: : Don: Born lucky? Do you think JFK jr was born lucky or unlucky?: Lucky. If he was unlucky enough to be born in the Third World, his chances of survival and opportunities in life would have been far less than they were.
Don: True, but this is because of the failures of the Third World, not the "evils" of the West.
: To quote the 1999 UN Human Development Report;
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: "Nearly 30 years ago the Pearson Commission began its report with the recognition that “the widening gap between the developed and the developing countries has become the central problem of our times.” But over the past three decades the income gap between the world’s richest fifth and its poorest fifth has more than doubled, to 74 to 1. And with that gap comes migration, environmental pressure, conflict, instability and other problems rooted in poverty and inequality.: Narrowing the gaps between rich and poor and the extremes between countries should become explicit global goals"
:
: By being a Westerner, you are liable to have been born lucky. That doesn't mean you have to accept the inequality as desirable.
Don: I frankly don't think inequality is the issue. The failure of Third World nations is the problem, and there is only so much the West can do . . .
: The world's richest 20% own 86% of the world's capital. The world's poorest 20% own 1% of it. (UN figures, 1999 HDR)
: : : If you're prepared to ignore this; to continue in the system as it currently is, you can be guaranteed a quiet, moderately luxurious life in which you may have a couple of kids, rounded off by a quiet death and funeral (unless the system crashes, that is).
: : Don: And you can engage in a surprising amount of freedom of motion, freedom of speech, freedom of expression . . .
: ...because you consume cheap goods from the areas of the world where people are forced into effective slavery by Western multinationals like Nike. These goods are consumed in an unsustainable and wasteful fashion.
Don: My freedoms are due to the actions of my forefathers; to the fact that they set up a particularly good system that enabled freedom.
: This practice is encouraged by the West; as the trade rules are set up in fashion that benefits the West; keeping the wealth and luxury concentrated in the First World at the expense of the Third.
Don: I disagree. The First World benifits from robust economics in the Third World. It is simply that the cultures and ideas and governments of the Third World pose serious problems to advancement. It took the West a long time to evolve to its current place, and it will take the Third World some time to catch up . . .
: : : If you persist in being difficult and asking difficult questions about fairness and justice, you will be hunted down and destroyed, as Judy Bari nearly was, or as Fernando Periera was.
: : Don: You think these people asked difficult questions about the "system"?
: Quite correct; they also acted in non-violent opposition to corporate and government-sponsored lawbreaking; taxpayer's money was used to fund their attempted assassination, despite their actions being pro bono publico.
Don: I am of the opinion that they were silly people who failed at asking any coherent questions.
: : Don: THEY? THEY! Who is THEY?
: Well, try the OECD and WTO, for starters; they are on record as saying (during the MAI negotiations) "We are building the foundation...of a new global order".
: They consist of unelected negotiators; comprised of the boards of the world's largest corporations; convened to hammer out the details of a homogenous global treaty in which corporates dictate working practice; including social and health conditions, environmental conditions and accountability. As they consist of unelected quangoes, they are answerable to no-one but their boards. And as can been seen by the behaviour of companies like Shell and BP and Chevron, they don't have any qualms about using violence and murder to protect their bottom line. Call them the new robber barons; forming a closed system to asset-strip the entire world.
Don: What is the OECD?
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McSpotlight: The OECD is a quango consisting of luminaries from the business world and various think-tanks dedicated to imposing compulsory free-market economics on the entire world; by making things like famine relief dependent on the beneficiary country opening up their markets to Western corporations.
None.
