Damn statistic

(ES)

Are you one of the 10.55 million refugees in the world?
Are you one of the 14.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have fled their homes?
Are you between 15 and 24 years and can not find work? You may be one of the 75 million young people unemployed worldwide.
Do you have children of school age who are not attending school? There are 61 million children in age to attend primary education out of the school.
Are you a woman and you are between 20 and 24? So you may already be married and you're one of the 70 million married women before the age of 18 years. Did you marry even younger? Well, there are 23 million women married before 15.
Do you enjoy a rich and varied diet that ensures your physical and mental development? Chronic malnutrition is suffered by 870 million people worldwide.
Are you one of the 2 billion people living on less than 2$ a day?

Given that the world population is 7 billion people, it is quite likely you're lucky (statistically speaking) to be part of only  some, or even better, any of the above groups.

Damn statistic! The problem is always of other.

And indeed, those "other" millions of human beings are the most vulnerable. They live their lives with the resignation of those waiting for better times, knowing that lack strength and resources, and plenty of misery and suffering left over.

Let us not expect that the weak, by themselves, to stand up and fight for social achievements that the powerful deny them.
Let us not expect that the powerful, by themselves, to distribute their growing wealth, since their fortunes are fed by poverty and crisis.

The future we want is in the hands of those who are not part or cause of the problem. Of those who still can conquer new social grounds, toward a world in solidarity, with a more equitable distribution of wealth and greater social and environmental justice. Of those that can empower the weak and weaken the powerful.

Again, the statistics do not lie: A vast majority of the world population are part of the solution. Only our determination to change things can get another possible world.

Things do not change, we change.
Henry David Thoreau

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Protecting the innocents

(ES)

No more bombs will explode from now on.
Not a single shot will keep you awake.
No more tears or cries.
Nobody will desecrate our home.

Sleep quiet, honey.
Sleep without fear.
Curled up in my chest, my fingers through her curls.
Sleep in peace, only the moon and the stars in the sky.

Sigh...
And every sigh,
a breath of fresh air
that encourages to keep fighting;
winds of revolution.
Amid such horror and misery,
THE HOPE

“As the eyes of the world focus on the mounting violence in Syria, we must not overlook the fact that while children are not responsible for this tragedy, they’re paying a terrible price. Children are losing their lives, losing their homes, losing their parents and losing their schooling."

Anthony Lake - UNICEF Executive Director

 

“Children fleeing violence in Syria are at risk of suffering long-term distress without appropriate care”“Right now, the Child Friendly Spaces are sufficient for 2,500 children in Za’atari. In just a few months, we expect as many as 35,000 children will be at the camp, so we urgently need to provide additional safe places and other support to protect these children who have already suffered so much.”

Dominique Hyde - UNICEF Jordan Representative

 

But not only armed conflicts are hitting childhood, so do the austerity measures taken by european governments as the Spanish in response to the economic crisis, as reflected in the UNICEF report "Childhood in Spain 2012-2013: the impact of the crisis on children."

In Spain, 2.2 million children live in homes below the poverty line, 10% more than in 2008.

 

Let us protect the innocents, beacuse they are our only hope.

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Reductio ad absurdum

(ES)

A Syrian girl crying about not being able to cross the Turkish border. / ARIS MESSINIS (AFP)

Today's world is incomprehensible.
Any information is available almost instantaneously.
An informative blast, whose shockwave stuns our senses. A blinding light that prevent us from seeing the basics, and a deafening whistle that nullifies our thoughts.
Mass media that instill fear, polarize society, and invite us to consume at an unbridled pace.
Any resistance attempt, critical thinking or civil disobedience is obviated or destroyed under the watchful eyes of blind justice.
Sleeping pills of information to numb society.
Informative curiosities to divert attention.
Brainy reports to manipulate public opinion.
Unrealistic romantic landscapes in the world of advertising that incite to consume in search of individual happiness.
Surrealistic threats from fictitious enemies whose sole purpose is to satisfy the cravings for war of the arms industry and the corporate greed.

