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| A Larger View |
How Current Events and Problems wrest
The Spiritual Movement of Humanity
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| Volume X Edition 4 |
July/August |
2005 |
In this issue:
Armed Conflicts: Main Cause of Hunger, Black Preachers In Africa: Where Does The Line Stop?, Forced Labor: The Need For Opened Eyes, Helping Former Felons, Web Site of Interest: Global Volunteers, To Pondor On: Pre Marital Counseling or Indoctrination?
Armed Conflicts: Main Cause of Hunger
Some things seem self evident or if not are at least common sense deductions, and that makes being confronted by them all the more painful. Armed conflicts, a UN Food and Agriculture Organization report tells us, is now the main cause of world hunger. The effects of HIV/AIDS and global warming are close behind. "Conflict destroys lives, opportunity and environments and may be one of the most significant obstacles to sustainable development as it can destroy in hours and days what has taken years and decades to develop," the report says. Man-made food emergencies such as those resulting from wars, have increased over time and now account for about a third of such emergencies. Wars also contribute to the spread of AIDS since they create displacements and make commercial or forced sex more prevalent. Regardless of whether they are seen individually or collectively, these armed conflicts divert resources from other priorities and end up aggravating economic conditions not only in the area where fighting takes place but also frequently lead to hunger in neighboring areas as well. In fact, the prospects for economic development of two of the most well-known conflict areas are being threatened. The first is of course Iraq where the continued insurgency poses a threat to its future. Joseph Saba, the World Bank's Country Director for Iraq said in an interview that terrorist violence has gone on for so long that it threatens reconstruction. The other is the Palestinian Authority where the prospects for economic stability seem dim despite plans of aid because the penury there is so extreme and the lack of a stable peace is still so elusive. While much misery in the third world stems from natural disasters, we cannot overlook that unlike droughts, floods and other such natural phenomena, man-made emergencies can either be prevented or stopped. As the hunger of people affected by armed conflict keeps harming more and more lives, finding solutions is crucial. For one, wars over small or large areas are making it that much harder to meet the Millenium Development Goals of halving dire world poverty by 2015.
And since diplomatic efforts and behind the scenes negotiations could foster a better climate for peace, such efforts become even more of an imperative. Our conclusion ought to be obvious, unless we exercise our responsibility to find and to enforce peaceful solutions, world hunger will unnecessarily be prolonged.
Black Preachers In Africa: Where Does The Line Stop?
A few weeks ago Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice along with senior White House Officials met privately with more than two dozens leading African American pastors.
The reason was to focus on the administration's faith-based initiative and how it could be expanded to fight HIV in Africa. Millions of children are orphaned by the epidemic and the meeting was asking black pastors to help them. In turn those black pastors, agreed on the ground that it was a matter of national security. Those very orphans, they believed, would be likely to be recruited by extremists unless they would have the opportunity to be exposed to the kind of churches they represent. The participants also agreed that this marked a new era of engagement by Black clergy in U.S. foreign policy.
HIV/AIDS is a scourge ravaging lives and economies. Why, then, shouldn't all the help that can be mustered not be enlisted?
Because the separation between church and State is blurred that much more.
Because the use of Black Churches helping Africans just as that of Jews helping Israel is a perversion of ethnic ties and responsibility that borders on racism
Because there is a hidden agenda and it includes wooing African Americans to the Republican party
Because the politicization of churches invites a compromise on principles
Because the Administration has opposed the use of condoms, needles and other preventive measures that have been known to work on HIV/AIDS, and it is hard to see how successful these efforts can be without the proven tools
Because many of these pastors such as T.D. Jakes have openly spoken against homosexuality and many of the new cases are among homosexuals.
There are no doubt many others becauses… but the above ought to be sufficient for us to question not only the effectiveness of the idea but also its spiritual validity.
Forced Labor: The Need For Opened Eyes
As required by Congress since the year 2000 (sometimes this body does do good work) the State Department issued its annual Trafficking in Persons Report charting the illegal trade in labor and in sex detailing practices often tantamount to slavery. The report singled out 14 countries including some American Allies such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. As courageous and as essential as the report is, it seemed overshadowed by another issued a couple of weeks prior, that of the International Labor Organization, (ILO) which pointed to at least 12.3 million people worldwide working in slave or slave like conditions. Of these, the ILO report said 1.2 million were victims of the slave trade, a figure that the State Department's report to Congress put at 800.000. Children, meaning those under 18 make up roughly half. But the point is not the recitation of or the quibble about numbers, rather it is what the very existence of such numbers means. Secretary of State Rice put it succinctly. The United States, she said, "...as a particular duty to fight this scourge, because trafficking in persons is an affront to the principles of human dignity and liberty upon which this nation was founded."
