Editor's Corner
Over a cup of tea
|
Having worked in the Philippine legislature for more than two decades has kept my mind in constant analysis of political
happenings all over the world and their implications to developing countries like the Philippines. This mindset was briefly
detoured to other personal concerns especially when I decided to migrate to the United States in the late '90s and I became
involved in community happenings rather than world politics, diplomacy, and trade. The shift was, and still is, a struggle; but
having founded Asian Wisconzine and realizing what it can do has made the shift bearable. I can discuss local issues and
analyze how the same issues are tackled elsewhere. I can get feedback and learn from others too.
Our local concerns, as the Wisconsin Women of Color Network (WWOCN) recently discussed, involve health care,
environment, and economic empowerment.
We Americans, especially of color, are not happy that millions of us are either uninsured or underinsured. For those who are
insured, their meaningful health care is dependent on how much monthly premium they pay. The older one gets, the higher
the premium.
Many Americans are not happy that the environment we live in is not taken care of: by almost everybody. Why do we have to
drink bottled water? Why do we have air pollutants? Why do we have acid rain? Why do we have bacteria-rich beaches?
People say that's the price of industrialization -- so expensive we have to sacrifice lives -- in many ways -- in exchange for
resources needed to modernize cities and provide comfort to those who can afford it.
We at WWOCN, however, didn't touch upon the issue of "war on terror." To me, it's the single issue that diverts all our
attention from immediate and very important local concerns. And while we're busy fighting this war militarily despite no positive
result in view, so many other things are happening in other parts of the world that are silently but effectively being led by China,
especially in Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't hear much about ideological differences anymore. The U.S. is now at "peace" with
communist countries such as China, Vietnam, and Laos. The People's Republic of China (PRC), once called the "sleeping
giant," is now wide awake and has become a major trade partner of almost all nations in the world. Tibet and Taiwan are now
considered "provinces," due to the "One China Policy" required of all nations that now partner with PRC, including the
Philippines, my country of birth. China has become one of the five permanent members of the United Nations' Security
Council, that it can veto Council resolutions that sanction certain governments, such as Sudan (Darfur, anyone?)
I came from a developing country that never fully developed in spite of its rich natural resources because foreign colonizers
extracted such wealth, leaving the majority of the people in poverty. Foreigners constructed ports and infrastructure in the guise
of development but in truth were designed for easy transport of raw materials to their own countries. Government decision
makers were, and still are, bribed to look the other way. The only wealthy people in a developing country are those in power
and the business giants, most of whom initially came from the West. Today, however, all eyes are focused on the East.
China has truly become a great nation with its "weapons of mass production," to borrow the term from Dr. Peter Navarro, a
business professor at the Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine. Poor countries are flooded with
cheap goods from China that they don't even consider manufacturing such goods themselves because it would be more
expensive to do so. When I visited the Philippines last year, counterfeit goods from China flooded the markets as well. And the
quality of such goods -- from electronics to clothing and accessories -- was comparable to the "original" brands. I could hardly
tell the difference.
I am concerned that there will be no economic empowerment for the masses of the people in a developing country that
ceases to produce and chooses to simply consume. I am concerned that the masses cannot afford health care because they
are not economically empowered. When government leaders allow the degradation of the environment and the rape of its
natural wealth, what future are we talking about?
I remember my college history professor once said, "A nation can conquer the world either by military might, economic
stranglehold, or religion."
I should not wonder which category the U.S. falls under, and to which direction China is heading.
Heidi M. Pascual*
Publisher & Editor
Asian Wisconzine
* 2006 Journalist of the Year for the State of
Wisconsin (U.S.-SBA)