I'm writing this diary to call attention to the Obama administration's opposition to Bolivia's attempt to overturn the UN ban on coca chewing. To quote a recent article published by the Transnational Institute for Drugs and Democracy,
"In March 2009, Bolivia's President Evo Morales chewed a coca leaf at the UN High Level session on drugs in Vienna. He announced he would seek the abolition of the articles in the 1961 UN Single Convention that stipulate that the chewing of coca leaves should be eliminated within 25 years, after the treaty entered into force. He was applauded forcefully by those attending."
"In order to finally rectify a historical mistake, he presented a formal amendment, asking for the removal of the articles."
January 31st is the deadline for countries to object to this change. Guess which country has just formed a coalition to block this critical piece of social progress?
USA! USA! USA!!1
To understand why this is wrong, we need to go to the roots of this racist policy. To quote the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Coca Leaf, the UN group responsible for the the 1961 ban:
"We believe that the daily, inveterate use of coca leaves by chewing ... not only is thoroughly noxious and therefore detrimental, but also is the cause of racial degeneration"
Feel free to read through the report. There isn't a single scientific study to back up this claim, or any of the other claims in the report. The UN has even admitted as much. In 1995 the UN commissioned the largest study on cocaine ever conducted, and came to the conclusion that:
"The use of coca leaves appears to have no negative health effects and has positive therapeutic, sacred and social functions for indigenous Andean populations."
So why is the Obama administration trying to imprison the indigenous peoples of the Andes merely for following their religious and cultural traditions, as their ancestors have done for hundreds (if not thousands) of years?
To quote Wikipedia, "White supremacy, as with racial supremacism in general, is rooted in ethnocentrism and a desire for hegemony."
In other words, white supremacist isn't about the desire for racial purity, but rather the desire to use the force of the law to elevate the traditions and culture of one ethnicity above all others.
By this definition, the Obama administration's actions clearly count as white supremacism. They continue a 100+ year tradition of permitting only the use of alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine, the preferred drugs of high-socio-economic-status white Americans. And, at the same time, sending everyone else to go rot in prison.
Just over one month ago the U.S. signed the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights. In doing so they promised to uphold and protect indigenous cultural practices.
So why again is the Obama administration doing its best to ensure the law of the land is one that not only criminalizes the culture of our neighbors, but calls them "racial degenerates" in the process?