Apr 21, 2011
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Ever a ready critic of what some call the 'US military industrial complex', Claudia Cragg was at first extremely hesitant to interview Rye Barcott on his memoir 'It Happened on the Way to War' (Bloomsbury). Before she read the book, it appeared as though it might possibly be just another warped US military propaganda message to justify the ever-burgeoning expansion of the US Armed Forces around the world in the guise of 'doing good'.
However, having read it, Cragg
met with Barcott and found a highly intelligent man, the son of a
Vietnam veteran and a
Margaret Mead-inspired anthropologist mother. Always the proud
marine, though, Barcott is not willing at any point to concede that
his time might have been spent better in some pursuit other than
that of marine, of course.
The Peace Corps for example. The result is a complex view into
the genesis of a young and very bright idealist as a catalyst for
good in
Kibera, the largest slums in Africa and the second largest in
the world. God forbid, though, that anyone should think Barcott 'a
liberal' (always a pejorative term apparently in the
US).
Barcott co-founded 'Carolina
for Kibera' (CFK) in 2001, an international non-governmental
organization for which he was named a
Time Magazine and Gates Foundation 'Hero of Global Health' for
its model of participatory development. Barcott is also a
TED fellow.
Music for the piece is written
by J Kutchma ("Arms
Around The World")and taken from the forthcoming film 'Chasing
The Mad Lion'.