POVERTY

Although it will be mostly my friends who see this, it is intended as commentary to society in general, please do not take personal offence to it. Or, if you really want to, you can take personal offence, but why twist the meaning?

That's right, you know it's the big thing right now at this moment. Poverty. How many times will Mandela say it? - Before you sign an online petition? - Before you commit to do something about it? - or Before you begin to say "Man I'm so tired of fuckin' hearing about it"?

I'm going to state my position from the start because there are going to be some rather unpopular things that I say here. The ironic part is that I will likely catch flack (don't hesitate to put your 2¢ in all the same) for this because by the end of these entries people will have forgotten where I stand and misinterpeted the intent behind my statements. That's okay, that's your right.

I Have been politically active since the age of eleven or twelve. I cannot remember exactly, but roughly then is when I wrote my first letter. That's right, I wrote my MP at least seven years before I could vote, so when I say politically Active, I don't mean following the issues on the news and pissing or moaning 'bout it at the water cooler.

In recent times I have actively Avoided politics because it forces the cynic in me. In this arena I have very little faith in humanity. I do not think I have all the answers. I don't think there even Are answers for some of the problems. I do believe that there are ways to improve things, but in explaining How I think it must be approached, we find the part where people forget my stance.

Here it is: I want to see an end to Poverty, Globally. I Really Want that. I want an end to War. Badly. I want a world where people can accept differences between each other and just fucking get along without invoking their particular God or tradition or situation or skin colour or circumstance or flag to justify some kind of violence (not Just physical violence). Kind of what I want is, simply put, Utopia.

Clearly we are pretty far from that. The problems restated: people starving, people displaced, people fighting, a global economic system that has built in biases against large portions of the world. I am going to thrown in the problem of rapid population growth as well. There is more to consider than this, of course, there's Always More.... but let's start here.

First up, since it is getting press, a few words on debt relief. The relevant members of the U.N. have recently erased the debt of the 20 or 25 poorest nations in the world. That's it, zip, gone. Kudos to a council that I was beginning to have some serious doubts about in recent times.

There are a lot of other poor nations out there, however. My thoughts here are simple. Many of these nations have No Hope whatsoever of Ever being able to pay off these debts. May their creditors have the grace to see this and instead of letting interest pile up, simply forgive the debt. This should be fine because a lot of this foreign aid was set aside from taxpayer's dollars. If the people who were taxed for it are smart, they will understand that this debt Can't be paid and let it go with good graces.

This should be unpopular: The places that cannot sustain their populaces tend to have the highest rate of population expansion. This Must be controlled. I am not saying Stopped. Everyone, if capable, should be allowed to have children. I do question why you Would have one when you live in grinding poverty, warzones, etc., but that's for me to wonder about. The fact is people still do it. China has taken steps for population control. They were criticized heavily, but if you ask me they have identified one step in a solution, which is to say Stop Making the Problem Bigger.

Here it comes; Birth Control. Make it a cultural standard if it isn't one already. Don't give me your prime directive bullshit about not changing a unique culture. In the west, female circumcision is considered an abomination and that is a cultural standard that nobody here seems to have any qualms about eliminating, so introduce birth control. This is just a question of slick advertising. If you doubt me, look into a group called the Diamond Promotion Service. The last publication by them reminded retail professionals that their purpose was to "create a tradition in society." Insipid, but sometimes necessary.

So what do we have? Erase the unpayable debts, as though forgetting the past. Assess the current state of things and prevent the problem from expanding, (containment). The next step is to begin reversing the damage.

Clearly, if the world turns around immediately and throws Every cent we can into this one item, we may well feed and house everyone. We will simultaneously ruin the economies of places that are already established. Cuz I'm aiming to see the whole world on a decent footing here. Throwing money at it is not the simple solution. A budget must be established to continuously upgrade from a bad situation.

I am in the arts here in Canada. I would have no issue with some of the government funding for the military going instead to helping these people. If you are in the army you might have no issue seeing arts money being redirected. What if you're a musician in the air force? All right, if people will willingly take the point I suppose I could deal with some arts money being diverted seeing as helping the world is a more humane cause than the so called "humanities."

Ay, there's the rub. Doing this means giving up things that are important to you. Do you understand that? I'm not just talking about giving up your weekend to march in a damn protest, you freakin' hippies, Protests are Free and the Food to feed the world costs $$$! Now like it or lump it that is a reality that is firmly rooted and not going anywhere anytime soon.

