January 2, 2010 by Mirjam Hirch.

What a flat-out anti-war message. The science fiction epic film “Avatar” is a fictional story about the most pressing, real problems of today’s imperialistic world. It concerns big contemporary topics such as the human fight for natural resources, loss of culture and biodiversity, greed and inhumanity. The film is set on Pandora, a distant moon where an indigenous culture and their ecosystem is threatened to be destroyed by humans engaged in mining reserves of precious mineral.

Through special glasses the moviegoers are made to see a different vision that appears only too real in 3D format and acts on people emotionally. It is not a deep film by any means but draws in people from all backgrounds. The plot might not appear too appealing to many but they go to the movies interested in witnessing the technical breakthrough the movie is impressive for. United in a theater moviegoers open their hearts to the story of the love of life and future of civilization without previously expecting it. The third dimension sucks the viewer in the scene giving the action an unknown multi-dimensional experience of screen reality.

In times of political insecurity the film inspires hope and appeals to everybody’s responsibility to protect our own world. Makes people conscious and instills the moral right and duty to not just execute orders but to reflect individual deeds and the consequences these might have. It suggests, if necessary, to better switch sides. It thus is outrightly provocative as it promotes the idea of deserting and even fighting the own military to achieve true peace.

It makes me wonder how this strong anti-war message of the film might act upon the consciousness and psyche of soldiers stationed on some of the military bases around the world. A former Canadian soldier comes to my mind. When he related the story he was still suffering from the traumatic images burnt in his mind of a very old and helpless woman in Serbia during the latest war there. The woman must have fled a combat zone, alone, way out somewhere, completely exhausted, terrorized on her way to death if left unaided. He watched back as they drove on- but left her there- rules forbade…. Later he got severely hit in a tank and decided to leave the army and go to college, likely haunted by those images for the rest of his life.

Apart from the contemporary topics shown in the film, Avatar in Europe could become the Karl May of the present day. It is the idealizing story about a white guy going native. Drawn to the alien culture the protagonist was initially fighting against he assimilates and becomes the savior and strongest leader of the people he once helped to oppress. Images as portrayed in the movie certainly are a stereotypical representation of traditional cultures and make indigenous groups stay stuck with the romanticized version of the outsiders, Hollywood inspired perception of Natives. Dreaming of and escaping to a better place non-indigenous people want to see savage wild women and men of nature dancing around fires. Playing on the human wish of transcendental mythical experience the film is rather insulting in its romanticized kitsch.
At the end the alienated protagonist divorcing himself from his own cultural roots becomes the savior of the other culture.

Hopefully the movie will make people more interested to become aware of the fundamental experience of being an oppressed racial group and not fantasize about becoming other races. Fleeing our own culture is no solution. To join the call to wake people up and raise awareness of humanity’s destructive impulses and stop this destruction is.
Leaving the theater moviegoers should take off their glasses and see what is really going on: the destruction and elimination of indigenous cultures in this world, here and now. They ought to go back in their own cultures, search their roots and effect change in their worlds to help truly save our most precious planet.
Instead of escaping to another world, let’s see and try to create paradises around us.

Posted in Artby - Mirjam Hirch, Arts and Culture, Daily | Print | 2 Comments »

December 5, 2009 by Mirjam Hirch.

Strong fighters for social and climate justice travelled through Frankfurt today on a caravan that is driving from Geneva to Copenhagen, December 3-9. Politically aware people from around the world are aiming at mobilizing others to help in the struggle against the negative effects of “(green) capitalism” as well as the annihilation of indigenous peoples through globalization, promoting public awareness of contemporary, hot world discussions.

Time is running out. “When will they begin to realize that we need to fish?” asked Oper a fisherman from the Philippines fighting against development and relocation projects by his government. These projects endeavor to get at the coveted land from farmers and fishermen on the basis of lease agreements for economic development.
Oper explains the climate discussion has to focus mainly on the people affected not technical environmental solutions only. “The Philippines should not get loans from the World Bank to turn the coastal areas which were damaged by private companies into protected zones in which we are not allowed to fish anymore.” Instead of receiving loans billions if not trillions of reparation payments should be made for the destruction of the marine environment, over-fishing, and an increasing number of fish ponds for the construction of which a large proportion of the mangrove forests was cleared, seriously damaging the coastal ecological system.
To raise awareness to their cause the delegation from the Philippines brings with them a traditional banca, or dugout canoe, the favored local form of transport, capable of transporting large loads of produce.

