Posted on 08/25/2002 5:16:04 PM PDT by Bubba_Leroy
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbeki called on the richest nations Sunday to end a system of "global apartheid" that entrenches poverty and inequality for a majority of the world's people.
Mbeki welcomed thousands of Earth Summit delegates and urged them to reflect on the dismal state of the world at a colorful ceremony to informally open the summit, which officially kicks off Monday.
"This is a world in which a rich minority enjoys unprecedented levels of consumption, comfort and prosperity. While a poor majority enjoys daily hardship, suffering and de-humanization," Mbeki said.
(Excerpt) Read more at channels.netscape.com ...
If Mbeki wants to take from the rich and give to the poor he should start with himself. As children suffer Mbeki splashes out on luxurious plane
Nawwwww. Poor people in Africa are in roughly the same position today as were poor Africans 10 years ago, 100 years ago, and 1,000 years ago, but about the only thing that is "entrenched" is the African Despot.
Tyrants such as Zimbabwe's dictator Mugabe are the direct cause of Africa's failure to move into the prosperity of the 21st Century.
One can hardly blame the West, after all, for Mugabe's forced confiscation of productive farms - for redistribution to his wife and other assorted, corrupt cronies who don't even know how to (and wouldn't demean themselves with "work" even if they did) farm.
Zimbabwe has put 85,000 Black farmers out of work this year alone, and now that entire nation faces a famine entirely of its own making.
Blame Africans for Africa's poverty. It's their policies such as land and wealth redistribution that have DIRECTLY impeded any possible economic progress.
Which means that all that they can do is to beg on their knees for hard-working Westerners to give them food, technical aid, medical aid, and other welfare handouts.
Thus, the mighty Dark Continent has been reduced to a meager welfare state. Its own leaders practice a form of Apartheid on their very own people, too. To obtain land today in Zimbabwe, even if Black, one must present his Zanu PF political party membership card. All others are denied.
That's apartheid, but it isn't "global". No, that apartheid is political and domestic.
It is what Africans are doing to themselves, and no amount of Western aid will change that fact.
The "apartheid" is not between the rich nations and the poor ones. It is between the intelligent nations and the stupid ones. As long as any nation -- in Africa or anywhere else -- insists on being stupid, it will also be poor.
Because the "leaders" of such nations make themselves rich by stealing from their own people, they think the same tactic will work on the international level. Just steal from the rich nations.
We should not increase aid to such "nations." We should decrease it. Let them stew in their own juice until they get the message that bad leaders make for bad lives and miserable deaths. A harsh lesson, but unfortunately necessary.
Congressman Billybob
I am SICK of hearing this.
Free Clue: Kill your corrupt leaders, who starve their own people, or just keep on squatting in the mud and eating bugs, for all I care. Really. Just stop blaming evey country on Earth that has a workable government and a literate population, because it's not our fault, it's YOURS.
After reading about Zimbabwe, the whole damned continent can sink tomorrow.
Call it "compassion Fatigue". It's not, but that sounds better.
It is actually _disgust_.
Getting rid of all the shoe scrapings that attend this conference would be a fine start toward change. When can we expect the mass suicide to start?
a.cricket who has just about had it with this nonsense
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By NEIL SYSONTHE sickening champagne and caviar lifestyle being enjoyed by Earth Summit delegates was exposed yesterday. They are gorging on mountains of lobster, oysters and fillet steak at the Johannesburg conference — aimed at ending FAMINE. As the summit began yesterday, desperate kids in nearby shanty towns queued for water at standpipes. Bigwig politicians among the 60,000 delegates, including Deputy PM John Prescott, also get vintage bubbly and brandy. Taxpayers are footing the £500,000 bill for the 70-strong British party. Friends of the Earth called the extravagance “deplorable”. The head chef of the swanky hotel hosting Earth Summit bigwigs described the mountains of posh food he is laying on for their pleasure.
