Posted on 02/04/2005 5:12:42 PM PST by Indy Pendance
Former South African President Nelson Mandela says poverty is equivalent to slavery and apartheid, and must be eliminated with the support of the world's richest nations.
Mr. Mandela is in Britain at the government's invitation as part of Prime Minister Tony Blair's drive to push for poverty alleviation in developing countries, especially Africa.
The former South African president spoke to several thousand people at a midday rally in London's Trafalgar Square, where he said poverty is a violation of fundamental human rights.
"Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural," he said. "It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings."
Mr. Mandela said the world needs a fairer trading system, and the developed countries have been falling behind on their commitments.
"Trade justice is a truly meaningful way for the developed countries to show commitment to bringing about an end to global poverty," he said.
Mr. Mandela will be speaking on similar themes to the finance ministers of the seven leading industrial powers who begin two days of meetings in London on Friday. And he is challenging those leaders to act.
"Do not look the other way. Do not hesitate," he said. "Recognize that the world is hungry for action, not words. Act with courage and vision."
Britain is currently chairman of the leading industrialized nations group, and Prime Minister Blair is seeking a commitment to double development aid to Africa.
British Treasury chief Gordon Brown intends to use this week's meeting to get support for his plan to raise $50 billion a year in development aid through the sale of bonds.
Hey nelson, want to end poverty?
Get a job and work like the rest of us, you lazy b@stard. You're just pissed that you weren't as slick as kofi.
What a damned idiot! Poverty has been the fate of mankind since the earliest days of the human condition. The LACK of poverty for a significant subset of mankind is a REALLY RECENT occurrence for humanity, brought about almost entirely by the actions of those "evil white men" that the leftists and feminists are so fond of denigrating.
Not PC, but true!
And a confirmed Marxist communist would say something different?
And, former terrorist.
Nelson Mandela failed to articulate that marxism/socialism is complete enslavement for the state. One need look no further than Khmer Rouge controlled Cambodia to see the fruits of a social upheaval towards a commnunist utopia.
That's because the African dictators are stealing faster than the democracies can donate.
Perhaps these nations wouldn't be so poor if they made living so intolerable for their most talented people. I know many Africans who do VERY well over here, are very educated and like the living in America. If they moved back to their respective homes they'd not have the same standard of living. South Africa for instance... in the suburban towns black and white SAs live behind barbed wire fences.
"Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural," he said. "It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings."
OK - so how about forking over some of that bling-bling your son made of the oil for food program and the deaths of Iraqi children?
Two poor people have 5 offspring that equals 7 poor people. - tom
When the Africans get off their lazy asses and work as hard as people in the 1st world, they can be rich too.
I just want to add that any reasonable thinking person given access to the preponderence of historical data will conclude that communism/socialism and its implimentation results in the wholesale waste of human life. Take any historical example and you will also find small mountains of murdered humans. Let's assume for the moment that the above is true, for reasonable people. Therefore a person like Mandela who preaches a form of marxism/socialism as a social/political goal is basically advocating mass murder.
Sha na na na Sha na na get a JOB !!!!!
What's the point of working when you won't see anything for it? It's the same as working in Cuba. They're not lazy people that's for sure, not the many I've met living in New York.
The problem is, they're still too used to working for others to take on the responsibility of working for themselves...
Yes, I know.
I was just mouthing off...I should have directed my words to their corrupt leaders.
It has been said, and it is a common platform expression, that it is well to prefer the man above the dollar, as if the preservation of property rights has some other purpose than the assistance to and the uplifting of human rights. Private property was not established in order to gratify love of some material wealth or capital. It was established as an instrumentality in the progress of civilization and the uplifting of man, and it is equality of opportunity that private property promotes by assuring to man the result of his own labor, thrift, and self-restraint.When, therefore, the demagogue mounts the platform and announces that he prefers the man above the dollar, he ought to be interrogated as to what he means thereby -- whether he is in favor of abolishing the right of the institution of private property and of taking away from the poor man the opportunity to become wealthy by the use of the abilities that God has given him, the cultivation of the virtues with which practice of self-restraint and the exercise of moral courage will fortify him.
- William Howard Taft, 1912
I feel sorry for the people, not the leaders. You're absolutely right about the leaders. Almost all are corrupt bastards. If only the 'first world' governments would stop coddling them and deal directly with the people then things may change.
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