What if Jesus had lived in Latin America?

 Christianity, Corporate agenda, Development issues, Environment, Global justice movement, Human rights, Latin America, Marginalised groups, Neo-liberal economics, Poverty  No Responses »
Aug 132007
 

I came across this interesting power-point presentation of the Stations of the Cross by Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from Argentina, and I thought I would share it with you. What is different about these Stations is that the scenes of the Passion are actually contextualised to reflect current day realities. This particular presentation is set in Latin America with commentary by Alastair McIntosh, a writer, lecturer, social activist, broadcaster and campaigning academic based in Scotland. It is based upon, and builds on, original text from CIDSE agencies (Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité) that distributed the images. Download the powerpoint presentation here. Amazing how this 2,000-year-old Gospel event can jump to life when set against a backdrop of current day socio-economic realities.

NCER: Who benefits more – Sime Darby or farmers?

 Agrobusiness/GM food, Corporate agenda, Development issues, Malaysian finance/business, Marginalised groups, Poverty  1 Response »
Jul 302007
 

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has launched the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) masterplan. The masterplan was designed by Sime Darby although the project will be implemented by a regional coordinating authority. But Sime Darby is not a disinterested party. It is eyeing the seed market and planning to produce patented “mother seed” for 10 popular crops, which it wants to sell, along with fertilisers, to the farmers. Not only that, it will buy the farmers’ produce, process it and market it via Tesco (in which Sime Darby has a 30 per cent stake). When I contacted Jeyakumar Devaraj for comment, he told me, “It boggles the imagination that the government has come to the stage of contracting out the planning for poverty alleviation to a corporation whose primary aim is to maximise profits for shareholders.” He said that smaller farmers could end up being pushed out or turned into agricultural [Read more]

Minimum wage more effective than NEP equity targets

 Corporate agenda, Development issues, Malaysian finance/business, Marginalised groups, Neo-liberal economics, Poverty, Workers' rights  No Responses »
Jul 232007
 

As we all know, the two main prongs of the New Economic Policy are to wipe out poverty across the board and to restructure society so that no one ethnic group is stereotyped with a particular occupation – which in effect largely meant lifting the bumiputera community above the poverty line and into the ranks of the middle class. Now, wouldn’t it be great if there was a policy measure that could kill both these “birds” with one stone? Well, there is – but it is the one measure that the government is loathe to introduce and has dismissed out of hand. It is a minimum wage for all workers. A minimum wage would do wonders to reduce the poverty rate. Low-income workers would have to be paid wages that are above the poverty line. In fact, a minimum wage would be a far more effective tool in redistributing income [Read more]

World Bank should go with Wolfowitz

 Accountability, Corporate agenda, Democracy, Development issues, Global justice movement, Human rights, IMF/World Bank, Iraq, Latin America, Marginalised groups, Militarism, Neo-liberal economics, Poverty  No Responses »
May 222007
 

So Wolfowitz goes without being held accountable for his criminal scheming against Iraq. After I wrote the piece below, an academic friend told me, “Although he did have to step down, it was hardly a fall — guy walks away with that statement about acting in good faith, plus a golden hand-shake of a year’s salary. The girlfriend gets to keep her pay increase and the pension of USD100k.” Well, he has a point. Still, Wolfowitz’s gone, with his reputation in tatters. And, as an Indonesian activist told me when I was writing this piece, now that Wolfowitz is stepping down, it is time for people around the world to realise that the World Bank’s role is over. ”We must learn from Hugo Chavez that there is no development and democracy with the World Bank,” he stressed. ”I hope it’s not just Wolfowitz stepping down from the World Bank, but [Read more]

The not-so-golden golden years

 Marginalised groups, Poverty  3 Responses »
Apr 112007
 

Whenever we talk of marginalised groups, many of us tend to think of migrant workers, Orang Asli, refugees, plantation workers and squatters, people with HIV/AIDS. Often, we tend to overlook the fact that many of the senior citizens among us are no less marginalised, whether at home or in public life, while the young take centre stage. It is a sad fact that the contribution of senior citizens to society and their wisdom are rarely recognised. Many of them receive only a few hundred ringgit a month in pension or have long since used up their meagre EPF savings and have to rely on their children for financial support. For most of them, it is a daily struggle to balance their budget. I had a long chat with William, a sprightly senior citizen, several months ago. He told me about the deep loneliness and insecurity that accompany old age and [Read more]

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