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Radically Reducing World Poverty: What is Our Role?
By Ziga Vavpotic
In September, 2000, the United Nations held a Millennium Summit, where world
leaders agreed on an ambitious set of goals to be accomplished by the year 2015.
The eight goals are:
1. Halve Extreme Poverty and Hunger
2. Achieve Universal Primary Education
3. Empower Women and Promote Equality Between Women and Men
4. Reduce Under-five Mortality By Two-Thirds
5. Reduce Maternal Mortality By Three Quarters
6. Reverse the Spread of Diseases, Especially HIV/AIDS and Malaria
7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability
8. Create a Global Partnership for Development, with Targets for aid, trade
and debt relief
In this essay, 19-year-old Ziga Vavpotic of Slovenia discusses
why the Millennium Goals are so important, and urges youth participation in
the process of enacting them. We are printing both the English and Slovenian
versions. Youth Radio did not edit the Slovenian version.
I do live. Not all
people my age can.
Sometimes I ask myself why--why is where you’re born so important? Don’t say that it’s not, because your place of birth is the foundation of your future and your well being. I smile when people say that they’re fighting for equality. It’s sad but true: dreams aren’t the same everywhere. Some kids can’t have dreams, and being without dreams, in my opinion, is almost the same as not being at all.
On my nineteenth birthday I made a big wish: Don’t allow anyone to take your dreams, and don’t allow him or her to convince you that dreams can’t become reality.
That’s a pleasant thought, but once again don’t forget, not all people can have their dreams.
The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a nice recipe, if I may use this expression, for a better tomorrow. I guarantee you, if we achieve them, the world will be a nicer and better place. I dare say, the goals are optimistic. But, they shouldn’t stay on paper. In my opinion, the most important thing about them is that they have been signed by governmental representatives. “Yes,” all the important people said, “yes, we will fight to achieve them.” No one can deny that. However, as the Latin proverb says: historia vitae magistra (history is the teacher of life), and in the past, many laws and agreements were signed but the story didn’t have a happy ending.
Each and every one of us is responsible. Individuals make a huge mistake when they think they shouldn’t bother to try to change something because they think one person can’t make a difference. I get furious when I hear that.
Everyone can be part of the change. Read about the MDGs, because I’m sure not everyone knows what they are. MDGs isn’t a new fast food restaurant or pop group, as some people might think. Spread the news! Tell everyone that many countries signed them and that we have until 2015 to achieve them. Put a group together and plan how you can be part of this international campaign. Pressure your government, and follow what they’re doing to achieve the MDGs. Organize round table discussions, or forums on the Internet addressing the topic. Write to your president! Ask newspaper editors if you can write articles about them. Use your imagination and be the change. Just please don’t say you can’t do anything.
It’s easy to be clever and say education will solve everything. Or that everything depends on free trade. I agree that these are important issues but, especially when we are speaking about Europe’s role, I must say that Goal 8 (develop a global partnership for development) is the one we have to think about.
I must say that I have tears in my eyes (men don’t cry, right?) when I think that by the time I finish writing this essay some children will have died because they didn’t get enough food. Can you imagine how many people will have been infected with HIV because they couldn’t afford to buy a condom? Where is equality if you know that I am considered to be in the top of the world’s richest population solely because I have a family, friends, warm meals, can go to college and am free to say that I don’t always agree with my government? That I’m considered a spoiled European who is in the top of the world’s population simply because this essay is written on a computer and will reach you by e-mail. I’ll stop here because I’d like to destroy your optimism. I won’t tell you how many people must live on less than $1 per day. The number is horrifying.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, what I’ve outlined above is the problem with today’s society. I lose my logical thinking when I read that the world has never been richer than it is today. There’s something wrong with that theory.
When I’m asked how I can possibly encourage rich countries to do more for developing countries I simply smile. Why? Look back. Do you think Africa would be as poor as it is today if in the past “we” hadn’t stolen from the people there and then destroyed it? I have no hope that today’s politicians are strong enough to see why we have to help developing countries. It’s true that, as Eva Peron said, “When the rich think about the poor, they have poor ideas.” If we somehow get money, one of the main problems is that rich countries have a feeling that they have the power to say where their money will go. Eva Peron really understood this world.
Despite all I’ve said, I’m an idealist and I really hope that youth will change the world. They are the only ones I can trust. Maybe I’m an optimist or naïve, but the “older” generation really hasn’t done what they should. We shouldn’t forget that Kofi Anan said that we have the means and the capacity to deal with our problems, if only we can find the political will. I agree, although I don’t think that the United Nations, the World Bank, and other institutions, give us the feeling they they’ve got political will. On the other hand, they created the MDGs and they have the backing of some really amazing people, including UN MDGs coordinator Eveline Herfkens.
