Piracy: What You're Not Being Told

My prior post on the "situation" regarding piracy in the Gulf of Aden, apparently, wasn't very clear. I suppose a litany of f-bombs isn't exactly the most effective method of communication. While I still won't shy from the fuck-word, I'll try to temper my incendiary rhetoric with plainly stated facts.

First, one must understand that the Somali pirates are not one cohesive group. It's not an organized crime syndicate that hates mom's apple pie. Some of the pirates work for Al-Shabaab, which translates as "The Youth," whom are most notable for their status as militant Islamic dominionists trying to take over Somalia. Some are opportunist pricks that either act alone or work for the kind of douchebags that make lots of money off of the poaching of endangered species, human trafficking, and other such nasty shit. Many, if not most, are generally known as the Somali Coast Guard. These are the guys that took the Ukrainian vessel with all of those tanks and such, which were totally not at all destined for Kenya, from which they would never have been smuggled into Sudan for use in continuing the genocide that isn't really happening. Anything you read about the pirates that does not clearly distinguish is absolutely not to be trusted, as it's dishonest and/or uninformed. Most of the pirates, no matter where they fall in those categories, are between the ages of 17 and 23.

To understand the Somali Coast Guard, one must know some backstory. A good majority of people in Somalia lived off of fishing. It was pretty much the only thing that most folks had going for them. This is largely due to centuries of colonialism and neo-colonialism at the hands of the self-styled "First World," which also served to corrupt their culture in such a manner that has rendered many young children proficient at using AK-47s, most of which came from the old Soviet block. After the government fell in the '90s, various (mostly European) private corporations were sending medical waste, toxic waste, and, yes, nuclear waste to the Gulf of Aden. It's speculated that the Italian mafia was pretty heavily involved in this, but I'm not 100% on that bit right now. So, all of this nasty shit in their water killed a lot of fish and poisoned a lot more; this results in less food, less money, and a serious problem with rampant illnesses that have killed quite a few people. In tangent with this, in other parts of the Gulf of Aden (which is fucking huge, so ya' know), private corporations were illegally overfishing their waters. So we've got a bunch of starving, dying people with old Russian and U.S.American weapons, some fishing boats, and nothing else to lose. So they hooked up with some militias and warlords, as we in the "First World" call them (but they're heros and freedom fighters when we like them) to take matters into their own hands. "First World" nations have been far more kind to the corporation than those that the corporation exploits since the emergence of the 16th century trading companies, so there's no chance in hell that they would suddenly grow an intellectually honest conscience and put a stop to things. So this Somali Coast Guard goes after ships that look suspicious, make some good money off of ransom, and recognize an opportunity.

Now, I'm not going to deny the existence of selfish douchebags. There are more than a few "warlords" enjoying the profits. There are just as many, if not more of these "warlords" that have the support of their people. Think of it more like a patron system; the "warlords" funnel this money into their areas, building infrastructure, bringing in food and medical supplies, increasing education, and otherwise doing what needs to be done for the good of the people. The existence of the selfish douchebags cannot be used to discredit the pirates at large; every group of people of any size that come together for any reason at all will have a couple of assholes that make everyone else look bad. I call this the Law of Douchebags. If all pirates are criminals, so are all C.E.O.s, and when you consider how much more harm those C.E.O.s cause, we should kill them all first, right? Kill all of the politicians, activists, teachers, cab drivers, cops, pizza delivery drivers, and everybody on MySpace. Incidentally, the contents of the Ukrainian vessel were relinquished to the Somali Coast Guard, and were subsequently given to the Sudanese resistance to the genocide. People are killing the fuck out of them, they could seriously use some tanks and missile launchers.

