Thought for the Day

[bcholmes]

When you look back at people who adopt ideas that are... uh... unnerving to the powerful... the idea, for example, that the Haitian poor just want poverty with dignity and a few basic rights: y'know, clean water, to go to school, etc. Those are profoundly disturbing ideas in some circles. And they're profoundly popular ideas among the poor themselves.

— Paul Farmer, Aristide and the Endless Revolution

Comments

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

The first time I heard something like that, I thought it was probably people from rich countries who realised that if everyone lived like they did, it would be unsustainable. Of course, at the same time they were conveniently hiding under the rug the idea that they themselves could stand to lower their standard of living so that others could raise their own.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

I don't think that describes Paul Farmer.

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

I mean, that's the context in which I originally heard the belief that the poor (in any country) want nothing more than basic rights and dignity.

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

Hang on, I think I'm interpreting something backwards. He's saying that they do need those things, and I agree; I was thinking about people who believe the poor don't or shouldn't aspire to anything beyond that.

Never mind...

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

I think your first reading was a bit closer to the mark.

I don't think that Farmer was saying that the poor don't or shouldn't want to aspire to anything "beyond" simple rights. I do think he's saying that turning the poor people into the middle class isn't necessarily what the poor want.

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

On my second reading I thought he was just saying that the powerful and rich don't like the thought of the poor being anything but downtrodden and oppressed.

I guess I'm thinking of different implications of the word 'poverty' -- to me, it means a lifestyle that is so lacking as to be unsustainable. How anyone could want poverty, even if it's dignified, is beyond me.

But then I thought of other uses of the word. If a monk takes a vow of poverty, he's not committing himself to starve in the name of the Lord; he's got food and clothes and a place to sleep, and he doesn't need anything else.

If you could convince the powerful that that's all the poor want, the powerful would not have to be afraid of the poor taking anything away from them. But I think it would be inaccurate to say that that's all the poor want.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

I think the powerful would be afraid of losing the ability to oppress. That's an important power for the powerful because it's linked to the ability of corporations to produce cheap goods, and create large profits for companies.

Here's another Farmer quotation I'm fond of:

I love WL's [white liberals], love 'em to death. They're on our side [...] But WL's think all the world's problems can be fixed without any cost to themselves. We don't believe that.