Welfarism vindicated
The current mass-scale
starvation and deaths in the Horn of Africa raise some troubling
posers for the world community, which are, unfortunately, going
insufficiently answered. The time seems ripe to revisit that
memorable commentary on poverty and plenty that came off the pen
of hunger expert Susan George some decades ago; 'How the Other
Half Dies!'
Despite the current economic woes of the world, it is our
considered opinion that George's insightful analysis on how the
poor and the hungry of the world wilter and die, still holds.
George engages in a thorough-going structural analysis on how
starvation and death becomes the stark lot of the powerless of
this world, but, to put a long story short, it could be said
that it is the gross inequalities of wealth and power,
domestically and internationally, which lead to endemic
suffering, starvation and death in the Third World.
In other words, the decades-long posers on how the suffering
of the powerless could be alleviated are continuing to be with
us. This is the undisputable evidence that the world economy has
changed very little or not at all, over the decades. So, the
poor are still with us and, apparently, would continue to be
with us, as long as the unfazing questions over poverty and
inequality go unanswered.
As far as our memory serves, no-one died of starvation and
want in the West at the height of the recent world economic
downturn, although monumental hardships were the order of the
day. In contrast, famine, starvation and death, evocative of the
'Black Death' devastation and plague of the Middle Ages in
Europe, are continuing to visit extremely poverty-hit regions of
the world, such as, the Horn of Africa.
The conclusion is inescapable that the crippling structural
imbalances of the international economy are continuing to grip
the powerless of the world in a stranglehold. The corollary of
this ominous proposition is that nothing concrete or substantial
has been done thus far to reverse this situation. Of course,
international organizations, such as the UN, are continuing with
their good work for the poor of the world, and we place here on
record, our appreciation of such efforts, but, apparently, the
gut issues in poverty and deprivation are yet to be addressed in
a forthright, systematic fashion.
But if Sri Lanka's experience is anything to go by, much
could be done domestically to ease the lot of the poorest of the
poor. We are quite aware of the magnitude of numbers when we
address these issues. In Sri Lanka we are just 20 million and
are a small country but the Horn of Africa is part of a vast
continent which is teeming with humans and is not at all
amenable to easy economic handling and management, both by local
governments and international organizations.
Nevertheless, Sri Lanka could be described as having
weathered many an economic storm as a result of keeping the
essentials of welfarism intact. This does not mean that we could
be smugly complacent about our economic management thus far
because we have yet a long way to go in the task of achieving
substantial growth and equity, but, generally speaking, Sri
Lanka has survived some gruelling economic challenges on account
of her commitment to the core principles of welfarism. For
example, there were no major economic dislocations during the
30-year conflict. In fact, no one, not even in the North-East,
went hungry and today it is the state's boast that even the LTTE
got a considerable helping of the food that was lavished on the
people of the North-East by the state.
Welfarism continues to be alive in Sri Lanka and this policy,
clearly, accrues to the benefit of the common people. Just a
couple of days back, we learnt that the state would be buying
the produce of our paddy farmers at a guaranteed price to ensure
that they are not exposed to any economic rough weather. Such
policy initiatives and our continued commitment to free public
education and healthcare services, have ensured a measure of
well being to the people, although much remains to be achieved
in terms of quality of living.
The lesson that Sri Lanka offers to the world is that
welfarism cannot be abandoned wholesale through a belief in the
market's ability to rectify economic anomalies and aberrations.
The welfare system, apparently, would need to work in tandem
with the 'market'.
That said, it should be emphasized that the international
economic order should be refashioned to answer the pressing
needs of the poor. For instance, the poor countries must be
accorded reasonable prices for their commodities and
protectionist barriers that prevent goods and services from the
Third World from entering the First World must be systematically
dismantled.
Lavishing charity on the starving and the dying is in order,
but unless and until the global economy is refashioned to meet
the needs of poor countries, the world will continue to be
witness to Horn of Africa-type calamities. |