Is economic development right for Navajos?

I would like to hear more from Mr. Williams. He brings out some excellent points that economic development-minded Navajos need to consider. If Navajos do become engulfed in economic development, then would the American government be relieved of its trust responsibility to the Indians? Mr. Williams states that we should be wary of economic development. This is just like the issue with AHCCCS. Why should we have to be eligible for government health care when Indians should automatically have health care as a treaty right? The saying goes, "money is the root of all evil". Maybe we should remember our ancestor's warnings about greed and selfishness and take a real good look at ourselves. Maybe we should give economic development a second thought.

Money helped create some of the worst monsters
Navajo Times
Letter to the Editor
Oct. 16, 2008

This letter is in response to Milton Bluehouse Sr. Based on your letter ("New economic development leaders needed," Oct. 9, 2008), economic development is your proposal for how to eradicate current conditions of "social deterioration."

Your prescription is widely shared by Navajo Nation government officials and the Navajo people at large so this letter is also addressed to them.

For most, it seems that inept/uneducated leaders and unnecessary "red-tape" are all that stand in the way of guaranteed wealth. That by "opening up" and "streamlining" our leaders can be helpful in recruiting businesses and U.S. contracts.

And that if our leaders were more effective toward these ends, that businesses could finally "take off" and many of our ills would be eliminated.

In essence, many suggest that money can cure our problems. Wittingly or not, these views are founded on the philosophy of market fundamentalism.

Free market economists will insist that money is the key to human development, that human ambition and desire of profit has lead to all that has been gained by "modern" society. They will also insist that economic development is fully reliant on the establishment of a market that is open and free.

I have two basic problems with these assumptions. Firstly, discourse matters. The suggestion that a lack of money is at the root of our problems with "social deterioration" surrenders prematurely to the United States interest of wiping its slate clean.

By not mentioning this history we are unwittingly relieving the United States of its oppressive history and most importantly, how its past policies continue to harm us today. Any time that we discuss our social problems, the United States' history of genocide must be identified at the outset.

Secondly, a wide variety of scholarship exists on how "economic development" fails miserably to deliver on its promises. Based on my examination of this scholarship, I overwhelmingly concur.

While conducting research on these issues, I came across an article written by Dr. Lloyd Lee titled "The Future of Navajo Nationalism." In it, Lee identifies some of the problems that "economic development" creates.

According to Dr. Lee, "Some believe money will alleviate oppression and misery, but money, greed and materialism have not relieved the problems in Navajo society and, in many cases, it has enhanced the problems."

Recently, the Navajo Times found that the incomes of various council delegates were well over $50,000 per year. Does anyone truthfully believe that a decent income has adequately addressed the wide range of problems exhibited by some of these individuals?

In this context, money has aided in the creation of some of the worst monsters that the Navajo Nation has ever faced. Yet another example of presents itself in the impending desecration of Doko'oosliid and the Desert Rock power plant.

These examples of desecration are going to occur as a result of the very same "economic development" logic.

In the opinion of the United States and the Navajo Nation government, job creation and capital accumulation are much more important than our culture and traditions.

We can also look at what "economic development" has produced in the United States at large. The current economic crisis provides an obvious example of what greed leads to. We can also examine the immense failures created by IMF and World Bank policies that were "intended" to help needy nations but in reality amounted to little more than United States profiteering.

As we pursue paths toward "economic development" and the honorable goal of improving the overall livelihood of our people, we need to keep a wary eye trained on the dangers of greed and selfishness that seem to go hand in hand with strategies that make unquestioned use of market fundamentalism.

Simply "opening" us up to whatever the United States and business interests want will inevitably lead to unexpected problems.

When it is politically expedient, politicians argue for the infusion of Navajo perspectives, such as language and traditional teachings. But when it comes to economic concerns we are too often too willing to simply gulp down what the United States is feeding us.

Our ancestors warned us about greed, so we need to listen to their voices, especially when it isn't politically expedient. We already have leaders that do not question the underlying assumptions of "economic development."

With all due respect, we need leaders who will also question where this exclusive focus on money is leading us. We all need subsistence and I detest tar-paper shacks just as much as anyone else, but if their alleviation leads some to think that swimming pools and helicopter pads are a prerequisite, then we must be on the wrong path.

As a nation, the task is to address these situations while maintaining possession of our souls.

Jeremy Williams
Tse Bonito, N.M.