Current systems cause & maintain poverty ... let's design & build sustainable systems to prevent poverty & develop a sustainable Maine future for all.
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Maine Symposium on Poverty, Economic & Food Security
October 27, 2008
at the Augusta Civic Center
In the year 2008, in a nation with the largest economy in the world, there are more than 37 million people living in poverty and far more unable to make ends meet. We have the highest child poverty rate of all industrialized nations. Here in Maine, there are more than 130,000 people living in poverty including more than 14 percent of all children.
Poverty exacts a human and financial toll that has become too great to bear. It is a condition that hinders human and community development. It constrains budgets and stilts economic growth. To better our communities and labor force and to allow all Maine people the opportunity to flourish, we will have to rethink the way we fight poverty.
Join us at this year’s poverty symposium as we evaluate past policies, ponder underutilized resources, and propose new ideas for ending poverty.
Bono, U2 lead singer and founder of the ONE Campaign, urges world leaders to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals to end extreme poverty. To see more and take action, visit www.youtube.com/inmyname
By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press Writer Sun Jul 20, 7:29 AM ET
Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday a "spiritual desert" was spreading throughout the world and he challenged young people to shed the greed and cynicism of their time to create a new age of hope for humankind.
Speaking at a Mass before some 350,000 Roman Catholic pilgrims and a likely television audience of millions more, Benedict wrapped up the church's six-day World Youth Day festival. He urged the young people in his more than 1 billion-strong flock to be agents of change because "the world needs renewal."
"In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair," the pontiff said. The appeal came as Benedict finished a visit to Australia that touched on the themes that have defined his three-year-old papacy, including the struggle to rejuvenate a crisis-battered Church, reaching out to other faiths and raising global warming as an important issue.
The 81-year-old pope said it was up to a new generation of Christians to build a world in "which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished — not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed."
They must embrace the power of God "to let it break through the curse of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age," he said.
The aim was "a new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deadens our souls and poisons our relationships," he said.
The Mass came a day after the pope made a forceful apology for the sexual abuse of children by Australia's Roman Catholic clergy, keeping up efforts begun in the United States to publicly atone for what he called evil acts by priests.
The Mass was delivered at a horse racetrack filled with pilgrims who had camped out overnight. Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said 350,000 attended Sunday's Mass. Australian organizers surmised a global television audience of up to 500 million during big World Youth Day events.
The pope flew over the scene early Sunday in a helicopter — dubbed "the holy-copter" by bleary-eyed pilgrims below — to see the assemblage swarmed all over the track in a jumble of sleeping bags, backpacks and other personal items.
He later took a slow drive through the crowd, stopping once to plant a kiss on the forehead of a toddler held up to the popemobile's window. Pilgrims from more than 160 countries gave him a rock-star welcome, waving the flags of their nations, cheering and chanting: "Benedicto! Benedicto!" — the pope's Italian name.
The pope was due to leave Australia for the Vatican on Monday. He announced that Madrid, Spain, would host the next World Youth Day in 2011 and told the pilgrims: "I look forward to seeing you again in three years' time."
Benedict, who shrugged off the effects of a longer-than 20-hour flight from Rome and kept a hectic schedule during his time in Australia, coughed a couple of times during Sunday's Mass and at one point blew his nose, prompting reporters to ask about his health.
"It was chilly, and everybody felt it, no?" Lombardi said. "But he is in fine health." ___ Associated Press Writer Victor L. Simpson in Sydney contributed to this report.
Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday Friday by urging the wealthy to share their prosperity with the less fortunate and by saying he wished he had been able to spend more time with his family during the anti-apartheid struggle.
In an interview at his home in rural southeastern South Africa, the anti-apartheid icon was asked if he had a message for the world.
"There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty," Mandela said.
Accompanied by his wife, Graca Machel, a smiling Mandela walked into his private lounge in the large home he built in Qunu, before sitting in his favorite yellow armchair and addressing a small gathering of reporters from The Associated Press and other outlets for about 15 minutes. It was his first such exchange with journalists in years.
Mandela, sounding and looking vigorous, said he was fortunate to have reached 90, but in the countryside and in the towns "poverty has gripped our people.
"If you are poor, you are not likely to live long," he said. He credited his "behavior" for his own longevity.
At one point, a granddaughter brought in a bowl of flowers and gave Mandela a birthday kiss. He was asked if he wished he had had more time with his family during a life spent fighting apartheid and then leading South Africa as its first black president.
