Some food for thought

There is on-going discussion on meeting the MDGs or the Millennium Development Goals, set to halve the level of poverty from the face of the earth by 2015. Now, there are concerns of our ability to get there, for lack of solid action from the engines of growth and the ongoing global recession have accordingly placed a dampener on this goal.

Protecting status-quo

In this context, it is sad that not many look at the basics or the basis of why, the world saw a collapse of its economy of this scale and why there is inadequate action from the private sector on the MDGs in the first place. The current economic and social crisis we witness today is on a scale much larger than the one seen at the end of the 1920s, called the Great Depression. That is what drove the then world’s leaders to take on a major overhaul of the system of global monitory management with the Bretton Woods Conference and associated agreements. The creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) were outcomes of that effort.

The IMF and the WB were set up, based on the perceived needs of that day, to set up an international clearing house for nations and an organization to set directional agenda for the world on what it must and must not do, to ensure its good social and economic health. That decision was footed on what was the socio-economic status-quo of the day and on the part of some, a genuine desire to get the economic fundamentals of the world’s nation economies right.

Solid fundamentals

Some took the principles laid down seriously and saw to it that their social and economic systems were solidly grounded on getting those fundamentals right. The socialist /welfare governance systems of nations such as the Nordic and Scandinavian countries, Japan and later the Asian tigers, China and India are today reaping the benefits of relying on establishing such strong fundamentals. Yet, the more powerful such as the USA and some European nations, went overboard and had deservedly to take the brunt of the fallout of the ongoing global recession.

Today, the primary focus is on bailouts and props to keep the very same systems going with some tinkering here and there. Reforms they are called. Little attention is paid by the world’s political leadership to addressing the fundamental flaws in the systems of social and economic governance. Over consumption, living beyond means, scant disregard to carrying capacities in the natural environment, resultant impacts of climate change, dependence on speculative wealth without real savings to back it, ignoring the good of the many in preference to those holding power and access to resources and placing greed and offering choice over need and necessity, are indeed the fundamental issues the world needs to focus on today.

Poverty of action

Attempts by some of the world’s new leadership to take on reforms that address the basics are stifled at every point. They go on insisting the continuance of the status-quo and claiming that it can be business as usual, with only some adjustment.

Poverty; much like fossil fuel, coal, water, forests, carbon offset funds and other natural resource bases is seen by some, as big business. We have been addressing the issue of poverty, seeking ways to eliminate it with the tools we possess, within the frameworks of the conventional models that drive our economies. Such demands that the poor be given handouts or be helped out of the fateful conditions they are in. This is seen in the efforts of many in international public and private sector organizations calling for donor support to carry out the numerous ‘do good’ projects and programs in the developing world or among disadvantaged communities.

Some of them, venture to give direct ‘fish’ or ‘food’ to those trapped in poverty in an attempt to tinker with issues such as malnutrition and health, while others claim they only give ‘nets’ to catch the ‘fish’ without giving the ‘fish’ directly.

Politics of poverty

Sadly, it is only a few among the world’s leadership, who call for real change in the world economic and social order. Yet, hope generated by them, still remain as voices in the wilderness. A good look at the stark facts of evidence on the politics of food and poverty can give us ample justification for such a call, for a new vision and a new global social order. Following are extracts taken from the World Bank and One World’s fact files as presented in the website www.onedayswages.org with reference to the incidence of poverty around us.

“The numbers are staggering but are absolutely real. Behind each number is a human being: a mother, father, sister or brother.... three billion people live on less than US $ 2/day. 1.4 billion live on less than US $ 1.25/day - the definition of those who live under the condition of ‘extreme global poverty.’

6 Approximately 9.2 million children under the age of five die each year, mostly from preventable diseases. That’s approximately 25,000 children each day.

6 Over 2.5 billion people around the world do not have access to adequate sanitation and about 885 million people do not have access to clean water.

6 Every day, 4,100 children die from severe diarrhoea - as a result of poor sanitation and hygiene.

6 Approximately 600 million children live in extreme poverty.

6 Nearly 75 million children are out of school around the world, a figure equivalent to the entire primary school-aged population in Europe and North America.

6 Women in developing countries travel an average of almost four miles each day to collect water.

6 People living in the poorest slums can pay as much as 10 times more for water than those in high-income areas of their own cities.

6 Food prices have risen 83 percent since 2005, disproportionately affecting those in poverty, who spend a higher percentage of their income on food.

6 The richest 20 percent of the world’s population receives 75 percent of the world’s income, while the poorest 40 percent receive only 5 percent of it.

The Bretton Woods conference in 1944 drove an agenda to place the world and its resources at a vantage position of some of the then more powerful nations. Later pleas for social justice based on a fundamental value proposition of placing need before greed of the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, E F Schumacher, the King of Thailand and such schools of thought, were subdued and became voices that were nice to have around, but not to be acted on.

Seeking balance

There is no doubt that real change is brought about through a clear vision. It is about what is right and just and about setting in place a system of processes and actions to achieve it. Perhaps it is time now for the world at large to seek the right balance or look at our world with Upekka (The Buddha’s reference to seeking a state of balance), much like former Thai Deputy Prime Minister and current Director General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) stated at the recently concluded 53rd Annual Sessions held in Geneva in his opening remarks “We must stay ahead of the curve, tackle difficult issues in a fresh and clear-headed manner and do so by pushing beyond current boundaries.” Speaking at the conference 2010 report of the ‘Millennium Development Goals Gap Task Force’, in New York, in mid- September, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner said “There is rapidly-growing evidence that accelerating a transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient, employment generating Green Economy may not only be the key to meeting sustainability challenges of the 21st Century, but also provide a considerable contribution to meeting the other MDGs”. Earlier at the same event his boss the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said to the leaders of nations “We must not balance our budgets on the backs of the poor”.

It certainly is much more than mere balancing of budgets. It is about real change and having a clear vision of a future for human kind, where the backs of the poor are straightened so there cannot be anymore load placed on them.