Basically my friend sent me an email she sent out expressing her concerns about this article she read hence my response below.
Next time we feel the need to be a bit extravagant, please stop if only for a second about how many people at that very instant may have expired of starvation, thirst, and other circumstances that are directly correlated to the indulgence of us, the few privileged ones.
If this trend continues at the accelerated pace of today, we, who are on the margin between the extreme wealth and extreme poverty, could be in no time scraping for food as well.
Until next time…
peace to us all!
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Hi A.,
I know too well of the effect of this waste and its affect on the rest of the poor of this world. As a Native of Haiti, I have witness what this culture of consumerism and waste have caused far too many.
It is a proven and too evident a fact that many poor Haitians result to eating dirt cake day in and day out due to abject poverty in a country that used and still can produce enough food to feed its populace. Read more about this here: (links no longer available)
Thanks to World Bank and all the others Neo Liberalists who believe in free trade and usher this Laissez Faire culture and attitude of Global Corporations that are destroying the poor countries of this world. Pillage and Raping for profit has become the order of the day with little regards for the rest of the world as long as one favorite brand is doing well and one portfolio is in a robust shape, too bad for the “inconvenience” that the lifestyle and comfort us few seek may cause the billions of people around the globe who can barely access clean water.
Lately I have heard reports of riots in Haiti, Egypt, Senegal, Ivory Cost , India and the list goes on, over high cost of food that is becoming nearly impossible to buy… The irony is that rice is the staple for all these country and they all are capable of growing rice. Many of these countries still grow rice and yet their populace can not afford the rice due to free trade that.
I must admit that the more i hear about this the more paralyze i feel. Truth is, I stop going to haiti for the last three years for this exact reason. last time I was there I saw how worse things were getting and I felt guilty and hypocritical for coming and going while a majority of populace of young men and women just living in dire conditions. I have since felt a growing reluctance to go back.
Yes the remittance of Haitians living abroad sent to Haiti totals to nearly $2 Billion US, keeps many in Haiti just barely surviving… Still, there are too many whose lives are spiraling into an abyss of dire poverty with no hope and end in sight. And that at times depresses me…
I am all for doing something… the question for me remains where do I start?
peace,
x
philippe
Post Tenebras Lux! 