No doubt there is a lot the travelers have in their bags to show and tell the world. Hopefully they get the highly needed exposure and are seen and heard at Copenhagen.

Posted in Artby - Mirjam Hirch, Political, Daily | Print | No Comments »

December 4, 2009 by Mirjam Hirch.

Suffering, in real danger of being wiped out from a hepatitis B infection is the indigenous nation of the Candoshi, estimated at 2,500, in Peru’s northern Amazon jungle.
After Candoshi chief Venancio Ucama Simon’s dramatical call on the government, Health Minister Oscar Ugarte declared a health emergency in the area to tackle the hepatitis B epidemic that broke out in the 1990s, when an oil company, Occidental Petroleum Corporation was granted exploration rights in the jungle region. The epidemic has gone unchecked ever since with 2000 Candoshi said to be infected by now.
Decades of (medical) inattention by Peru’s health authorities are furthermore threatening the Shapra, Awajun, Achuar and Huambisa who live in remote Datem del Maranon province, in Peru’s north where they are praised for their conservationist cultures. There have been lots of deaths already. Reports also stated that AH1N1 infuenza is present in the region.

When health minister Ugarte said the hepatitis B treatment to be very expensive an indigenous representative at a Press conference in Lima this week asked whether due to the high cost of treatment, “they’re going to let our people die out?”

Resources to the health network urgently have to be provided to also protect the population of other diseases, such as rabies and leprosy. If nothing is done to help the people the land might soon be empty for economic development.

Sure everybody knows human lives do not go on forever. However why do we, as parents and grandparents live as if there were no next generation? How can we (make) believe there is not enough money? Money to simply safe life. Life which is invaluable and contains a world of incredibly powerful knowledge?

Posted in Human Rights, Artby - Mirjam Hirch, People, Health | Print | No Comments »

November 30, 2009 by Mirjam Hirch.

Fear of the spread of Islamic values resonates in many parts of Europe. In Switzerland a referendum was held yesterday on 29 November 2009 against the construction of minarets. The amendment was approved by the majority of the population. Even though most Muslims in Switzerland do not adhere to the codes of dress and radical beliefs and conduct associated with conservative Muslim countries, Swiss people feel their core values are endangered by Islam.
The ban on minarets, however, is more a threat in itself as it contradicts the core values of the Swiss Federal Constitution and infringes guaranteed international human rights. It rather endanger peace between religions and does not help to prevent the spread of fundamentalist Islamic beliefs at all as it defames Muslims.
Therefore the question to be asked is how can a referendum pass in a grassroots democracy that is incompatible with articles of international law to which Switzerland is a signatory?
Certainly the initiators are affected by particular emotions. The outcome of the initiative is an expression of the concern and widespread fear of Islam and speaks of the population’s want to counter extremist tendencies. A ban on the construction of new minarets, though, definitely is a wrong approach to overcome fear of fundamentalism. It does not help and is not a feasible means. Quite the contrary. It can lead to a complete breakdown of non-violent communication.
Rather than provoke or react to provocation and think in terms of win and lose- can we not better create peace?

Posted in Artby - Mirjam Hirch, Political, Daily | Print | 1 Comment »

November 8, 2009 by Mirjam Hirch.

Writing a book is the revenge of the intellectual said prominent American psychiatrist and distinguished professor Robert Jay Lifton smiling knowingly during yesterday’s premier of the documentary film “Killing Jews for German Health”.

In the heart of Germany’s financial empire in Frankfurt/Main on famous Berger street, Mr. Lifton explained how it was the collective consciousness of a people that allowed Nazi atrocities. The perpetrators did not even need orders and commands. They were part of a whole machinery. A “mythical health movement” could be found at the heart of the Nazis’ terror regime. A movement which shows significant comparabilities to shamanism.
Lifton explains the perpetrators were not some individuals who could have been isolated and punished. Things which were embedded deep in the psyche of people, beliefs and ideology, made possible the incredible scale of the horrendous killings. People were led by the belief to fight for a good cause: To bring health to Germans.

In the documentary Jewish psycho-historian Lifton, describes how normal physicians changed from healers into killers. In the late 70s the Jewish scientist visited 80 Auschwitz survivors as well as 40 holocaust perpetrators, mainly former Nazi doctors. The result is his book “The Nazi doctors”, the first and only in depth psychological analysis about doctors in Nazi-Germany and their contribution in eliminating Jews. He then became a founding member of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.

When we left the cinema my sister and I felt deeply moved by the shocking truth of the events conveyed and the pictures of psychological abysm formed. The enmeshment of the medical system in the holocaust and especially all political act of violence till today hit home. We clearly should take much closer a look on the question of ethics and moral also in modern medicine.

Posted in Artby - Mirjam Hirch, Political, Health, Daily | Print | 1 Comment »

September 22, 2009 by Mirjam Hirch.

The long and desperately needed collaboration between traditional medicine practitioners and institutionalized medical care gets more awareness and coverage. With the limits of so-called western medicine being widely acknowledged especially in the fields of prevention and the healing of mental disease the potential of traditional medicine is more and more perceived, practiced and protected. The “low-tech approach with a focus in prevention also serves to save financial resources in times of economic hardships. Clinical doctors in US hospitals start referring patients to traditional healers on a case-by-case basis.
The New York Times reports on a hospital’s new Hmong shaman policy in California, the country’s first policy which formally recognizes the cultural role of traditional healers.
Many more like policies should follow all over the world to guarantee access and quality of care for patients in need.

Posted in Artby - Mirjam Hirch, Health, Daily | Print | No Comments »

September 3, 2009 by Mirjam Hirch.

It is a great warning to all drug manufacturers. Federal prosecutors called the world’s largest drug maker Pfizer a repeating corporate cheat for illegal drug promotions that plied doctors with free massages, golf and resort junkets. Pfizer has to pay a record-breaking penalty of $2.3 billion. Justice Department officials said the overall settlement is the largest ever paid by a drug company for alleged violations of federal drug rules, and the $1.2 billion criminal fine is the largest ever in any U.S. criminal case.

Hopefully this unprecedented settlement will help to make drug companies stop this widely known and all too common practice of illegal drug promotions. Drug makers have to realize that their beautiful and responsible mission is to endeavor to bring better health and life quality to all people.

Posted in Law & Justice, Artby - Mirjam Hirch, Daily | Print | 1 Comment »

August 2, 2009 by Mirjam Hirch.

Great healing occurs, naturally, out on the water in canoes during a unique journey. For days and weeks hundreds of indigenous paddlers are out on the water. This year, which marks the 20th year of the journey, they arrive on August 3 at the Suquamish for another week of cultural celebrations.

The canoe journey is not considered physical or mental health services. But has amazingly positive effects for personal as well as community well-being. It is the powerful expression of a striving culture that has developed on and around the water for thousands of years. Uniting Native communities of the Pacific Northwest Coast of what the western geographer would describe as the two countries, USA and Canada and local tribes simply regard as family that got artificially divided by a border that runs along the 49th parallel. Coming together for the canoe journey shows that participants maintain fraternal relations across these political, legal, and geographic lines that officials tried to run around them.

Native Americans are generally very connected to their immediate and extended families. This support from kin and family during the canoe journey is an important avenue of healing which wouldn’t be found in any studies.
To many indigenous peoples social ties were and in many places the world over still are the real indicator of a person’ worth. Relationships to people as well as places are key to identity and well being. Kinship ties are stressed during ceremonials and a shared dedication to maintaining indigenous traditions/ themes are expressed. This reflects participants’ desire for inclusion and recognition both as indigenous individuals and as members of particular Native families or communities.

Another avenue of healing during the journey is the peace and serenity found in the outdoors. Participants are paddling along ancient waterways eating foods hunted and gathered in traditional grounds. The healing that comes from this cannot be documented either. However is clearly there, evident, very tangible, tasty.

In a health care system that is organized like a profit-seeking industry instead of a social service, representing sickness care, not health care the Native canoe journey is a strong act of resistance against ongoing oppression and health disparities. The primary focus being health promotion and disease prevention. These Native health care alternatives are much more congruent with own values, traditional beliefs, and philosophical orientations toward health and life. Realizing that health and thus life quality is the most valuable we got as human beings.

