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Plundering Paradise: The Struggle for the Environment in the Philippines
This gripping portrait of environmental politics chronicles the devastating destruction of the Philippine countryside and reveals how ordinary men and women are fighting back. Traveling through a land of lush rainforests, the authors have recorded the experiences of the people whose livelihoods are disappearing along with their country's natural resources. The result is an inspiring, informative account of how peasants, fishers, and other laborers have united to halt the plunder and to improve their lives.
These people do not debate global warming―they know that their very lives depend on the land and oceans, so they block logging trucks, protest open-pit mining, and replant trees. In a country where nearly two-thirds of the children are impoverished, the reclaiming of natural resources is offering young people hope for a future. Plundering Paradise is essential reading for anyone interested in development, the global environment, and political life in the Third World.
These people do not debate global warming―they know that their very lives depend on the land and oceans, so they block logging trucks, protest open-pit mining, and replant trees. In a country where nearly two-thirds of the children are impoverished, the reclaiming of natural resources is offering young people hope for a future. Plundering Paradise is essential reading for anyone interested in development, the global environment, and political life in the Third World.
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First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 19, 2014
According to Father Sean McDonagh, an Irish Columban missionary formerly based in the Philippines, the post World War II Philippine history is that of a plunder economy: plunder of seas, plunder of mines and plunder of forests. Now the country has several of its incumbent senators in jail for the crime of Plunder; stealing more than 50 Million pesos of taxpayers' money and "plunder" itself had become a crime punishable by a special law.
I've read this book many months ago and what I remember that struck me was that there had been many Filipino heroes who had laid down their lives or put them in danger to resist all these types of environmental plunder. This was first published in 1993 and it painted a grim though hopeful picture of the country. Two decades after, we still have a country and I am writing a review of this book because it is raining, the streets are flooded, the Office of the President had declared a holiday in all school levels and even in the private and government offices. Slowly and surely Metro Manila is sinking and will go the way of the Atlantis. The forests are gone and the rivers are angry.
I've read this book many months ago and what I remember that struck me was that there had been many Filipino heroes who had laid down their lives or put them in danger to resist all these types of environmental plunder. This was first published in 1993 and it painted a grim though hopeful picture of the country. Two decades after, we still have a country and I am writing a review of this book because it is raining, the streets are flooded, the Office of the President had declared a holiday in all school levels and even in the private and government offices. Slowly and surely Metro Manila is sinking and will go the way of the Atlantis. The forests are gone and the rivers are angry.
December 16, 2021
Must read! Sana mas maging accessible pa to sa mas maraming audiences. Chismis na nung pinalabas tong libro, pinakyaw ni JCA lahat ng kopya at pinasunog. Hahaha.
May 27, 2012
An excellent work with real world insight and solutions for 21st century political, economic, social, and environmental problems that have existed, continue to exist, and will come.
I first read this book for my Anthropology 362 course when I was a student at Boston University. Professor Weller led the course and much insight did he provide the class concerning economic, environmental, ecological issues that have been pressing developing nations for decades. This is one of the few books that I still have in my library from my old college days. I decided to pick it up again and was absolutely fascinated by the book. More than a decade after having read the book for the first time now I see, know, and understand more of the deep message the book has been trying to convey to my generation and future generations.
The book details the continued trials of the majority of the Philippine population, the poor. From subsistence farmers, fishermen, and miners the book provides one case after the other of impoverished men, women, and children who feel the direct and adverse effects of their ecological environment that has been practically given away by their corrupted government to logging, fishing, agricultural, manufacturing, and energy corporations from the U.S., Europe, and Japan. It describes the role played by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in convincing, pressuring, bribing Philippine government officials to take on massive "fraudulent" loans to build the economic infrastructure that will supposedly get the economy up on its feet with "trickle down" economics to aid and lift the poor. But these loans only leave the country debt-ridden thus forcing it to concede more of its natural resources to corporate interests in the developed world. Essentially the developed world is raping the developing world. What is left behind by this plunder? An ecological disaster that no consumer in the developed world has to face . . . for now. Who has to face it? The Philippine poor, but they are not victims, they go on to fight for sustainability for if their environment is destroyed nothing will be left for their children. They fight for their children's future, and essentially the well being of a planet where the developed countries continue to extracts, exploit, manufacture, and consume 50% more of the Earth than what the planet can replenish. We are headed toward a collision course as long as we pursue a political, social, economic model in which short-term profits come before all things . . . even the planet itself.
