 Globalization |
Issue 112 |
The Long Walk From Charity To Justice
"Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity; it is an act of justice"
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Nelson Mandela at the Live 8 concert
In 1985, Bob Geldof and some of his colleagues in the music industry decided to respond to the indescribable suffering due to drought, famine and hunger in Africa by organising a huge fundraising concert. This was a huge success in terms of raising awareness and money. A massive $100 million was raised and a wave of optimism grew from this effort. Yet 20 years later, little has changed in some of the same countries that the Live Aid featured in one of the largest fundraising events ever staged. Tens of thousands of children still die every day simply because they are poor. People go hungry and starve. People die of treatable diseases long since eradicated in rich countries. People die because they don't have access to clean water or adequate sanitation. Why did so little change after Live Aid?
Live Aid was designed to respond to an emergency. People were dying of starvation and needed immediate food aid. This was delivered. Many people were saved. One of the most touching scenes of the recent Live 8 concert was the arrival on stage of the young Ethiopian woman, Birhan Woldu now aged 24, who was saved by receiving a re-hydration shot in 1984. She has just completed her studies in Agriculture and obviously has a future full of hope and possibilities. At the time of the Ethiopian famine she was only 10 minutes from death. For Birhan and many like her Live Aid was a success. She was rescued and she survived. Live 8 has a different focus. It seeks to look at the causes of continuing poverty and putting pressure on world leaders to change the way the world is structured so that people are saved, not in the same way that Birhan was saved, but by preventing the causes of death due to poverty rather than rescuing people consumed by poverty.
The charity approach is effective but limited. The justice approach is more effective as it seeks to address causes and bring about long lasting change. It is similar to the difference between treating a person once they develop an illness or preventing them from getting it in the first place. Obviously both methods have their place but as the saying goes: prevention is better than cure. If we can change things so that poverty is less prevalent and less devastating why wouldn't we do it? Why do we tend to wait until a face like that of Birhan at the age of 4 and on death's door stares out at us? Prevention may be better than cure but it is also more difficult. Prevention often means that we in the rich countries have to sacrifice our lifestyles. We may need to pay more taxes so that debt can be forgiven or overseas aid increased. Farmers in Europe or the U.S. may find it difficult if their massive government subsidies were to be cut back so that farmers in poor countries could compete fairly in world markets for cotton, sugar and coffee.
The Live 8 strategy is to "make poverty history" by changing the world permanently, for good. It seeks to make changes now that will have a permanent effect on the way the world works. These changes will prevent the deaths of millions of people who are dying of preventable, poverty related causes. The strategy consists of acknowledging the problem but also of acknowledging that the solutions are there if we have the will to apply them. With the justice approach, it is up to those with the power, knowledge and resources to recognise that they have the responsibility to reach out to those without these. This simply recognises that as human beings those who are born in poor countries have no fewer rights to a life with human dignity.
Thus, eight of the most powerful people on the planet met at the G8 Summit from the 6 th to the 9 th July 2005 with the future of the world on the agenda. They knew what the solutions were and they went some way to delivering them. They committed to doubling of aid for developing countries, an increase of some $50 billion. They committed to the forgiving of debt owed by the 18 most heavily indebted countries. They committed to making treatment available to all those suffering with HIV/AIDS by 2010. They have committed to lifting tens of millions of people out of poverty every year.
Unfortunately the issue of trade justice was not part of the plan. It must be remembered that according to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), $US 279 billion ($A376 billion) is spent by the world's richest countries subsidising their farmers and farming corporations. The same countries give around $US70 billion in aid to poor countries. This is one injustice that has not been addressed by the G8 meeting.
The G8 communique notes: But we know this is only the beginning. We must build on the progress we have made today.
The long walk from charity to justice continues.
Caritas Australia is a member of the 'Make Poverty History' coalition, a coalition focused on achieving the MDGs by 2015. Visit: www.caritas.org.au/education/mph.htm
Social Sciences
1) Which countries in the world do you think are the 8 most powerful. Make a list. Compare your list with the people around you. Now go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G8 to compare your list with the actual list of G8 countries. How many countries did you get right? Any surprises? Were there any countries that you think should have been included that weren't?
2) Go to the official site for this year's G8 conference and find out what the two main items to be discussed were?
3) Find out the names of the leaders of the G8 countries at www.g8.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=
OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=
1078995911932 Which leader is the current G8 president? Which country will have the presidency next year? Where is Gleneagles?
4) The final communique (summary) issued by the G8 can be found at: www.data.org/archives/000736.php
There is a set of commitments set out for Africa in the communique as follows:
The G8 in return agreed a comprehensive plan to support Africa's progress. This is set out in our separate statement today. We agreed:
- to provide extra resources for Africa's peacekeeping forces so that they can better deter, prevent and resolve conflicts in Africa
- to give enhanced support for greater democracy, effective governance and transparency, and to help fight corruption and return stolen assets
- to boost investment in health and education, and to take action to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB and other killer diseases
- to stimulate growth, to improve the investment climate and to make trade work for Africa, including by helping to build Africa's capacity to trade and working to mobilise the extra investment in infrastructure which is needed for business
Examine each of these points and discuss in groups how each may contribute to the economic development of Africa. Create a flow chart with causal links e.g. combating disease will allow people to work more effectively to feed their families; this will allow more opportunities for the children to be educated which in turn will allow them to get better jobs in the future, increase their income and contribute to the wider community… Try to see how a small positive change can have major flow on effects. See also how each of these areas is interdependent.