Amid the blinding light, still dazed by the explosion, I get to see someone who is  suffering and need help; a cry barely audible amid the informative confusion.

What else is there to understand?

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Rivalry in solidarity

(ES)

According to a recent study driven by about 25 nonprofit organizations and organized by the Spanish Association of Fundraising, of the surveyed population, about 1 million people, 84% were concerned with the suffering in the world and tries to act. 67% suffer to see injustices and tragedies. And 86% is relieved, less guilty, proud and even more motivated and inspired to live when making a donation or helping others.

Same as the brands transmit us through marketing an idea, a philosophy, a way of life that identify us with what we consume, in the market of solidarity, many of the large NGOs and UN agencies have become trademarks whose product is as ethereal as happiness of helping the most vulnerable and needy. Large multinational of solidarity and international cooperation that rely on other organizations to develop their projects on the ground. A model equivalent to the major trademarks that focus their business on strengthening the brand, and relocate production to countries of the south with labor, environmental and fiscal regulations more lax than in the north. Similar models, opposite motivations and objectives.

Paradoxical to think that the inhabitants of the north, rich and powerful, where the abundance is the norm rather than the exception, need to buy the "happiness of helping others" at the cost of alleviating the suffering of millions inhabitants of impoverished South.

In general, one might say that any aid is insufficient, and thanks to the projects of these NGOs and UN agencies, millions of people still have some hope. But what if it is the model that fails? What is the capacity of large nonprofits organizations to compete in the world of trademarks for fundraising against giants that spend millions of $ in advertising to sell "happiness of consuming"?

Why we need to buy happiness, we, the wealthy inhabitants of the north? Is not the capitalist system which generates a wealth distribution becoming more and more unequal? Is not this unequal distribution of wealth between north and south, between the north and its periphery, the source of unhappiness and suffering of billions of human beings on this planet?



In the fight against poverty, taking into account the scarcity of resources devoted to it and the rivalry to get them, we often forget that voluntaristic effort of thousands and thousands of committed people will never be able to overcome the real obstacle to eradicate it: greed.

Therefore, is not the fight against the accumulation of wealth the best way to eradicate poverty? The global economic crisis we are living since 2008 has been the catalyst for global movements of indignation against neoliberal theories that deepen inequality and social and environmental injustice. Will be these movements of outraged and occupiers the triggers of a paradigm shift on a global scale? A less individualistic and competitive model in which prevail the general welfare. A new generation of supportive and socially responsible citizens claiming their governments a greater effort in transparency, education, health, and social protection. I hope so.

We are the 99%.

© Jaspreet Kindra/IRIN

Condemned to choose

(ES)

A billboard promoting peace in Kotido District in Uganda
© Khristopher Carlson/IRIN

Physical violence, psychological violence, gender violence, child abuse, tribal violence, sectarian violence, financial violence, terrorist violence, police violence, gun violence, torture, gang violence, violence in sport, sexual abuse, human trafficking, violence against environment, against biodiversity, slavery, poverty, hunger ...

How many forms of violence surrounding us in this global world in which co-exist 7,000 million human beings?
Is it possible a peaceful world?

Without doubt, the answer to this question is no.

So what hope is there? What do we leave to future generations? A world doomed to self-destruction?

Resign ourselves to this fate raises an existence doomed to slavery rather than freedom. For if as J.P. Sartre said, "human being is condemned to freedom", only hope, and a change in individual attitude can correct this fatal fate. To the extent that we are condemned to choose, let non-violence be our choice.

Let us think that peace is not an end in itself, but an attitude towards life. An attitude of intolerance to violence and abuse, and compassion for those who suffer.

Peace as an objective and as an attitude to life. Hope as a driving force. Through multiculturalism toward non-violence.

 ONE million tweets to STOP violence