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:Iuly18125, 011evenin a stateEhere governors re frequendyelectedwithless han hqli pf the vote. His rhetoric gets he adrenaliner,Jevds;rising'r his base ut endsup alienatingegislators ehee,lkonboard o further his agenda.'L 'r ff result, some iberals are hopeful that LePagewillprL iO b. th. sort of recruitment ool for local progressivestha orgeW. Bushwas or progressivest thenational evel

during the 2008 presidentialcampaign or that PresidentObamahasbecomeor conservatives).Our membershipsengaged," aysSarahStandiford,executive irector of theMaine Women'sLobby, sitting in her office just down thestreet rom the Capitol. We'regoing o find wayso not onlybeatbacka rollbackofprotectionspeople elyon but to reallyframean agenda."

The Nation.

PaKlstanne ear fterheFloodsWhen extremeweather its amidextreme overy escape ecomes early mpossible.byGHRISTIANARENTIKnrachihot, gritty wind carries he stench f pit latrinesacrossa refugee ampon the western utskirts f Karachi,onPakistan'southern acing. oast. n the sky,vulturesand eagles ircle. At its peak, his campheld 1,400families, ll poor armers isplaced y the ndus loodsof 2010,which inundatedan area he sizeof England and

affectedmore han20 million people.Although climate changecannot be direcdyblamed ora lone weatherevent, astyear's loods n Pakistanand theextrememonsoon hat causedhem it the pattern hat scien-tistspredictclimatechangewill bring. The United NationsInter-Governmental anelon ClimateChangewarns hat theIndusBasinwill suffermore loodsanddrougha as heplanetheatsup. And Pakistan's eteorologicalDeparrnent believesthe country'saverage urfaceemperaturewill riseby 1.3 o1.5degrees elsius ver henextdecade.Before hemassiveloodsof 2010-the worst n memory-muchof centralandsouthern uia wassuffeiringhrougha brutalten-yeardrought, during which crops did poorly and farmerssankeverdeeper nto debt,Pakistans considered ne of themost arid countries n the world and one of the most water-stressed.he floodwas ust he atest it of extreme eather.For thoseconcerned bout he human mpactsof climatechange,loodedPakistan asbeenaharbingeq warninganda test.The people n this campareclimate efugees,nd heirefforts o survive rewhatclimateadaptation nd he strugglefor climateusticeook likeup close.In Pakistan ne can seehow the climatecrisis s filteredthrough pre-existing ocialproblems-and thus demandsresponsehat couples he mitigation strategieshat climatecampaignersenerally mphasize ith an adaptive rogramofsocialustice.t is, afterall, the country's xtreme overty hatrendersso many Pakistanisntensely ulnerable o extremeweather.CbrirtianParenti,a Nation contribating ditw and. PuffinFoandationwritingfelbw, s theauthoro/Tiopic of Chaos:ClimateChangeandthe New Geography f \4olence.Fundingfor thisarticlewas roaidedythe Dorothea ange-Paul hyhr DocummuryPrizefrom TheCmterforDo&mentam tuliesat Duke Uniaersin.

Amanarriesucketsfwaters e alksn wateripelinenKarachi.In rural Sindh, he floodwaters ave inally rece{ed,butthe old problems avenot. It is time to plant newcrops,butin many efugee amps here are people efusing o go backto the and.At thewindswept ampoutsideKarachionly halfthe residents ave gone home. Aid agencies re cutting offrelief,and he governments telling people o leave.Yetmanyrefugees restubbornly taying ut."We will die herebeforewe go back o those andlords,"saysMehboobAli, the camp pokesman.e andhisneighborsseem o mean t. The daybefore visited, he camp'sncipient

socialorganization,he Mutasereen,affected eople)ActionCommittee,marcheddemanding he right to stay and buildhouses. olicemet t}re marcherswith volleysof tear gasanda baton charge.Severalmarcherswere bruisedand aceratedby clubsand gascanisters, nd a 5-year-oldwent missing-asmallexample f how climatechange eads o increased io-lence for moreon this topic seemy newbook,Thopicf Chaos:ClimateChange nd he Nrw Geographyf Violence).