As I said earlier, I believe that youth will be the key to change. Young people can put together the materials to build a bridge to the moon, or perchance a palace or temple on the earth, but, unfortunately, all too often the only thing the middle aged man wants to build with them is a woodshed. Only when people understand that youth are leaders for today, not tomorrow, that we are assets, not liabilities, that we are the solution, not the problem, will the world be able to achieve the MDGs.
Please don’t forget. Be the change because you can. I promise that I will be because we, the youth in Slovenia, have dreams, and I’m sure that with support we will be able to turn our dreams into reality. Until then, my answer to the title question is simple: We must show that we understand the problems of tomorrow, and that we don’t look back to yesterday. As Oskar Wese said: Reminding youth about yesterday is not a solution. We have to offer something that they can expect from tomorrow.
Slovenian Version:
_ivim. Vsi moji vrstniki tega _al ne morejo.
V_asih se spra_ujem zakaj. Zakaj je tako pomembno kje se rodi_. Ne posku_ajte me prepri_ati, da to ni res, ker je danes ravno kraj rojstva temelj za nadaljnji razvoj. Hinavsko se zasmejim, ko ljudje re_ejo, da se borijo za enakost. _al je tako. Sanje niso povsod enake. Nekateri otroci si sanj ne morejo privo__iti. Biti brez sanje pa je skoraj enako ni_nosti.
Prav vesel sem bil vo__ila za svoj 19 rojstni dan: Ne pusti, da ti vzamejo tvoje sanje in naj te nih_e ne prepri_a, da tvoje sanje niso mogo_e. Prijetno, a _e enkrat, ne pozabimo, da _al vsi sanj niti nimajo.
Razvojni tiso_letni cilji (MDGs oz Millennium Development Goals) so vsekakor prijeten recept za lep_i jutri. Podpi_em se pod izjavo, da bo svet lep_i, _e jih dose_emo. Brez pomislekov pa si upam zapisati, da so optimisti_ni. Hudo narobe bi bilo, _e bi si jih dovolili pustiti le na papirju; so dobri in kar je po mojem mnenju sila pomembno podpisali so jih predstavniki skoraj vseh vlad na tem svetu. Tega ne bo nih_e zanikal. Ob takih prilo_nostih pa rad zapi_em latinski pregovor Historia vitae magistra (Zgodovina je u_iteljica _ivljenja). Kljub temu, da smo mladi, se ne bomo pustili zapeljati dejstvu, da bi moral biti dandanes podpisan dokument za koga zavezujo_. Sploh pa ne za gospodo.
Seveda pa ni dopustno mi_ljenje, da je odgovorna le vlada. Odgovorni smo prav vsi. Ljudje pa tako radi delamo veliko napako, ki me osebno spravlja ob _ivce, ko pravimo, da je posameznik le en sam in da njegovo mi_ljenje in njegova dejanja ne bodo povzro_ala razlik.
Vsak je lahko sprememba. Kako? Informirajte se o MDGs, saj sem prepri_an, da ne vedo ravno vsi, o _em te_e debata, ko preberejo to kratico. Povejte jim, da ne gre za novo prehrambno verigo hitre hrane ali novo pop skupino. _irite novice. Povejte prijateljem, da so te cilje podpisale skoraj vse dr_ave tega sveta in da je leto 2015 tisto, do katerega naj bi dosegli vse cilje. Ustvarite skupino ljudi in premislite, kako lahko svetovno pripomorete k tem ciljem. Ustvarjajte pritisk na vlado in sledite kaj sploh delajo, da bi te cilje dosegli. Organizirajte okroglo mizo ali ustvarite na internetu forum o tej temi. Pi_ite _lanke. Uporabite svojo domi_ljijo in bodite sprememba. Samo ne recite prosim, da ne morete narediti ni_esar.
Dr_i, lahko je biti pameten in trditi, da je izobrazba in po_teno trgovanje klju_nega pomena za dosego vseh teh ciljev. Strinjam se, da sta prej imenovani vrednosti pomembni, a klju_na po mojem mnenju je to_ka osem, ki govori o sodelovanju med bogatimi in revnimi.
Bojim se, da meddr_avni spori ne bodo klju_en problem (oz. izziv, _e ste optimist in pravite, da ni na svetu problemov). Si sploh predstavljamo resni_no, kam gre ta svet?
