By Ibrahim Abdil-Mu'id Ramey
MAS Freedom Civil and Human Rights Director
U.S. Falls to 12th Place in 2007/2008 UN Human Development Index Rankings Report
Each year, the United Nations releases a statistical table that tells us how various nations rank in measurable development. The index reflects life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living. It ranges from the highest ranking (at least in theory, the most desirable nation in the world to live in) to the lowest (the one place you would not want to live) - 187 world nations were ranked in the 2007/2008 report.
Typically, European countries have the highest development index rankings, and this year, Iceland takes the highest spot on the index, followed by Norway, Australia, Canada, and Ireland, respectively.
In all, seven of the ten nations with the highest development rankings are in Europe.
The United States fell from the 8th position to 12th in the 2007/2008 report.
Majority-Muslim nations, however, fared very poorly in the rankings.
Singapore and Kuwait, the two highest ranking nations with predominantly Muslim populations, fell in 25th and 33rd positions, while Indonesia, with the world's largest Islamic population, came in at 107.
Egypt, the most populous Arab country, ranked 112; Pakistan came in at 136; Sudan and Nigeria, the two largest majority-Muslim nations in sub-Saharan Africa, were ranked 147 and 158, respectively.
Of course, it's always necessary to note the vast disparities in income and standard of living within nations, as well as between them. It is equally true that "developed" nations, to a large extent, owe their superior level of development, at least in part, to centuries of capital accumulation produced by their domination and exploitation of what is usually termed the "Third World".
But several other things are evident.
The first observation is that military domination does not necessarily bring economic security to a population. Neither Iceland nor Norway, the two highest ranking nations, devotes significant portions of their national wealth to defense spending or international military deployments. The U.S., in contrast, spends in excess of half a trillion dollars (or more) for national defense. But the measurable overall quality of life in America is falling, not rising.
However, the second, and perhaps less obvious reality is that, the enormous oil and mineral wealth of majority-Muslim nations has not provided a rising economic tide that lifts their populations from relative poverty to economic security. Nations like Saudi Arabia, for instance, may possess vast energy resources (and healthy foreign exchange balances), but their relative wealth has not resulted in a re-distribution of wealth to the benefit of poorer Muslim nations.
I believe that for all nations, a practical suggestion for economic and social advancement is the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which offer an ambitious, but attainable, prescription for the educational and social uplifting of the poorest people and nations of the earth by 2015, including the reduction of global poverty by 50 percent within the same period.
We can all do this, provided that there is a collective commitment to economic democracy, effective development assistance, and an end to the global arms race and the obscene ($1 trillion U.S.) annual expenditure for armaments.
And wealthier Muslim nations should obey the religious obligation to uplift the poor, whether those poor people (and nations) are Muslim or not.
All of this, in the final analysis, is perhaps a bit more practical that a mass global migration to Iceland and Norway.
Showing posts with label Poverty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poverty. Show all posts
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Fasting for the Earth: A Muslim View
By Ibrahim Abdil-Mu'id Ramey
MAS Freedom Civil and Human Rights Director
WASHINGTON, D.C. (MASNET) September 5, 2007 - On September 4, I had the opportunity to join over 1,000 people from across the nation, partnering with thousands of others from over 14 different countries for a 'Climate Emergency Fast' – a day of fasting to bring awareness to the deepening climate of crisis confronting humanity.
Some of the participants agreed to fast for a single day, others, like my friend, and event coordinator, Ted Glick, will fast for as long as several weeks, subsisting only on water to bring attention to the issue of global warming.
You may ask, "Why should Muslims fast for an environmental issue just nine days before their own fast in the sacred month of Ramadan?"
I believe that this additional act of fasting is necessary because, as Muslims, we are called to pray for the well-being of all mankind, and if we pray for humanity, fasting is indeed, our most powerful and sincere form of prayer.
Believe me when I say that the earth itself is in crisis. Real crisis. And this crisis threatens the delicate balance of nature that sustains all life on the planet.
Truly, if nature is harmed beyond repair, everything that we as Muslims care about - human rights, economic justice, ending the war in Iraq, justice for Palestine, better schools and housing, religious freedom – to name a few - will be obliterated by the single most dangerous threat to the survival of the human species in the last thousand years.