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24Whywould desperatelyoor lood victims ight. *r'* "dust-chokedent campon the outskirtsof'a violent mega-cityrather hango back o their homes?The answeries n the horrible exploitationand humiliationthat is everydayife for most people n rural Pakistan.n Sindh,the traditional andlords recalled aruindarsnd heir tenantfarmersareharis.Sincendependencend partition,n l9+7,variousPakistanieaders aveattemptedand eform,but itdehaseverbeenachieved. nd so, odayrhezarnindarstill ownvast racksof landon whichtheir serflikeharis ive andwork.

everalhundredmilesnorth of Karachion the edgeofSukkur,where old British-builtbarragesegulate heflow of the Indus, found anothercampof displacedpeoplewho don't want to move.These peoplecouldalso be describedas escapeesrom feudalism.Thecamp acksa school,a clinic, evenbasicsanitation, nd aid sbeingcut off. But the remaining esidents re inding ways ofit themselvesnto the ocal abormarket: oungmenworkonconstruction itesand n granaries nd warehouses. omengo to the kachcha-thewild areaalong the river-where theypayarmedmen or the right to cut wood or resale o restau-rants n Sul*ur city."We dont want o gobackbccausehe andlordwill doubleour debt,tt aysHassanKhoso. We want the governmentogiveus and." He goeson, "Somepoor tenant armersan offin the irst weekof the lood,before hewatercouldeven eachtheir district."Suchwas heir desireo flee.Khoso,who's romnearJacobabad,wed 50,000 upees about$560) astyearbut fears he debtwill be 100.000f he returns.He lost a ricecrop worth 30,000 upees, wo water buffalo and rwo goats.He'says hat landlords avebeencoming o the campurgingdte haris o renrn. Khoso andotherssay hat s part of whatkeeps hem close o the city.Along with work, there s accessto hospitals nd he promise-at least hepromise-of educa-tion for their childrenfu at the campon the westernedgeof Karachi, hesepeo-ple have ormeda campcommittee.To make heir demandsheard hey marched o the local press lubandheld a sit-in.And howaresuchcalls or reforrnanddevelopment eingmetby officials?Deadsilence.The floods nundated n area he sizeofEngland,destroyedalmost5 million acres f crops,hlled about1,750peopleandleft 10million homeless. ebuildingsexpectedo take hree ofiveyears.Despitehe scale f the damage,he discourseroundreconstructionnvolves ery itde fany publicdiscussionfhowthingscanbe mproved; deasikesocialustice,and eform,cli-mateadaptationr climateustice remissing. ocal eft partiesaremarginalized ndhoundedby landlord hugs.The reason or this is simple: andlordshave oo muchpower.They control the saleof seedand fertilizer, set thepricesof crops, ig local elections,mprison n private ailsthosewho oppose hem, usevillageschools o stable heircatdeand generally ave heir,ownway regardinghe people.Their influenceon the goyernments pervasive t all levels.There hasbeenno pressureor change oming rom theUSgovernment-whichhas given Pakistan 18 billion in assis-

July18125,2014 J t t , , t .tanceandpayments ince2002.Norrhasanytome from,.theinternationalNGOs and the IIN-both of whibh run.Jargeaid and development rogramshere.When I inten'ie*ed aspokeswomanor the IIN World FoodProgram, odiligendydid she tiptoe around he sensibilities f the Pakistani ov-ernment hat she efused ven o use he word"corruption.'Oxfam,on the other hand,has aunched n nvestigationnto"financial.rregularities"within its own lood-,relief ork.

nd so, the harisare bereft of alliesor champions.fthey want ustice hey'll have o get t on their own.But in flood-ravagedSindh the zamindars ave adifferent plan-they want their haris back. At thecampon the outskirtsof Karachi one andlord romBaluchistan amewith fivearmedguards,hreateningo takeaway everal rothers rom afamilynamedBux.All the broth-erswere n debt o the andlord;he hreatenedo lock hpm nhis privateail f they did not return andstartworking.But thecamp allied and acedhim down.All through he Indus lood zone heardsimilarstories-landlessharis in urban campspreferring to become daylaborers ather than return to debt peonagen the districtsand landlordscomplaining hat relief aid was keeping he

