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Rich Getting Richer

by Anthony Ward

"It's not the way that you say it
When you say those things to me;
It's more the way you really mean it
When you tell me what will be ".

- Moody Blues

The world's population will double in the next thirty years. For every house, school and other building aroudn at the moment, we will need two in the year 2000. And over half the world's population at the moment is not adequately housed. Barbara Ward (a British environmentalist) estimates that if every person had access to decent, safe piped water, then the amount of infectious disease int he world would be cut by 80%.

Painting a dismal picture of the problems facing us, Margaret Nolan started her talk to a Corso meeting with local youth organisations last Monday. The meeting, 'baring Corso's soul' as Corso's chairman, Fr John Healion commented, was designed to establish better communication between Corso and youth groups. It covered the new structure of Corso, the background to the United Nations International Habitat Year (which is this year in case you haven't noticed), and discussed some of the projects Corso is involved with around the world.

The all-day gathering, with representatives of about 16 organisations working in various ways with 'youth' (from Boys Brigade through the YM/WCA to students associations), started with John Healion's talk on what the reorganised Corso meant. The new structure, he stressed, was not radically different from the old. The old controlling committees had been expanded to include a greater say for the regional and local committees.

But Corso's role has been changing. Rejecting the idea that politics could somehow be kept out of aid, John recounted the recent experience with the Phillipines earthquake. Corso decided to send $3000 emergency relief aid, but President Marcos decided that no outside aid would be acceptable, for various political reasons. The damage such aid can do was shown in the Hurricane Bebe disaster in the South Pacific, where aid that didn't encourage islanders' own efforts and self-reliance had major effects in breaking down the social patterns. "The aid did more damage than the hurricane" as one cynic quipped.

Margaret Nolan then backgrounded the world habitat situation, with a disarming "I don't know if this blowing your minds, but it's certainly blowing mine". She stressed the problems faced especially in the third world by the rural and urban poor. Faced with 'development' that increases mechanisation and thus takes away the people's jobs, there is no option for many but to drift to the towns and form more of the lumpen proletarian 'shadow' that plagues large third world cities. There are few jobs, low wages, bad housing and endemic disease.

Trying to do something about housing thus involves an overall look at the whole problem. The United Nations programme, summarised in several highly interesting posters, tries to raise these questions.

From the overall situation, we moved onto what Corso is trying to do. Two basic approaches are taken - one helping aid projects, the second trying to educate New Zealanders on the questions.

With help from people who had recently visited the areas, the meeting heard about Corso projects in Tanzania, Indonesia and Fiji. Speakers stressed that the aid projects are attempting to increase local self reliance and abilities of the local people. The massive plans such as the Aswan Dam and the Pan-American Highway, which provide more wealth for the rich and multinationals and just create problems for th epoor, are to be avoided.

After lunch, concentration centered on the educative aspects of Corso's work in New Zealand. Films, stimulation exercises and other material were used and discussed. The very real problems of gaining more interest in international development and aid when so much is going wrong in New Zealand were realised, but the 'global village' approach was urged. New Zealand's relative wealth is not isolated from the Islands' poverty - they are the two sides of the coin. When we can fiddle our unemployment figures by sending short-term migrants home then New Zealand is integrally involved in international connections.

There was general agreement that the education campaign should centre on the South Pacific, bringing up the issues raised by Habitat year in this area. Unfortunately, with the organisational problems Corso faced this year, the amount donw so far has been small. Yet with the support and involvement of local groups such as youth organisations, the future looks much brighter.

John Healion finished the session with a reminder that Corso had 'bared its soul. It is up to you to absolve us, or send us away unrepentant'. The overwhelming decision was for absolution, and a commitment to work together to further Corso's work.

On this campus, Corso will be shortly be screening the film "Five Minutes to Midnight', which raises and discussed the questions of poverty, of development and underdevelopment. This film, made by the UN, together with the Habitat poster display, will be here at lunchtime on Monday 4 October. Both are well worth seeing. At the same time, we hope to get together people who are interested in Corso and its activities to plan some action for the start of next year.

'Five Minutes to Midnight' is a powerful and effective form of revising your studies, or even just reminding us of the international arena we are all part of. Its screening, and the whole meeting last Monday, indicate the new directions Corso is moving in. The task is monumental, but less so than the potential gains.

"The market, playing freely, will always feed the rich. You cannot expect the trade to arrive at a fair distribution of goods in the world. The trade is to make money."