Maravi

Michael and poor's plight

COMMENT - Windfall Taxes are going to solve a lot of the problems. Invested in sound economic projects (infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing), they are going to help eliminate unemployement and develop the country for the benefit of Zambians, not foreign investors.

Michael and poor's plight
By The Post
Mon 05 Mar. 2012, 12:00 CAT

"NOW when you have unemployment and poverty, that's the greatest injustice…Is it justice that some people do not know what they are going to eat in a day? Is it justice that some people do not know how it sounds to be at the end of the month?" These are very fundamental observations and very serious questions coming from Michael Sata. And it is in these observations and questions where Michael's work truly lies. These are the issues that should be always at the top of his mind and priorities.

Michael was elected President of our country to address these issues and answer these questions. And herein will lay his success or failure as President of our Republic.

Michael's observations on, and questions about, justice give us great hope and encouragement that the political leadership of our country has a feel of what needs to be done or the direction that needs to be taken. Michael was making these observations and raising these questions at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross where he was attending the World Day of Prayer.

The issues Michael is raising and the questions he is asking are the issues and questions that concerned Christ the most in his work here on earth. Christ's entire doctrine was devoted to the humble, the poor; his doctrine was devoted to fighting against abuse, injustice and the degradation of human beings.

It is not difficult to understand why the issue of justice should be so close to Michael's mind and lips. This is because what characterises our country today is the collective, majority existence of millions of hungry people. And we shouldn't forget that it is our fellow man, and especially the one who lacks life and needs justice, in whom God wishes to be served and loved.

They are the ones with whom Jesus identified. Therefore, there is no contradiction between the struggle for justice and the fulfilment of God's will. One demands the other. All who work along that line of God's scheme for life are considered Jesus' brothers and sisters (Mark 3:31-35). This is the best way to follow Jesus, especially in our country's present situation.

There is need for Michael to do everything possible and struggle to address the misery that besets large masses of human beings in our country. That misery, as a collective fact, expresses itself as injustice which cries to the heavens.

And those few words about justice from Michael have a very big message, a very strong one, for all persons in this country who hunger and thirst after justice. The very God who creates human beings in the divine image and likeness, creates the earth and all that is in it for the use of all humans in such a way that created good can reach all in a more just manner and gives them power to transform and perfect their homeland in solidarity.

It is the same God Who, in the fullness of time, sends the Son in flesh, so that he might come to liberate all persons from the slavery to which sin has subjected them: hunger, misery, oppression and ignorance - in a word, that injustice and hatred which have their origin in human selfishness.

Thus, for our authentic liberation, all of us need a profound conversion so that the kingdom of justice, love and peace might come to us. The origin of all disdain for humankind, of all injustice, should be sought in the internal imbalance of human liberty, which will always need to be rectified in history. We will not have a more just, fair and humane society without new and reformed structures, but, above all, there would be no better nation without a better political leadership.

It is time that the poor, supported and guided by their legitimate political leaders, defend their right to live. When God appeared to Moses, it was said to him: "I have seen the miserable state of my people in Egypt, I have heard their appeal to be free of their slave drivers…I mean to deliver them" (Exodus 3:7). Jesus took all humanity upon himself to lead it to eternal life.

And the earthly foreshadowing of this is social justice, the first form of brotherly love. Motivated by the same concern and prompted by the same spirit, we reiterate that passage to the poor and marginalised of our country and urge them to remain strong and fearless, to act as the leaven of the gospel in our country, taking strength from the words of Christ, "Stand erect, hold your heads high because your liberation is near" (Luke 21:28).

It is comforting that Michael realises that the pursuit of justice must be a fundamental norm of the state which he today heads. The existence of large number of hungry and undernourished people in our country constitutes an affront to all of us. A permanent solution must be found for this serious problem. There are so many people today in our country who each day cannot meet the basic needs necessary for a decent human life.

It is a strict duty of justice and truth not to allow fundamental needs to remain unsatisfied. Economic justice requires that each individual has adequate resources to survive, to develop and thrive, and to give back in service to the community. Honest and committed political leadership is required for us to achieve this, to guide the energies of all and the resources of our country towards the common good.

We have had much talk about poverty and the injustice that accompany it, that give rise to it. Many people, very good and intelligent people, have philosophised about this. But as Karl Marx observed in his 11th thesis on Feuerbach, "Philosophers have interpreted the world in different ways; the point however is to change it."

Michael has equally said a lot about the injustices against the poor and the poor's plight, however what remains is for him to struggle every day without respite and change, or make some change in, the lives of the poor by putting them at the centre of his policies, words and actions.

The poor want to see real change in their lives before the end of Michael's term of office. And they have the right to expect this from Michael because he promised them this.

Labels: MALNUTRITION, POVERTY, WINDFALL TAX

posted by MrK @ 9:08 PM