bees

I don’t seem to make time to write here much lately. I feel like I have been busy, but in a good way, I think. There is a cool breeze floating in through the window this evening and it feels so good.

Last Monday I went to a presentation put on by the Beehive Collective from Maine. It was absolutely incredible. One of the individuals giving the presentation used to live here in Fort Collins and I know her from that time. It was wonderful to see what she is a part of. And inspiring. The Beehive Collective focuses on ‘free’ trade and globalization and its effects on the lives of people, especially in the global south. For example, the collective has been very active in investigating Plan Colombia (a $4 billion ‘aid’ package to Colombia). The Bees send folks to Latin America, in this case Colombia, and interview local people, asking what this economic plan means to them on an everyday level. They listen to these stories and then construct incredible, huge, mural-like pieces of art that are printed onto large pieces of fabric. These murals tell the stories of globalization and colonialism; the Plan Colombia mural begins five hundred years ago with the three ships that heralded the beginnings of colonialism in the Americas. The Bees take the murals back to the communities that provided the personal stories and ask the local people to evaluate the visual representation of their stories—to make sure they have drawn it right. Then the Bees return to North America and travel around, showing their murals and explaining in detail the stories within them.

It is just a wonderful, creative way in which to take action. There is much more to it than what I have related here. The collective has a house in Maine and the stories involved in that are very interesting as well. Another great thing is that the art is done collectively and is anti-copyright—the Beehive Collective encourages people to use any of the images in any ways they want.

By the way, 80% of the so-called aid package goes directly to the militarization of the Colombian government (helicopters, weapons, etc.), while the rest goes to companies like Monsanto, which provide the heavy duty pesticides used in the fumigation of fields, allegedly aimed at coca eradication. Some of that 20% also goes to companies like Dyncorp, a private mercenary corporation that has been involved in every U.S. military campaign since the late sixties and is heavily active in Colombia. It is important to note that many, many subsistence crops and fields are also fumigated. This practice, especially in eastern Colombia (which, interestingly, has very low coca production and a high indigenous population), has forced literally millions of people (around 3 million) into leaving their homes and once fertile fields. No longer able to be subsistence farmers, because of the toxicity of the repeatedly fumigated soils, these people become internally displaced refugees. At the same time, the land on which these indigenous people have lived for generations is taken by transnational corporations, as the indigenous folks must leave to survive. These corporations can then use the land for their cattle that are sold as cheap beef.

The stories also included stories of resistance and the development of alternatives. This inclusion of positive and hopeful actions was a breath of fresh air in the suffocating strangulation of ‘free’ trade and colonialism. Many of the murals depicted ants rising up and resisting and creating alternatives. I liked the symbolism and found it encouraging and uplifting. As the presenters said—ants, when alone, might seem small and ineffectual but when they get together they can move a lot of shit and they are STRONG!