Damned Nations
Written in July 2024 for History of Modern Militarism 2901 at The University of Winnipeg
Reading Samanatha Nutt’s book Damned Nations was at times a horrifying experience. I appreciate this raw story telling as the topics she discusses are grave and carry severe consequences.
War takes place for plethora reasons and in all cases there are many caught in between the violence whose windows shatter from stray bullets or whose children are recruited to join militias before they’re high school age. Samantha Nutt has worked on the ground in these ravaged communities watching the catastrophes of war in real time and seeing these places paying the price of the massive profits of weapons manufacturers and misguided aid efforts. Well intended as they may be, many aid organizations are not capable of assuring the aid provided will get to those who need it without first being compromised by the desperation created by violence and poverty.
What I appreciated above all with Nutt’s book is the description of well-intended donations to NGOs and how these business like the competition among these organizations, doing their best to have their massive logo on site before anyone else. Whether or not the help they offer is as substantial and lasting as it needs to be does not matter as much as the value of us, the viewers and potential donors, having seen their organizations name on tents and trucks near the less fortunate.
Nutt creates a compelling description of what happens when good intentions are poorly executed. Many in the Western world get together with the best of intentions at the community centre to bring together what clothes they don’t need, shirts, shoes and the like. What no one in that community centre understands or considers is how their donation will ultimately be worse for the economy in the country they are sending their goods to by robbing local businesses of customers. After all, why would anyone go spend the little money they have when there are clothes they can have for free from donations? What comes to mind in this instance is Value Village who does much to describe their charitable donations to underprivileged nations. In reality, this tax write off rids the company of spending money to properly dispose of unwanted items, patting themselves on the back and taking the charitable applause that comes with the seemingly heartfelt decision to donate.
Nutt offers harrowing and heartbreaking stories which invest the reader emotionally. She does not simply describe having worked with local women, she describes these women and their relationships. She paints a picture of who these people were. When the reader comes to learn these lion-hearted women were killed by oppressive and hateful men they spent their lives opposing, the reader is emotionally invested enough to feel the loss. This emotional depth of the tragic reality is more impactful than any list of statistics. It is reality described using names, not numbers. This I feel created a more impactful story, putting a face to the endless tragedy.
Nutt is straight to the hard facts when she describes how all tax paying Canadians are complicit in the continual wars taking place throughout the world. To have $1 billion in 37 of the top 100 arms manufacturers in the world is no small investment and the positive financial gains we undoubtedly accrue from these investments should not cloud our thoughts as to whether we are ethically okay with benefiting from this industry. This, I believe, is a reality most Canadians are unaware of.
These are important realities that Nutt highlights, creating an undeniable narrative that Canadians ought to confront in order to conscionably engage with developing nations. Nutt’s book, again, is not for the faint of heart but the topics she covers are so incredibly important. She tells her stories from a perspective very few have, and we would all be better to listen.