Global people can help stem Ebola

Global people can help stem Ebola.

Global people can help stem Ebola

Tags

#Ebola, Volunteerism

In the last two weeks not the Big Governments but thousands of courageous men and women have volunteered to fly to West Africa and help contain the deadly Ebola virus. It’s an act of bravery and evidence to the interdependence many people feel as part of the global community.

But not all of them who wanted to volunteer could actually travel or have the right skills to help. So, what else they could do to support these health workers to save lives and stop the spread? The solutions are very simple but sad. Volunteers together with the health workers and others that are available in West Africa to help contain the spread of Ebola needs simple things e.g. sanitation materials like gloves, soap, chlorine; personal protective equipment kits; ambulances; and beds, equipment and supplies for the Ebola Treatment Centres etc.

It’s practically scandalous the international community still hasn’t managed to get enough of these basics in. But people are not immoral and they can help wherever they are. Protective kits cost $280, and as elements of the kits are thrown away after each use, health staff will go through over 15,000 kits in just a month, and $50,000 could buy, deliver and equip an ambulance.

So basically, $1,000,000 could do a lot right now by which people helping the Ebola-affected patients could buy 10 ambulances and 2,000 hazard suits. And there are some charities who are working there can likely get the gear out fast enough for local and international doctors and nurses. With this ‘meagre’ amount (in contrast to millions of dollars of ‘pledges’ by some rich businessmen), volunteers will have a chance to get ahead of the Ebola virus before the window to stem the outbreak closes.

This is exactly the picture. Entire health systems are collapsing under the strain. Local health workers have died trying to treat patients without the right gear. And the international response has been callously inadequate. As we all know, a few of the richest nations in the world are squabbling much amongst them with ‘non issues’ than committing medics and money than the number of people who have offered to volunteer in West Africa. Right now the UN expects 10,000 new cases of Ebola a week, and there are only 4,300 beds pledged to treat them!
Governments are slowly starting to move, thanks to the intense public attention on the crisis, but most are not delivering fast enough. The frightening truth is the UN says the world have only weeks to contain this or millions may be under threat. That’s why cooperation amongst people is so important now. If global people are all ready to donate some money, there are charities that could raise the fund within hours of reaching the goal.

There are several humanitarian organisations in the field. Together, we can find and support any of those in the thick of the battle against Ebola.      

People’s response to this deadly disease now not only could save lives, it defines who they are. Are they a global community that believes in and acts on the threads that tie them together as one people? The volunteer heroes and heroines have shown that each of our lives is worth risking everything for. Let’s support their beautiful humanity wherever we are by headfirst in, before this dangerous window closes.

There is Something Worse than Dictatorship: Civil War and Chaos

There is Something Worse than Dictatorship: Civil War and Chaos.

There is Something Worse than Dictatorship: Civil War and Chaos

Tags

Afghanistan, Arab Spring, Bosnia, China, Democracy, Dictatorship, Egypt, Foreign Policy, Iraq, ISIL, Kosovo, Libya, Middle East, Militancy, Politics, Russia, Syria, United States

Saddam Hussein murdered thousands of Iraqi Kurds with poison gas in 1988. “The gas killed children playing in the streets and women on their way to the market. I met with survivors whose lungs were almost destroyed: people who had been dying a painful death for the 15 years since the attack.” But, whatever his sins were, his overthrowing destabilized Iraq, and the effects are now almost evident. The same thing has happened in Libya. In both Iraq and Libya, chaos descended into and anarchy, clearing the way for the rise of the radical forces like the ISIL.

There are many reasons to be thankful by the end of a dictatorship. For one, it may mean that a despot is no longer in a position of power. And there is the hope that democracy could take root in its stead. Some people also believe that anything is better than despotism. But that last belief is incorrect.

There is something worse than dictatorship, worse than the absence of freedom, worse than oppression: civil war and chaos. Many ‘failing states’ show that the alternative to dictatorship isn’t necessarily democracy; all too often, it’s anarchy. States shouldn’t be defined by the polarity between democratic and autocratic states but between stable and non-stable ones.

Rule is order. Many stable and prosperous countries now had experienced an extended period of anarchy. Many countries including China and Russia show it. After the end of socialism, Russians were able to vote in more or less democratic elections and the economy was privatized. But the rule of law did not take hold. Putin’s ascendency to power helped Russia returns from a crumbling state to stability.

It is much easier to topple dictators than to establish democracies. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo shows it. For years, control in Bosnia was largely in the hands of a Briton while Kosovo is under the UN rule.

Stability has a value in itself. Those who believe it are often seen as skeptics who place little importance in freedom and human rights. But the uncomfortable truth is that dictatorship is often preferable to anarchy. Were people given a choice between a stable dictatorship and a failing or failed state, the dictatorship would often be seen as the lesser evil. And most people believe that a more or less secure livelihood and an ounce of justice are more important than individual freedoms and unassailable democracy.

This helps us understand why people in many countries don’t rebel against their governments because it might worsen the situation.

Political instability triggers the yearning for order, sometimes at any price, and thus often paves the way for extremists. That was true in many places, and still is.

The failed democratization of Iraq and the unsuccessful ‘Arab Spring’ in Syria has fed the rise of Islamic State. In neither of these countries does democracy currently have realistic prospects for success. That is the reason Syria shouldn’t be make unstable.

This kind of argument isn’t particularly attractive, I know. It feels like a selling out of ideals. The argument is also often used to justify doing business with dictators and, even worse, provides dictators with justification for their own policies of oppression. But that doesn’t make it wrong.

There are an increasing number of failed states in the world. According to the ‘Fragile State Index’ assembled by the ‘Fund for Peace’, the number of states receiving a rating of ‘very high alert’ or ‘high alert’ has increased from nine to sixteen since 2006. The spread of democracy and freedom, by contrast, has hardly made any progress. According to ‘Freedom House’, following a significant increase in the number of free countries at the beginning of the 1990s, there has been little change since 1998.

Democracy can only function in an environment where there is at least a minimum of stability. And it can’t necessarily establish this stability itself. In Iraq and Egypt, that process has failed, at least for the time being. It is debatable whether the rudimentary rule of law established in Afghanistan after 13 years of American involvement can survive if the U.S. soldiers left that country.

Even many longing to see the departure of ‘autocrat’ in Russia, China and elsewhere, the alternatives must be seriously examined. And, the next time, if an intervention is considered by the U.S. and supported by its ‘allies’ strewn in the entire globe, whether that means military force, sanctions, or the support of opposition powers, they must consider what will follow the toppling of the dictator. Indeed, that is exactly the argument put up by the U.S. President. He didn’t stop in arguing but proceeded to prove his hypothesis. We’re waiting to see the result.

If we can’t identify a problem well, we can’t devise policy to address it

If we can’t identify a problem well, we can’t devise policy to address it.

If we can’t identify a problem well, we can’t devise policy to address it

Tags

#BAD2014, #BlogAction14, #ChildLabour, #ChildMarriage, #DomesticSlavery, #Inequality #BlogAction14, #OCT16, Children's Education, Education

I think that part of the problem is that when much of the inequality is economic, and the poor and vulnerable themselves often behave in very counterproductive ways. Those who aren’t poor see this and are prone to think “oh, they brought it on themselves” and see the vulnerability of the poor as their personal responsibility issue. Paul Krugman wrote about this a while ago: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/blaming-the-victims-of-inequality/

The well-off have a difficult time with the nuisance of “slavery”. It has desensitised them impeding cognitive ability to reason or at least research the facts leaving them without a clue. Not realizing that among many poor, foreigners too, they are neither trusted nor well- liked. The well-to-do people have behaved with the poor perhaps badly, and so many others. It’s something like as blacks are seen by whites, or as it is now, “every Muslim is a terrorist…” The privileged will find an excuse for any ignominy committed. Explanation: “it was for the best, or, there was nothing left to do.” Decisions made based on their own sense of apprehension, self importance, and greed…

Personally, I am a middle-class educated man and have never experienced this type of discrimination that implies that I have to do something against my will. Consequently, I probably cannot appreciate the subtle forms of discrimination that people of other class are subject to. Maybe I can grasp it on an intellectual basis, but not deep down. But I know it exists. What we are talking about here is the gross forms of discrimination such as where the poor or disadvantaged people are “shipped” at disproportionate rates compared to people like me. But the subtle forms surely hurt too. I wish there are some bloggers that are affected by slavery or coercive “employment” can produce an enlightening post for the rest of us. I hate intolerance and discrimination and work hard to root out any trace in myself, yet logic tells me I probably cannot succeed. Thank you, for keeping this issue in the public eye.

