According to OXFAM:
Hundreds of people took part in a landmark event today in Tragalgar Square to unveil the Guinness World Record for the highest number of people ever to Stand Up Against Poverty.
In a 24 hour period on 15 – 16 October a breathtaking 23.5 million people taking part in co-ordinated events in more than 100 countries around the world set a new World Record.
["The largest single coordinated movement of people in the history of the Guinness World Record."
- Guinness Book of Records]
Cricket fans in India, school children in Gaza and the West Bank, crowds at a concert in a slum in Zimbabwe and in Times Square in New York, all joined for the world record attempt on 15-16 October co-ordinated by the Global Call to Action against Poverty and the UN Millennium Campaign. People stood together at the foot of the tallest hotel in the world in Dubai, in football stadiums across Spain and Mexico, in churches throughout Africa and schools all over the world.
The World Record number was announced on World Poverty Day (17 October), at events held at the United Nations in New York, London, Johannesburg, Milan and Nairobi following official confirmation from Guinness World Records.
Citizens around the world have stood up to demand action against poverty, for equality and to meet and exceed the Millennium Development Goals. The people’s voices are growing louder; governments can and must do more. We will not rest until poverty has ended.
What an incredible show of people power!
Although the Human Development Index ranks Canada as 5th and the US at 10th (see article for methodology), the Human Poverty Index ('A composite index measuring deprivations in the three basic dimensions captured in the human development index — a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living') shows Canada sitting in 12th place. Even worse is Canada's shameful standing, according to UNICEF, as being 19th out of 26 countries in fighting child poverty.
That's disgraceful, especially when combined with the squalid conditions that our First Nations people still live in - a challenge that was finally to be addressed via the Kelowna Accord. (You'll note that the Wiki link to the Privy Council's supposed 'details of the agreement' takes you to a blank page, which is exactly how this Conservative government treats the progress made in that accord which it has now totally scrapped despite years of negotiations and consultations between the previous Liberal government which had ignored the problems for far too long and the aboriginal community to reach a satisfactory agreement.)
Poverty isn't just about a lack of money.
Globally, women, children, the aged, and the geographically and socially marginalized make up the poorest of the poor.1
Mass poverty is largely the result of structural inequities inherent in social and economic organization at the local, national and international level. It is also both cause and effect of the failure of development in many parts of the world. High levels of illiteracy and low standards of health, education and nutrition reduce productivity and preclude people from reaching their full human potential or participating in development processes.2 In fact, development is undermined where large numbers of people live in extreme poverty. In its efforts to embrace sustainable development, therefore, the international community has made poverty eradication a major priority.3
[...]
In the industrialized countries of the North, the welfare state that grew up after the Second World War has been losing ground to fiscal policies of contracted public spending, resulting in increased poverty in the midst of plenty.8 Development that does not address wide disparities in wealth and opportunity and growth that does not bring universal benefits will not be durable. Even in the North, then, sustainable development will be endangered if human well-being is not made a priority, just as it must be in the South.
I'm well aware of the realities of 'poverty in the midst of plenty' since I live in oil-rich Alberta as a person who must rely on meager disability payments to survive.
The bottom line on poverty is this: It results in a lack of choices.
A lack of choice in housing: I've had to live with a long series of roommates in less than ideal conditions for years since I've been sick because I can't afford my own place and, even if I could, the vacancy rate in Calgary is basically 0% while house prices and rents have skyrocketed as a result of the latest oil boom. When I worked with the homeless as an addictions counselor during the 90s the situation then was the same as it is now. At the time, although 45% of the homeless were working poor, they could not afford the costs associated with securing housing: the first month's rent and an equal amount for a security deposit. That leaves not only individuals but families living in shelters endlessly until they can save up enough money to set up a proper home, yet governments keep placing affordable housing as a very low priority hoping that the private sector will somehow come to their aid - a private sector that has no interest in doing so since there's so much money to be made by those who can actually afford their steep prices.
A lack of choice in food: I've had to take advantage of the local food bank several times and I wonder if some people ever think about the fact that food bank users can only eat what's provided to them - that we do not have the luxury of actually eating what we'd like too. For a person who is ill, proper nutritional needs are also an issue and they often can't be met through reliance on food banks.
A lack of choice in mobility: Until recently in Calgary, the poor and sick had to pay full price for transit passes - an expense that has continued to increase as the city has used those funds to make up for the shortfall from the provincial and federal governments' lack of proper funding for infrastructure. If the poor can't afford to travel, our life experiences are seriously restricted.
A lack of choice in health services: Yes, Canada has 'free health care' (although Alberta charges health care premiums for which subsidies are available for the poor). But health care is still restricted for the poor who have no option to seek alternative therapies not covered by Medicare that might be helpful is combating the very illnesses that keep us poor. It's a vicious cycle.
Those are the basics. There are, of course, psychological and emotional costs as a result of being poor as well. The sense of isolation and restriction, the ever present stereotypes of the so-called 'lazy poor', the stress and depression that come with having to just survive each day, the mental illness that produces for which care is less than adequate in a clogged health system, the inability to participate more fully in society. All of these factors make climbing out of poverty an enormous task.
Yes, my situation is far, far better than those in underdeveloped countries but I know that's just an accident of birth. If I had been born somewhere else and had to meet the challenges my health problems had given me in a place like Bangladesh or any of the sub-Saharan African countries that are so mired in what seems like endless poverty, I wouldn't have survived this long. For that, I'm grateful. But it cannot be enough to just accept the status quo in this country where, if we actually had the collective will to actually eradicate poverty, we could do so much - much more quickly than those places that will take decades to even see a dent in their problems.
Why aren't we doing so in Canada? That's the question.
I believe that we can make poverty history. What are we waiting for?
UPDATE: If you found this post by following a link from the Doggerel Party blog, you can read my response to Clive's post here.
No comments:
Post a Comment