided by denying the existence of that problem or reality or in this case by “projecting” guilt or blame onto someone else. It’s almost as crazy as the perpetrator blaming the victim, which I should mention is also a current bi-partisan approach being employed by the U.S. Congress.

Whenever I leave my apartment here in Yarmouk, I inevitably encounter Iraqis and Palestinians. Since my nationality is generally known in the neighborhood and considering how negatively U.S. foreign policy has personally affected my neighbors here, one would think that they would be inclined to throw rotten fruit at me at the very least. Astonishingly, I instead receive friendly greetings and smiles.

As a typical example of Iraqi forgiveness, I recently met an Iraqi man selling fresh Iraqi bread at a newly opened stall. He asked where I was from and I confessed, adding my personal apology for and opposition to U.S. aggression in Iraq. He said he had a problem only with the U.S. government and military, not the people. Twelve years of cruel economic sanctions and aerial bombardment were followed by four years of war crimes, pillaging and devastation that came with the U.S. occupation of Iraq, as well as the failure to date of U.S. civil society (myself included) to build a sufficient movement to end it. After all that, the Iraqi baker still insists that Americans and Iraqis are friends. Go figure. We certainly could do more to preserve our friends.

VCNV Author

Dan Pearson