Whiskey

When I was eight, I found a pastime.

My cousins, whose big boy status made their silliness serious,

had discovered the yellow fly zapper.

I learnt to love the stench of burnt mosquito.

One day, the fun had moved

to the dining table.

Adults went on with their silly chatter,

while I, the hunter, stalked my prey.

Talk of family alive and dead;

my uncle nursed his drink.

All that is noise.

My prey alights.

Glass rim. My moment to be hero.

I move in, slowly.

(My youth is clumsy.)

I judge my arc and —

swing!

— like Federer. Yes, like Federer.

My kill drops from the skies,

falling stricken into liquid gold.

Liquid gold? His whiskey!

Everything stops. My uncle motions.

“Come here,” he says. Talk fades.

My uncle looks a scary type. My mom pushes — “go,” she says.

I step forward, fearful. To my surprise

he wraps me in a hug.

“Good job,” he says with whiskey breath.

Drink or not, that’s him.

Gruff, wider frame and stubbled skin,

but arms to be lost in.

You were the opposite.

Cultivating a Culture of Fear

This image shows a shadow appearing to point to a man, while he covers his face and runs from the light into the shade. This shadow represents a variety of factors that causes the Afghan people to fear exposure or suspicion by the Taliban. Amir's visit to Afghanistan uses his perceptions to reflect more broadly on the Afghan experience during the time of the Taliban. A literal example of the pointing figure is the old man with the blanket who stands in Amir's room and looks at him for an abnormally long time. While he could just as easily be a mental patient or an elderly man taken aback by Amir's dramatic injuries, when Farid mentions that the Taliban could be tracking them, Amir very seriously snaps back to that memory and identifies the old man as a potential Taliban searcher. In reality the person casting the shadow could just as easily be pointing elsewhere; the man runs into the shade and away from the spotlight because the consequences of waiting, like Amir staying in the hospital, could be dire. In a country where honor and valor are so highly valued, staying in the light, like Baba against the Russian soldier, seems like the most noble course of action. But, as the Afghans have learned, staying in the shadow and avoiding the light may be the best course of action. This is made clear when Farid and Amir are walking in the street and Amir looks at the Taliban -- anyone who becomes remotely noticeable, according to Farid, and does not fade into the background could be the Taliban's next victim of random violence. The same situation exists in Zaman's world, where letting Assef take the child has the consequence of feeding and saving the rest of the children.

Cheap for Us, Yet Costly for the Invisible

The people were excited. Meetings had been called, and deals had been struck. Every villager from the surrounding area had convened today to sign the contract, and government officials were present to ensure propriety. But when the Singapore-owned Golden Veroleum corporation’s representatives arrived to ready their new plantation, the villagers discovered that the conditions weren’t what they thought they had agreed to. Instead of the 108.63 acre plot Golden had described, the illiterate villagers had given up 2,195 acres — a detail which had been changed but never read aloud. And the hospitals, roads, and schools Golden had promised? A lack of deadlines meant they would likely never see the light of day (Global Witness, Macdougall).

This story is no exception. For as long as many Americans, Europeans, and Chinese can remember, they have had an unspoken agreement with corporations that they will stay silent about buying illicitly sourced products in exchange for lower prices. Golden’s meeting was held in Liberia during the height of the Ebola crisis, breaking anti-assembly laws intended to protect people from the disease (Macdougall). But the people were poor, and they took desperate actions. To allow corporations from these countries to continue to enter Africa and conduct such business is to condone a brand of capitalism that is unconscientious, if not malicious.

Foreign business in Africa is often even more illicit than Golden Veroleum’s. Consider the Congo, where armed groups fight for control of mines that produce minerals like tantalum (Global Witness). Tech firms rely heavily on it to create their products, and Apple is under scrutiny for potentially using tantalum smuggled from the Congo, which would fund armed groups that have normalized rape and displaced approximately 2.7 million people (Browning, Global Witness). While this is the status quo across the continent, efforts for change can be found in the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires multinational corporations to publicly disclose supply chains which use materials from conflict zones in the Congo and its neighbors. But new legislation will have to be introduced before these companies can be directly punished for such conduct.

While tech firms indirectly promote the use of conflict materials, others promote violence in more direct ways. When Charles Taylor, a Liberian rebel notorious for conscripting child soldiers, took control of Firestone’s rubber plantation in 1991, he convinced the company to bribe him with millions of dollars in food, money, and arms, which enabled a brutal coup on the nation’s capital (Miller). Such actions can have damaging effects on stable governments as well; $1.36 billion given to Congolese bureaucrats could have covered the country’s health and education budgets twice over (Global Witness).

The most effective solutions will come from international courts and political entities like the Kimberley Process, an international alliance that works to prevent conflict diamonds from reaching the market. But along with the ICC and the African Criminal Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Kimberley is heavily restricted by its realm of jurisdiction. While these courts have assorted jurisdictions that include rough diamond trade, genocide, crimes against humanity, and illicit exploitation of natural resources, they must be expanded to prosecute against the complex schemes that exist today (Clarke, Global Witness).

