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01/04/2005:

"Could the tsunami disaster be a turning point for the world?"

As the international aid effort grows and George Bush launches a fresh appeal, we ask politicians and commentators if 2005 might see a new determination to tackle global poverty

THE RIGHT REV TIM STEVENS, Bishop of Leicester
I am hopeful, but we must see a real commitment to changing the economic relationships between the West and the poorer countries. As well as charitable giving, we need to tackle these fundamental issues.

RORY BREMNER, Comedian
On an individual level, it is not just about what we are prepared to give, but what we are prepared to give up. Having left Afghanistan and Iraq in their wake, can our leaders be trusted to fight a war on poverty?

KANYA KING, Founder, Mobo awards
No longer can we exist in isolation when we see lives and livelihoods being destroyed. All of us need to be pro-active to change things, but we have shown that public opinion and the media can influence government.

STEPHEN TINDALE, Executive director, Greenpeace
It seems churlish to say it, but while it's relatively easy for most of us to give £50, it would be much harder for us to make the changes in our modern lifestyles that are needed if we are to move to a fairer world.

DR GHAYASUDDIN SIDDIQUI, Leader of Muslim Parliament
Compassion, care and concern for mankind joins each of us - whatever our faith or ethnicity. The tragedy has shown there is a formula on which all mankind can be united to help each other. Mankind has moved forward.
Full Article: independent.co.uk

One of the opinions expressed here is that of a female (Kanya King, I think). There is no possible way to 'tackle poverty' without dealing with militarism. And I am going to go out on a limb and declare that the deeper issue is male violence. There is interesting and widespread evidence that our female ancestors, "Lysistrata"-style, formed "menstrual compacts," which involved withholding sex en masse at certain time in order to focus the gents on group survival activities such as hunts. The male initiation rituals and menstrual taboos that are so strikingly similar throughout the world point to a time when the power of the feminine was revered and even feared until males gained the upper hand and placed strict limits on the time women could spend with each other. It is only in the last generation that women's voices have finally begun to be heard again.
India has been too busy building nukes to aim at Pakistan to bother with the expense of an earthquake/tsunami warning system which could have saved thousands in India, Sri Lanka, and Africa. The Indonesian army is still busy slaughtering Acehnese 'insurgents' at ground-zero of the vast natural (one hopes) holocaust caused by the quake. Of course, since they have forced the people away from the coasts, it was probably many many Indonesian soldiers who were swept away to sea.
A real 'turning point' for the world would be signalled by our willingness to come to terms with this endless war-mongering. No matter how well-intentioned, charity is not what the world or its poor people need. All charity does is apply band-aids, and worse, it alows the guys to feel good about themselves. It also allows them to continue viewing people not as fellow humans, but as objects to be saved here, slaughtered with impunity there. We very well know where the vast bulk of our tax dollars is going, and it is indescribably offensive that the entire US efforts in the Andaman represent a single day's expenditure in Iraq. How long are we in the US going to sit back and allow this to go on? How long are the mothers and wives and sisters and daughters going to stand for it?