baris away rom their obligations.Standingon an earthenleveealongacanaln the villageof Arrazin the Dadudistrictof northern Sindh, a stout landlord named Kahari Bhuttoexclaimed,The farmworkers-theirhomeswere wiped out,and hey aregone. don'tknowwhere hey are.Landownersthemselvesrehaving o do the work!"As he floodwaterseceded, hutto, ike most armers, hrewdowna ateemergencyropofwheat. ornrnately,he loodhaddeposited rejuvenatingayerofnutritionally ich riversilt, andthe emergenry heatcropacross indhhasbeenveryrobust,so too somefast-growingsunflowersgiven out by USAID.Measuresike hese ave elped ffset he damage f the flood.To harvestcoffon, saysBhutto,he would normally hire ten tofifteen people, hrough sharecroppingrrangements.ut thisyearhe hired only three,andhisbrother and atheralsoworked.And now, nstead f paying 50 upees erday or labor,he hasto pay500.When I checkat a nearby ent camp ull of peoplewhohad come rom Baluchistan,efugees orkingasday aborersconfirmed hat abor priceshavendeedgoneup. But asone,Mir Mumtaz,explained,he peopleare n a bind: hey do notwant to go back o Baluchistan nd face heir old landlordsnor do theywant o enter nto sharecroppinggreementserein Sindh. We are afraidof justgoing nto debt again."To be clear:althoughdisplacements an escaperom debt,it hasalsomeant mpoverishment. hairamHaar, an older,educated nd rather distinguishedJooking idow,explained"I do embroidering ere n Dadu own.Before, hada sewingmachineandwasable o makemoneyon my own. But I lostthat during the flood." Her sporadicncome s a fractionofwhat t waswhenshewasself-employedn Baluchistan.Fartherup the river n Shikarpur, meetMohammaduifKhanMahar.A prominent andlord,he wasa ocal politician,andhisbrother samember f theprovincial arliament. han

The Nation.

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J A ) I Ol aJ , av r- i r ' \ i - 'Maharhostsmy traveling ompanionsndme rnhisanock-acombiryhtion'.gqesthorlse/meetingall away rom the family,houseri/n.theuwideourtyardseveral eem rees shed heiriblossoius, hich a youngmaleservant weepsp. fuound theQouryriidare he bedrooms ndseveral lushmeeting ooms.T,he'attuckallsaredecorated ith photographic ortraitsand'decorativeswords.The zamindarhas many complaints: he governmentscorrupt-'(Our officialsmismanagedverything.There'snoaccountabilityor stateofficials,no planning,no organiza-tion whatsoever." he workforce s illiterate-"Frequendy,

the labor is uselessf the tasksare complex and involvemachinery."He says hat indeedmany ndebtedharis"havemn away rom their responsibilities." nd thoughhe notesrising tensionand criminal violence,he says,Here, there sno insurgency etJ'The nextdaywe our his ands y SUI accompaniedy twoarmedguards.When the SW stopsand the zaruindar tepsout to survey he damage,tts harisdrop their tasls and crowdaroundhim, crouchingand bowingas hey approach o shakehis hand.The thin, sinewy, un-beaten aris,splat-teredwith mud andstraw rom brick-making ndhome-rebuilding ontrastsharplywith the tall,rotund, relativelypale landlord.Except or theSW the gunsand he sunglasses,hiscouldbe ascenerom medievalimes.The rage his nequality reates immers,henboilsover. 4/henBenazirBhuttowasassassinated

Services epartment f Dadudistrict,where60 to 70percentof h'ouses ere damaged. But who are these ocals?Veryoften they are ust the sameold influentialpeople, andlordsand their representatives.epotism,patronage nd corrup-tioSr hape ow relief and reconstruction perate.And oftenfood ssimply tolen ndsold."he SindhDeparffnent f Irrigation andPoweroccupiesa statelyold building n Karachi.The Indus River rri-gation system s the largest n the world. And thoughit hasmade he desertbloom, he massivetorage ndchanneling f waterhasalsoed o soil depletion, s heriver no longer renews he fertility of the floodplain; t hasalso aisedhe salinityofthe groundwater nd soil becausefevaporation.ike the aging nfrastmcture f British barragescanals nd evees hat it manages,he ministry'sbureaucracseems tuck n the past.Beautifulold black-and-white arbletiles cover he floors and walls o shoulder eight; occasionainterior baysallow in diffusesunlight and breeze.The dimhallwaysare crowdedwith beleagueredJookingetitioners

