#poor
Abahlali baseMjondolo in solidarity with #Palestine
Black people were not seen as human beings in this country under #apartheid, and we, as impoverished black people, continue to have our humanity denied almost thirty years after apartheid. This is a very painful thing, and because we understand the pain of living under apartheid and as #poor people in this country, we understand something of what the Palestinians are going through. If you know the pain of living under #oppression, you will be in solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine.
We fully support the call to have the Israeli embassy removed from South Africa with immediate effect. We also support the calls by the South #African government to call upon the International Criminal Court to investigate Benjamin #Netanyahu for #war #crimes.
We are supporting the call for the boycott of Israeli products
We are in #solidarity with all our #Jewish #comrades in South Africa and around the world who are standing up against the oppression of Palestine and this genocidal attack on #Gaza.
https://abahlali.org/
We often hear the question, what can I do to stop the #neoliberal, #neofascist #restructuring of society? It's simple, they have all the money, they have all the weapons, they have all the newspapers, but what they can't do is love. They are sad and #poor and they have to lose. #free #love #anarchy
A good read.
#China’s #loans pushing world’s poorest countries to brink of #collapse
A dozen #poor #countries are facing economic #instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China.
An Associated Press analysis of a dozen countries most indebted to China — including #Pakistan, #Kenya, #Zambia, #Laos and #Mongolia — found paying back that #debt is consuming an ever-greater amount of the tax revenue needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel. And it’s draining foreign currency reserves these countries use to pay interest on those loans, leaving some with just months before that money is gone.
Behind the scenes is China’s reluctance to forgive debt and its extreme secrecy about how much money it has loaned and on what terms, which has kept other major lenders from stepping in to help. On top of that is the recent discovery that borrowers have been required to put cash in hidden escrow accounts that push China to the front of the line of creditors to be paid.
Countries in AP’s analysis had as much as 50% of their foreign loans from China and most were devoting more than a third of government revenue to paying off foreign debt. Two of them, Zambia and Sri Lanka, have already gone into default, unable to make even interest payments on loans financing the construction of ports, mines and power plants.
In Pakistan, millions of textile workers have been laid off because the country has too much foreign debt and can’t afford to keep the electricity on and machines running.
In Kenya, the government has held back paychecks to thousands of civil service workers to save cash to pay foreign loans. The president’s chief economic adviser tweeted last month, “Salaries or default? Take your pick.”
Since Sri Lanka defaulted a year ago, a half-million industrial jobs have vanished, #inflation has pierced 50% and more than half the population in many parts of the country has fallen into poverty.
Experts predict that unless China begins to soften its stance on its loans to poor countries, there could be a wave of more defaults and political upheavals.
A quotation from Dyson, Freeman
The great question for our time is, how to make sure that the continuing scientific revolution brings benefits to everybody rather than widening the gap between rich and poor. To lift up poor countries, and poor people in rich countries, from poverty, to give them a chance of a decent life, technology is not enough. Technology must be guided and driven by ethics if it is to do more than provide new toys for the rich.
Freeman Dyson (1923-2020) English-American theoretical physicist, mathematician, futurist
“Progress in Religion,” Templeton Prize acceptance speech, Washington National Cathedral (9 May 2000)
#quote #quotation #quotes #advancement #economicjustice #equity #ethics #oligarchy #poor #poverty #progress #rich #science #technology #wealth
Sourcing / notes: https://wist.info/dyson-freeman/58837/
