12.07.2015 Views

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

FROM POVERTY TO POWERdo not correct themselves. Quiet acceptance – by the victims and byothers – of the inability of a great many people <strong>to</strong> achieve minimallyeffective capabilities and <strong>to</strong> have basic substantive freedoms acts as ahuge barrier <strong>to</strong> social change. And so does the absence of public outrageat the terrible helplessness of millions of people. Thus the social evildraws not just on those who positively contribute <strong>to</strong> keeping peopledown, but also on all the people who are ready <strong>to</strong> <strong>to</strong>lerate the thoroughlyunacceptable predicaments of millions of fellow human beings. Thenature of this evil does not relate principally, even primarily, <strong>to</strong> thediagnosis of specific evil-doers. We have <strong>to</strong> see how the actions andinactions of a great many persons <strong>to</strong>gether lead <strong>to</strong> this social evil,and howa change of our priorities – our policies, our institutions, our individualand joint actions – can help <strong>to</strong> eliminate the atrocity of poverty.This book from <strong>Oxfam</strong> explores many different ways in whichpoverty is being fought through the empowerment of the peoplewhose deprivations relate ultimately <strong>to</strong> their helplessness in a badlyorganised world. Under the lead authorship of Duncan <strong>Green</strong>, thebook discusses a number of different types of initiative across theworld that have enhanced and expanded the powers of the powerlessand through that have reduced the unfreedoms that characterise thepoverty of the deprived. In bringing about these changes, the stateobviously can – and does – have an important role <strong>to</strong> play, and yet thestate is not the only responsible agency that can make a difference, noris it the only instrument for tackling the general evil that society tends<strong>to</strong> <strong>to</strong>lerate and accept. If the evil of poverty and the crime associatedwith it can come through the actions and inactions of a great manypersons, the remedy <strong>to</strong>o can come from the co-operative efforts ofpeople at large.What the book calls ‘active citizenship’ can be a very effective wayof seeking and securing solutions <strong>to</strong> these pervasive problems ofpowerlessness and unfreedom. The reader is <strong>to</strong>ld about various efforts<strong>to</strong> enhance the power of the unempowered, varying from the pursui<strong>to</strong>f women’s rights in Morocco <strong>to</strong> the international campaign <strong>to</strong> banlandmines around the world. They can all make a huge difference infighting in<strong>to</strong>lerable and unacceptable deprivations.One case study afteranother is invoked, presented, and investigated <strong>to</strong> show how changescan be brought about through deliberate and organised efforts.xiv

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!