Showing posts with label poverty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poverty. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
Sunday, 21 December 2014
Life Isn't Supposed to be this Hard
Sometimes someone might say something like "I don't know what we can do, maybe just pray harder." To this I will respond with something like I think that what will be more effective than prayer to make a difference is action. If we all take action together, united in the goal of making life better, then we will see great changes - and everyone agrees to this logic. I have not met one person who says "NO, action won't change anything!"
The worst thing within all of this is that this life is difficult because we make it so. The worst part is that we could change the world if we took action, but we don't.
One of the most popular excuses I hear is that it's "other peoples' faults". The world is horrible and I have a crap life because of all the assholes in the world. There are too many people who won't change. The world will never change when there are so many bad people. This excuse is used to justify our own inaction - because apparently any effort we make would have no results and so it's not even worth the effort. It's as if we're waiting for guaranteed paths of action, unwilling to move until we are absolutely sure that what we do will actually work. In a way this is the easy way out, because standing for change means going out into the unknown, no certainty as to what lies ahead.
Here in South Africa a very large part of the workforce survives on minimum wage, well below the poverty line. A large number of people live in illegal or government housing (which don't appear to be very different when you put the two next to each other). These are the people who are hurt the most by this world, who are the most vulnerable. At this stage the only ways that they can try to bring about change is through protests, sometimes violent and sometimes not. At this stage there is a diminished level of understanding as to how change can be brought about - not only by impoverished people, but by most people. There is a serious hole in the understanding of the average citizen Joe of how the system works, and more importantly, the power that each person has.
Back to South Africa, what can the impoverished and vulnerable do to change their lives? They have minimal support from public (government) and community structures - dealing with the government is like pulling teeth, but pulling the wrong one each time. These people do not know how to ask the right questions, most of the time they do not even know what their rights are and what support structures are available to them. What then can they do? They often have only limited skills in reading and writing and, if any, very limited access to public sources of knowledge such as the internet. To add to this, the leaders they are most likely to choose are the ones who stir passion in their hearts, whether the message they are giving makes sense or not.
Then there is the question of those who are more privileged - how far does their responsibility extend to the underprivileged? I would say that where one has the ability and understanding to support another then they also have the responsibility to do so. What defines 'ability'? Resources, skills, knowledge - but to what degree? Well, let me put it thins way: If you know that you can help, then it becomes your responsibility to do so. Waiting for someone else to come along and help so that you don't have to is an abdication of your responsibility to your community - and I don't mean 'community' in the smallest sense of the word, I mean it in the largest sense, the global sense.
Life isn't supposed to be this hard. We can change it. We can help each other. We can give opportunities to each other. We can support each other to be the best we can be. It's doesn't start with some other guys over there - it starts with YOU and ME. WE are the change, TOGETHER we are better, stronger. We have the responsibility to support solutions that will bring heaven to earth. We may not see the full fruits of our labours in our lifetime, but maybe our children will.
Thursday, 20 November 2014
Low Wages and High Unemployment Rate – Where to Go from Here? – Part 2
“We’ve gotten so used to seeing Income as a function of Labor that we forget the real meaning of income as that which – if adequate – enables a person to live a dignified life. Allowing Income to remain a function of Labor alone is in fact a violation of human rights, because within this equation, we allow the possibility of some to earn an income insufficient to support themselves, or worse – no income at all. Where are human rights within such an equation? Where are our Christian values? Our Ubuntu values? Our humanitarian values? It becomes clear then that our definition of income requires a re-evaluation and a new, morally justified, foundation.”
In a world where money is life-enabling, we cannot disconnect income from human rights. When looking at guaranteeing human rights, we are therefore firstly talking about guaranteeing an adequate income. Herein the condition should not be labor, but life – we are not discussing basic labor rights, we are discussing basic human rights. All South Africans have a right to a dignified life, not only those who are currently in a position of employment. For some reason that escapes me, this basic truth has deluded us all in how we created our economic system and the society that we’ve constructed upon it. When our economic system – and the rules by which it exists – does not support human rights: do we compromise human rights to preserve the economic system or do we adjust our economic system to make provision for human rights? At the Equal Life Foundation we propose the latter: through the implementation of a Living Income Guaranteed.
We suggest working towards providing a Living Income Guaranteed (LIG) of R4500 per month to any (adult) South African who is unemployed or retired. As soon as one takes up employment, one’s LIG falls away. Perhaps, dear reader, you are now scratching hour head wondering how this would at all solve the dilemma between higher wages and higher unemployment: won’t this cause unemployment to sky-rocket to an all-time high? We have a solution for that as well. We propose that a national minimum wage be introduced that stands at double the Living Income amount, or in other words: R9000 per month. That means that any South African taking up employment, would earn *at least* R9000 per month. That would provide sufficient incentive to take up employment if one is in a position to do so. One’s level of education, one’s level of expertise, skill and responsibility would all remain factors in determining the level of one’s income as it does now, with the only difference, that the minimum wage would be set at R9000.
And perhaps now, dear read, a dozen more questions or even objections find your way into your awareness, such as for instance: how would employers be able to afford paying these higher wages, wouldn’t we be hit by massive inflation, who will pay for these living incomes, and still, would some not choose to merely live off a living income, being satisfied with satisfying basic needs without taking up employment?
The answers to these questions can be found within the Living Income Guaranteed Proposal for South Africa, so if you’ve become intrigued or curious as to what we’re proposing as a new humane economic foundation for South Africa: please do read our proposal. If anything is unclear or more questions come up, please leave a comment. And if you’re excited towards building a future for South Africa in which poverty becomes a tale of the past and opportunities for success abound, then share the proposal with your friends and acquaintances, your neighbors, your political leaders, your teachers and professors.
One thing is clear: something has to change. Human beings have the unflattering characteristic of waiting for a situation to hit rock bottom before deciding to do something about it. We suggest that would be unnecessary as a new road can be paved, starting now. We suggest we don’t wait for anything to get worse and consequences to reach everyone – our future is in our hands – we can yell and scream about our problems as much as we like, but solutions will not magically be handed to us. Let’s rather then make a big noise about solutions that can be readily implemented such as the Living Income Guaranteed proposal – to lift all South Africans out of poverty, once and for all.