With Captain Richard Phillips held hostage by Somali Pirates, the world asks again for a solution to piracy. An online post on the New York Times opinion page regarding the issue reads, “ I am 80 years old and think I have lived too long. Pirates in 2009? ”. The woman who posted this (she calls herself Jane) as well as many others are flabbergasted that such an age old crime like piracy exists in the same world as satellite missiles, the U.N., and the United State's maritime military power. But unlike mobs of lynch hungry vigilante cowboys in Wyoming, piracy is not a time washed crime. And though the pirates are terrorists, a solid solution to the problem lies in reform on land, not guns at sea.
The pirate problem is not new. Since the formation of this country, "freedom of the seas" has been a rallying cry of presidents, congressmen, and civilians embarrassed and fed up with terrorism on the ocean. The War of 1812 was fought primarily to stop the British Navy's impressment policies. Torpedoed civilian ships led Americans to support entering The Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. Historically, Americans have highly valued the neutrality of seas.
The Somali men who took Phillips hostage are terrorists. They are using terror, crime, and human life as bargaining tools to make a few million bucks. When caught, these men need to be either tried and prosecuted in American courts (for their crimes are against Americans), or even better in International Court. Not only will justice be served, but perhaps due process of law and imprisonment of the criminals will discourage some of their counterparts from further attacking American ships.
But putting a few pirates in prison or shooting some bullets in the water will not solve this escalating problem. There has not been a functioning government in Somalia since 1991. American does not need to, and should not, pull a Panama-esque revolution in the African country to put a more pro-America/freedom of seas regime in power. Somalian structural, political, and economic reform can come from within it's borders or with some U.N. aid. Although a severely complicated and difficult task, reform must come to the Somalian government before the pirates can be effectively controlled. This is a long range, possibly Utopian, measure. But reform on the seas cannot last without reform on the land.
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It is true, the parrot is gone, and the old pistol has been replaced with an RPG, but the pirate is still here. One of the 'simple' solutions to the problem of piracy is just to have the men of the cargo ships carry guns, but a classmate of mine, writing in the blog 'Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness' has a different point of view. She suggests that the "solution to the problem lies in reform on land, not guns at sea."
ReplyDeleteThis seems makes sense. If we could control the land, where the pirates come from, we could control their effect at sea. But how would we control a foreign land? Easily, we could use our bloated military budget just land a battleship at every major port and take over operations. But if I try to use a bit of foresight, I may not see this being a great solution. Fortunately my classmate can see this too and also suggests America should not "pull a Panama-esque revolution in the African country to put a more pro-America/freedom of seas regime in power." Although if I were running for power in Africa I would be running under the freedom of seas slogan.
The suggested solution is to have reform come from within their own borders (maybe with a smidgen of U.N. help). Why doesn't Somalia think of this? I just got an email from an African prince, wanting some help in transferring funds to the U.S.; maybe I should suggest that solution to him. In truth, that would be an idea solution, however it will not happen in the near future. In the mean time we need to make our seas safe.
Perhaps if we were to punish the pirates we catch it would be a deterrent to other pirates. My classmate suggests having "these men need to be either tried and prosecuted in American courts (for their crimes are against Americans), or even better in International Court." Again, taking action against the pirates seems like a good idea on the surface, but lets look at what is really happening. These men are not working for themselves, and the people actually benefiting from piracy will not get caught by the navy. It would be a pretty small warlord if he had to do his own piracy. Once it was known what happened to the most recent group of pirates, a retaliation attack was mounted by the warlord and even more boats were taken! So again, how are we supposed to protect ourselves?
Guns.
I've been having an interesting conversation with a colleage from work about a subject that a classmate has just happened to blog about. And that is the situation regarding the pirates of the Somalia coast.
ReplyDeleteTo be clear, there is no excuse for the taking of men and cargo and holding then for ransom. But an e-mail I received has caused me to think about the guiding forces directing these men. The forces besides poverty and despair.
While I don't know if it's true or not, the e-mail suggests that after the Somali government collapsed, foreign entities moved in off the coast of Somalia and began overfishing the waters as there wasn't a authority to stop them. The same mail also said that other foreign entities began using the coasts to dump trash. These two illegal activies increased the already difficult circumstances in Somalia by taking away one of their principle means of substanance. The initial
highjackings of vessels were of fishing boats who operated illegally off Somalia's coast. The purpose was to stop them from overfishing the waters. From there, the highjackings grew into a large scale criminal enterprise.
Again, I don't know if this e-mail is true or not. I don't condone piracy and feel that the U.S. killing the pirates who took the American Captain hostage were completely just.
All I'm suggesting, is that we should examine the root cause of the problem. Just as piracy is unjust, so is exploitation of the poor.