UN helps the rich, while scorning the poor, Mbeki says

[dArKeR]

South African President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday called the UN an unrepresentative body dominated by the powerful and the threat of terrorism, at the expense of the dispossessed and the scourge of poverty.

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Mbeki argued that a slanted world order paid lip service to the devastation wrought by hunger and deprivation, while acting almost exclusively on the challenges facing the rich and influential.

"The wealthy and powerful feel mortally threatened by the fanatical rage of terrorists, correctly," Mbeki said. "What they will decide will translate into a set of obligatory injunctions, issued by this organization, which all member states will have to accept and implement."

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/09/24/2003204144

[mark414]

1. word up man

keep talking

[Fleshdancer]

2. I certainly can't deny he has a point...as I discuss it on my computer

While I agree with the concept of the UN and think it has done more good than harm since its conception, it certainly isn't perfect. President Mbeki has every right to his anger and he makes a good point, but I guess what I'm begging for at this point is to know exactly what he thinks needs to be done. This is embarrassing enough since I imagine what I'm begging for right now has been said over and over but I just wasn't listening. (to my credit, I'm in my 20's so my ears haven't been open for all that long)

I'm blessed to live and thrive in one of the richest countries in the world. The problem with this is that it's very difficult to comprehend poverty...the idea of not knowing if I'll have the chance to eat again is as foreign to me as the idea of owning billions of dollars. The brain has a difficult time processing the extremes.

The cruel irony is that the issue of global poverty will now be discussed on an internet forum.

[AP]

3. What's to be done? Land reform--it's a fire that's just starting to spread

Zimbabwe to Namibia. It'll keep going, and will be improved upon every step of the way.

[Fleshdancer]

5. Can you elaborate on your post a bit more for me?

I'll start researching land reform on my own, but I would love to hear more about what you have to say and why you've come to that conclusion.

[AP]

6. Joe Stiglitz (IIRC) said that while he was at the world bank they did...

...studies on how to break the cycle of poverty in the third world.

They said that the microloan programs were nice, but not really that effective. They force people to finance their own economic development. And when you start with zero it's really hard to turn zero into 1, much less, .1.

Stiglitz said the best thing you can do is give people title to land. That gives them something substantial against which they can leverage their development. It's the most effective way to pull people out of poverty.

That's what they're doing in VZ and Zimbabwe. Namibia is going to take it up too.

[Odd Little Man]

4. "UN helps the rich, while scorning the poor"

Is this suppose to be news?