Hundreds of millions of dollars were suddenly made available to rescue the same financial institutions which, in the words of President Obama, due to their “greed and irresponsibility” prompted this grave situation of multiple crises (economic, environmental, democratic, ethical…). There was no money for the Millennium Objectives, to eradicate poverty or to adequately treat AIDS…, but funds for this singular “rescue” were mobilized in both the United States and the European Union. And all the while 3,000 million dollars are spent each day on military investments and weapons…
For all of the above, it is both surprising and outrageous to consider it a victory that the European Union will contribute 7,000 million euros to the reduction of CO2, when that amounts to a mere 56 hours of military spending!! The conclusion is that we must urgently reinforce the United Nations so that the entire international community can be duly represented. The coming generations will never forgive the indifference with which we are treating the future quality of life on this planet. Because it will be their present, because it will be a legacy that reflects the confusion that has dominated this plutocracy (G-7, G-8, G-20…)
Replacing the “We the peoples…” of the United Nations, the leaders must not forget that now, for the first time in history, the peoples, the people, will not remain silent. They have virtual means for mobilizing that will far surpass the immense powers of the media that the leaders control.
There is no money to fight poverty. Nor to protect the environment. But suddenly there appeared thousands of millions of dollars to “rescue” some of the very institutions that prompted this present crisis. Now the time has come to rescue Mother Earth, and the people who inhabit this planet. We can no longer remain silent.
FAO summit in Rome. Where are the G-8 or the G-20? Where is the aid from the more prosperous countries? Where is the mobilization of the churches of all faiths at the sight of millions of adults and children who die of starvation each day? Where is the principle of diverting money spent on weapons to raise the quality of life of the peoples? Where is the transition from an economy of war and speculation to an economy of sustainable global development?
Copenhagen Climate Change Conference:
China, the communist-capitalist country that has become the world’s richest nation and an immense factory for the entire world, with working conditions that ignore who actually is obtaining most of the profits, the United States announced a few days ago that they will reduce carbon dioxide emissions! They have finally partially changed their attitude. And they would make even greater changes if they were to realize that the future generations of both of these giant nations will never forgive such a profound error. They should join the rest of the international community in approving measures to be taken by a reinforced United Nations. The last thing we need is for the G-20 to actually be reduced to a G-2!
The IBEX, together with the Spanish ecclesiastical hierarchy contribute to organizing the Pope’s trip
No comments on this photo. Only the desire to see the same image with a banner proclaiming “Zero Poverty Campaign”. I still insist that it’s hard for me to sleep when we continue to spend 3,000 million dollars daily on weapons while 60,000 die of hunger, poverty and neglect. It is our collective shame.
And in the meantime we look the other way, as silent spectators, each of us absorbed by our daily problems. The moment for citizens to express themselves has come, led by communities of artists, intellectuals, professors and scientists! An immense electronic and popular mobilization is essential, now that we are still in time to achieve the great change that this crisis should provoke.
Because I am convinced that if we don’t rectify our present course now, in five or ten years the social, labor, environmental… situations and perspectives will be so grave that they may produce what Ortega called a “rebellion of the masses.” Although some refuse to admit it, a post-crisis situation prompts rapid evolution. And revolution is never an advisable alternative. So I must once again underscore that the difference between evolution and revolution is the single letter “r”: the “r” of responsibility.
In memory of Professor Roberto Marco who had the courage
to face the future with determination
In 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the superpowers’ arms race, we were all filled with hope and confident that we could finally enjoy the “dividends of peace”. There would no longer be huge investments in weapons, and we would at last have the chance to reduce poverty and promote worldwide development.
But at that moment a very negative decision was made. The world’s most prosperous countries decided that the economy should be governed by the market. And this was a tremendous error. The market is the right place for companies, for transactions and trade. But social justice, freedom, equality and solidarity are irreplaceable guiding values. These are the principles that we must promote, because although businessmen may know how to do business, this is an area that must be regulated. And this is the responsibility of the State. We should not forget that in a democratic context, the State must represent the voice of citizens. The great poet Antonio Machado wrote a brief but profound verse underscoring that “it is foolish to confuse value with price”. And they were fools.
We are now immersed in an enormous crisis that is above all a financial one, but which is also a crisis of ethics, moral values and human rights. It is likewise an environmental and nutritional crisis. At present we are spending three billion dollars daily on weapons while sixty thousand people –and I will never tire of repeating this- die of hunger, thirty-five thousand of whom are children. How can we sleep at night knowing that each day this horrendous genocide continues? How can we remain in this privileged part of the world, this “global village” as it is sometimes called, when the majority of its inhabitants are barely surviving in conditions of the utmost uncertainty?
Ten years ago when the Millennium Objectives were established, we were told that there was no money available to fight hunger. The same people who are now spending enormous amounts of money on arms said that there were no resources to feed the one billion people in the world who lack food, or to treat those in Africa who die daily from AIDS. Nevertheless, hundreds of billion of dollars suddenly appeared to “rescue” the same financial institutions that created the present crisis situation. What does this mean? There are many vulnerable sectors of society throughout the world that live in extreme poverty. The time has come to change this situation through a mass mobilization of citizens everywhere.
To do so it is essential that we be convinced that change is possible. “Yes we can!”, as President Obama expressed it. We can invent the future. We can find solutions to the great challenges. If the “impossibles” of the past are possible today, we are equally capable of making today’s “impossibles” a future reality.
But we have lost 20 years. Instead of promoting international cooperation the “globalizers” increased military spending, weakened the United Nations and allowed the reins of the world’s destiny to be placed in the hands of a select few, converting the world democracy of the United Nation’s System into a plutocracy (G-7, G-8, G-20,…) who, incapable of controlling an unleashed and progressively speculative economy, have provoked enormous multiple crises, aided by the impassible attitude of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
It is our responsibility to change this situation. Now, for the first time in history, we have the capacity for distance participation. This is something that will consolidate democracy. Thanks to mobile phone SMS and internet, there will soon be a radical change in the citizens’ capacity to express themselves. Let us cease to remain silent. Too often we are simple spectators, resigned to being mere “receivers.” We must prompt a “new beginning”. We must do it. We cannot let this great opportunity pass us by, as we did twenty years ago. Let us promote citizen participation to achieve a transition from this war economy to an economy of sustainable global development. From a culture of force to a culture of dialogue, conciliation and peace.
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