Make Poverty History , Hasn't

"Remember Make Poverty History, anyone? It seems a long time ago that some 200,000 people flocked to Edinburgh on 2 July to rally G8 leaders as part of an unprecedented global justice campaign. That same day, Bob Geldof organised free music concerts in nine countries worldwide under the Live 8 banner. The demands were straightforward and reasonable: rich countries should boost overseas aid in line with 35-year-old unmet promises; cancel completely the debts of the 62 poorest countries; set binding dates for the abolition of subsidies and other protectionist support to Northern farmers; and stop forcing liberalisation and privatisation on poor countries, whether in international trade negotiations or as conditions of aid and debt deals."

Want to know what's happened since? Not a damned thing. Didn't think anything would, did you? Implementing all those promises would've meant the possibility that the global standard of living might rise, and certain people don't want that.

It's not really about the money. It's not that the impossible was sought. It's about power and control. Anyone who's ever been indebted, knows it's their creditor that holds all the cards. As long as the creditor owns the debtor, he makes the rules and conditions. He can change the rules whenever he likes, and always to the advantage of the creditor, and the indebted can do nothing about it.

The way it stands, the people who hold all the cards, and thus the power, see no reason to give up the control they have over millions of lives, that can do nothing to control their own destinys. It's to their advantage to keep the poor, poor, for if they could break their bondage, they would regain control over their own lives, their economies, and possibly become economic competitors. That would mean they might become powerful too, and that means the currently powerful, might have to give up some it, or worse, share it.