Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Meanwhile in Alnwick...

In the North East, we're just getting into the swing of the 'Roadshow' we're offering for the GCAP month of action, with a number of meetings throughout the region. In Alnwick on Monday, I tried to address the problem as to how we can "Stand up against poverty". I think people are exposed to two dangers.

First, there's the danger of hypocrisy. I can think of nothing more repellent than for a person with a reasonable income to have strong views on economic justice, whilst grudging more than the spare change in his pocket for the world's poor. "Hard hearted and tight fisted to the poor", as the Hebrew Scriptures put it, they belong to what I rudely call 'the skinflint brigade'. But perhaps a greater danger is that of sentimentality – a sentimentality which contributes personally, even sacrificially, but is content to remain silent whilst the monstrous injustices of inherited and illegitimate debt and unjust trade rules grind down entire generations, across whole continents. These people belong to 'the sticking plaster brigade'. Surely the way forward is to combine a faithful relationship to one of our great aid agencies, with a vigorous and persevering commitment to campaigning for justice for the poor.

David Golding
University of Newcastle, and
Development Coordinator, Make Poverty History North East

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just to show someone reads and thinks about the blog - I'll add what I find more repellent than an individual hypocrisy and it's political/government hypocrisy!

After the world said they were committed to the Millennium Development Goals it had a conference on financing them. To avoid digging in their pockets for aid/debt they claimed that trade would finance economic growth; promised a development round (Doha) of trade and then wouldn't face the political fall out of ending subsidies. Subsidies that don't even primarily go to the poor farmers, but to the big agribusinesses.

They strut the world stage, promising that they have the will and then deny the means. Not to mention that they spend at least 20 times as much on arms to kill people than they spend on ending poverty.

Hypocrisy simply isn't strong enough to convey their morality!