What so often allows this type of criminal activity to go unfettered is a distorted sense of morality. The productivity of these companies is weighed against the most basic needs of the peoples of Africa. In the words of Kofi Annan, "Africa loses twice as much in illicit financial outflows as it receives in international aid… It is unconscionable that some companies, often supported by dishonest officials, are using unethical tax avoidance, transfer pricing and anonymous company ownership to maximize their profits, while millions of Africans go without adequate nutrition, health and education" (Stewart).

Works Cited

Browning, Lynnley. "Where Apple Gets the Tantalum for Your IPhone." Newsweek. 04 Feb. 2015.

Web. 22 Mar. 2016.

Explains the ways in which Apple and other companies rely heavily on tantalum and

notes suspicions that despite Apple's thorough denials, their supply chain may include

tantalum from conflict zones in the Congo.

Clarke, Kamari Maxine. "Treat Greed in Africa as a War Crime." The New York Times. The New

York Times, 29 Jan. 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

An opinions column which argues that the greed of government officials, corporations

and others should be considered a war crime due to its far-reaching consequences. In

this case, greed refers to actions whose costs outweigh acquisitive benefits.

Global Witness. "Conflict Minerals in East Congo." Global Witness. 2 Mar. 2015. Web. 22 Mar.

2016.

Describes the ways in which certain sectors of the Congolese army have become

involved in and attempted to take control of trafficking of conflict minerals. Lists

recommendations that will allow international courts to hold the army accountable.

Global Witness. "Congo's Secret Sales | Global Witness." Global Witness. 3 May 2014. Web. 20

Mar. 2016.

Explains the way that Congolese president Joseph Kabila's personal friend Dan Gertler

was able to use offshore companies in the relatively unregulated British Virgin Islands to

unfairly sell and profit from assets which should have been under the equal control of the

other shareholders.

Global Witness. "Financing a Parallel Government | Global Witness." Global Witness. 11 June

2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

Explains how Chinese businessman Sam Pa paid the Zimbabwe secret police in order to

provide security to his holdings in the country.

Global Witness. "The Kimberley Process | Global Witness | Global Witness." Global Witness. 1

Apr. 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

Describes the Kimberley Process, an international pact working to prevent Blood Diamonds from reaching international market through a system of sanctions and agreements as well as national audits. Explains some of the weaknesses of said process.

Global Witness. "The New Snake Oil?" Global Witness. 23 July 2015. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

Supplements the New York Times article on Golden Veroleum with details about Golden's

specific agreements with villagers as well as a video with investigative interviews with

anonymous villagers explaining the conditions to which they agreed in comparison with

those stipulated in the contract. Also explains the specifics of Golden's expansion in

Liberia.

Global Witness. "Update following Financing a Parallel Government Report | Global Witness."

Global Witness. 30 Oct. 2012. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

An update on the situation of Chinese businessman Sam Pa. Explains new sanctions by

the U.S. Department of the Treasury intended to punish Pa for his crimes.

Macdougall, Clair. "Palm Oil Company Is Accused of Exploiting Liberia’s Ebola Crisis." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Aug. 2015. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

Describes the way in which Singapore-backed Golden Veroleum exploited the

desperation of Ebola-afflicted Liberia in order to dramatically expand its territory for palm

oil production. Includes interviews with villagers explaining their current life situation and

what they hoped to receive within the contract.

Miller, T. Christian, and Jonathan Jones. "Firestone and the Warlord." Top Stories RSS. ProPublica, 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.

A major report by Frontline and ProPublica that explains the ways in which Charles

Taylor's rebellions in the early 1990s were largely funded by Firestone, whose plantation

he took over in 1991. Explains in detail why Firestone is partly responsible for an

indiscriminate rebellion that took many lives and destabilized Liberia.

Stewart, Heather. "Annan Calls for End to 'unconscionable' Exploitation of Africa's Resources." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 09 May 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

Quotes former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his appeal to David Cameron to punish British corporations for their corrupt actions in Africa.

Locked In or Locked Out?

"For the first time in his life, he was suffused with happiness. He refused to go out to work in the fields. Instead, he threw himself heart and soul into the solitary search for mountain folk songs" (64.)

"'Me too. Loathing for everyone who kept these books from us.' Hearing myself utter this last sentence frightened me... Such a remark, casually dropped, could cost several years in prison" (99.)

Sijie uses this symbol of a locked suitcase to illustrate the nature of concealment and a repressive environment as well as hope for the future. The hidden books became a source of hope for Four-Eyes; they allowed him to take an opportunity to escape, but he had to conceal them to keep that hope and opportunity alive. When they read the books, Luo and the narrator grow angry at those who concealed the books from them, but they're not angry at Four-Eyes; they're angry at the government officials who burned and confiscated the world of literature from the eyes of the people.

Acceptance

Live your life without worldly goals,

and you will accomplish all you want to.

Receive, don't pour, the water,

And you will be a full cup.

Listen, don't impart all your knowledge,

and you will become a source of wisdom.

Choose not to interfere, let events take their course,

and you will be satisfied with what you've done.

Accepting your failures is the first step to success.

Accepting your mistakes is the first step to rectifying them.

Accept the bad in you and you will find the good.

Accept your dark corners and you will find the light.

In this world, live like a nomad;

Take less with you and you will have less to carry.

Go where you're taken and you will find the beauty.

The Environment's Effect on the Brain