When you put this in the context of the labor movements throughout the world in the late 19th / early 20th centuries, the Golden Age of Piracy (or Pirate Wars) of the late 16th / early 17th century (of which the jihadist Barbary Corsairs were not a part), the "Public Enemies" period of John Dillinger, and pretty much everything else ever, it should be assumed that the media and government alike are not only fibbing about things, but probably doing so deliberately. There's also the distinct possibility of murder (Haymarket Massacre, Sacco & Vanzetti). While I cannot divulge my source, I can say with 100% certainty that what we were told about the killing of those three pirates by snipers by U.S. Navy SEALs was absolute bullshit. Before the story broke on the news, a person whom is in such a position to know such things let slip that they sent frogmen to attack the boat from underneath while the still-living pirate was on a Navy vessel for "negotiation." It is on this same authority that I say that this captain's life meant precisely dick to the U.S. government. Fitting with history, one life is worth losing when stating to everyone that You Do Not Fuck With Capitalism. That dude is lucky that he wasn't inadvertently killed by U.S. troops.

When you consider that which has been done to nations such as Somalia since long before we chopped these regions into nations by us as the "First World," what ethical right do we have to pass judgment? Consider the classic story relayed by St. Augustine in City of God, in which Alexander the Great captures a pirate. He asks the pirate something along the lines of "who the hell do you think you are being a jerk on the seas?" The pirate responds with something akin to "who the hell do you think you are doing the same on land? I do it myself and I'm a robber, but you do the same shit with a whole fleet and you get to be an emperor? Get bent." Now, the ransom is paid by insurance companies whom are reimbursed by premiums which are paid by the shipping companies that pass the added cost along to those that have things to ship. Of course, they pass that cost to their employees and customers, but that's nothing new. The people on top have been screwing the people below forever; it's just business as usual. These companies are all propped up by the "First World." Those ships are global capital. The Gulf of Aden is the most direct route for the ruling class to take when exploiting everyone else to varying degrees, and still the most cost effective route. Global capital is the thing that has fucked Somalia up so bad in the past 15 or so years. Um, 500 or so years, rather. We as the people in the "First World" are those that are the least blatantly exploited; we're the fish swimming under the belly of a shark, nibbling on the bits and pieces of chocolate in plantations worked by child slaves and everything else made by enslaved Tibetan monks and children in China that fall our way. We're happy, the shark is happy, and the fish that get eaten were terrorists anyway, so who the fuck cares? What ethical right do we have to pass judgment? Employ some cultural relativism; the threat of violence is pretty much all they have. We have privileges that allow us to commit various acts of resistance and selfishness without needing that threat. We cannot honestly hold them to the same standards, because they do not have the same circumstances. Back to St. Augustine's story, what if the pirate is robbing from the emperor instead of people? The whole Robin Hood thing, ya' know?

Some people are griping about how some of the ships have aid. Really? Is it clearly posted on the side of the ships? If it was, wouldn't it likely be a ploy to save on insurance premiums? Ships rarely ever contain one thing. Saying that a ship contains aid is sort of like saying that a convenience store contains beer. Sure, but it also has candy, porn, batteries, shitty sandwiches, and air fresheners shaped like pine trees. A ship with aid looks like a ship with Ukrainian tanks looks like a ship with cheaply manufactured clothing or car parts. Anyway, the vast majority of aid rarely ends where we want it to. Most of it gets hoarded by corrupt douchebags, with bits skimmed off the top by every hand that touches it along the way, and occasionally sold on the black market for exorbitant prices. Anybody that's involved in policy or a 200-level sociology class knows this, so we really shouldn't kid ourselves with righteous indignation to justify an ill-informed opinion that was shaped by those whom stand to profit from you agreeing with whatever they tell you.

The Somali Coast Guard haven't really been all that violent, really. They hadn't killed anyone. Aside from the fact that even some of "those savages" can recognize that murder isn't exactly the cool thing to do, corpses don't fetch much of a ransom. It is in the direct personal interests of the pirates to not harm anyone. Most of 'em also know that the people on the ships don't own what's being shipped, have little interest in it, and are likely grossly underpaid by their rich bosses. Don't send in trained killers right off the bat. You don't send in SWAT as soon as you hear that a bank is being robbed, you negotiate. And including a "you will be arrested" clause is not effective negotiation.

I think this is long enough, and I think my points are clear enough. Anyway, it's late, I'm tired, and I've got a fairly early morning.