Shoemaker publicly accused of exploitation, abuse of the local population, exposing them to disease, destroying their livelihood, plus commercialization of ceremony.
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http://www.practiceofmadness.com/2010/08/letters-complaint-art-deserve-human-letter-8-dear-alan-shoemaker/So, “Mr. Shoemaker”, I hope you feel honoured that my most recent letter is dedicated to you! …in addition to other white, American, businessmen (I did not encounter any women taking part) who exploit the impoverished community that comprises most of the population of Peru, in the most disrespectful fashion I can fathom – by commercializing Shamanism and doing nothing in turn for members of the local communities they “employ”.
The letter I wrote around this time last summer was published in Harper’s Magazine, so you never know, maybe a little social capital will be added to your sum of financial capital. Any press is good press, no?
Without Further Ado, My Complaint to a Foreigner in Peru:
Greetings Mr. Shoemaker,
Do you think any serious scholar, ethnographer, or seeker of social justice across borders, is going to take your accusations seriously? Those of a wealthy, white, American entrepreneur who is exploiting the peoples of Peru, and contributing to the new phenomenon of drug tourism/drug voyeurism, which is painting the sacred medicines of ancient and, I would argue, more evolved cultures than those of North America, as the a new “high”? You are making ridiculously huge profits off the exploitation of Native Peruvians that reminds me of the goings on at the “Picadilly Circus” in London in the 1600s. In case you are not familiar with this famous “zoo” of sorts, it displayed Natives of Africa and Indonesia, etc. living in exhibits that mirrored their “natural environment”, and wealthy Europeans were allowed the luxury of “amusement” watching naked African women nurse babies, men with unusual body modifications/piercings conducting what Europeans thought of as “primitive witchcraft”, and the place where Sarah/Saartje Baartman was housed against her will, so that tourists could examine and touch her large buttocks. It is unfortunate that you were not alive then, as your presence would have been much more appreciated, and not the topic of one critical academic paper which should be the least of your worries – I’m sure there will be many more that are not written to fulfill the requirements of a graduate seminar, but that are published in academic journals. By typing your name into an Internet search engine, i understand you are also facing trouble with the American government.
Under the guise of “bringing the magic of Ayahuasca” to “Westerners”, you are destroying one of the last self-sufficient, hunter-gatherer, traditional and, in so being, advanced, that remains cultures on the planet. Your “tours” have exposed the members of these communities to respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases that they are unfamiliar with, and thus have no cure for. The ridiculously high price of your tours, the extent of which I would not have realized had I not come to Peru and Iquitos and become aware of average accommodation and food costs (equivalent to about ten USD and two USD, respectively), are going in your pockets, Mr. Shoemaker – you could contribute even a small amount of this money to impoverished populations – the majority of Peru’s populace – such as those that lay a hop, skip and a jump away from your palatial residence, but instead you laugh with your buddy, sitting at “The Yellow Rose of Texas”, where girls that appear to be between ten and thirteen years old are forced to wear skirts that reveal their buttocks, and physical punishment or slave labour is a punishment when the entrepreneur who owns that business “doesn’t think they’re working hard enough”. These girls seemed terrified as they rushedly took down our orders, and I am ashamed that Ms. Murphy insisted I eat at the establishment.
In Mexico, there are laws against individuals such as yourself – tourism profits go back to the state of Mexico (albeit I’m sure corruption is involved to some degree, it is still incredibly more conducive to putting some of the money made from the tourist industry back in the hands of the people that were born in that country). Throughout Latin/Southern America there are different policies in place to protect the citizenry of particular states from exploitation by entrepreneurs in the realm of tourism like yourself and “Carlos Tanner”, a self-proclaimed guru who used to work for High Times magazine – great credentials, no doubt. In Peru, deep in the Amazon Jungle, you have found a place where you can recruit tourists, who like you, are wealthy, to “get high”, in order to increase your own wealth substantialy. If you actually think that anywhere near the majority of your clientele are looking for a spiritual experience, you are deluding yourself.
As soon as I arrived in Iquitos, my stomach churned as three year-old girls pawed at my arms for change, while I and my travel companions, including Colleen Murphy – an absolutely mentally unstable woman who fancies herself some kind of sorceress, and takes advantage of Peruvian men, treating them like hired help rather than respectable, equal individuals; and whom caused me to need emergency surgery two months before scheduled when she fed me what I later found out was Imodium for e-coli poisoning (i.e. an anti-emetic rather than an emetic), causing the bacteria to be trapped in my bowels, to the point where it caused an impaction and infection, in addition to my existing reproductive illnesses that she imagined could be cured with San Pedro Cactus and Cocaine (“it’s really cheap and pure here,” she excitedly told me”…wow, another great industry that is no doubt helping the peoples of Peru) rather than surgery, and accusing me of being a “drug addict” because I was taking codeine (the least strong opiate painkiller in existence) to suppress the pain before my surgery date. When I arrived back in Canada, I had to trade my codeine for hydromorphone (a painkiller three times stronger than heroin) because of the damage caused to my body by all of this mayhem – returned every night to the luxurious Casa Fitzcarraldo. The workers there were afraid to accept tips – I don’t even want to think about what punishment this could result in by their wealthy, American, old, while boss.
As I previously stated, If you think you are demonstrating the healing powers of Ayahuasca you are dreadfully mistaken (although I doubt this is a case, you’re a smart man, aren’t you?), as all other tourists I met during my stay – primarily from Australia, Canada, and the United States – simply wanted to experience a “high” like no other.
As I state in the conclusion of my ethnography on my journey through the country in which you reside, but are not a citizen of, wealthy entrepreneurs and tourists need not exploit Native Peruvians to use Ayahuasca, or take people on “trips” if that is what you wish to do with your life. The ingredients are available locally, here on the west coast of Canada, and otherwise can be shipped around the world by online businesses. Oh, wait – then you would make a fraction of the money you do in Peru, because you couldn’t mark up costs of buses and places of shelter and food by percentiles in the thousands!
I think that you and your colleagues, and Ms. Murphy, to whatever degree she is involved, are absolutely despicable, and your attempt with the help of a man charged with abusing me with a weapon seeking revenge for being charged by the Canadian Crown, to discredit my work, have renewed my interest in exposing your help in creating the industry of drug tourism/voyeurism, which seems, by what I observed in Iquitos, to go hand in hand with sex tourism and the abuse of local women – a practice I’m sure you’re “well-versed” in. I will utilize my connections to members of the media (ex/ magazine/newspaper editors) to make the North American population much more aware of your role in the deaths of Peruvians (via diseases brought from overseas) and your role in the cultural genocide of a precious ancient culture that demonstrates many of the key values that allow a society to be cohesive and collectivist, rather than anomic and individualist – a virus called “neo-liberalism” that has invaded North American and Western social orders, and which is demonstrated perfectly by your laissez-faire and monstrously greedy business practices.
I must thank-you, however, for being the tipping point that made me decide to change my career path. Rather than sit on an ivory hill and be threatened with “charges” for speaking out about exploitation and marginalization in papers that will only be read by other academics, I have decided to go to law school instead, and, on the side, write for the people on a freelance basis.
Sincerely,
J. Reimer. B.A.(hons.)