Priznati moram, da se mi zarosijo o_i, ko pomislim, da bo v _asu, ko pi_em tole umrlo najmanj 10 otrok, ker pa_ niso imeli dovolj hrane. 38 ljudi se bo oku_ilo z HIVom, primarno zaradi tega, ker niso imeli dovolj denarja, da bi si lahko kupili kondom. Kje je pravi_nost in enakost, _e ve_, da _ivi_ v 10% najbogatej_ega prebivalstva, ker ima_ dnevni topel obrok, dru_ino, prijatelje, ker lahko hodi_ na fakulteto in se ti ni potrebno ravno vedno strinjati s tistim, kar pravi vlada. Ja, razvajen Evropejec sem, ki je v samih 5% najbogatej_ih, pa ne zaradi velikosti moje _tipendije pa_ pa zato, ker sem napisal ta _lanek na ra_unalnik in je bil poslan po elektronski po_ti. _elodec pa se mi za_ne obra_ati, ko pomislim, da ima 250 dru_in na tem svetu ve_, kot ima 40% najrevnej_ega prebivalstva. Nehal bom in ne bom napisal koliko ljudi mora pre_iveti z dolarjem na dan.
Drage dame in gospodje, to je problem dana_njega sveta. Res ne bom nadaljeval z dejstvom, da znate brati in jaz pisati in da sem lahko toleranten in sem pred sekundo napisal dame in gospodje. Spra_ujem pa se, kam je _lo moje logi_no razmi_ljanje ob podatku, da svet ni bil nikoli tako bogat kot je danes. Svinjarija!
Ko me spra_ujejo kako vzpodbuditi bogate dr_ave k pomo_i revnim se samo zare_im. Zakaj? Poglejte nazaj. Ste res naivni in mislite, da bi imela Afrika take probleme, _e je ne bi, mi, da mi Evropejci tako ostudno izkoristili.
_al nimam upanja, da bi trenutna svetovna politi_na struktura bila sposobna re_iti te probleme. Tako res je, kar je neko_ dejala Evita Peron: Ko bogati pomislijo na revne, imajo grde ideje. Tudi _e _e bogati zberejo denar pa se pojavi glavni problem, saj dobijo ob_utek legitimnosti, da so sedaj oni tisti, ki lahko ukazujejo kam naj gre denar. Je _e tako, da je gospa Peron dobro poznala svetovne razmere.
Klub vsem tem dejstvom pa ostajam optimist. Verjamem, da bomo mladi, ki so edini, ki jim v tem pogledu zaupam, lahko spremenili to. Mogo_e sem prevelik optimist, mogo_e me bo imel kdo _e za naivne_a, pa vendar trdim, da generacija, ki je danes na oblasti ni storila, svetovno gledano tistega, kar se je od nje pri_akovalo.
Ne pozabimo, kaj je rekel sam generalni sekretar ZN Kofi Anan: Imamo vse mo_nosti in kapaciteto, da se spoprimemo s problemi, _e le zato obstaja politi_ni interes. Strinjam se, _eprav moram pripisati, da so ravno ZN in Svetovna banka in nekatere druge institucije tiste, ki bi morale skrbeti za politi_no voljo. Pa vendar je potrebno napisati, da so ZN zaslu_ni za MDGs in da imajo v svoji sredini nekatere ob_udovanje vredne ljudi, kot je na primer Eveline Herfkens, koordinatorka MDGs pri ZN.
Kot se rekel, verjamem, da bodo mladi sprememba. Zavedati se moramo, da za materialom v _asu, ko odrasli postavijo kolibo, mladi postavijo most do lune ali pa pala_o na zemlji. Vem, da bo jutri lep_i in MDGs bolje uresni_ljivi, ko bodo ljudje sprejeli, da smo mladi lahko vodje za danes in ne le za jutri, da smo pridobitev in ne obveznost, da smo re_itev in ne problem.
Moledujem, da ne pozabite: Bodite sprememba, ker ste lahko. Jaz obljubim da bom, ker imamo nekateri mladi iz Slovenije sanje in verjamem, da jih bomo lahko leta 2005 spremenili v realnost ob veliki podpori.
Do takrat pa je moj odgovor na vpra_anje iz naslova preprost. Moramo biti sprememba in pokazati, da razumemo probleme prihodnosti in ne preteklosti. Oskar Wese je rekel, da s tem, da jo spominjamo na v_eraj_nji dan ne moremo zadovoljiti mladine danes. Moramo ji ponuditi nekaj, kar pri_akuje od jutri_njega dne.
Ziga Vavpotic is a Salzburg Seminar Fellow.
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