5) Go to www.caritas.org.au/education/
mph_educationResources.htm for resources related to the Make Poverty History campaign to make the Millennium Development Goals a reality. There is a new DVD/video. Additional resources will be available over the coming months.
6) Go to www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/kidsweb/
oxfam/campaigns/mph.htm#imp to view a series of resources which examines the relationship between the "Make Poverty History" goals of trade justice, debt forgiveness and increases in aid and getting more kids educated in poor countries.
7) Go to www.makepovertyhistory.org/
schools/index.shtml for more lesson ideas as well as ideas for school assemblies on the topic of poverty and the G8.
8) Download a sample 5 minute talk for a meeting or assembly at www.makepovertyhistory.org/docs/
fiveminutetalk.swf
9) Go to www.globalgang.org.uk/hotnews/
childpower/school.html to find out about life for school children in the "majority" world.
10) Access more resources for schools at www.makepovertyhistory.com.au/education.html
Mathematics / Social Sciences
1) Go to www.oecd.org/dataoecd/17/39/23664717.gif to view how much aid is given by the world's richest countries as well as the destination of this aid. Answer the following:
- How much "bilateral" aid is given by the OECD countries?
- What proportion of their Gross National Income (GNI) is this?
- By how much did this proportion increase over the previous year?
- If this rate of increase was maintained, how many years would it take to reach the promised 0.7% of GNI which would allow the Millennium Development Goals to be achieved?
- How many African countries are in the top 10 recipients of aid?
- According to the pie graph, how much aid do the sub-Saharan African countries receive? What percentage of the total "pie" is this?
- What percentage of total aid went to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs)?
- Do you think that "need" would be the main criterion for determining how much aid was given?
- Should "need" be the main criterion?
- What other criteria might be used?
2) Go to www.ausaid.gov.au/makediff/
whatis.cfm#why to read why Australia gives aid.
- List the reasons why Australia gives aid.
- How many of the reasons are about the benefits to Australia?
Religion
1) Go to jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/579.htm to examine a Christian perspective on the importance of justice. What are the biblical foundations for our thinking on justice?
2) Make a list of actions we commonly undertake to help the poor. Decide in groups which are to do with charity and which are to do with justice.
3) Why is the "road to justice" so difficult to travel?
4) At the Live 8 concert Nelson Mandela said:
" Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity, it is an act of justice. "
Discuss in groups and report back to the main group your conclusions.
Compare this with Pope Paul VI quoting St Ambrose approvingly:
" You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving him back what is his. "
What does this mean for the relationship between the donor and the recipient of aid?
5) Go to youth.tearfund.org/childrens+worker/
session+plans/session+plan+1.htm to access a lesson plan which demonstrates justice issues in a Christian context.
1) Go to www.guardian.co.uk/gall/
0,8542,1519991,00.html to view pictures of the Live 8 concert including a photo of Birhan Woldu whose image appeared at the Live Aid concert some twenty years ago.
2) The world is hungry for action, not words - Nelson Mandela
Take up the challenge and ACT!
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Go to www.jubileeaustralia.org/ to see how to get involved in the long-running campaign for debt forgiveness
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Go to www.makepovertyhistory.com.au/
home.html to find out more about the Make Poverty History campaign and its major focuses: Trade Justice, Debt, Better and more Aid. -
You can also obtain a white band to show that you support the campaign .
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Go to www.makepovertyhistory.com.au/
emailjohn.asp to send our Prime Minister a message telling him that we support the campaign to halve extreme poverty by 2015 and that we support the increasing of aid to 0.7% of our Gross National Income so that we are contributing our promised share. -
Contact your local Member of Parliament with the same message as well as Alexander Downer (Minister for Foreign Affairs) Go to www.aph.gov.au/house/members/
index.htm to access contact details. Listen to a recent interview on ABC radio with Mr Downer where he seemed to be backing away from Australia's earlier commitment to increase aid at www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/brkfast/stories/
s1407973.htm then read the transcript of an interview with Jeffrey Sachs at www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/saturday/
stories/s1410424.htm who argues that poverty is not a "morality tale" as all the excuses for not giving aid were commonly used about the poor in Western countries in the past. The issue of corruption is often cited as a reason for not giving aid and yet we do not get rid of our own social welfare system because a few people cheat the system. No system is perfect yet we persevere for the greater good. - Order a copy of the recent publication from the ACSJC: Ending Hunger How Far Can We Go? at www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au/content/
media_releases/2005_06_14_
1118713573.html