0nceheemergencyasovel heendemproblemsfgovernmentorruptionndandloinfluencenpoliticseturned,

in December 007,muchof rural Sindhexplodedn riots thathada decidedly lass ngle:when he flames ieddown, hirty-four gas ations,eighteenail stations,undreds fprivatecarsand shops,and 17 banla had been ootedand bumed.Justnorth of here n Punjabsomeof the harisaregravitating owarda newPunjabi liban, which, n rhetoricat east,nvoke ssuesof class xoloiationandcall or land eform.What ioes my host think of land reform?"The gqryern-mentshould irst give awayunusedand.Rather han comingafter the productivearms ust to makea politicalshow." nmanywaysKhanMahar s progressive,dopting ew echnol-ogiesand,according o his workerq, aylngmuchbetter hanmost andlords. ut he s still a feudal andlordwith luxuryandpower,and wants o keephis vastholdingsand the indebtedhariswho ivethere.He neednot worry: here s no discussionof land eform andno chancet will be attempted.When I askabout elief n the area, ewaves way he question:They'vehadenough eliefl'?During the first weets of flooding, relief went relativelysmoothly.nternational id agencies roughtsupplies, nd hemilitary pulled rucks,planes nd helicopters ut of Kashmirand the war zonesof the FederalAdministered i'ibal ueasto movesupplieso stranded opulations. ut once he emer-gencywasover, he endemic roblems f government ormp-tion and he fettersoflandlord nfluence n politics eturned.According o tansparency nternational's010 anking,onlythirty-threenationsaremore corrupt han Pakistan."NGOs hire locals o havesomeaccountability nd trac-tion," saysQadeerAnsari, a managerwith the General

and clerla; nside he offices,men-they're almostall men-leafthrough tacks fragged ndbattered ossiers.nstead fusing iling cabinetshe clerks ie their files nto bundles ndstack hem haphazardly n openshelves.Is therea plan or repairingandmanaginghe ncreasinglyextremehydrologicalpatternsof the Indus River?Glkingwith theheadof Il I noticehow ewcomputers e has or hisdeparunent. Well,"says he clerk sheepishly,we really ustuse thesecomputersas typewriters. ust to print out docu-mentsand then pass hem around n hard copy."As we aretalking,amessengers collectingafourthsignature ndstampon a document.This system-in whichevery itde petty potentaten everydepartment as o signoff on everydocument-is designedofacilitatea culture of bribery.When real planningor techni-cal work is needed,he government utsourceshese speciaprojects"o development xperts t the World Bankor privatefirms. u a result, he capacity f the Pakistani tate emainsmalformed ndstunted.Again, the roots of this problem go back to the power ofthe rural elites.The zamindars zstematicallyrush hosewhoopposehem,preventing he creationof good governancend aIiteratepopulationbecauset wouldundermine heir power.The city of Larkanaiesnear he countryestates f theBhuttodynastyintowhich hecurrentpresident, sifAli Ztdai,mtr-ried).I find my way from here o the villageof FazulMalgani.Hometo fifteen amilies,t sitson the canal-lined lainsoutsideLarkana. meetNawazN, m educated,olitical oung armerwho hasbeen trugglingo get hevillage chooleopened.

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The Nation."From 1999 to 2003 we struggled to get a teacher andsupplies,"saysAli. "A month ago I went to the officials againbut got only promises. We think they have all colluded. Theydont want rural areas to have education." The one-roomvillage school has two brahma bulls in it, one tied near theblackboard,one in the back of the classroom.The main land-lord here, the man to whom people like Ali owe money andfrom whom they rent land, is Nisar Khuhro, speaker of theSindh Assembly and a boss n the Bhutto political machine,the Pakistan People'sParty."The president s from Larktna,," saysAli. "Yet this schoolis closed."This village was not flooded, but the irrigation canalswent dry because he pumps downstream were destroyed byrising water. There was general chaosfor months afterward.Most crops perished. Robbery increased.When I ask Aii whythere is no peasantmovement,he tells me, "The haris are toodrowned in their own problems, getting food. Politics heremns on money, and ye dont haveany."Sindh did havea powerful peasantmovement in the past,but repression,corruption and the rise of religious movementswith fake solutions to the real problems have worn it down to

a few sectarianrump organizations. In a dark litde tea shopon a dusty street in Larkana, I meet some representativesofthe Labor Parw. a woodworkers union and a local revolution-ary party cailJ the Watan Dost Inqilabia. They are good