The Northwest Coast Native cultural revival and health movement must be seen in the context of colonization. Through forbidding local cultures and foods and introducing foreign diseases the settlers took away Native peoples health and thus their future and lives as a people or individual. Breaking health and spirit were the main key to colonizing nations along the coast.
Trying to take back their health into their own hands to guarantee their very survival thus is a very powerful and moving story of hope and determination under extremely difficult circumstances….

People have understood what Kenyan activist Ngugi wa Thiong’o describes: “Economic and political control can never be complete without mental control“. This mental control is achieved through “the destruction or deliberate undervaluing of a people’s culture, their arts, dances, religions, history, geography education, orature [oral traditions] and literature, and the conscious elevation of the language of the coloniser”
On the Northwest Coast Native people therefore for twenty years now are actively coming together and sharing through social interaction and cultural celebrations during the journey. A feeling of hope is created in communities long surrounded by apathy.

Or as Hawaiian activist Haunani-Kay Trask puts it: “Indigenous health is the result of over a decade of thought and creativity by indigenous peoples actively engaged in their collective liberation.”
Still there is a long way to go.

Posted in Artby - Mirjam Hirch, Health, Daily | Print | 1 Comment »

July 22, 2009 by Mirjam Hirch.

The world is full of a wealth of precious knowledge. That has to be protected by all means. We are all responsible to keep this wonderful knowledge alive and vibrant.
With physical, spiritual and social health being searched for all over but oftentimes missing in this world there is more and more interest in and recognition of the importance to preserve traditional medicinal knowledge. Today more than ever before we really know about the significance of our diverse medicines, cultures and identities.

The international congress “Medicinas Tradicionales, Interculturalidad y Salud Mental” in Tarapoto, San Martín, Peru from June 7 to 10 was marked a rare opportunity in the field of investigation on the therapeutic use of traditional healing practices. The event brought together health practitioners, indigenous representatives, governmental authorities, international organizations and academics to discuss, learn, develop and share ideas concerning experiences in the field of traditional medicine generally not known. This opened doors to other spaces interior and exterior and indigenous ways of knowing showing that different cultures and medicines can live together.

The valuable contribution of traditional medicine to resolve pressing and growing contemporary problems especially in mental health were emphasized with visibility and great evidence given to the treatment of addictions.
Ratificacion de Tarapoto 2009

Posted in Artby - Mirjam Hirch, Health, Daily | Print | 1 Comment »

July 16, 2009 by Mirjam Hirch.

It is one of the last intact rainforests of the world. The jungle of Sarawak in the Malay state of Borneo. For years the government engages in dam projects cutting through virgin land and threatening a fragile treasure of plants and rare animals displacing thousands of local indigenous groups such as the Dayak people. These indigenous communities lose their ancestral lands, their homes foods and medicines from the forest and lives as independent people and thus ultimately their health and wellbeing.

The naked earth already is full of scars where the lush meadows have been scraped away by heavy bulldozers eating their way further and further into the mountainous green jungle. Despite being a protected zone around Kamong Bengoh where the Dayaks have all the land rights the government builds one of twelve new dams for hydro-electric power for about 90 thousand dollars. Many hectares of rainforest (3,5 million already have been cut to make room for palm oil plantations in recent years) will be flooded, hundreds of indigenous people are forced to resettle in other areas. The Dayak were never told about the dam project and only learned about it when the heavy machines arrived to cut open the ground.

Noone knows clearly where the Dayaks will be made to go or how much they will be compensated. What is clear is that the Dayaks are far from being treated with due respect as is to be expected towards peoples whose home the rainforest is. They are at best regarded as second class citizens standing in the way of profit.

However the Dayaks know well how to fight. In court this May the Supreme Court proved them to be right in a case that concerned their forced displacement because of clearing the rainforest in the interest of palm oil plantations.

If the Dayak are not successful in fighting these huge hydro-electric projects and protect their forest homes Borneo will have lost forever another precious part of the world’s few intact remaining rainforest areas.

Posted in Artby - Mirjam Hirch, Environment, Daily | Print | No Comments »