An ICG Report and the continual question of isolationism

In a report published last week by the International Crisis Group it said: "The international community should build on the unprecedented cooperation between the Myanmar government and humanitarian agencies following cyclone Nargis and reverse longstanding, counterproductive aid policies." It calls for a significant increase in aid to the country as a means of improving democratic reform and strengthening the "forces of change" in Myanmar. Our article reporting on this article was cut from this week's paper - perhaps significant in illustrating the government's opinion of ICG or of the findings of its report generally.

At present Myanmar receives $2.88 per person, per year in foreign development assistance. This is twenty times less than the average received by the 20 other least developed countries in the world. The average assistance for countries of a similar poverty level is $58 per person. Increasing aid, the report argues could lessen the isolationism of the country and help a country which is one of the most resource rich countries in Asia, yet in terms of social, economic and political indicators it ranks among the 25 poorest nations on earth.

The UN Development Program estimates that GDP per capita in Myanmar is the 13th lowest in the world. The average Burmese family spends 75 percent of that income on providing adequate food supplies. Less than 50 percent of children complete primary school and according to UNICEF under 5 mortality averages 104 per 1000 children, the second-highest rate outside of Africa, after Afghanistan. Myanmar also has the highest HIV/Aids rate in Southeast Asia and malaria, a preventable disease, is still the leading cause of mortality.

Before I came to this country I felt more certain about the isolationism that surrounds it - the economic boycotts, the calls against Lonely Planet for asking people to choose carefully about whether or not to go and visit the country - I wondered about aid agencies who work here - about the restrictions of their work, about the compromises they make, about the compromises I would have to make. And these are still daily questions and struggles.

Everything is murkier when you live in the midst of it though. I don't have an answer on the issue of boycotts but I heard a story from someone a couple of weeks ago - it is about a village in the midst of the delta which made me wonder about isolationism.

This area did not have electricity, health clinics, schools before the Cyclone. Malaria and Dengue Fever were endemic. The assets that they did have were lost in the Cyclone. When I say assets perhaps it is misleading. I mean they lost everything: their homes, their chickens, their rice stocks, the radio that was shared amongst several families, the sense of security when they sleep at night, the fields that they tended and the day-labouring jobs that paid for their food. The only thing they were fortunate enough not to lose was their lives -and in that they were lucky.

An INGO began working with them. They talked with the villages and as communities they began working together to decide how to spend the development assistance this INGO brought. They discussed how they wanted it spent. They replaced some of their houses, they built some new fishing boats, they bought some livestock and some medicine.

Every rainy season that these villagers remember has meant one or two deaths. Deaths from malaria and diahhrea (which kills 1500 children a month in this country); deaths from dengue; Deaths from diseases that are preventable. This year, for the first time, no one died of a preventable disease. Mosquito nets, medicine and increased sanitation awareness had changed something.

These people have still lost everything. They still shudder whenever, as like this week, there is stormy weather - but development assistance has not only saved some lives, it has created the beginnings of a culture of accountability and a sense of agency over the direction of these communities' lives.

Perhaps democracy will emerge spontaneously through a military coup, or a peaceful or violent revolution - but perhaps the beginnings of democracy are smaller than that and are more longterm and mundane and boring. Perhaps, as the ICG report points towards, democracy and change in a country are as much about engaging communities to believe that they have a choice over their futures, about fostering a sense of leadership and empowerment in the hard-to-reach places over matters that are significant to those villages as they are about high ideals.

And perhaps making a political and idealistic statement about isolationism is not worth the human cost of the thousands who die of preventable diseases each year in Myanmar.