Baha’i Perspectives

Baha'i Perspectives October 15th, 2008

Today, the contributors of Baha’i Perspectives link arms with thousands of bloggers around the world to participate in Blog Action Day. The theme of this year’s campaign is poverty, and the purpose of this initiative is “to change the conversation that day, to raise awareness, start a global discussion and add momentum to an important cause.” As we examine the world around us and see the growing divide between rich and poor, as more people slip below the poverty line, it becomes vital to identify, once and for all, the root causes of material poverty, and then face these challenges head on.

The Baha’i Writings identify the causes and prescribe the steps we must take towards attaining a remedy. It is no overnight solution – in fact, nothing short of an almighty shift in conscience and behaviour will get us there – but get there we will.

We draw attention to three pieces. The first is a quote from Abdu’l-Baha in Foundations of World Unity, likening the world to a single human family in which the qualities of empathy and kindness are of utmost importance.

Abdu’l-Baha says:

Although the body politic is one family yet because of lack of harmonious relations some members are comfortable and some in direst misery, some members are satisfied and some are hungry, some members are clothed in most costly garments and some families are in need of food and shelter. Why? Because this family lacks the necessary reciprocity and symmetry. This household is not well arranged. This household is not living under a perfect law. All the laws which are legislated do not ensure happiness. They do not provide comfort. Therefore a law must be given to this family by means of which all the members of this family will enjoy equal well-being and happiness.

Is it possible for one member of a family to be subjected to the utmost misery and to abject poverty and for the rest of the family to be comfortable? It is impossible unless those members of the family be senseless, atrophied, inhospitable, unkind. Then they would say, “Though these members do belong to our family — let them alone. Let us look after ourselves. Let them die. So long as I am comfortable, I am honored, I am happy — this my brother — let him die. If he be in misery let him remain in misery, so long as I am comfortable. If he is hungry let him remain so; I am satisfied. If he is without clothes, so long as I am clothed, let him remain as he is. If he is shelterless, homeless, so long as I have a home, let him remain in the wilderness.”

Such utter indifference in the human family is due to lack of control, to lack of a working law, to lack of kindness in its midst. If kindness had been shown to the members of this family surely all the members thereof would have enjoyed comfort and happiness.

And now here are two snippets from our archives on the subject of poverty, with links through to the full articles. The first analyzes the multitude of factors related to poverty. There are more here than one would at first imagine…

The Baha’i International Community has not only launched a new web site, but has also recently released a statement entitled “Eradicating Poverty: Moving Forward as One”. The statement was developed following consultations with UN agencies, NGOs and Baha’i communities in various countries.

Before continuing, here’s a little game to test just how much we think we know about factors relating to poverty. Keep the answers in your head or note them down on a piece of paper — you may be referring back to them later. The rules are easy. Simply think of how each of the factors below relates to the eradication of poverty:

• Governance
• Justice and Human Rights
• Individual Responsibility
• Gender
• Economic activity
• Extremes of wealth
• Sustainable development
• Agriculture
• Employment
• Knowledge
• Religion

I bet some of those factors are not what traditionally would have come to mind (we usually only think in terms of $$$, right?). As noted in the statement, “The mechanisms of poverty eradication have long been defined in primarily material terms. Indeed, the central pillar of the international community’s poverty alleviation efforts has been the transfer of financial resources.” Read on…

Next, take a look at this article, which considers the implications of the world food crisis on the fight against poverty. In so doing, the call is made for a frank reassessment of the validity of prevailing economic theories:

There is something clearly wrong in the economic system of the world today and it is the most vulnerable who are having to pay the price. Since the start of 2006, the average world price for rice has risen by 217 percent, wheat by 136 percent, maize by 125 percent and soybeans by 107 percent…

In our Economics 101 lectures we were taught about Adam Smith’s “invisible hand“, about comparative advantage and the importance of free trade. By the time we made it to post-graduate courses, our lecturers could no longer hide the fact that Messers Smith, Keynes and Friedman did not have it all worked out, and that in fact “free market forces” did not have the power to fix everything…

Addressing the problem of the extremes between wealth and poverty, the Universal House of Justice said this, in their 1985 message to the world The Promise of World Peace:

“The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation. The solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of economic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly affected in the decisions that must urgently be made… The advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting the advantage of the whole.” Read on…

The organizers of Blog Action Day have done a marvellous job in opening up a dialogue on this issue. We sincerely hope that this initiative can provide the necessary impetus for the “consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines” called for by the Universal House of Justice in the passage above.

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Tags: poverty

• Baha'i Concepts , Events , Society
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