And Desmond Morgan declared: “Money is no object.” The chef is in charge of meals at Johannesburg’s five-star Michelangelo Hotel, where world leaders and other VIP delegates are staying during the “save the planet” conference, which opened yesterday. While people are going hungry at shanty towns just a couple of miles away, Mr Morgan told how he had stocked up with an extraordinary array of delicacies and fine wines. It includes 5,000 oysters, more than 1,000lbs of lobster and other shellfish, buckets of caviar and piles of pâté de foie gras. He has also got in more than 4,400lbs of fillet steak and chicken breasts, 450lbs of salmon, 220lbs of a tasty South African fish called kingclip — and more than 1,000lbs of bacon and sausages. The huge bill is paid for by taxpayers of participating nations including Britain. Mr Morgan said: “Whether they want Beluga caviar, foie gras or bacon sandwiches — we have it all. “In my experience, heads of state don’t decide what they want to eat or drink until the last minute. “So I have to make sure I have everything they can possibly want.” Vintage champagne, fine wines, spirits and liqueurs have been flown in from around the globe so the VIPs can wash down their meals in style.
A new kitchen has been especially created for world leaders, including the Sultan of Brunei, who have their own cooks and tasters. The £35million summit — aimed at combating hunger, poverty and pollution — is centred around Sandton, the most exclusive suburb in Africa. Its streets are lined with expensive restaurants, gated villas and gleaming shopping malls. Yet close by, families scratch a desperate existence in the sprawling shanty town of Alexandra. They live in corrugated shacks. Hungry children play among piles of rubbish and queue for water at standpipes. The average weekly wage for the few who work in the township is less than the cost of a vintage brandy at the Michelangelo. Aid agencies say southern Africa is facing its worst food crisis for more than a decade. More than 14million people — most of them children — are threatened with starvation. The 60,000 summit delegates from 182 countries are expected to drink 80,000 bottles of mineral water during the conference. Yet each day 6,000 African children die from diseases caused by contaminated water. Since the last Earth Summit in Brazil in 1992, the number of Africans living in poverty has soared from 220million to 300million. Several other environmental issues will be discussed at the ten-day summit, organised by the United Nations.
But in another ironic twist, hundreds of trees have been felled around the conference centre so fleets of limousines will have unhindered access. The 70-strong British delegation, led by Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett, is costing taxpayers £500,000. Most other countries fund their delegations too — but the poorest nations get financial help from the richest countries. Tony Blair is scheduled to address the summit for half an hour. He will spend less than 12 hours in his £550-a-night suite, complete with butler service, at the Michelangelo. Globe-trotting Deputy PM John Prescott arrives at the hotel, which boasts an “executive lifestyle” fitness centre, tomorrow. He and the British team, which also includes Environment Minister Michael Meacher, have five Mercedes cars at their disposal, plus two people carriers for aides. Tories have branded Mr Prescott’s trip to South Africa — the 16th country he has visited since April last year — a waste of money. He has no official speaking role at the summit. The conference’s lavish nature was blasted by environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth last night. Spokesman Mike Childs said: "It is to be deplored, especially as politicians are scrabbling to do nothing about the problems of environment degradation and poverty.
"They are living it up while not taking action for the millions around the world who will die because of inaction. "The people of Alexandra would be gobsmacked if they could see how people live in such opulence on their doorstep. "How can delegates sleep soundly in their beds knowing such suffering is just down the road?" He added: “We have been working closely with communities in places like Alexandra to help them get a voice. “But delegates from rich countries just don’t want to listen to the poor in society.” Friends of the Earth have sent a ten-strong delegation to Johannesburg to have their say. They flew out economy class and are sleeping on the floor of a school. Tory MP Sir Teddy Taylor dismissed the summit as “absurd”. He said: “The whole thing makes me feel sick. When you think about the starving people in the world and then see this sort of lavish display it just isn’t right.
“I’m sure nothing will be achieved at the meeting except for photo opportunities allowing politicians to say how great they are.” The criticism was brushed off by Downing Street last night. A spokesman for the Department of Environment said: "This is not a jolly, it is a very serious conference. “Delegates will not be living it up. And it is their duty to be conscious of costs.” US President George Bush is NOT attending Johannesburg, even though he is the leader of the world’s biggest polluter. The American delegation is being headed instead by Secretary of State Colin Powell. The summit will discuss how an increasing population can boost and spread wealth without destroying the environment. But climate change is not directly on the agenda. Former top UN climate scientist Robert Watson yesterday claimed it was left off because of pressure from the US.
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