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There are many views about aiding the poor around the world--whether
aid is good, whether aid works, and who can afford to give it and
to what extent, and what does justice require. These are just a
few of the questions philanthropists and others face. These questions
are relevent to Appalachia, as well as many areas across the US,
and around the world. Below are a collection of perspectives and
issues that should be part of an informed discussion. They are not
all necessarily based on or consistent with biblical teaching nor
MCC objectives but are varied commentaries and information that
are offered here as food for thought and discussion for those grappling
with the issues.
(Note: If you try a link that no longer is valid,
please search the publisher's archives. Some links such as NY Times
may require free login.)
(Note: If you try a link that no longer is valid, please search the publisher's archives. Some links such as NY Times may require free login.)
"The
Global Accounting Scam" - Alternet.org, Dec 6, 02. 'The GDP simply
adds up the money Americans spend and calls
the result growth and good, regardless of where the money went and why. Americans
spend over $5 billion on gas they burn while stuck in traffic, going nowhere.
That's $5 billion more for the GDP. Cook the planet, cook the books and call
the result "growth."'
"Former Faith-Based Initiative Head John DiIulio Blasts Bush" - Christianity Today.com Weblog, Dec 2, 02. See also Washington Post Article. "The former head of President Bush's faith-based office charged in a magazine article released yesterday that the administration's domestic policies are determined entirely by political considerations." (02/12)
Debt
Act Relief Fails - Jubilee USA Network News and Action, Dec 2002. "Debt
Relief Enhancement Act Of 2002 Failed to Pass in the House."
"Doha Trade Deal Unravelling" - BBC News, Nov 10, 02. While "rich countries have been arguing among themselves about who is to blame for the failure to make progress on agricultural reform," domestic agricultural continue. "These subsidies amount to $300bn (£189bn) per year, according to the OECD, more than six times the total amount of foreign aid that rich countries give to the poor."
"Why
No Outrage Over How We Treat Our Own Citizens?" - Washington Post,
Nov 17, 02. "Hussein builds weapons of mass destruction and threatens his
neighbors while neglecting the needs of his own people; Hussein gets richer,
while his own people get poorer. Odd, though, how that same sense of righteous
indignation can hardly be found when it comes to this nation's shortcomings.
"IS NAFTA COUNTERPRODUCTIVE?" - Foreign Policy in Focus, Oct. 24, 2002. Is 'free trade' an alternative to aid programs? Here's a review. "At the end of the month, economic ministers from the Americas will meet to assess NAFTA’s progress. At this point, the report card looks pretty dismal. Not only has the program hurt jobs in the U.S. but it has also slowed development in Mexico."
"A New Development Paradigm Domestic Demand-Led Growth" - Foreign Policy in Focus, Sept. 2002. Globalization, as an alternative to aid programs, is clearly not a short term solution. But is it workable in the long term? Here's a discussion paper. "Critics of the neoliberal model of economic development—one driven by the demands of transnational corporations—have long been saying that this dominant paradigm isn’t working. It’s not producing broad-based economic development at home or abroad...it may be because the paradigm is bad. There are other choices."
"Connecting the Energy Dots to Afghanistan" - Sept 05, 02. A bit of a logical leap from energy to aid, perhaps. But that's what this article is about--connecting the dots between our lifestyle choices, international politics, and where Justice needs to begin.
"Global Poverty: Running Fast, Standing Still" - The Economist, July 24, 02. "More effort is needed to strengthen democracy as well as economic development in many countries, according to the latest Human Development Report from the United Nations Development Programme. The war on terrorism and the persistence of closed markets are both potential obstacles to progress."
USA--World Benefactor or Bully? - Individual supporters of international aid may limit their giving because of their perception of the U.S.'s global benevolence. But what is the US really doing around the world, and how are it's world-wide activities perceived by others? An independent task force concludes that "the U.S. now has a global image problem of disturbing proportions. Even Europeans are beginning to question American values on topics ranging from the environment to nuclear disarmament." Perhaps these perceptions contributed to President Bush not attending the Johannesburg summit on sustainable development. When U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, attending in Bush's place, "gamely tried to defend the administration's record, (see Powell's speach here) he was shouted down." (See BBC report here.) "The administration is increasingly characterized as arrogant, self-indulgent, hypocritical, inattentive, and unwilling or unable to engage in cross-cultural dialogue." (Quotes from "THIS WEEK ON THE GLOBAL BEAT", New York University's Center for War, Peace & the News Media, September 4-9, 2002.)
"Mandela brings poverty summit back down to Earth" - Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug 30, 2002. 'Rich countries gave about $54 billion in development aid in 2001 but paid more than $350 billion to their own farmers - or as one World Bank official noted: "The average cow is supported by three times the level of income of a poor person in Africa".'