Ialy 18125, 011comrades, but their movement is minuscule; too many oftheir intellectualsare caught up in sectariananalysisand post-Soviet defeatism. Many former socialists are drifting towardSindhi nationalism in hopes that "the national ouestion" canbe the new discursive iricle of classpolitics. they explainhow the zamindarshave co-opted the old haris' organizations,how they bully any tenant farmer who demandsschooling forthe village children and how agricultural workers aren't pro-tected under the national labor lawsof 1969.But that night, driving back to Karachi, we pass hrougha mass ally. Busesare unloading hundreds of men in loose,ghosdyJooking shalwar kar-neez. t is the Jamaat-e-Islamiprotesting the death of Osama bin Laden. This party, as themainstream face of political Islam, is indicative of the generalcrisis. It considers tself oppositional but promotes obscu-rantist nonsense and crows indignandy about violations ofPakistanisovereignty by the countryb number-onepatron (theUS military) while ignoring Pakistan'sappalling economicinequality and exploitation.Disturbingly the more extreme wing of the politicalIslamists, the Jamaat-ut-Dawa, linked to the outlawedLashkar-e-Taiba, s developing a discourseabout the envi-ronmental crisis. It has accused ndia of "water terrorism"because t was building tunnels and dams on key Industributaries. And the group has marched, under the sloganWerrn Flows oR BLooD.

Letters(continuedfrom page2)colorsBishopchose or her origSnalCun-p etePoems. ost reviewers, ike Palattella,have welcomed the amplified contents ofthe new editions, and I applaudhis takingto task the radically conservativeview ofThe New YorkRwiew of Books,echoingTheNnu York TimesBookReaina, attacking thenew volumes or their very completeness,for including more material than thosereviewersdeem appropriate o preserveBishop's eputation for perfection.Palattellaeloquendyargues hat,aswithany greatwriter, allowing us accesso herfullest output serves ot to diminish herstaturebut "to deepen ur sense f Bishop'sambitionandachievement-to betterunder-standhow Bishopbecame ishop."Bishopencourageder students o readeverythingby any writer they were nterested n.What might surpriseevenPalattella sthat Bishop, he legendaryperfectionist,was n favor of the posthumous ppearanceof her unpublishedwork. In her will, shegrantedher iterary executorsthe power odeterminewhether any of my unpublishedmanuscripts ndpapers hallbe prublished,and f so, o see hem through the press."There is nothing shespecifically xcludes

(andshekeptalmostall her drafis).One of the most in ishedof Bishop's n-publishedpoems,a startlinglynaked ovepoem called "BreakfastSong," which tomy mind is one of B ishop'smost piercingand personal ater works (the.distinguishedcomposerJohn arbison et t gloriouslyomusic or the ateLorraineHunt Lieberson),is attackedn Nl?B as cringe-making."Degustibas.Though maybe,as SJ. Perelmanput it , "De gustibus int whatdey used obe.") But to a rgue or the exclusion f thispoem,or any of Bishop's npublishedwork,seemso me perversely nti-intellectual ndantiJiterary.Thankyou,JohnPalattella,orhelping us keepour priorities straight.Lroyo Scnwatrz, editoriElizabethBishop'sProse; o-editotiibraryofAmerica'sEliza-bethBishop:Poems,Prose,and Lefters

'Barry'sBoys'INvnnGnovrHrrenrs.MrNir.Your fact-checkersmust have beennod-ding offwhen theyletin the first paragraphofJaclisonLearst review["SameOld NewAtheism," May 16).The Barry Goldwater"bit of doggerel" did not just "surfa6s"-i1

was the work of the Chad Mitchell Tiio,an early-'60s folk group. It was the firstcut on tlreir album Reflections. remem-bdr playing this song over and over on mymono record player.These guys may nothavematchedPeteq Paul and Mary in thetrio categoryor Phil Ochs or Pete Seegerin the political song categorybut they didsomegood work, "BarrybBo1s" being ustone example. hey alsoput out "TheJohnBirch Society"-"fighting for the right tofight the right fight for the right"-whichthey recut n 2008as"The George BushSociety."They still tour occasionally.PnrnnBENNEnEaen Hwner nods;ourfax-checkers eaerda.Theyreport: "ln 1962Julius Monk produceda reurre alledDime a Dozen at a srnall he-ater in New York. t featureda songaboatthe college tadentswbo supportedGoldwater;called'Barry\ Boys,'writtenbl funt Reizner(sarnpleerse:We'rethe brightyoungm.en/VI/howannago back o 1910/We're Bany'sBoys/We'rehe kidswith a cause/A oaern-naentikegranfunama's/We'rearry'sBoys').Ifyou Googlebesong the ChadMitcbell Tiiooften cmnes p,pointing t0 then as be popu-larizersof hesong." -The Editorc