"I am sure for many people that is their wish," he said. "I also have that wish that I spent more time (with my family). But I don't regret it."
Mandela was imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against apartheid.
He was released in 1990 to lead negotiations that ended decades of racist white rule. He was elected president in South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994. After serving one five-year term, he devoted himself to campaigning against poverty, illiteracy and AIDS in Africa. But he has been slowed by age in recent years, cutting back on public appearances and spending more time with his family. He often spends holidays and his birthdays in Qunu.
Wearing one of his signature patterned shirts, this one in shades of green, gold and black, he glanced pensively out a window at the start of the interview.
"This is my property. When I am here, I feel I own something," he said of the rural area 600 miles south of Johannesburg where he spent his youth. In his autobiography, he describes herding cattle in the hills around Qunu as a boy.
Soon after the interview, a group of seven or eight grandchildren crowded around Mandela's chair, sang "Happy Birthday" and kissed him. His legs were propped up on a large stool and covered with a pale yellow blanket. A pile of newspapers sat next to his chair.
The room was full of birthday presents from all over the world — a portrait, a bust, a collection of photography books — all featuring him — from well-known artists.
While Mandela was celebrating quietly in Qunu, events were taking place across the country in his honor.
Two runners holding South African flags circled Robben Island, where Mandela spent most of his 27 years in jail. At nearby Drakenstein prison, known as Victor Verster when Mandela was held their briefly at the end of his term, a prisoners' choir and a band performed for a live broadcast on state television, and prisoners who had created portraits of Mandela handed them over to Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour, who was to pass them on to Mandela.
"We are saying Mr. Mandela is 90 today; he gave a lot back to the country; he united us," said a prisons' spokesman, Mark Solomons.
In Johannesburg, children celebrated with birthday cake at the offices of the foundation Mandela founded after stepping down as president in 1999, and his African National Congress unfurled giant banners featuring his image at its downtown headquarters.
Qunu, meanwhile, had spruced up for the day.
On Thursday, gardeners mowed the lawn leading up to the museum honoring Mandela, a crew added a new layer of tarmac to the road outside his house, and a school choir rehearsed a song it created especially for him.
Mandela helped raise funds so the school could build new classrooms and move out of a dilapidated mud structure.
"He has done a lot for us, specially for the school," said its principal, Mpondomise Ndzambo. "He suffered a lot trying to get this South Africa to be free and fair. I think he is a great man."
Possessors of great wealth not only direct the nation, they ignore its neediest members.
By Leigh Donaldson
June 16, 2008
When I moved to Boston in the late 1980s, all the real estate agents could find for me in my limited price range was a one-room basement flat – with a brass knocker on the door.
For a month's salary and an eye-boggling finder's fee, I was permitted to sign 20 pages of legal excess and move my meager boxes through the rear, the servants' entrance in times past.
Never mind that the hot water was dicey for two weeks and that the kitchen smelled of cat and mildew, I had landed a bargain by all standards. Some months later, I met the owner of the building, who lived in the top-floor flat.
A third-generation millionaire Brahmin with white hair and steel-blue eyes, he allowed himself a long, frozen overview of me, taking in my humble surroundings.
At that rent, I was having none of it, so I threw back one of my own fearless gazes and asked impertinently, "Can I help you?"
Something about my tone and akimbo-stance caused both us to burst out in laughter. After that, we became friends who recognized that we shared a common humanity. I needed an affordable place to live in, and he, funds for upkeep. Caste and social hierarchy flew out his grimy, cracked, drafty windows.
Throughout history, and especially during this presidential campaign, class labels have been tossed about like too much confetti.
"Working-class voters," "the middle-class vote," as distinguished from "the white-working class vote" and "the 'elite' vote," are a few examples.
According to a recent Nation article by Zephyr Teachout, The New York Times has run 324 references to "middle-class" and 220 to "working-class" in political stories in the three months ending May 23.
Use of the term "class" is troublesome, regardless of the context. But its use in all variations is apparently here to stay.
Beyond the average person's comprehension is what I'd call the ruling class or "power elite," that small and often anonymous group of people who reflect the top layers of the corporate world, i.e. CEOs, board chairpersons and, in some cases, the independently wealthy.
These are the people who, believe it or not, have a disproportionate influence on our nation's priorities. The ruling class usually consists of individuals wealthy enough not to be concerned about bill collectors, rent hikes, mortgage payments, day-care fees, losing their job, rising gas prices and so on.
The power elite, a more hidden group of people, make and affect policy in the private and public sector on levels that influence the way this country is run.
Many people at this economic level protect their own interests at the expense of others. In many cases, they have controlled media content and the way elected officials vote, for example. And, there is a clear difference between a person with a few million dollars to toss into the air and someone with $100 million.
People with the latter kind of ready cash can own and control the means of production and distribution of much of what the rest of us think we need and crave.
Ivy League schools and old money go out the window when there are cold greenbacks slapped on the table.
Perhaps the days of old wealth are gone. Certainly a mixture of family money and talent has resulted in a smattering of socially conscious individuals.
But too many rich ancestors never stopped their ruthless pursuits to take a hard look at the common human being.
Obsession with acquiring assets continues to sustain huge economic disparity throughout the world.
Because of the indifference of many among the wealthy power elite, other people are starving, homeless and otherwise disfranchised from society.
What troubles me the most is how we so easily neglect the poor in both private and public discourse. The ever-growing "working poor" population is even more disturbing. Politicians are reluctant to even invoke the word "poor" in their forums, as if such people are not human. People who cannot afford to feed themselves and their children are not only victims of circumstances, but of the utter indifference of a public too often caught up in their mad dash to make it big – hence rising lottery ticket purchases, game show participation and high-stakes gambling.
My landlord has long passed away, but he left me with a vision more powerful than any diminished dollar could ever express.
His inherited riches never ruled him. It took a lifetime of self-willed effort for him to find personal fulfillment. He was in love with humanity, not wealth.
I know that he would have been proud of this column.
Leigh Donaldson is a Portland writer whose book about the antebellum African-American press in the Northeast is due for publication in 2009. He can be contacted at:
Martin Luther King Jr. famously warned that a "a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." Yet despite King's caution, we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a disastrous war in Iraq while 37 million Americans are living in poverty and 3 billion people worldwide live on less than $2 a day.
This election season, we can answer Jesus' call to care for the "least of these" by demanding that candidates go on the record with real plans for addressing poverty in the U.S. and around the world.
I pledge to make your commitment to overcoming poverty, which I believe is one of the greatest moral and religious imperatives of our time, central to how I cast my ballot in 2008.I want to hear your specific plans for cutting in half over the next 10 years the number of Americans living in poverty and for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, thereby delivering hope to the billions of people living in extreme poverty around the globe.In the coming months, I'll be working hard to ensure that you address these critical issues -- and to inform my friends, family, congregation, and community members about how you respond.
Signed by:[Your name] [Your address] Sign this Petition -->
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The mission of Sojourners is to articulate the biblical call to social justice, inspiring hope and building a movement to transform individuals, communities, the church, and the world. ================================================
Would you like to contribute financially to further Sojourners efforts to
Now is the time to make your contribution to the progressive faith community's voice in the 2008 election cycle and beyond!
Join Sojourners in our Vote Out Povertycampaign, which will make reducing poverty a central issue in the presidential and congressional races in 2008. Our efforts will not end there; your contribution will help us hold those elected officials accountable through our 2009 National Mobilization.
Timing is of the essence as the general election cycle begins. The earlier we start, the more we can spread the word, and the more our voice will be heard.
Here are some of our plans between now and November:
Voter Education Resources: We are developing a nonpartisan brochure that provides guidance on Christian responsibilities to vote based on a broad issues-based platform that goes beyond the hot-button issues. We will distribute an election action toolkit to you - our online constituency.
Poverty Sundays: We will encourage churches nationwide to host election-focused Poverty Sundays during September 2008 and will provide participants with nonpartisan resources. National Mobilization 2008: As you read this, 300 of our most dedicated activists are in the midst of three days of intensive advocacy and media training. With some of the nation's best faith-based community organizers, including Dr. James Lawson, serving as facilitators, we are preparing these participants to apply effective tactics to transform their communities.
We can feel the energy building, and it shall not be wasted! We will utilize this momentum through our 2009 National Mobilization plan.
In spring 2009, we will organize a major event in Washington that leverages national media attention to the crisis of poverty, mobilizes a national faith constituency around a poverty platform, and demands that elected officials act on poverty. This event will include turning out over 1,000 people in a single day to visit and lobby congressional representatives, and gathering 3,000 to 5,000 people for a rally outside the White House.