Many people want to understand what inequality is? Too many rich unquestioningly accept a system that disproportionately punishes the poor and that gives public services to the disadvantaged children many fewer resources than those serving affluent children. Does anybody encounter some problem? If you’re rich then you know how quick the administration (and police) responds to your problem. But what might happen if you are poor? No or little attention? I don’t know how one changes the reaction and/or attitudes of law enforcement. Clearly it has not changed, maybe become more harassing in many countries (villages and towns). I remember reading John Howard Griffin’s book, “Black Like Me”, and being appalled. Mr. Griffin, a white man in Texas, paints himself black and travels through the South on a bus and experiences firsthand what if feels like to be black in America. It was not pretty. I find it hard to believe that half a century (the book was published in the sixties) later, the Americans are still having this conversation, the conversation of inequality. The injustices seen in courts are also disturbing. Equal justice under the law should never be in dispute. Perhaps young lawyers should have a group of activists who are headed toward careers in criminal law form a review board that accepts referrals from defendants who feel they have been victims of a miscarriage of justice due to poverty, race, gender or stigma. They could then advocate on behalf of the defendant if the case in question is found to have merit.

I also see a rich-dominated society that shows no sense of responsibility for disadvantaged children born on a path that often propels them toward slavery – drugs, crime and joblessness; we fail those kids before they fail us, and then we, too, look for others to blame. On the larger scale the dangers modern-day slavery gives are no doubt real, many of us have seen this first hand. The failure of society and the communities involved will not be easily remedied, perhaps not in decades. But where we begin? So many problems and many people need to be involved and so little understanding and discussion across these wide gulfs of opinion.

The underlying issue is the failure of rich-dominated society to take responsibility and equity for disadvantaged slaves (whatever the forms are). I agree and it isn’t because I get it right but because I understand that who controls the society is also controls the states.

However, primary responsibility for these disadvantage children who often are prone to slavery should also lies not only in the rich-dominated society but also with the affected community and families themselves. While nobody should place impediments in the path of these children, it is the community and family that should empower these children. If we go practical, blaming the rich-dominant society doesn’t really address important underlying issues.

Until the community places a strong emphasis on learning instead of looking at someone for education (it is likely that a state or the civil society in a given state helps them with education and training), situation may not change significantly. The communities also should enforce expectations that male behaviour toward women in their communities should also be respectful.

Things will really improve when both sides take responsibility. Men need to act as proper role models to their children (especially their sons) and understand the imperative to get beyond just the short-lived physical pleasure associated with conceiving a child and take on the two decades of responsibility to raise that child to be a successful, educated, and productive member of society by reading to their young child, attending school academic and athletic events that their child participates in, attending parent-teacher conferences, and the host of other mundane activities associated with raising and supporting a child by any means. This approach may face hurdles, bit with the help of others, they must do it to do enough to protect their children first, and then look out for help from the state or other actors.

And, what’s the states’ responsibility? And others, such as, what will be the responsibility of the donors, NGOs, civil societies? State should enforce law, build a better equitable economy and offer good governance so that one should not face exclusion. Others would help people learn to protect them, and help the offenders’ exposure. That’s it. Thank you all.

Slavery: In the East and in the West

Slavery: In the East and in the West.

Slavery: In the East and in the West

Tags

#BAD2014, #BlogAction14, #ChildLabour, #DomesticSlavery, #OCT16, Haiti, India, Inequality

A 2007 documentary “Very Young Girls” demonstrated, many in the U.S. are coerced into participating at a young age and gradually shifted into a life that very much resembles slavery.

A less visible but still prevalent form of slavery in America involves illegal migrant labourers who are lured with the promise of work and then manipulated into forced servitude, living without wages or freedom of movement, under constant threat of being turned over to the police should they let up in their work. Walk Free cites “a highly developed criminal economy that preys on economic migrants, trafficking and enslaving them.” That economy stretches from the migrants’ home countries right to the United States.

