Dear Editor,
Throughout the current global crisis, a great dishonesty has been at work. The issue has not been bank solvency, budget deficits, social welfare, or inceasing competition, through more privatisation in the West.
The issue has been, and remains, the glaring disparity between living standards in the West and the poor countries of this planet, primarily in Africa, Asia, and the West Indies. For example, the Haiti earthquake exposed a multitude of Western sins: a country a little over an hour's flying time from the US, with an average living standard way below it.
The case of Zimbabwe speaks volumes: rich in natural resources and farmland, while its gross national income per capita is a truly shocking $820 a year. The equivalent figure for its former colonial boss, the UK, is, at least, 40 times that. It is simply unacceptable. In fact that kind of disparity is a cancer eating away at global well-being and security.
Instead of owning up and putting serious corrective measures in place, the West is planning air strikes against an Iraq that has already suffered enormously. The fact is, radical Islam is defending the oppressed poor of this planet, for the notion of social justice is central to that faith; one which was a witness to the virtual rape of Africa in former times.
The West is experiencing a moral crisis, one that has seriously shaken confidence and threatens war. It must locate its conscience at least and take responsibility for the 70 years since the end of World War II and before. The idealistic vision of persons such as Jack Kennedy, Willy Brandt, Fidel Castro, Indira Gandhi, Anwar Sadat, Helmut Kohl, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Nelson Mandela has been betrayed, and billions who suffer hardship and deprivation have been let down.
Cadhla Ni Frithile
Wexford,
Ireland
A crisis of conscience
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Throughout the current global crisis, a great dishonesty has been at work. The issue has not been bank solvency, budget deficits, social welfare, or inceasing competition, through more privatisation in the West.
The issue has been, and remains, the glaring disparity between living standards in the West and the poor countries of this planet, primarily in Africa, Asia, and the West Indies. For example, the Haiti earthquake exposed a multitude of Western sins: a country a little over an hour's flying time from the US, with an average living standard way below it.
The case of Zimbabwe speaks volumes: rich in natural resources and farmland, while its gross national income per capita is a truly shocking $820 a year. The equivalent figure for its former colonial boss, the UK, is, at least, 40 times that. It is simply unacceptable. In fact that kind of disparity is a cancer eating away at global well-being and security.
Instead of owning up and putting serious corrective measures in place, the West is planning air strikes against an Iraq that has already suffered enormously. The fact is, radical Islam is defending the oppressed poor of this planet, for the notion of social justice is central to that faith; one which was a witness to the virtual rape of Africa in former times.
The West is experiencing a moral crisis, one that has seriously shaken confidence and threatens war. It must locate its conscience at least and take responsibility for the 70 years since the end of World War II and before. The idealistic vision of persons such as Jack Kennedy, Willy Brandt, Fidel Castro, Indira Gandhi, Anwar Sadat, Helmut Kohl, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Nelson Mandela has been betrayed, and billions who suffer hardship and deprivation have been let down.
Cadhla Ni Frithile
Wexford,
Ireland
A crisis of conscience
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