This Columbus Day, there is little rejoicing among the fishermen of the Gulf Coast. Although this fishing-rich region is close to the Cuban shores Columbus first visited 500 years ago, there is not a lot to celebrate these days. The aftermath of the BP oil disaster hangs like a pall over the fishing communities of the Gulf, and people are only certain of one thing; it will get worse before it gets better.
Most Americans are unaware of this. The country remains gripped in unshakable economic doldrums. Millions are hurting and many have lost their homes. But along the Gulf coast, fishermen are even more desperate. Their livelihoods have been destroyed and they have no idea if their culture will return. They see the oil continuing to wash up on their shores while no one seems to be paying attention.
Their future lies in the hands of men like government BP claims czar Ken Feinberg, yet people here have little idea when or if they will receive a check to compensate them for their ruined way of life. Government officials pronounce the fish clean of oil when fishermen themselves say they are seeing oil in some of their catches. Even NOAA representatives have gone into schools to try to convince kids their seafood is safe when some fishermen refuse to feed seafood to their families.
The media has gone AWOL. Last week at a meeting in Buras, LA, fishermen gathered to talk about ways to show the public the oil is not gone. They felt abandoned and desperate. Some have had to accept free groceries and school supplies because they have run out of money to feed their families or buy gas for their trucks. They are incensed by million dollar ad campaigns aired during Saints games touting how BP “will make it right.”
They know what’s coming. The cleanup boats are being pulled off the job and their only income will be handouts from government and charities. And those sources are drying up too.
“It’s time to standup,” local shrimper Darla Rooks told the assembly of fishermen in this fishing town still devastated by Katrina. “This is my land and I cannot let me children fish here anymore. We need to stand up and fight or there will be nothing left. If you say nothing, you get nothing.”
Fishermen in this community agreed, but there’s still great uncertainty about what they can do. Even as the meeting took place, reports came in over cell phones to fishermen whose friends still working for BP describing thick peanut butter oil slicks coming into Barataria Bay, one of the hardest hit areas of the Gulf. It comes in at night and sinks during the day, they say.
“People out there don’t have a clue what’s going on,” says Acy Cooper, an official with the Louisiana Shrimp Association. No one wants to buy our shrimp. We can’t say for certain it’s safe while there’s still oil coming in here.”
Meanwhile, the lawyers are circling. As the government claims process grinds on, fishermen and business owners along the coast will be put in the position of trying to decide between accepting whatever the government gives them or getting a lawyer to represent them, a process that could take years -- perhaps decades.
Mike Brewer, an oil cleanup expert who ran for a local council seat here, says a fisherman friend from Alaska just received a check from the Exxon Valdez disaster, more than 25 years after the fact. “It wasn’t even worth the money for him to fly to Alaska to get it,” Brewer says.
So as the six-month anniversary of the oil blowout approaches next week, I can vouch for the fishermen of the Gulf coast. I have been here with them since early May, following their various stages of shock, anger and grief over what has happened to their livelihoods. I have watched proud fishing families struggle with a seemingly unassailable foe, an army of oil, powerful PR and an aura of government complicity that exacerbates this ongoing disaster.
If history is any lesson, this culture and these people will not be easily defeated. They have a lot of fight left in them to survive. But it’s important for all Americans who celebrate Columbus’ discovery of the America’s to know that a culture that lived here before the Europeans is in danger of extinction. The tribe of the United Houma Nation still live by these waters where they have fished for centuries, as do the Italians, French and African Americans who came later and fish them now. For them and for all of us, we need to preserve the culture and environment Columbus found when he first sailed into our world. We need to restore the Gulf coast and make sure this oil disaster never happens again.
That is just one aspect of the suffering here, then you throw in the financial & emotional situations & it becomes horrendous.
I ask that before you casually throw out your opinions on this situation try to imagine a day in our shoes. I find it hard to believe that any of you have not ever been in a situation that an entire group was punished for the actions of a few.
Most of all they need to take their protests to the streets of Washington. They want to rebuild their economy, then they need to shut down the economy around the Congress and the Senate (it is going to take new laws to fix their problems not administrative promises). Take their boats on trailers up to Washington and dump them onto the streets, as they are useless to the fisher families if they can't catch fish with them.
this article explores the connections between the gulf, nigeria, native americans, and capitalism:
http://ragingpelican.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/hello-world/
FREE LOUISIANA! END OIL NEO-COLONIALISM! we refuse to be a third world nation within the US any longer....
the bayous need a subcommandante Marcos!
WE DESERVE JOBS ***AND*** A CLEAN COAST!
