Forum Post: But what of the Poor World?
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 17, 2011, 9:05 p.m. EST by kmaroney
(4)
from Edmonton, AB
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
My concern is that the Occupy movement is at the moment, however justifiable and necessary on many levels, is simply a Rich (First) world movement. As encouraging as it is finally to see the American citizens, and many others, begin to "make real the promise of democracy" (King), it is so long now that the majority of the human beings of this earth have suffered to feed the insatiable consumerism which is the foundation of the economic systems so poisoned by greed and corruption. While we must give full support to the Occupy movement, that support must lead us to a better human condition in the main, a better world for all. Otherwise what we have here is simply a redistribution of wealth among the wealthy. Please, please, please realize that someone like me, for example, earning $95,000.00 as a high school teacher in Canada has more in common with the wealthiest on earth than I do with the more than 50% of humanity who live in merciless poverty. My income puts me firmly in the top 1% on the earth, what of that other 99% fellow Occupiers? Where are you on that? For the Occupy movement to sustain and be truly relevant, it must expand its' franchise to the whole of humanity. Join with me on this, I dare you!
you dont have to dare me im with you..HOPE Humans On Planet Earth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QrDLwSgg24
Amen. In large swaths of Africa, the 99% do not have access to piped water or latrines!
"kmaroney", you're Canadian...eh? I just noticed on the Web that on Saturday demonstrators in Montreal carried a huge banner stating : "Seul le partage sauvera le monde" ("Only sharing can save the world"). That particular slogan apparently originated in Paris. There's is hope!
One thing we can do is protect their way of life when they choose it instead of foisting our own cultural expectations onto them, and destroying them through neo colonialism. A family in a tribe in south America wakes up and gathers food, then spends the heat of the day playing in the river as a family. As the day cools they gather to finish the days chores, eat and settle in for the night. Is our lifestyle of stress and competition really better?
No my friend, not at all. Personally I would never advocate to impose that which you describe as being neo-colonial. We have so much my friend, largely as so much was taken by the colonial empires, provide nothing other than which might enhance the capacities of the world's peoples in which ever way they resolve themselves.
I'm with you, "kmaroney", and admire your persistence in reminding us that... we are ONE humanity.
Sharing will not deprive us as so many fear (see "libtard" below) but enrich us by filling our hearts with joy.
It's true, we do take the good fortune of our being born in the first world for granted. Most of us, even if we wanted to, could never truly understand the situation of the third world, or even of nations with a first-world autocracy and a population left to fend for itself.
I hope - and I really believe there's a chance it could happen - that Occupy, and the greater, worldwide protests from the Indignados protests to the Arab Spring, awaken us to what it means to be human. I hope it reminds us that we are not just the total net worth of assets, that assets are no way to measure a human being. I hope it awakens us to the terrible myths of tribalism and dogma. I don't believe for a moment that our generation can be saved; this forum shows that too many of us have already invested in flawed beliefs, and that we plan to gleefully take those beliefs to our graves.
But I hope this movement resets the ridiculous narrative that gave us "Greed is Good," and therefore gives the next generation the chance to look at life as more than account balances. Their own lives, and the lives of those across the globe.
"Remember your humanity and forget the rest" (Russell-Einstein Manifesto) We teach to our economies, not to social change or a better world. Throughout the G20 we perpetuate our national or regional economies with our education systems. Young people become disassociated, restless and overwhelmed with the conflict between what they know is happening in the real world around them and what is not happening with the single civil institution they have most engagement with. Hope is on the tip of each mind, of each heart, these idealistic liberal youth can move the world with the capacity to communicate at their fingertips. Peace to you my friend.