Global Poverty: The gap between the haves and the have-nots continue

COPENHAGEN, Denmark Does anyone really think the world will be saved by yet one more United Nations conference? Of course not, and no one here in Copenhagen thinks so. To a man and to a woman, the people here are resolved to make a difference for the poor of the world.

The participants at the weeklong UN World Summit for Social Development are not starry- eyed dreamers or naive utopians. Almost 20,000 people are here from poor citizens to heads of state representing more than 130 nations. Their target is world poverty in all of its hideous and deadly forms. Their goal, quite simply, is to end it.

Coming from the United States, one is struck by the different moral climate. The spirit of this gathering is as far as you can get from the Republican Contract With America. That contract, behind the mask of states' rights concerns, is a systematic effort to short-change women, infants and children, especially poor children and even disabled children.

In Copenhagen, the poor and the disabled, impoverished women and children, minorities suffering from the lethal stigma of prejudice, poor nations needing debt-forgiveness, the aged, the neglected and the sick these are at the head of the agenda. This conference is biblical in its concerns. It is, in the words of the Gospel, "good news for the poor." It is a direct and sophisticated response to the ancient challenge of Deuteronomy: "There shall be no poor among you!"

What chance does such a bold effort have? No one here is unaware of the dimensions of the problems. The corridors and halls are filled with talk about the daunting crises. Without burying the reader in statistics, here are some of the gory facts that face this assembly facts that face all people of conscience on this planet.

Previous UN conferences have faced the need for development and the end of poverty. This conference is taking note of the cruel irony that too many past development plans created a pyramid, with a flourishing elite at the top and massive poverty at the supporting base.

The world's wealth has been steadily increasing. That is the good news. The bad news is that the gap between rich and poor and the number of people in absolute, starving poverty is also growing. In 1960, the top 20% of the world had only 20 times the resources of the bottom 20%. They now have 60 times more, and the inequity is growing. This ravenous elite hog more than 85% of the economic opportunities, such as trade and credit. The results of this evil grab are ghastly: 1.3 billion people, most of them women and children, are hungry; 210,000 children will die during this summit meeting. They could be saved by minimal support in nutrition and basic medicine.

It is heartening to be with so many people who find this morally outrageous and who are determined to do something about it.

A key target here are the SAP's, the Structural Adjustment Programs. These programs are inflicted on poor nations by other nations and by international institutions to bring "stability" to their economies. A noble goal, to be sure, but the problem is that they do this by stripping the poor of their meager food and medical supplies. The cynical and groundless faith behind these program is that good things will trickle down to the poor when stability comes. Argentina and its "economic miracle" is a perfect example of what really happens. As Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize winner, says: "One part of Argentina is living very well, and is described as a paradise on Earth: elegant avenues, luxurious shopping centers and exclusive residences. Nevertheless, this country, one of the most wealthy in the world, is excluding two-thirds of its inhabitants!"

The problem, in other words, is not in the resources of the Earth but in their unjust distribution. As the Hebrew Bible puts it, the Earth is "very good"; the problem, as the Bible saw it, and as this conference sees it, is with us.

A first step called for at this Copenhagen summit is to muzzle the sacred cow of the military. As the Danish Minister of Social Welfare, Karen Cespersen, said: "Just a fraction of the money spent on military equipment would be enough to create permanent and truly perceptible change in the living conditions of human beings." Currently, global military spending is estimated at more than $800 billion, most of it useless. Debt-forgiveness by the rich nations is the hot point of this conference. The government of Denmark, the host nation, is setting the proper tone. It has decided to forgive $166 million in loans to Nicaragua, Zimbabwe, Angola, Bolivia and Ghana. It has also canceled half of Egypt's debt to Denmark. Japan and the United States are not as morally distinguished. (Again, as a theologian, I note the prominence of debt-forgiveness in Leviticus 25 and in the Lord's Prayer. One wonders why the Christian Coalition in the US is not more attentive to this.)

Another proposal here is the "20/20" plan. This would urge rich nations to earmark 20% of their aid budgets to poverty alleviation, and it urges poor nations to devote 20% of their national budgets to social problems.

The biblical dream of the end of poverty as the only avenue to peace is entirely feasible. The only obstacle is our lack of moral and political will. This conference is an infusion of hope into the human bloodstream and a signal that such moral and political will is arising.

Daniel C. Maguire is a professor of theology at Marquette University and president of the Religious Consultation on Population, Reproductive Health and Ethics.

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