This article briefly addresses: (a) how GCCF limits BP's liability via the systematic postponement, reduction or denial of claims against BP; (b) how GCCF guarantees BP's continued long-term operation in the offshore Gulf of Mexico E&P sector; and (c) why GCCF is not necessary to ensure that victims of the BP oil spill are fully compensated for incurred damages.
http://donovanlawgroup.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/the-gulf-coast-claims-facility-limits-bps-liability-and-guarantees-the-oil-companys-continued-operation-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/
This article discusses the origin and evolution of the class action, the benefits and concerns of a class action, and whether a class action lawsuit would be in the best interests of plaintiffs when the damages suffered by each individual plaintiff as a result of the BP oil spill of April, 2010 are potentially so great.
http://donovanlawgroup.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/bp-oil-spill-of-april-2010-why-class-action-lawsuits-may-not-be-in-the-best-interests-of-potential-plaintiffs/
I think some marches and protest rallies on places like Washington D.C. may get some action out of the entrenched bureaucracy by bringing exposure by the media. The media were chased off of the beaches by private security and police from obscure agencies which should have caused some of them to ask WHY?
As for your bizarre complaint about "the media" being chased off beaches, please try to get at least a distant glimpse of reality. The Gulf Coast is not Area 51. There are hundreds of thousands of residents and probably millions of visitors. Also, literally thousands of reporters, bloggers, etc. have covered this spill in person. Maybe two or three have been asked not to dig on a national seashore or not to photograph a refinery. That's it, that's all. A couple of minor officials acting too officiously, and even these trivial stories quickly came to light. Not a single reporter or ordinary citizen has been arrested for being on a beach, riding in a boat, taking all the pictures they want, etc. etc. etc.
Streetlights aren't flying saucers, dude, not matter how much you want them to be.
"Fishermen in this community agreed, but there’s still great uncertainty about what they can do. Even as the meeting took place, reports came in over cell phones to fishermen whose friends still working for BP describing thick peanut butter oil slicks coming into Barataria Bay, one of the hardest hit areas of the Gulf. It comes in at night and sinks during the day, they say."
"So as the six-month anniversary of the oil blowout approaches next week, I can vouch for the fishermen of the Gulf coast. I have been here with them since early May, following their various stages of shock, anger and grief over what has happened to their livelihoods. I have watched proud fishing families struggle with a seemingly unassailable foe, an army of oil, powerful PR and an aura of government complicity that exacerbates this ongoing disaster."
Three quotations from THIS article, when the cleanup was going on that's when the were restricting access to the gulf. MOST of the oil is heading underwater to Mexico.
http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7545&tid=282&cid=79926&ct=162
I like streetlights as streetlights, don't believe in flying saucers. I do believe you should research things out before flying off the handle. May I suggest anger management for you?
Christopher Columbus is the 9/11 for all Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere. He initiated the European-colonial formula for genocide, rape of children and women, enslavement-to-the-death, and the theft of resources (gold, silver, labor, etc).
It's bad enough what's happening to the people along the Gulf Coast that a genocidal monster is being celebrated as "discovering" an area that was already settled and civilized for thousands of years.
Columbus should never be invoked in glowing praise, just as Hitler should never be.
1491
by Charles C. Mann
http://amzn.to/aeL766
American Holocaust
by David Stannard (Oxford University Press)
http://www.amazon.com/American-Holocaust-Conquest-New-World/dp/0195085574
The Journal of Christopher Columbus (his monstrous crimes in his own words)
http://amzn.to/cadj67
The Destruction of the Indies by Father De Las Casas
http://amzn.to/cgrX72
They didn't help prevent it, didn't do much to deal with when it happened, and haven't helped get folks the $s the justly deserve since! A failure all the way around; not to mention failing to protect OUR -- the American People's -- Gulf or us.
NOAA reps trying to get school kids to eat the seafood is well beyond disgusting! Those fools ought to go on a BIG diet of it themselves, and leave the rest of us alone. Especially the kids!!
Lord knows BP, being for profit, and then some -- ALL hail boundless greed -- won't do a thing more than they can get away with not doing -- all the nice words and commercials be damned, they are just part of the PR BS.
And now, in a culture with a shorter attention span than an exceptionally hyper-active squirrel, are off to the next shinny thing the media propaganda brings us an endless stream of! Quick, look, what's Sahara (or any of the other morons) tweeting??
just like the line in Star Wars about fools that follow fools ...
God bless all the folks, and critters, who suffer so much because of the shameless, evil greed of a few
The ONLY thing being allowed is pro-BP propaganda about the "good" they are doing.
The DOJ needs to take a lesson from Hungary and detain those responsible until this horrendous mess is cleaned up.
Horrendous crimes have been committed.
doing the same thing over and over again whilst expecting a different outcome every time..
As a Democrat, I would love to be proven wrong...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rocky-kistner/a-columbus-day-paean-to-t_b_759254.html