A new political, social, economic model must arise in the 21st century based around the ideals we all strive for: "ecological sustainability, equity, participation (direct democracy), and improvement of the lives of the poor majority."
The book summarizes and explains why governments the world over are so highly corrupted: "Governments . . . suffer from three weaknesses. First, in an increasingly globalized world economy where large corporations and banks are highly mobile, these firms can effectively play governments off against one another as they search for ideal investment sites. Second, the Philippine government, like many others, is so laden with debt and fiscal crises that its potential as a dynamic social and economic actor is severely curtailed. Third, in countries where natural resources have been the key to economic power, governments are easily molded to serve the needs of the resource exploiters."
If we are to survive the economic, political, social, and ecological disasters now and ahead of us in the 21st century (global warming, global financial crises, excessive world population growth, the rapid rate of species extinction and endangerment, the mass destruction of ecosystems the world over, the coming end of oil, the coming shortages of fresh-water, etc.) then it is time we wake up and create real democracy where the majority of the people in the world (the poor who live in and understand nature's wrath as we destroy it) are listened to and provided a real political voice for they speak for our planet over the developed world's pursuit for excessive production and consumption at the expense of our environment.
This book is an absolute must read! And I would also suggest reading John Perkin's book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Men, alongside this book.
I first read this book for my Anthropology 362 course when I was a student at Boston University. Professor Weller led the course and much insight did he provide the class concerning economic, environmental, ecological issues that have been pressing developing nations for decades. This is one of the few books that I still have in my library from my old college days. I decided to pick it up again and was absolutely fascinated by the book. More than a decade after having read the book for the first time now I see, know, and understand more of the deep message the book has been trying to convey to my generation and future generations.
The book details the continued trials of the majority of the Philippine population, the poor. From subsistence farmers, fishermen, and miners the book provides one case after the other of impoverished men, women, and children who feel the direct and adverse effects of their ecological environment that has been practically given away by their corrupted government to logging, fishing, agricultural, manufacturing, and energy corporations from the U.S., Europe, and Japan. It describes the role played by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in convincing, pressuring, bribing Philippine government officials to take on massive "fraudulent" loans to build the economic infrastructure that will supposedly get the economy up on its feet with "trickle down" economics to aid and lift the poor. But these loans only leave the country debt-ridden thus forcing it to concede more of its natural resources to corporate interests in the developed world. Essentially the developed world is raping the developing world. What is left behind by this plunder? An ecological disaster that no consumer in the developed world has to face . . . for now. Who has to face it? The Philippine poor, but they are not victims, they go on to fight for sustainability for if their environment is destroyed nothing will be left for their children. They fight for their children's future, and essentially the well being of a planet where the developed countries continue to extracts, exploit, manufacture, and consume 50% more of the Earth than what the planet can replenish. We are headed toward a collision course as long as we pursue a political, social, economic model in which short-term profits come before all things . . . even the planet itself.
A new political, social, economic model must arise in the 21st century based around the ideals we all strive for: "ecological sustainability, equity, participation (direct democracy), and improvement of the lives of the poor majority."
The book summarizes and explains why governments the world over are so highly corrupted: "Governments . . . suffer from three weaknesses. First, in an increasingly globalized world economy where large corporations and banks are highly mobile, these firms can effectively play governments off against one another as they search for ideal investment sites. Second, the Philippine government, like many others, is so laden with debt and fiscal crises that its potential as a dynamic social and economic actor is severely curtailed. Third, in countries where natural resources have been the key to economic power, governments are easily molded to serve the needs of the resource exploiters."
If we are to survive the economic, political, social, and ecological disasters now and ahead of us in the 21st century (global warming, global financial crises, excessive world population growth, the rapid rate of species extinction and endangerment, the mass destruction of ecosystems the world over, the coming end of oil, the coming shortages of fresh-water, etc.) then it is time we wake up and create real democracy where the majority of the people in the world (the poor who live in and understand nature's wrath as we destroy it) are listened to and provided a real political voice for they speak for our planet over the developed world's pursuit for excessive production and consumption at the expense of our environment.
This book is an absolute must read! And I would also suggest reading John Perkin's book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Men, alongside this book.
June 20, 2024
As a Filipino living in the Philippines, the case studies in this book captured snapshots of my country all too apparent. It evaluates the causes of destituition and weighs its effects. I am grateful the authors took the time to visit, get to know, and understand it in this manner and share what they observed, as a starting point for genuine reflection and conversion of the heart, concerned for the poorest of the poor.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews