Charity begins at home

If progressives leave the policy arena to the conservatives, the safety net for the poor will be further weakened or be abolished outright as homelessness and hunger continue to increase.

The prison industry will grow, constituting the only form of public service that is fully and willingly funded. The gap between the rich and poor both within and among nations will widen. We will see more xenophobic immigration laws.

Unregulated industries will require employees to work in increasingly unsafe work places at lower wages, pollute the water and air, and set aside less and less money for worker’s health benefits and retirement. Nations will retain and build large military establishments even in peacetime. What can we do to stop this juggernaut?

Ms Mittal concluded her hour-long paper with a quote from Sufi poet Hafiz who wrote, “‘Fear is the cheapest room in the house. My dear you deserve better living conditions.’ So please accept my greetings and gratitude for having me here. Yes we all deserve better living conditions!”

I was amazed at the number of people in attendance, significantly from the large American delegation, who took affront at Ms Mittal, internationally renowned US based poverty advocate formerly from India, for daring to challenge the capitalist ways of doing business. Many commented to me that if it wasn’t for globalisation many big corporations wouldn’t be in the position of making significant donations to charity.

Perhaps they missed the point of the challenge and took things a little too literally.

I also came under attack from several conservative philanthropic organisation representatives from Australia for unduly emphasising the high level of social disadvantage of Indigenous Australians: high death rates, infant mortality, high incarceration rates, least access to employment, education, housing, legal and health services and so on. One elderly lady told me that this was neither the time nor place to be dumping on Australia at such a prestigious gathering.

I guess some Australians left our shores for Bangkok in the knowledge that they could luxuriate in air-conditioned comfort at the impressive Millennium Hilton and not expect to have the appalling social conditions of their Indigenous population raised publicly by a staunch advocate like me.

Although I made great contacts with most Australian philanthropic representatives, and will undertake collaborative work with them on behalf of my US based philanthropic body with Indigenous people, I still think it is important to remind them from time to time that “charity begins at home”.