Klaus Hart Brasilientexte

http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2008/11/22/ich-bin-christ-und-sehe-mich-als-revolutionar-brasiliens-wichtigster-befreiungstheologe-frei-betto/

All of a sudden in the 21st century there are reports that real pirates are attacking large ships on the Somali coast. It was Homer who, in his Odyssey, first used the word ”pirate, a term which derives from the Greek, meaning ”to attack.

Between the 16th and 18th centuries pirates abounded in the Caribbean seas. The Isla de la Juventud (Island of Youth) in Cuba was known as Treasure Island and has been the setting for several adventure stories. Pirates used to hide their booty there.

Are all pirates bandits? North American author Marcus Rediker, in his book Villains of all Nations, describes the dramatic conditions in which British sailors in past centuries had to work. They lived in a floating hell and were treated like slaves. Those who rebelled were whipped as was our own Joáo Candido, the ”black admiral during the Chibata Revolt in 1910. The unrepenting were thrown to the sharks and survivors were paid slave wages.

Thanks to this the sailors who escaped their majesties™ inhuman navy became pirates and created ”another possible navy: they abolished torture, began to choose their commanders through elections and to share the booty amongst themselves. While they were attacking ships, the European navy was plundering countries “ in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The history of our Continent attests to this¦

According to Rediker pirates who gathered African slaves on board in order to free them implemented ”in the 18th century, one of the most egalitarian plans for the distribution of resources in the whole world.

Somalia entered into collapse in 1991 and since then its nine million inhabitants live in a state of poverty. The country™s coast is used by metropolitan nations as a nuclear waste dump. Together with atomic waste, other types of garbage have been dumped in Somalia™s seas causing diseases to the population such as skin eruptions, nausea and malformed babies. After the 2005 tsunami, many showed symptoms of radiation. Approximately 300 people died. Innumerable European ships pillage the fishing on Somalia™s coast. Every year they carry off tons of tuna, shrimp and lobster.

Thus Somali ”pirates “ who are self denominated as ”Voluntary Coast Guard of Somalia “ are fishermen whose rights are affected and who seek some compensation for the sacking and contamination of its waters by European nations. In an interview with the newspaper The Independent, Sugule Ali, one of the leaders of the ”pirates declared: ”We are not bandits of the sea. The clandestine fishermen who sack our fish are the sea bandits.

Johann Hari, columnist for the British newspaper, asks himself ”Why do Europeans suppose that the Somalis should passively die of hunger on the beaches, drowning in European toxic waste and passively watching while European fishermen (amongst others) catch the fish which is later  elegantly consumed by the Europeans in London, Paris or Rome restaurants? Europe has done nothing for a long time. But when some fishermen reacted and butted in along the route where 20% of the world™s petroleum passes through, Europe immediately dispatched its warships over there.

In the 4th century BC a captured pirate was taken before Alexander the Great who asked him if he aspired to becoming the lord of the seas. The man explained what his intentions were: ”The same as yours making yourself the lord of the earth but, because my boat is small, I am called a thief and you, who command a great fleet, are called an emperor.

Who is the main thief today?

Copyright 2009 by Frei Betto. Without prior authorization, the reproduction of this article is forbidden by either electronic or printed means. Contact: MHP “ Literary Agents. (E-mail: mhpal@terra.com.br <mailto:mhpal@terra.com.br> )

*Frei Betto is a writer, author of ”Gosto de Uva (The Taste of Grape) (Garamond), he is a Brazilian Dominican with an international reputation as a liberation theologian.
Within Brazil he is equally famous as a writer, with over 52 books to his name.  In 1985 he won Brazil™s most important literary prize, the Jabuti, and was elected Intellectual of the Year by the members of the Brazilian Writers™ Union.

Frei Betto has always been active in Brazilian social movements, and has been an adviser to the Church™s ministry to workers in Sáo Paulo™s industrial belt, to the Church base communities, and to the Landless Rural Workers™ Movement (MST).

In 2003-2004, he was Special Adviser to President Lula and Coordinator of Social Mobilisation for the Brazilian Government™s Zero Hunger programme.