Here's an example: a lot of people during '91 were irate about the US going to Iraq. I was. Good for us! Such morally upstanding people! Eh? We all knew it was Really about oil. We all knew that blood equalled oil. The funny part was that as the prices at the pump rose, hitting all time highs, who was Bitching about it? Everyone. That's right, even the ones who were marching in protest. Do you see it? You want out of Iraq, but what are you gonna say when Petrol hits $2.00 a litre? Well? You're gonna Demand some action from your government aren't you?

You may want to call me on this - I didn't drive at the time, I didn't have a car. Of course I would be leading you into a trap if you do call me on it, I am tricky that way. I also didn't take the bus for as often as I had the option not to. I Did take a cab once or twice out of emergency, otherwise I skated or rode my bicycle. Only when the weather prevented me did I resort to the lesser of automotive evils, the bus.

I have digressed, the point is how many of you Willingly gave up your cars? Not too many, I'm afraid. Here again I have to restrain myself. I am not asking everyone to sell their cars off and stop buying oil or anything. That alone would collapse the economy. I am suggesting we all Limit it voluntarily. The Western mind seems to hate having Limits imposed, so why not consider your own situation and limit yourself.

So: when we shock the system, we can wreck the system, we have to solve these problems in a smooth and growing manner. It seems that a lot of the advertising and hype (Yeah, I call it Hype!) going around right now are really pushing the urgency. Fair enough, the situation is desperate and urgent. I just want to remind people that the urgency means start now, Not Solve Now. These things are going to take decades to fix. Decades. So let's start now.

Here is another problem, people forget, it seems. One big push effort and they think it's over. One summer of cutting back on driving or supporting the arts and military Will not do it. For those of you who remember Live Aid, which was the impetus decades later for Live8, the situation was about hunger. Oh, it was Huge! But then we began to forget and some even said, "but we helped that already." I was young when it happened and didn't realize how much more was required for this problem.

Consider that when Yeltsin took over Russia he promised Utopia in 500 days. I laughed when I heard that because I knew it couldn't be done. What didn't dawn on me at the time was the fact that people in Russia were so desperate that they would have bought any ticket that claimed such a quick fix. Drowning people will grab at a stone, they say, and I regret laughing because it wasn't funny.

Now today, in the wake of Live8 and all the press Dr. Mandela (honorary degree) is generating over the African crisis, I have receive an email several times over about ending poverty. It talks some slick shit, but it's rather vague. I get the feeling I am part of the problem if I don't join their list. Yet, what is the list about? They don't really say. They ask me to demand of my Prime Minister a 0.7% Timeline. I wanna know, 0.7% What? For who? What timeline? What The Fuck Does It Mean.

Look, North America, I know a lot of you are emotional cuz you have seen the footage of these children starving to death. It is Terrible. I am wondering how many have signed into this list in general principle without even knowing what exactly is implied by a 0.7% timeline. Well? Can you tell me what it is? Do you realize that this had already been happening for decades when Live Aid was put on in the 80s?

Pleaaaaase, if you are going to be supportive, get to know the facts. Don't just hop on because it's all over the media. I mean, Do Hop On! Just Know about what you are hopping on. Know that it is going to take actual Sacrifice, not just the energy to go out for a walk on weekends. As someone beautiful is saying right now, resting easy in your conjured angst ain't makin' a difference... DO Something.

Lessee where we are. Identify problem, control and contain it, commit to it... Ah! Solutions. Let me state again that I do Not have THE solution to it all. I just see where changes can be made to make the suffering a little less. Divert funding. Just a little off the top of All the wonderful things we fund. Consume a little less, just a little less and add the difference in with the diverted funds, it will make a difference when it all gets added up. Send expertise overseas to help with organization, infrastructure, etc. Provide funding for birth control popularization and materials that will not cost these regions anything.

Change is a hard thing to do, but for those who are being moved by what they are seeing lately I say commit. Write letters to your MPs. Write Many letters, continually. Get in touch with Amnesty International and tell them you want to write letters for them too. Find spare time to volunteer locally. I promise you that once you are volunteering you will begin to feel good about what you are doing - how's that for dividends on time well spent? Make ongoing incremental changes in your lifestyle. Share your expertise. Go abroad on your vacation, not to soak up the sun lazily on some beach, but instead to help develop a village in a third world nation.

Sounds like a lot, eh? It is. Do these things without politics or religion or anything except the singular idea that there is someone in need that you might help. Do it just to feel good that you helped in your own small way. All I ask is that if you have the fever, don't just sit and Talk about it. Let it take you over and motivate you. Most of all, try not to be discouraged when, twenty years from now, you realize that we have only taken the first steps.

as a parting plea, though, Please do not send me the item in the email, that one with vagaries. I have it already. I Know there is a bad problem and I have been making the efforts in my own small ways for years.