{"id":643,"date":"2014-11-24T06:01:40","date_gmt":"2014-11-23T17:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/?p=643"},"modified":"2014-11-24T06:01:40","modified_gmt":"2014-11-23T17:01:40","slug":"reconstruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/?p=643","title":{"rendered":"Reconstruction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pat3\"<\/a>\u00a0Pat Odea climate change editor<\/p>\n

\n

\"sas\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On the news that John Key is sending New Zealand Defence Force personal to the Middle East to combat Isis. According to the Prime Minister. the New Zealand Defence Force will play a similar role to the PRT “Provisional Reconstruction Team” we deployed in Afghanistan’s Bamyan Province, which were withdrawn last year, with little, or nothing to show for their efforts.<\/span>

For ten years, at the cost of ten New Zealand lives, and a financial cost of tens of millions of dollars annually, New Zealand maintained a heavily armed military presence deployed in Afghanistan Helmand and Bamyan provinces, avowedly doing “reconstruction work”. We would have been better off, spending that money on maintaining an unarmed civilian ‘Uncomplicated’ Kiwi team in Afghanistan at no cost of New Zealand lives.<\/span>

http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/views\/2014\/11\/20\/uncomplicated-afghanistan-health-and-healing-war-torn-nation<\/a>‘ “Uncomplicated” by Kathy Kelly<\/span>

<\/p>\n

I wish that NATO\u2019s commander could have joined Afghan Peace Volunteers (APVs) that same week in Afghanistan as they visited an extraordinarily sustainable project, called\u00a0\u201cEmergency.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0This Italy–based network of hospitals and clinics has been particularly remarkable for effectively saving and improving the lives of many Afghan people, over the past 13 years, while at the same time rejecting any form of war or use of weapons within its facilities.
\nAt the entrance to any one of Emergency\u2019s clinics or hospitals, a sign at the door says \u201cNo Weapons Allowed.\u201d A logo banning guns is next to the Emergency logo. Although they work in one of the most intense war zones in the world, Emergency staff, including security guards, reject any use of weapons inside their facilities.
\nYusof Hakimi, the nurse in charge of Emergency\u2019s ICU in the Kabul hospital, assured us that the ban is strictly upheld. A child isn\u2019t allowed to carry a plastic toy gun inside the hospital premises. No one can wear camouflage clothing. \u201cEven the president of Afghanistan cannot carry a gun inside our hospitals!\u201d says Luca Radaelli, the medical coordinator of Emergency\u2019s hospital in Kabul. He added that it\u2019s not easy to maintain a facility where wars are banned. \u201cBut,\u201d he adds, \u201ceveryone understands the purposes and respects the rules.\u201d
\nThey\u2019ve learned ways of providing security without the use of weapons. \u00a0One such way involves an absolute commitment to neutrality.
\nThey never take sides in the various conflicts that plague Afghanistan.
\nIn fact, they don\u2019t even ask if a patient belongs to one side or another.
\nMost NGOs in Afghanistan arrange for their staff to travel in heavily armed vehicles. But unarmed Emergency ambulances travel through war zones, in multiple directions, across the country. \u201cWe don\u2019t have armed guards,\u201d says Luca. \u201cWe don\u2019t have bullet proof cars. We don\u2019t change our routes because,\u201d he explains in his clear, matter-of-fact style, \u201cwe have never been targeted.\u201d
\nLuca says they acquire, and maintain, security through their reputation. Since they never charge any patient for health care, they could not be accused of trying to make a profit.
\nThey also pursue strong diplomatic conversations with each group affected by their work, such as new workers, contractors, local government officials, and religious leaders.\u00a0 They explain their policy of maintaining neutral independence toward everyone involved. \u201cIf you provide something good, something skilled, and it is free of charge,\u201d he adds, \u201cthere is no need to protect yourself. People won\u2019t get angry.\u201d
\nIf NATO and U.S. commanders took a fraction of what they have spent securing this region by violence\u2014the\u00a0Pentagon has requested 58.5 billion dollars for Fiscal Year 2015 in Afghanistan<\/a>\u2014and spent that instead to help people harmed by the ravages of war, could non-combat projects, such as Emergency\u2019s, start to work? There are numerous, obvious solutions<\/span> to problems in Afghanistan which NATO countries could actually consider,or even attempt, if the alliance was actually there to help improve the quality of life for Afghan people.
\nOne solution is to establish health care programs similar to what Emergency has created.
\nHowever, Emergency isn\u2019t in Afghanistan to point out a sane path through disaster to all the actors, here and abroad, who seem unlikely to discard paths of suicidal hatred and ignorance.
\nIn Luca\u2019s view, Emergency is simply what a healthcare institution ought to be.
\n\u201cIt grows from a very simple idea. Provide high quality service for everyone, not thinking about profit, but just about patients’ health.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat is so complicated?\u201d he asks.
\nWe might address a similar question to NATO Sec. Gen. Jens Stoltenberg: A new, non-combat mission, in Afghanistan, one that rejects weapons and war. What would be so complicated?<\/p>\n

Now that is the sort of New Zealand intervention that I would volunteer for.<\/p>\n

Pat O’Dea<\/p>\n

Pat O’Dea was a volunteer on the Kiaora Gaza mission of 2010 to deliver urgently needed medical supplies to the beseiged territory of Gaza, that passed through Turkey and crossed Syria on it’s way to Palestine and succeeded in entering Gaza in defiance of the Israeli and Egyptian military blockade.<\/p>\n

\"trflag\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Author Pat O’Dea displays the Tino Rangatira flag at a gathering at the Latakia Palestinian refugee camp, Syria 2010. Speaking\u00a0 through an interpretor, O’Dea gave a brief history of colonialism and imperialism in New Zealand, and the significance of, and the reason the New Zealand volunteer aid mission flew two flags on their the vehicles. The flag of the Dominion, with the Union Jack in the corner and the Tino Rangitiratanga flag, with the Koru.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Pat Odea climate change editor On the news that John Key is sending New Zealand Defence Force personal to the Middle East to combat Isis. According to the Prime Minister. the New Zealand Defence Force will play a similar role to the PRT “Provisional Reconstruction Team” we deployed in Afghanistan’s Bamyan Province, which were withdrawn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=643"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":650,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions\/650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}