Kwtia

Superstars and everyday folks were out in the millions on July 2nd for a cause...yes people were also there to see stars, to dance and to say they were part of history...and celebrities were there to maybe boost sales, be in front of 2 billion people watching worldwide and to say they were part of history...but that's not all...the fact that poverty is a preventable cause of death and suffering on this wealthy beautiful planet is something that should keep us up for more than one single night of star gazing and should not leave us feeling like signing a list is all we can do and therefore all we should do...It should, for one, make us wonder how we have contributed to the silence about this disgusting fact...how we contribute with the things we choose to value and seek above sharing and justice and plain brotherly sisterly love for every person on this planet...and i think, if my sister were starving, what would I do... If my brother were hungry would I sleep peacefully every night...Consume like it had no consequence...not think about my choices...not try to do something...but that's just what is happening...every minute of the day...and something that tastes of hot copper or ash suddenly hits you...and makes you stop and stare... not when you're listening to music, and not when you're watching sick and starving Africans, in photographic montages that lean and dip into mawkish paternalism...and not when you sign that list...it happens much less dramatically, in mundane seconds of your life.... something floats by very quick..like the world calling out to you, to your short time in it, to your voice and what's left of your strength... to realise that nothing is what it has to be...and if you support live 8 or not, that's not the issue...because all kinds of roads lead to justice, if that's where you're headed...so get going, read, learn, reach out and take those steps..because as ugly as it gets on this planet...it's damn beautiful too and don't you want to share that with people?

All the old talk about having to help Africa has passed.. that's not what it's about after all...The whole developing world is as much a lion and a survivor as any other region...but our system...the one that has been set up to keep the priveledged in their place and make sure it's a private party they're throwing for each other on this planet we all live on...that's what needs billions of hands together to bring down and reshape...and of course we all know, don't we, that it doesn't have to be this way...which is why people were out on the grass, in their sweat and their smiles...on a summer day all holding their hands up together and saying that they.. you ..me...we are the people of the planet and we have a voice...voices in fact..that I am sure sounded pretty lovely all singing together..in or out of tune..on one day in July...saying that billions of this planet's citizens do matter more than eight men in suits playing footsie with each other in a sealed room at a private party.

*****

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded

Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed

Everybody knows that the war is over

Everybody knows the good guys lost

Everybody knows the fight was fixed

The poor stay poor, the rich get rich

That's how it goes

Everybody knows

Leonard Cohen

****

I am one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.

— Edward Everett Hale

What the hell is the G8?

G8 Overview-STWR

What the hell is the problem?

G8 (Fiction and) Fact Sheet-from 50 Years is Enough

Causes of Poverty/ Third World Debt-from Global Issues

----

What the hell are we going to do about it?

Make Poverty History

Jeffrey Sachs: 'Don't Let the G8 Leaders Leave Scotland Without a Serious Plan for Ending Poverty'-Johann Hari

---

Rather Watch Something and learn?

Life and Debt: film by Stephanie Black

Rich World, Poor Women: NOW with Bill Moyers/PBS

"Banking on Life and Debt"

GLOBAL VILLAGE OR GLOBAL PILLAGE?

This is What Democacy Looks Like