Seeing the problem as being aggravated by the effects of globalization, the ILO first suggests stepped up law enforcement in both what it calls the sending and the destination countries. Secondly, it asks that agencies like the World Bank working to reduce poverty make intervening in such practices a priority both in countries where such practices are not illegal, and in others where they are not even acknowledged. Thirdly, the report asks that certain countries rethink how their labor, land and migration policies have produced forced labor. In some instances, business or property owners are so eager to get a contract, or (as is more often the case a subcontract) that to meet the requirements of Western business concerns, they resort to such conditions. In some countries girls sold into prostitution are seen as delinquents instead of as victims, and a change in such laws is also suggested.
Trafficking in people is profitable. The estimated global total is $32 billion a year or $13,000 per trafficked worker. When it comes to forced sexual exploitation the total is $27.8 billion annually or $23.000 per worker.
However profitable, however desperate many of those workers may be, the practice is an example of evil and as such requires our continued vigilance, our efforts and our commitment. Not that what we do will eradicate it in our lifetime but that it will make it that much harder for it to continue.
Helping Former Felons
If there is a minority one does not think much about it is ex-cons. They've served their time, are out on parole and are meant to re-enter society and lead productive lives. But there's a rub, laws, or fear, or prejudice interfere. Former felons are often poorly educated, with little or no job skills. As they fill out a job application, they are usually asked if they have been convicted. As soon as they say yes, they know that most employers will not want to hire them. But that's only one of the hurdles they face. Some of the training they received while in prison is not recognized on the outside and certain vocations bar felons from receiving a license. The hurdles continue past employment. Should they find a job and make enough to pay for rent, they find that prospective landlords are hesitant to rent to them as soon as their record becomes known. For those who have children it can be even harder, for while they would otherwise qualify for public housing, being an ex-con automatically disqualifies them.
About 630,000 people will be released each year and of those two-thirds will return to police custody within three years of their release. In law enforcement circles the thinking has for years been that incarceration and its aftermath was the price they should pay for breaking the law. Gradually the mindset is changing to realize that the barriers former felons face will make it that much more likely that they will either return to a life of crime or to prison while the society ends up paying a high price. In 2002, the total cost of incarcerating people was $60 billion.
Congress is becoming aware of the problem and is in the process of working on The Second Chance Act, a bi-partisan effort which would allow $80 million in grants for programs helpings ex-cons to re-enter society. It may not be much given the need, but what is even more important is the realization that this is a problem that we can not only address, but is also one that we will benefit by addressing.
Web Site of Interest: Traveling With a Purpose - www.globalvolunteers.org
The organization is sometimes called global vacations, because the volunteers often use their vacation to visit one of the 19 countries involved and participate in helping in a number a local programs and initiatives. Began in 1984 by a couple after a life transforming honeymoon, the non-profit international development organization does not believe in imposing its view on helping but rather works with the villages and other local officials to help them do what they need and achieve what they want. No experience is necessary. Volunteers are sent in teams of eight to 20 for two to three weeks, four times a year. There is however a service fee, which is the organization's main funding source. Still cheaper than the tab for most vacations, it also helps Global Volunteers to retain a certain independence. The experience allows first-hand knowledge of other cultures with helping others and with learning to come together. It combines giving, being productive and lending a hand while perhaps at the same time helping oneself even more.
To Ponder On - Pre Matital Counseling or Indoctrination?
Many couples are now seeking pre-engagement counseling, asking questions of each other meant to help them determine if they want to get married. Rob Eagan, an Atlanta author and lecturer on Christian dating, says that "if someone's going to learn how to drive a car, you're going to take classes, read the manual. You're not going to just jump into it." Divorce rates in the Bible belt are higher than anywhere else, with states like Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas having the highest, and church leaders felt the need to do something to halt the trend. But the issue is now going beyond the pulpit. At a time when social conservatives are trying to ensure that marriage and its related issues are well within the norms as they define them, lawmakers in several states are passing or trying to pass bills about "covenant marriage", that is a contract between a bride and a groom limiting grounds for divorce to extreme conditions such as adultery or abuse. In some states bills have been passed offering incentives for couples attending pre-marital counseling. These counseling courses are normally given in churches and do look like a sound idea-as long as one belongs to a Church. However, if one does not adhere to the principles of a given church and one's spiritual beliefs are outside those parameters, then doesn't a law legalizing those principles interfere with one's own private beliefs-the very freedom the founding fathers of the United States sought to ensure?
A Larger View is published by the Inner\Outer Partnership, a tax-exempt educational organization probing how spiritual principles can be agents of individual and societal change. We are funded through donations. Please send any - as well as any comments - to P.O.Box 1293, Pac. Pal. CA 90272-1293. Also contact us by email at alargerview@earthlink.net or call 310-836-7710 or visit our web site at www.innerouterpartnership.org
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