The Gray Monk

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January 10, 2005

A difficult question.

The Diplomad has done it again. He has posed a question that I do not think many in power anywhere will dare to even contemplate, much less attempt to answer, yet it is, fundamentally, a very important question at every level because of what it says most clearly about us, about our "civilisation", and about the entire concept of "all cultures are equally good".

Several others who have picked up this post from the Diplomad's blog have left views which spread across the scale; most, it must be said, agreeing with him - as I do. It is very difficult to escape the fact, when you visit places like Indonesia, Thailand, and one or two others in this region, that there are huge inequalities, inequalities which could not exist in Europe or America. While these countries are generally seen by the Western Media and the public at large as "poor" or "poverty stricken", it is worth remembering that some of the world's richest families - and they are certainly not European or American - are actually native to these places. As the Diplomad has pointed out, they do not seem to have reached into their pockets to any great depth and are perfectly content to sit back and let the generosity of the West filter into their coffers. That is, unfortunately, one of the likely outcomes of any effort to "source aid locally".

Part of the problem is that poverty/wealth is seen as a punishment or reward for "karma" carried over from a previous life in some religious circles, but the rest of the problem is that Islam teaches that these events are "the will of Allah" and that it is therefore against God's will to intervene. Now I would have to qualify that and add that there are Muslim charities at work in the region and they are doing a great deal of good, but they are certainly not getting the scale of support pouring into Christain Aid, Oxfam, and other "Western" charities. Another part of the problem is, particularly in Indonesia, that the Province of Aceh is fighting for its independence from Muslim-dominated Jakarta. The province is rich in minerals, yet little of that wealth percolates back to the minority Hindu and Christian population, it is all fed back to the government and their cronies. Indeed, only a few years ago, the Jakarta Government blocked direct aid from Christian organisations, forcing all aid to be channeled through a government department - to ensure that it went to "authorised", in other words Muslim, charities. Why was this necessary? Simply because there was far more aid going to the Christian communities to relieve poverty than was coming from the oil-rich Muslim nations. No Muslim government could tolerate the uplifting of a "second class" section of the population, particularly one barred from public office or management of "true faith" followers on the grounds of that religion.

No one who has seen the depths of despair and poverty that drive girls, boys, mothers, and husbands to "sell" themselves, their children, and their bodies in places like the Patpong District of Bangkok can find it difficult to disagree with the Diplomad when he writes:

"Begging the pardon of the cultural relativists, but might we not be allowed to raise -- ever so gently, of course -- the possibility that these differing reactions to human suffering, show Western civilization as the best we have on the planet? Maybe, just maybe Western civilization is morally superior."

I have to admit that I do find it difficult to deal with a society (and I do have to occassionally!) which teaches that it is alright to live in fabulous luxury while entire families are born, live, and die in the gutter outside your gate. It cannot be right to accept this as "normal" or to find it impossible to at least make the effort to change it, even if this means giving away a portion of your own billions. I am no socialist, but I do suffer from an overdeveloped sense of social responsibility - something that goes with being raised on the concept of "noblesse oblige" - and which our current government have no concept of either, and to me it is simply incomprehensible that there can be a disaster of this magnitude on my doorstep and I make no effort to alleviate it while watching the rest of the world do what should be my first and only task until it is resolved.

Our system of government and our society may be, and probably is, deeply flawed and very unfair in many areas; at least it is compassionate and attempts to redress inequality and is intolerant of indifference. It is right that we are rendering aid to the stricken, it is right that we are exercised and angry about the incompetence of the UN and the governments doing so little; what we must do now, is find a way to compel them to change, to recognise their responsibilities, to stop letting them grow even more obscenely rich on our compassion.

Well done, the Diplomad.

Posted by The Gray Monk at January 10, 2005 12:42 PM

Comments

Posted by: stephen bauer at January 11, 2005 12:31 PM

Posted by: Gorse Fox at January 11, 2005 02:44 PM

Posted by: Gorse Fox at January 11, 2005 04:21 PM

Posted by: The Gray Monk at January 11, 2005 05:46 PM

Posted by: MommaBear at January 11, 2005 07:09 PM