| | This is the campaign i think we should start.
For years, with the support of the government and media, we westerners have been telling ourselves that poverty is the worlds biggest problem. Many natural disasters around the world are exacerbated by the fact that the country in which it happens is very poor. I remember the Kashmir Earthquake a few years back, and the media telling us that the situation was made worse by the fact that most people were living in houses, unsuitable for the tectonic activity of the location. There is no denying the fact that here, the economy of the local people meant that they were unable to build houses strong enough to withstand an earthquake. They were poor, therefore defenseless.
California and Japan boast about how they've built hundreds of buildings strong enough to withstand earthquakes of up to 9 or 10 on the richter scale. This is due to the fact that they are rich. They have the money to pay for stronger buildings. In this case, and yes indeed many others poverty is the problem. Thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved every year if poverty was "history". The rich have the advantage.
Poverty poses many problems. Economies can't grow, and therefore can't compete with western standards. Poor countries are stuck in a ditch, and need help. (i know i used the ditch example in my last entry, but its still valid)
Heres the current problem, as i see it.
(I gave the West big heads on purpose)
The problem we have, is that there are all these countries that are supposedly poor. We are telling hundreds of countries and governments they aren't doing good enough, and aren't meeting our standards (We seem to think we are the model society). As seen in my stunning diagram, the west is on the scene, looking as if they are going to help the situation, but aren't really bothered about doing anything. They are there to say they helped, but are doing JACK. So there are all these campaigns and the like to "make poverty history" which throw money into that ditch, and hope that it will fill up enough, for the "poor" countries to get out.
Somewhat like this:
This method, which we are currently trying, means that if everything goes to plan and all the governments pull through, we should be able to pull every poor person out of that ditch, and to the same level that we are at. We've think the only way to solve the problem, is by making the poor, as rich as us.
Now if you're thinking that i'm going tell you how we should all do our bit for poverty, (and help) like i may have mentioned before. You're wrong!
The world is not capable of holding a population as big as 6 billion (current population of the world), all living at the same standard as us. If everyone in the world lived at the same standard as the US, we would need 3 planets with which to take resources. In other words, the method with which we are trying to end poverty will not work, even if there was a massive international effort (which will never happen).
I now propose my idea:
Its not making poverty history that we need to do. Its making "Wealth" history. I know most people in the UK, and the media enforces this, look at poor countries and have pity on them. They say "Oh, look at that situation, look how bad it is, how poor everyone is", and in very few cases give some money to some charity. This is exactly the problem! We are looking at the whole situation from the wrong angle. Its the wealth and greed of western society that has put the poor where they are. There is no possible way for the poorest people in the world to live at the same standard as us, therefore there is only one solution. The west must back track. My diagram shows that if the richer, greedy countries come down to a happy medium above the "poverty line", but below what we are currently at the world is even.
There is no doubt that the worlds resources are all limited, and so we need to stoop down a level, using less resources. This creates global sustainablility where the rich have come down, and the poor have gone up. It can't be merely the poor getting rich, like we are trying to do. We must get poorer.
Now one thing remains. Us. Who is really prepared to lose what they've got to help the poor? How many people, even those involved in the "make poverty history campaign" are willing to step down? If this method was put into place, would we then see if our governments genuinely care? If we care?
Every step we take backwards allows the poor to go up.
Cheers Za
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| | Posted 3/27/2007 1:01 PM - 31 Views - 8 eProps - 5 comments
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