We can make the world a better place

The first reports I heard of the tsunami put the possible death toll in hundreds. That was before the real impact had emerged. On a daily basis the death toll mounted and the human stories of loss emerged. So too did the stories of courage and generosity and bravery. Events such as this put everything in context, including the begrudgery and the minimalist pace of the peace process in our own place.

But the tsunami also pointed up what is wrong in the world. And it showed that the will of the people is that these wrongs should be righted. How is this to be done? Bono, Bob Geldof and other activists have pointed to a different way. NGOs such as GOAL, Bóthar, Concern, Trócaire and many others work away at the coalface. But they can only do so much. The British Chancellor Gordon Brown proposed that foreign debt be suspended. That was a good suggestion, but still doesn't deal with the core issues. The foreign debts should be cancelled.

More than one billion people live on less than one dollar a day. Eleven million children under the age of five die each year from preventable diseases. In the countries hardest hit by the tsunami millions die from malnutrition and treatable illnesses. The time for the cancellation of foreign debts is long overdue. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund cannot be allowed to act without accountability.

After disasters, many caused by the environmental policies of richer countries, the international media focuses in on the plight of the victims. Remember a few years ago when many thousands of people in Mozambique were killed by some of the most devastating floods in recent memory? Many tens of thousands more were left homeless. What was not deemed so newsworthy at that time was that while the people of Mozambique were clinging to trees and rooftops just to stay alive, their government was being forced to send $1.4 million a week to its debtors in the then G7. After Hurricane Mitch hit Central America, Honduras and Nicaragua were spending more than half of their revenue on debt repayment.

Five years ago 16 million faced starvat-ion in the Horn of Africa. At that time 37 African countries owed a total of $354 billion. The UN estimated that, if the funds to pay off debt were diverted back into health and education, the lives of seven million children a year could be saved. Seven million children! Just think. That is two million more than the entire population of this island. That is 134,000 children a week. Dying from preventable diseases. From now till the next issue of Village. 134,000 children. Dead.

Social and economic problems here in Ireland are but a shadow of the great poverty and inequalities experienced by other nations. But they are no less real for those who have no jobs, for the elderly, the sick, lone parents, the disabled, the Travelling community or working-class communities emasculated by the scourge of drugs. All of these wrongs must be righted, especially now that there is the wealth to do so.

But there is still a lot of idealism and compassion and a sense of public service in our society. One of the dangers of the recent scandals and the revelations of abuses which rocked the southern State, and an effect of the affluence of the Celtic Tiger, is that Irish society could be redefined into a less caring, more selfish form of mé féinism. That has not happened. But there is a cynicism about politics. And there is a lot of materialism.

In my view this has not undermined the compassion and the the aspirations of the vast majority of people. Of course, people want to be better off. That is natural. But most people also want to help others.

We are told that Ireland in these Celtic Tiger times is a less caring place, but the popular response to the victims of the tsunami has been magnificent. There are many challenges in this increasingly divided world. War in Iraq, conflict in the Middle East, countless wars in Africa, unimaginable poverty and deprivation across the globe, hunger, disease, environmental disasters and the fear of more to come, globalisation and the exploitation of workers, racism and sectarianism, injustice and oppression.

The reality is that more money is spent on military projects than on aid or fair trade policies. The reality is that the big powers do not conduct themselves in a globally responsible way. The reality is that there is a crisis in many multinational institutions and agencies, for example, in the United Nations.

These are some of the matters which confront us as another year, 2005, begins. Can Irish citizens impact on these issues? Of course we can. But only if we make the effort. Only if we really want to. Everyone can make a difference. Another world, a better world, is possible.

The response to the tsunami shows that people understand the importance of practical as well as symbolic acts of international solidarity. And, where the people lead, governments follow.