The country that is most marked by slavery, though, is clearly India.

As per Walk Free Foundation’s report, there are an estimated 14 million slaves in India – it would be as if the entire population of a European country was forced into slavery. The country suffers deeply from all major forms of slavery, according to the report. Forced labour is common, due in part to a system of hereditary debt bondage; many Indian children are born “owing” sums they could never possibly pay to masters who control them as chattel their entire lives. Others fall into forced labour when they move to a different region looking for work, and turn to an unlicensed “broker” who promises work but delivers them into servitude. The country’s caste system and widespread discrimination abet social norms that make it easier to turn a blind eye to the problem. Women and girls from underprivileged classes are particularly vulnerable to sexual slavery, whether under the guise of “child marriages” or not, although men and boys often fall victim as well.

One of the world’s most vulnerable populations for enslavement is Haitian children. Haiti has the world’s second-highest rate of slavery — 2.1 percent, or about one in every 48 people, many of them underage. There’s even a word for it: “restaveks”, from the colonial French for “reste avec” or “stay with”. Traditionally, the word refers to a poor family sending their child to live with and work for a wealthier family. Often it is innocuous. But it can also encompass parents who feel they have no choice, typically because they have no income other than what they derive from selling their children into forced labour conditions that strongly resemble slavery. About one in 10 Haitian children are believed to participate. Those who run away, according to the report, are often “trafficked into forced begging and commercial sexual exploitation.

In The Haitian Times last year, columnist Max Joseph wrote, “For Haitians or any member of the African Diaspora for that matter, the word “slavery” is distinctively associated with the transatlantic slave trade in which millions of Africans were forcibly uprooted from their villages and sold like domesticated animals in faraway lands. “The notion of associating the restavèk phenomenon with slavery is a naked attempt at trivializing one of the most grotesque episodes in human history,” Joseph wrote.

What’s perhaps most amazing about the prevalence of slavery around the world, throughout the East to the West, is how similar it can look across very different societies. The risk factors might change from one place to another, the causes varying widely, but the lives of the enslaved rarely do.

Variation in the quality of governance can widens inequality

Variation in the quality of governance can widens inequality.

Variation in the quality of governance can widens inequality

Tags

#BAD2014, #BlogAction14, #OCT16, Governance, Inequality, Slavery

The United States, per capita, has a very low rate of slavery: just 0.02 percent, or one in every 5,000 people. But that adds up to a lot: an estimated 60,000 slaves, right there in America.

But, the rich, developed countries tend to have by far the lowest rates of slavery. Many reports say that effective government policies, rule of law, political stability and development levels all make slavery less likely. The vulnerable would be less vulnerable if those who would exploit them face higher penalties and greater risk of getting caught. A war, natural disaster or state collapse is likely to force helpless children or adults into bondage because of lack of governance. Another crucial factor in preventing slavery is discrimination. When society treats women, ethnic groups or religious minorities as less valuable or less worthy of protection, they are more likely to become slaves. It is, in fact, evident in the Middle East, esp. in Iraq or Syria today.

Slavery is also driven by extreme poverty, high levels of corruption and toleration of child marriages of young girls to adult men who either may be paying their parents a “dowry” or not depending on cultures and the situation in a given country. Haiti, in Pakistan and in India, more than 1 percent of the population is estimated to live in slavery because of either lack of good governance or cultures. Now, it is estimated that 30 million people are living as forced labourers, forced prostitutes, child soldiers, and child brides in forced marriages and, in all ways that matter, as pieces of property. They are under servitude of absolute ownership literally, in these countries.

Two other bright red regions are Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. Both are blighted particularly by sex trafficking, a practice that bears little resemblance to popular Western conceptions of prostitution. Women and men are coerced into participating, often starting at a very young age, and are completely reliant on their traffickers for not just their daily survival but basic life choices; they have no say in where they go or what they do and are physically prevented from leaving. International sex traffickers have long targeted these two regions, whose women and men are prized for their skin tones and appearance by Western patrons. And this is happening because of the variation in the quality of governance in these counties in comparison to the countries that have better governance which corroborates that inequality is multidimensional.