Charity will ease the grief, but please don't ask for debt relief
It is very interesting to watch the news and watch something unfold. At first I heard there was an electrical fault and that an explosion had happened. I worried about it and then I went and had dinner. By the time I got back, two more explosions and a bus had blown up. This isn't an electrical fault.
I like to see the media try and piece things together. I find it personally hilarious that the fox news channel jump on the 'if we don't get osama, this will continue to happen' slant. I find it disgusting that this occurred. I find it annoying that people keep on asking me whether I will still go on my trip. The answer is a resounding 'fuck yeah'. Why would I let this stop me? If my number is up, my number is up. If I am to go soon well, at least people can remember me by my numerous sporting achievements.
I feel disappointed in myself that I am not as shocked or affected by this as I was in 2001. I never thought you could get jaded and disillusioned with human tragedy. But I guess I am living proof. It seems like its another day, another lot of people gone. With what to show for it? How can we sit here and say that we are fighting terrorism when they are playing a totally different game to those who are supposedly 'fighting the war on terrorism'. There is no war on terrorism, there is a war on subjugated people who unless being oppressed will start a civil war. Mixed ideologies and fanaticism cannot be solved by the barrel of a gun. Friends and enemies are one in the same and how can countries continue to trust corrupt governments - not only in the Middle East but also in Africa.
Cancel the debt, I'd applaud you but keep allocating money to governments who spend it on new mercedes rather than aid and services for their people and nothing will happen. What amazes me is that rulers cannot rule without a population. But despite the scores of people who are dying each day of preventable causes, there are scores more being born into a hopeless situation. It has been found that if people are being nourished and are in good health, that they actually have less children. So therefore, if you do the math.. no food + no work = more kids who will have less food, drain the family and be forced to work without having any education. Female children are the shock absorbers of such tragedy because they aren't educated, sold into slavery, worked to the bone, married off incredibly young in some cases 9 years of age to produce more children to continue this cycle.
This is what shits me about Live 8. Live 8 doesn't solve this*, without solving this cycle of debt, without solving declining terms of trade (meaning that imports increase in price so countries have to produce more exports at the same price to be able to receive the same amount of imports), poverty will continue to be a problem. Singing give peace a chance and flogging your new single with a choir full of african children is a sham. If live 8 wanted to achieve the end of absolute poverty, they'll have to join the UN in their utopian vision. The debt needs to be cancelled - I am not saying it doesn't. It has been found that debt servicing repayments daily are 4 times that of the amount of aid flowing into the country. So rather than throwing money at the african nations and saying 'get developed already', the debt should be cancelled. But that's only one part of the problem.
Industry is important, crucial infact. If African nations do not have an industry which is both sustainable but also viable in terms of employing their population and flowing capital into the nation poverty in Africa will never be adequately dealt with and prevented. Transnational corporations cause more trouble than actual good, with their industries sucking capital created in developing countries and diverting it to developed nations. Transnational corporations should be the new threat to national security, in terms of developing nations and even some developed nations. Phillip Morris, that bastard company that some of you line their pockets with, earns more than the total Gross National Product of New Zealand. New Zealand for Christ's sake. I know its a small country but their wool industry is one of the most productive in the world and cigarettes kick their arse. Globalisation may be the 'wave of the future' that is already here. But globalisation only creates pressure on all countries to lower the costs of production, whether through exploiting workers, giving ultra generous subsidies to their own farmers or taking their industries off shore where they don't have to worry about 'workers rights, benefits, holidays, unions, compensation'.
Fuck I am so incredibly pissed off at the general Australian public. For fucks sake you dumb pieces of shit. I knew that Howard was going to be a complete tool and start taking services and rights away. I knew that the senate was going to become crucial to el presidente, or should i say el primo ministero. I can't believe people voted in that fuckhead national barnaby joyce - not only does his name sound like it came out of a beatrix potter book but he's a dickhead. That whole election was voted upon interest rates, well surprise surprise, they've risen. You want more money in your pockets, well I hope you're happy with your $6 dollars, maybe you can buy your kid a happy meal and get your self a no longer 30 cent cone. Because i know that $6 doesn't go that far. Don't kid yourselves and say you're going to put it in some savings fund because you won't. In 3 months time you won't know where that 6 bucks has gone, nor will you know how to pay off your credit card.
Mark Latham wouldn't have been any better. I know that. I just wish the labor party would figure out what they want to stand for, what do they want, what is the direction they want to take Australia in the forthcoming years. The liberal party have an idea of what they want. They want it to be the 1950's again. But how can you want people to work longer AND have bigger families. I don't know how that works.
I don't know much in this big crazy world. But I do know this.. if you tolerate this then your children will be next.