In preparation of PHA II - part 4 (2)
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Just a note on part 4.
Much appreciate the PHM preparatory pieces. One disagreement to-
day though!
1) Re. debt, I think it is critically important not to use the
term "forgiveness" in relation to debt. If justice were done,
reparations would be being paid by the North to all the indebted
countries for this illegal, immoral, irresponsible and impossi-
ble financial mechanism which in addition to serving as a nice
regular source of income for the North from the South, allows
the North to dictate policies to the South to further continue
and deepen exploitation of their obscenely cheap human and mate-
rial resources.
I know you all know this but language is so persuasive and the
very idea that the rich are "forgiving" the poor for this crimi-
nal policy must be revealed for what it is - pure propaganda and
revolting bad faith.
2) Re. reform of the Intl. Financial Institutions. There is a
legitimate debate about reform OR REMOVAL of the international
financial institutions. Whilst the UN is reformable, there are
very strong arguments showing that the IFIs are not. The very
basis of their existence can be questioned. This must be allowed
to be debated in our fora. We cannot have that option closed
off.
One example: the WTO makes trade THE sacred priority whereas any
social justice and ecologically fair and responsible policy in-
sists that local and national production to meet people's needs
is the priority. Trade is something you engage in when the ba-
sics are met. Given that half of humanity does not have its
needs met, trade is a luxury (belonging to the rich) that the
poor cannot usually afford. We need to remind ourselves that so
far in history, trade has always been used as a tool of exploi-
tation to obtain very cheap raw materials in exchange for expen-
sive manufactured products. It thereby exacerbates and perpetu-
ates the very problem that the "development industry" claims to
try to solve.
Many thanks,
Alison
--
VERY MUCH AGREE WITH YOU. Should have said abolition of debt or
debt relief.
Claudio Schuftan
mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn