I read this a few hours ago and have been thinking much about what Belén Fernández, an Al Jazeera columnist, had to say. If you would like to read her full article go here
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/8/28/panamas-doomsday-warning-is-not-about-holiday-shopping
I have many thoughts in response.
Full transparency to begin. I have lived on all the continents save Antarctica. As an international school teacher. The could be a few other stories here but not today. My husband and I decided to retire to Panama and arrived here in February. Thus I have some knowledge of what Belén Fernández shared. So let me begin.
She starts with
The nation is where the climate crisis, the refugee crisis and the inequalities of capitalism intersect.
The climate crisis. The Canal is not sea water. Rivers are dammed in order for sweet water to be used such that the fresh water Gatun Lake can remain environmentally safe as possible. But drought has indeed lowered the amount of sweet water and the canal use has been restricted. I have not seen a cruise ship from my balcony in months. And the container ships are much less seen as well. It should be raining very day, according to my new friends, but it is not.
Belén wrote this, “As of mid-August, more than 200 ships were stuck at the canal. On August 26, CNN warned that the situation is “not a good sign for supply chains – or your holiday shopping”.
To be sure, even before the onset of accelerated anthropogenic climate change, the Panama Canal was never enormously environmentally compatible. The construction of the waterway, which began as a French undertaking in the late 1800s before being appropriated by the US and completed in 1914, encapsulated the recklessness and hubris of man’s efforts to dominate nature.
Thousands upon thousands of workers perished in the quest to bend the earth to imperial will. But at least they enabled future “holiday shopping”.” (my bolding)
So very much to unpack there, but capitalism over all other forms of life seems to say it shortest. For what ever reason, she missed mentioning that Panama was originally part of Colombia. The “rebellion” was supported by the US for obvious reasons. Belen also writes “the US acquired its very own de facto colony in the form of the Panama Canal Zone, over which it exercised unfettered rule from 1903 to 1979…” This seems to be a complicated subject still today. We use US currency as well as Panama currency. English abounds. I do have enough Spanish to make it when needed. My accent makes it clear from I am from. Never have I been mistreated here for my ethnicity nor clear Americanism.
We have driven through and by many neighborhoods in and around Panama City, including El Chorillo, as Belen mentions. Nothing that frightens me at all but much is very different than the many sky rise neighborhoods like where “the Trump” was located. We looked at an apartment in that neighborhood and it was creepy. Not that his name cursed it. Just no restaurants or bars. Perhaps to keep the less than desirables out. The low rise, or single level homes are clearly where the working class lives. But again, not dangerous. Belen put it best I think by writing “…the dystopian contrast between the luxury buildings that saturate the Panama City skyline and the ground-level squalor that reigns in certain areas should be enough to convince any moderately ethical person that there are far graver concerns in Panama than the present pileup in the Panama Canal and potential “holiday shopping” complications in the US.”
She then goes on to briefly mention the corruption, but then sentencing, of politicians here in Panama. I wonder if the US will be as much law abiding.
Belen then writes about the Darien Gap. This is the dangerous section between Colombia and Panama where there are no roads. Just jungle and danger. And refugees, alive and dead. I also lived in southern Arizona for a bit. Actually only about five miles from the boarder. Refugees there too. Sometimes you could see folks on top of trains trying to get to a safer life. Again, I never felt threatened.
Belen ends with “It remains to be seen whether Panama is a microcosm of capitalist self-combustion. But for the moment, at least, the potential climate-related demise of a canal that never should have been constructed seems an apt metaphor for an entire system that never should have been.” I find that interesting. But wait. I have a different ending.
There is, and has been, talk about building another canal, in Nicaragua. Backed today largely by China.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/new-canal-through-central-america-could-have-devastating-consequences-180953394/
Bad idea for all the regular reasons.
But there you have it. Climate catastrophe, ignoring refugees, and feudalistic capitalism all wrapped up together in Panama. And I look forward to your thoughts.