Pakistan floods, Mississippi water crisis
For those of you who do not know, there have been devastating floods in Pakistan that have left a third of the country flooded and underwater. This is one of the biggest catastrophes that the country has ever faced—resulting in at least 33 million displaced people, a death toll of over 1,300 people (with a third of those people being children), and close to a million animals being lost. This news is being incredibly underreported throughout the world, while the threat of disease spreads, and Western nations have pledged very little aid to help.
Some of these numbers are so big that it’s hard to gauge exactly what we are talking about. So, to elaborate: 33 million people is half the size of the UK. That’s more than the entire state of Texas, and the entire state of New York. That’s 90% of the entire population of Canada. The entire populations of the three major cities in the US: New York City, Chicago, and LA have a combined population of 15.04 million people. 33 million people displaced people would mean displacing all of the residents of these three major cities two times over. It’s an unfathomable number. And yet, it is happening.
Pakistan has contributed less than .05% of global emissions and to global warming, and yet is one of the countries that is the most severely impacted by global warming. There are many glaciers within and near Pakistan’s borders, which is why the floods have been so particularly devastating, because as global warming increases the glaciers are beginning to melt. It’s pretty wild to learn how the Global North has even colonized the air, and how that has unprecedented effects on countries in the Global South. But like all things, centuries of extraction, of colonization, of capitalism, and of being out of right relationship with the Earth has built up, and people who live in the Global South, people of color, and marginalized communities are the first to suffer.
Depending on what report you read, there are many South Asian countries on the list of the most effected by global warming. Those countries are: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Afghanistan. Many of the countries on those lists are countries in Africa, including Chad, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Mozambique, Somalia and Sudan. The other countries/ places that are disproportionately affected are Haiti, Puerto Rico, Myanmar, the Philippines, The Bahamas, and Thailand. We see, over and over, how Black and Brown people, and people in the Global South, are being disproportionately affected by climate change, despite having contributed very little to global warming. This is very frustrating, very heartbreaking, and just very devastating to witness.
Last year, it was really painful to see news reports of people dying in mass, many of whom were Dalit, Bahujan and day laborers, across India due to COVID while also seeing that India was the leading exporter of vaccines to the Western world. It was painful to see that, and see very few people in America talking about it, yet not realizing the privilege of even having access to vaccines while there was a very real effect of people dying in mass across the world. And to hear the argument of—well their government should have taken better care of them. And yes, these governments—all governments—need to be taking better care of their citizens. However, this argument acts as though the creation of these governments and nation states are not incredibly complicated things, as though America and the UK have not been super powers and colonial forces that have exerted influence over other governments for decades. As though colonial debt has not also factored into the formation of government’s post colonization, and as though many countries in the Global South are not carrying enormous colonial debts that they are still trying to pay back, which has created instability in their own governments and structures, furthered the divide between elites and non-elites, and has ultimately detracted from the quality of life and access to resources that most of their people have access to. And there is unfortunately a collective global push towards conservatism and right-wingness (and frankly, fascism/ racism/ supremacy) that actually makes it hard for people in many countries, particularly marginalized people, to have access to basic resources and care.
Currently, Jackson, Mississippi, a predominately Black city, is facing an unparalleled water crisis, where the entire city has no water. Let’s say that again: in a Western nation, in a nation that is arguably the biggest superpower in the world, there is an entire city that does not have access to clean drinking water. This is, of course, because Jackson is a predominately Black city, and America has shown over and over that it does not care about Black people. It has shown the failures of the nation state in being able to actually be able to care for their people and to provide people with a basic quality of life.
In a world where it is clear that the nation state is an outdated model that cannot hold us down, that cannot protect us, I ask: what do we owe each other? What do we owe the land? How do we protect each other, and the land, in this increasingly turbulent time?
Last week, environmentalist and activist Ayisha Siddiqa shared this photo of from Saif Samejo’s Instagram account of women in Thar who nurture, protect and have a deeply holy relationship with the land, who breastfeed deer alongside their own children. Ayisha also shared some of her thoughts around the deeply and spiritual impact that the flooding in Pakistan was having on the land, and people’s relationships with land.
Seeing these photos of these women really broke me. To be that connected to nature, to the land, plants, rocks and animals around you, is just so sacred and important. And to have that be impacted by global warming, by these floods, by environmental crisis and years of capitalism, extraction and colonization is just horrific. I can’t even fully find the words of what I am feeling, other than just really deep despair, really deep loss, really deep anguish. And I just am in deep prayer for all of the people who are being effected firsthand by this, and in deep prayer for the land.
Here are some resources to help:
Here is a spreadsheet that Slowfactory made that has a lot of different organizations to donate to in order to help Pakistan.
You can donate to the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition.
Here is an article called What is Owed To Pakistan that you should read.