Listen to world's poorest

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“We should listen to the world’s poorest citizens”

"Many people and governments are interested in the culture of fear because creating an enemy sells arms and justifies indiscriminate violent action”

A “high level meeting”, organized by the Spanish International Development Co-operation Agency (AECID) and international news agency Inter Press Service (IPS), was held in the context of the Foreign Ministry’s Spanish Co-operation Week between 6-11 September 2010 in Madrid.

The theme of the meeting was ‘Post-Crisis World: Effects on developing countries and their media impact’. Uruguayan writer and journalist Eduardo Galeano rounded off the event with his speech, ‘Deadly sins of our upside down world’, which was streamed live in Madrid.

The gathering was attended by personalities and journalists from countries of the South, and among its goals was debating the role of development aid in overcoming the global financial crisis.

In a special guest lecture, Galeano referred to examples of absurd expenditures such as the Berlin Wall, built in 1961 to divide that German city in two and demolished in 1989. He also said the wall recently constructed by Morocco in the territory it occupies in Western Sahara “is 60 times bigger than the Berlin Wall”.

Galeano also mentioned other walls, like the one built by the United States along its border with Mexico in an attempt to keep migrants out, Israel’s barrier in the West Bank, and Spain’s wall separating its enclaves in Ceuta and Melilla from Morocco.

The Uruguayan writer said that we should listen to the poorest citizens in the world to see how they would solve the most impending problems; problems that, according to Galeano, “are the capital sins of a world upside down”. He added that “it is not a matter of stating that blacks are better than whites or that women are better than men, because we are all capable of the best and of the worst. It is a matter of having equal opportunities to demonstrate who we really are”. Galeano added that we should acknowledge the fact that current diversity is a positive factor, because our world is not monolithic. “That’s why setting up walls like the one separating Morocco from Sahara, Israel from Palestine or the US from Mexico is conducive to isolation and conflict. We should not be afraid. Many people and governments are interested in the culture of fear because creating an enemy sells arms and justifies indiscriminate violent action”. Galeano also questioned the capacity of the United Nations to guarantee world peace, since the Security Council and its veto power are crippling any positive action. (Source: El Diario Exterior, Spain & Share International)