The impact of September 11 sad event

— Keshab Khatry, Kathmandu

The recently concluded UN International Conference on Financing for Development, which was held in Monterrey, Mexico, resolved to fight world poverty in the same line as America's fight against terrorism. These so-called rich nations will be channeling billions of dollars into the sick economies of the poor countries in a bid to topple vicious social anomalies. But, as was the case with Nepal Development Forum, they would do it on condition that the developing countries commit themselves to stabilized governments and economies. If such is the case, then they pledged more help for the half of the world’s population that ekes by on less than $2 a day. However, here too a reference to "global terrorism" could not be avoided. President Bush criticized the "failed governments" for their incompetent administration that often happens to provide a safe heaven to terrorist organizations. He also announced that the more than 50 heads of state who had participated in the weeklong Conference were ready to "challenge the poverty and hopelessness and lack of education" in the underdeveloped countries.

But it’s not the first time that the Western alliance has shown such a gesture. It’s been long since donor nations have carried out their anti-poverty operation across the poor countries. Who else would know it better than we the people of the Third World? It’s not a new phenomenon. But the newly waged fight against poverty, along with Americanisation of the whole Asian region in its "War on Terror", differs considerably from all past poverty alleviation programmes. It differs in its basic nature---in its underlying motives. And herein, this is the fact I shall deal with.

The Vice President of The World Bank, South Asian Region, Mieko Nishimizu had remarked in her opening address of Nepal Development Forum, "Events of September 11 taught us, in profoundly personal ways, a simple fact : Without peace and security of nation states, prosperity anywhere is a mere house of cards." Though this was an expression in relation to the agenda of Nepal Development Forum, it also happens to be the reflection of a growing awareness among the affluent countries of the world. An awareness that is concerned with the dismantled socio-economic condition of the underdeveloped world. These economically sound nations, after 9/11, have realized that without a parallel growth in all nations, their achievement is nothing but ‘a mere house of cards', proved ironically by the way the Twin Towers were turned into a mountainous debris. But then, I don’t want to mean that such a feeling did not exist before 9/11. Instead, Western nations have always made conscious and genuine efforts for the betterment of the poor nations. We will not do justice if we doubt it. For instance, Nepal itself has a long history of sustained foreign aid. Of course, this more than half-a-decade history of international aid has made no remarkable impact on the life-style of the poverty-ridden Nepalese people. People are still denied the dignity of life. But to come back point, many in the West now believe that the issue of poverty in the developing and underdeveloped countries is interrelated with international peace and security. As a result, a sort of undeclared campaign is on the going, a campaign that aims to weed out the very root of poverty from the underdeveloped world. They envision a more crisis-free lifetime for themselves in the abolition of poverty from our part of the globe. So, in a way, this campaign is more of a self- interest than an act of philanthropy, that one is likely to assume it as. It's nothing but a 'psychological jerk' with which the 'act of evil' on 9/11 shook these industrialised nations.

The above expression may sound sadist, but it's not so. It's a fact that the whole world can see in the global uprising against poverty and autocracy ever since that fatal incident terrorized America. If there were no 9/11, then the phrase, "eradication of poverty", would have still been limited to glossy brochures and work-papers. There would have no such sudden change of Western perspective. But a single incident has driven the message home----no peace and stability can be achieved without an equal development throughout the planet. It has turned the donor nations up and doing. Now, isn't this an irony that an nightmarish experience that invited incalculable human as well as financial disaster to one part of the globe should usher in a ray of hope to people living in another part? Whatever be the case, we must welcome the move and join hands----we have no choice. Hail to it. We need it bad.

After his recent visit to some African nations, Tony Blair expressed the view that the industrialized nations have not lived up to their commitment towards the development of the Third World. He urged the developed countries to reconsider on this issue and stressed on its urgency. Similar view was also expressed in the recent meet of the economics ministers of the Group of Seven. Assistance to the world's poorest countries and how best to tackle international crisis were the predominant issues discussed at this regular meeting. They all believed that the ongoing projects on poverty alleviation were not enough and more comprehensive plans and programmes for the overall development of the Least Developed Countries were of utmost necessity. This too is nothing but an expression guided by the same principle.

A recent UN report, from the panel headed by former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo, makes it clear as to why no progress in this regard has been made despite a host of past aid programmers from the donor nations. The report states, "Donors have used aid to advance their own foreign policy goals or to promote their own exports, rather than maximize its impact on reducing poverty and promoting growth". This indeed accounts for the partial reason of the failure of developmental efforts which has a long history. Another part of the reason is the inadequate size of financing in keeping with relevant UN policy. Thirty years have passed since a policy was initiated by the UN of allocating 0.7 percent of the gross national product of the donor countries for overseas development aid. Yet, after all these years people still die of famine in Ethiopia and other Least Developed Countries. They still lead a life of abject poverty. In South Asian region alone, there are around 515 million people who live virtually under the poverty line. So, these two facts, inadequate size of the aids and self-centered use of overseas aids, constitute the reason of the socio-economical escalation of the backward nation states. And this is the fact the privileged West is increasingly becoming aware of, and has started regarding this vicious circle of poverty to be the mother of international terrorism. They now firmly believe that the recent acts of violence throughout the globe are nothing but the naked manifestation of frustration, a byproduct of poverty and shrinking opportunities. Youth in such a gloomy environment are very much susceptible to the provoking of vested interests, especially to religious fanaticism. For, they have no other better options to get preoccupied with. This is the grim picture of the doomed society in the underdeveloped nations that the developed and therefore, the targeted nations, seem to have imbibed. Undoubtedly a belated acknowledgement! Still, hail to it too!

But America, the most industrialized nation, is the least aid providing donor nation who gave away only 0.1 percent of its GNP in 2000. Perhaps, USA might be having an apt justification for it. Because, it has to invest more than 0.7 percent of its GNP in ensuring international security! But a piece of advice to USA, even from the dissidents within America itself, is that it should stop playing the 'Global police' and join hands with the UN in its effort to double the development aid by western nations to around $ 100 billion a year. This only can be the true solution to put an end to the terrorist atrocities that has long taken hostage of the peace and security of this planet. In fact, America should learn that this is the way of initiating a war on terrorism instead of any conventional one that already has claimed hundreds of innocent Afghan lives. Which is an injustice to these naive Afghan people, and we should not forget the words of Martin Luther King in this respect, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Any irresponsible behavior by the allied troops deployed in the war-torn nation will certainly reciprocate by increasing the prejudice of Islamic nations towards the West. At last, let us pray: "May the Afghan deserts turn green!"

The author is trainee journalist at Nepal Press Institute- Editor

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