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July 26, 2005
The G-8 Summit, By Jonathan William Barr
The leaders of the G-8, which includes the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia, were gathered at Gleneagles golf resort in Scotland. The largest industrialized nations of the world met to discuss various issues including the Middle East, Climate Change, Terrorism, Trade, and Development Aid. This conference came just a week after the heavily promoted Live 8 concerts, where many well-known musicians played in each G-8 country to raise awareness towards African poverty. The goal of these concerts was to pressure governments to pledge 0.7 per cent of GDP to foreign aid. Interestingly, this 0.7 per cent goal was first proposed by former Canadian Prime Minister, most known for his innovations in field of peacekeeping, Lester B. Pearson.
Indeed, the Live 8 concert brought awareness to the issue of African poverty. The media attention that this event received was truly global; however, as the leaders arrived at the summit, they were greeted by angry protestors who were clashing with police. Similar to Scotland, violent protests were also seen at the 1999 World Trade Organization (WTO) conference in Seattle and the 2001 Summit of the Americas (SOA) in Quebec City. The protestors were seen throwing rocks at police and vandalizing public property.
There is no doubt that protestors deserve credit for showing support for a cause that they believe in, and exercising their democratic right to speak out. The problem is that when violence is used, it tends to distort and hide the real issues. The media will always sensationalize images, which means violence will become the main focal point of protests, when violent situations occur. That exact situation occurred in the days following the Gleneagles summit, where the violence of the protests became the main story for the nightly television newscasts. The means used by the protestors in Scotland were counter-productive to the ends that they were seeking. An effective and more positive protest would have been one without violence.
To comment briefly on development aid, real solutions to combat African poverty will be hard since the government's in these countries are ruled by corruption and crony capitalism. Throwing millions of dollars at poor countries is all well and good, however, it becomes completely ineffective when the leaders of these countries take this aid money and throw it into their Swiss bank accounts. Thus, an important step towards combating poverty in these countries would be to build national legal infrastructures that are transparent to the people that they are supposed to serve. An effective policy to combat poverty would see the rule of law and an impartial judicial system as the cornerstones of society. Moreover, African countries need to encourage democractic process, where the government is held accountable to the people. In Understanding Globalization, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas Friedman makes an important argument when he says, "creating a stable political, legal, and economic environment friendly to entrepreneurship, in which people can start businesses and raise their productivity, is the precursor to effectively fighting poverty anywhere." Therefore, when thinking about making poverty history, we must think about development as more than simply giving money to these countries. Making poverty history will have to entail helping these poor countries develop good government.
For a rather interesting read, see: Thomas Friedman, Understanding Globalization: The Lexus and the Olive Tree.
Posted by Jonathan William Barr at 06:22 AM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2005
Live 8: Publicity, or an issue of Life and Death?? By Jordan Alexandra Gracey
The leaders of the G-8, which includes the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia, were gathered at Gleneagles golf resort in Scotland. The largest industrialized nations of the world met to discuss various issues including the Middle East, Climate Change, Terrorism, Trade, and Development Aid. This conference came just a week after the heavily promoted Live 8 concerts, where many well-known musicians played in each G-8 country to raise awareness towards African poverty. The goal of these concerts was to pressure governments to pledge 0.7 per cent of GDP to foreign aid. Interestingly, this 0.7 per cent goal was first proposed by former Canadian Prime Minister, most known for his innovations in field of peacekeeping, Lester B. Pearson.
Indeed, the Live 8 concert brought awareness to the issue of African poverty. The media attention that this event received was truly global; however, as the leaders arrived at the summit, they were greeted by angry protestors who were clashing with police. Similar to Scotland, violent protests were also seen at the 1999 World Trade Organization (WTO) conference in Seattle and the 2001 Summit of the Americas (SOA) in Quebec City. The protestors were seen throwing rocks at police and vandalizing public property.
There is no doubt that protestors deserve credit for showing support for a cause that they believe in, and exercising their democratic right to speak out. The problem is that when violence is used, it tends to distort and hide the real issues. The media will always sensationalize images, which means violence will become the main focal point of protests, when violent situations occur. That exact situation occurred in the days following the Gleneagles summit, where the violence of the protests became the main story for the nightly television newscasts. The means used by the protestors in Scotland were counter-productive to the ends that they were seeking. An effective and more positive protest would have been one without violence.
To comment briefly on development aid, real solutions to combat African poverty will be hard since the government's in these countries are ruled by corruption and crony capitalism. Throwing millions of dollars at poor countries is all well and good, however, it becomes completely ineffective when the leaders of these countries take this aid money and throw it into their Swiss bank accounts. Thus, an important step towards combating poverty in these countries would be to build national legal infrastructures that are transparent to the people that they are supposed to serve. An effective policy to combat poverty would see the rule of law and an impartial judicial system as the cornerstones of society. Moreover, African countries need to encourage democractic process, where the government is held accountable to the people. In Understanding Globalization, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas Friedman makes an important argument when he says, "creating a stable political, legal, and economic environment friendly to entrepreneurship, in which people can start businesses and raise their productivity, is the precursor to effectively fighting poverty anywhere." Therefore, when thinking about making poverty history, we must think about development as more than simply giving money to these countries. Making poverty history will have to entail helping these poor countries develop good government.
For a rather interesting read, see: Thomas Friedman, Understanding Globalization: The Lexus and the Olive Tree.
Posted by Jonathan William Barr at 01:35 AM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2005
Dear George
Dear George,
The problems faced by the world today are complex and will require complex solutions. We believe waging war against Iraq was an incredible misuse of power. As a result there are over 30,000 people dead, many more seriously injured and much of a country destroyed and in turmoil. We cannot invade countries because we are afraid. We must communicate our beliefs to those we disagree with and over time (possibly decades) we will come to an understanding and resolve our differences. If we fight a war to prevent a war, we've lost before we ever had a chance to win. To have peace is to win. To celebrate our commonalities and to discuss and understand our differences is to win. War is a failure of diplomacy and a failure of leadership to find peaceful solutions. People from all cultures are not that different. What we need is a fundamental shift in the ideology of our leaders. True bravery is being wronged and having the strength to forgive. If we wish to make peace with those that want to harm us then we must explore and remove the underlying motivations that fuel their aggression towards us. Positive change often takes a long time and may require lengthy discussions and many concessions on all sides. The strongest force must concede the most in order to bring balance and provide an example for others to follow. There will always be adversity, but how we react to it demonstrates our character. Acts of aggression polarize us while acts of kindness unite us.
In the words of a great leader, John F. Kennedy "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind. Those who make peaceful revolutions impossible will make violent revolutions inevitable." He also said "So, let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."
Yours truly,
Benjamin Rouse
Posted by Benjamin Rouse at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)