"New UN Report Highlights Urgent Need to Address Damaging Trends" - UN, New York, Aug 13, 2002. "If current patterns of development continue, nearly half of the world's people will suffer from water shortages within the next 25 years, the use of fossil fuels, along with greenhouse gas emissions, will grow, and the world's forests will continue to disappear, according to a new United Nations report issued today by the Secretariat for the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development. With projections indicating that the world's population will grow by about two billion people by 2025, the new report, Global Challenge, Global Opportunity, underscores the need for greatly increased efforts to support sustainable development to better manage global resources in a rapidly changing world. (click here for the full *.pdf report)
"U.N.: World Seen Far Short of Goal to Halve Hunger" - Reuters, Aug 20, 2002. The world will fail to achieve its goal of halving global hunger by 2015 and will probably miss that target even by 2030, the United Nations said Tuesday. This is despite the fact that rising food output will continue to outpace population growth and more of the poorest people will eat better-quality foods in the coming years, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization ( news - web sites) (FAO) said.
"Caring Greatly and Succeeding Greatly: Producing Results in Africa" - U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul H. O’Neill's remarks at Georgetown University in Washington, DC at an event co-sponsored by Foreign Policy magazine and Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
The Church's Relation to Government and Society - Mennonite Confession of Faith, Article 23. "We witness by being ambassadors for Christ, calling the nations (and all persons and institutions) to move toward justice, peace, and compassion for all people. In so doing, we seek the welfare of the city to which God has sent us.
True Evangelical Faith - Menno Simons. "True Evangelical Faith
cannot lie sleeping for it clothes the naked, it comforts the sorrowful,
it gives to the hungry food, and it shelters the destitute. We must
become everything to all men."
Adolfo Perez Esquivel, in The Peace Making Commitment of MCC - "Because of our faith in Christ and in human kind, we must apply our humble efforts to the construction of a more just and humane world. And I want to declare emphatically such a world is possible. To
Who MCC is - The MCC Mission Statement reflects the biblical call to care for the hungry and the thirsty, the stranger and the naked, the sick and those in prison (Matthew 25:35-36)
"World
Bank chief promotes green growth" - BBC News, June 4, 2002.
Sustainable development "is not charity. By being a better
corporate citizen, it's actually good for the bottom line."
"A
Poverty Reporter Wins A Genius Award" - TomPaine.com, Sept 26, 02.
"Issues of structural poverty and wealth inequity are rarely found on the
front page (or any other) of newspapers. Partly that's because there isn't much
breaking news in covering poverty. But a more likely factor is that upper middle-class
readers don't want to read stories about the poor, and upper middle-class journalists
don't want to report them."
"Cul-de-sacs and soup kitchens: the new suburban poor" - CSM, Sept. 19, 2002. "For 50 years, suburbs like this one – with its tree-lined town square and sprawl of cineplexes and cul-de-sacs – have been the finish line for the American dream. Now, they're becoming incubators for a new poverty."
"Heartbroken" - Economist, Aug. 15, 2002. "Is rural America really such a great role model for the nation? Sadly, its true characteristics are not vigour and independence but economic decline and government handouts. The small communities that are supposed to embody the American spirit are, in fact, haemorrhaging jobs, people and wealth. The worst poverty in America is probably not in the inner cities but in the countryside—in places like Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky. Six of the country's ten poorest counties can be found in the area stretching from Texas (where Mr Bush is so hard at work) to California's central valley. Rural people make barely 70% of the salaries of their urban counterparts. One in six rural children is being raised in poverty. The image of small-town piety bears little relation to reality in rural America, with...higher rates for murder, illegitimacy and teenage childbirth than the cities. In recent years the worst increases in both crime and drug abuse have taken place in the heartland. In the past five years, bank robberies jumped by 82% in small towns, compared with 17% in America as a whole. Many rural communities are plagued by drugs, particularly amphetamines and OxyContin (an opiate pain-killer). In the 1990s the percentage of drug-related homicides tripled in rural areas but halved in big cities."
A Beginner's Guide to the Debt Crisis - Jubilee USA. Why should the debts of Heavily Indebted Poor Countries be cancelled? Read how it all began, how it affects us, and why something should and can be done.
"Bono sets out to show that aid works" - from Financial Times, May 13, 2002. '"There is something eerily effective about an Irish rock star who can look conservative American religious politicians in the eye and say: 'The Bible says we will be judged according to how we treat the poor. I believe that I will be judged. Do you?'" First, President Bush, then Bill Gates and then Mr. Helms, the rightwing Republican senator and Bono's most spectacular convert. Helms was formerly of the view that aid went down foreign "ratholes". Now he is calling for Dollars 500m in US aid to be given to African babies with HIV-Aids.' Next, Bono tours Africa with US Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill. Also, learn more at www.JubileeUSA.org.
"Why Democrats should support Charitable Choice--including the hiring exemption" - Ronald J. Sider, Feb. 15, 02 (ESA-online). Here are nine reasons why religious organizations should still use religious criteria in making hiring decisions even if they receive federal money. Not only should the "hiring exemption for religious organizations contained in Section 702 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should apply to all federal funding streams", but "refusing government funds to religious social service providers that choose staff on the basis of religious belief will hurt the poor."