December 9, 2007 by Rudolph Ryser.

It is often said that progress is inevitable and that things will always get better as a result of progress. In recent years my own observation, as I am sure that of many millions of others, is that this idea of progress isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Nothing is actually inevitable, least of all progress.  Change certainly seems constant, but even change has its limits.

I went into a large Costco/Sams Club/Target type mass sales store the other day. I tried to buy a bed with a base and found it almost impossible to achieve.  The workers were over stressed. The scheduling for shipping was too complicated. The people in charge seemed to be uncertain about who was in charge and what would happen if a mistake was made.  I tried for two hours to buy the bed.  In the end I didn’t buy the bed or the base. No one seemed willing to make the final purchase possible.

On the other hand, I had a quite old cedar chest I wanted to have repaired and refinished.  I traveled five minutes to a small nearby town where I had been told there was a “carpenter” who would take care of this project. I met with the craftsman–his name is Cayetano, made an agreement for him to pick up the older cedar chest and agreed to the date (four days later) when he would complete the project and return a newly refinished and repaired cedar chest. A day earlier than agreed my craftsman returned with a beautifully restored sixty-year old chest with a new key to replace the lost one so it would lock again.

The difference between the mass store experience and the single craftsman was so striking that I couldn’t contain my sense of pleasure to find the convenience of a small shop with a skilled craftsman who responds to a simple agreement. There is no doubt that “progress” bites back and the mass retail store is a great example of this assault on our human sensibilities. Thanks to the world that contains diverse populations with human one-to-one transactions where the owner like Cayetano is the maker and the customer service person all in one. Service with a smile and high quality too.

(c) 2007 Center for World Indigenous Studies

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December 9, 2007 by Mirjam Hirch.

When fighting for human rights and justice indigenous nations use the legal system imposed upon them by the settlers. After decades or centuries of dealing with these systems  indigenous nations are much better equipped to protect their interests. More and more indigenous scholars are very familiar with the western judicial system after running through western education programmes, holding Master’s degrees and PhDs.
However, the immense legal costs forced to pay make it impossible for some to properly protect their interests. The landmark ruling which backs native self-determination in the case of the Tsilhqot’in First Nations in British Columbia, Canada, within the BC Treaty Process took a decade to complete and cost close to 30 million dollars. There are a lot of nations not able to wait so long for a decision nor able to raise sufficient funds and get good lawyers.

Legal systems the world over can be very cumbersome, expensive and slow. Lawsuits might cause bankruptcy. Big companies are very much aware of this and with immense financial power behind them employ legal battles and strategies to gain more control. The sting of multinational companies long legal arms can be very irritating. Monsanto, the giant agro-chemical company which is at the forefront of developing genetically modified foods, accused North American farmers of patent infringements. Many of these farmers have reached out-of-court settlements with Monsanto. They cannot pay the legal fees of their savings, plus time, travel and compensation for labour when away from their farms. They simply give in when Monsanto offers to withdraw the legal challenge if the farmers sign a contract to buy their seeds from Monsanto in the future and to pay a technology use fee. To put it bluntly: This is blackmail.

While eye-popping to most, the sum big companies pay for legal fees does not hurt those  companies. Merck spent more than $1.2 billion on Vioxx-related legal fees after withdrawing its pain medication Vioxx from the market in September 2004. Patients taking the drug suffered injury or even died. The settlement payment of $ 4,85 billion to settle 27,000 lawsuits represents less than one year’s profits for the copmapny, the third-largest American drug maker.

Sure, in the end the lawyers always win. However it is up to each and everyone of us to assist and support courageous people fighting a cause we deeply believe in, defending biodiversity, challenging environmental and moral perversity of current practices. It does not take so much if we all share.

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