Please Log in to Vote.

2 out of 2 members found this useful.

Some Data, and Aspirations

Posted January 21st, 2010 by Guga Casari 47 in Poverty, Haiti
In Reference to:
The End of Poverty

Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 There are too many people out of the economic matrix, they are not productive, and from that point of view (the economy's) they are not accounted as being truly human (not a cipher to them)... Sad.

Twenty percent of humanity (about one billion tree hundred million human beings) account for only two percent of this world’s material wealth. At the same time the income of the 946 wealthiest individuals amount to about the same income as 2.2 billion people (3 trillion dollars = all of Eastern Asia/Pacific + Middle East/North Africa). 205 million (205.000.000) Latin Americans live BELOW the poverty line, it means they are not rich enough to be considered poor! So imagine how many people in the 1.3 billion above are not exactly "alive" by any economic standard. Still they stubbornly insist to exist, as their homes crumble atop their heads, and hurricanes devastate their lands, and the very pressure of life makes one turn on another for food or power as if there was no other choice.

And we are only talking about possession of wealth, if we turn to caloric intake, something more palpable and pressing for survival than hard cash or credit, the picture is even bleaker, as the UN accounts for more than a billion of us living lifes (or dying) of starvation…

If any good can come from this disaster and suffering, if anything can truly honor the dignity of the Haitian people, as the icons of the dispossessed pariahs all around this world, would be (us) the nations of the world truly, finally and definitely tackling the problem of poverty, once and for all. It is within our grasp, calling to us with baby screams of hunger and pain, isn’t this the Future? Isn’t this the 21st century?

I am from Brazil, and recently I spent a few days in the US, God! So Rich Sooo Rich! So deserving to be rich, I am not criticizing. Also so able to help, capable, prepared, strong… I hope all the countries (mine included) in this blue ball finally do the right thing and we begin to live the true brotherhood we all deserve. For there are so many great things in this Kosmos once we can look at the stars without fear, hunger or disease. If this is true individually, so much billionfold truer it is collectively.

 

 

Please Log in to Vote.

1 out of 1 members found this useful.

Statistics

Posted January 22nd, 2010 by Dominique Teng

Thank you for your contribution to the discussion. When something as horrible as a devastating earthquake happens, the "anonymous" statistics become a painful reality with the help of a media.

The North can do a lot to help alleviate poverty everywhere. There are other statistics. For instance, the percentage of the GNP a country offers to this cause.

There is a lot to be done. I believe in education:

  • Ours, as it is not enough to stir consciousness when something tragic happens somewhere far away from home.
  • "Theirs" - the education for the poor to give them better opportunities and an equal start, and to help them learn to take care of themselves. This is where their dignity culminates.

There are changes on the way, but they are very slow if we take the global perspective. An integral approach on both ends of the spectrum will set out a process that may accelerate the needed progress.

Dominique

Please Log in to Vote.

0 out of 0 members found this useful.

Bravo, Guga!

Posted January 23rd, 2010 by Kristina King

Just a few words to let you know you are manifesting the free-form passionate impulse for feeling you feared, once long ago at the beginning of the ISE conference! Bravo, sweet man from Brazil who wondered why he had come so far. You came so far so you could come farther. And you do. Thank you for your reflections on poverty and privilege and the living statistics we embody, one way or another. I am continuing to wonder how I can live as a materially blessed being in a world where so many others barely live. And I am knowing full well that this privilege is exactly what liberates me to look at and beyond myself, to become self-aware. It's probably not a coincidence that Buddha was first a wealthy man.