For any of us who haven't been in deep hibernation or vacationing on the moon, the scientific evidence of massive climate change is not real news. Multiple category five hurricanes, record heat waves throughout the country, massive droughts, gigantic forest fires, and a proliferation of floods, are all evidence that the increase of man-made greenhouse gasses have pushed the global ecosphere practically to the breaking point.
As food production and water supplies are threatened by climate change, it is likely that fierce competition for food and water will result in more armed conflicts, especially in areas of the world already devastated by extreme poverty and violence
Many of us in the United States complain about weather that is noticeably hotter and drier than in previous years. But the real impact of this global warming phenomenon is more profoundly felt in the southern hemisphere of the earth, where island nations are being submerged by rising sea levels - and huge populations, especially in Africa and Asia, are in danger of starvation due to crop failures caused by steep declines in rainfall.
There is also a rise in the temperature and acidity of the earth's oceans that could bring about the extinction of countless fish and marine species that feed human populations.
While the scientific evidence of global warming is overwhelming (even President Bush has finally admitted that something is wrong), the will to take massive and necessary action to stop it is still lacking.
The United States, which constitutes some 5% of the world's population, has contributed about 25% of the greenhouse carbon load in the earth's atmosphere. Africa, with a total population of a billion people, contributes just 3% of the total carbon load.
Yet only a small group of courageous women and men are at the forefront of the struggle to enact policies that might reverse the rising level of environmental pollution that is the primary cause of global warming.
We, as a species, don't have much time to act, and the Muslim community must be a vital, and active, part of
the solution.
This past April, on Earth Day, I posted an essay on the benefits of energy-saving light bulbs, and the fact that such devices could significantly cut not only our own electricity bills, but our collective dependency on power generated from non-renewable (and polluting) enerty sources.
Now, for the sake of our earth, I am appealing to Muslim institutions to take collective action toward shifting to enerty conservation for a green future.
Already, some 300 colleges and universities in America have taken bold and dramatic action to develop "green" technologies for energy conservation and reduced dependency on polluting, fossil fuels. Muslim mosques, schools, and civic institutions should join them.
I pray that, as we fast during the sacred month of Ramadan, that we remember the thousands of people, representing many spiritual and ethical traditions, who have also fasted, for the sake of the earth.
And I pray that we will become more aware of our collective responsibility as Khalifah for the creation entrusted to us by Allah the Almighty.
I urge all of you to visit the websites listed below for information on how Muslims might become more engaged in the struggle to, quite literally, save the earth, and all of us who dwell here.
Please visit the following sites:
http://climatecrisiscoalition.org
http://www.globalgreen.org
http://www.climatenetwork.org
http://climateemergencycouncil.org
MAS Freedom Civil and Human Rights Director
WASHINGTON, D.C. (MASNET) September 5, 2007 - On September 4, I had the opportunity to join over 1,000 people from across the nation, partnering with thousands of others from over 14 different countries for a 'Climate Emergency Fast' – a day of fasting to bring awareness to the deepening climate of crisis confronting humanity.
Some of the participants agreed to fast for a single day, others, like my friend, and event coordinator, Ted Glick, will fast for as long as several weeks, subsisting only on water to bring attention to the issue of global warming.
You may ask, "Why should Muslims fast for an environmental issue just nine days before their own fast in the sacred month of Ramadan?"
I believe that this additional act of fasting is necessary because, as Muslims, we are called to pray for the well-being of all mankind, and if we pray for humanity, fasting is indeed, our most powerful and sincere form of prayer.
Believe me when I say that the earth itself is in crisis. Real crisis. And this crisis threatens the delicate balance of nature that sustains all life on the planet.
Truly, if nature is harmed beyond repair, everything that we as Muslims care about - human rights, economic justice, ending the war in Iraq, justice for Palestine, better schools and housing, religious freedom – to name a few - will be obliterated by the single most dangerous threat to the survival of the human species in the last thousand years.
For any of us who haven't been in deep hibernation or vacationing on the moon, the scientific evidence of massive climate change is not real news. Multiple category five hurricanes, record heat waves throughout the country, massive droughts, gigantic forest fires, and a proliferation of floods, are all evidence that the increase of man-made greenhouse gasses have pushed the global ecosphere practically to the breaking point.
As food production and water supplies are threatened by climate change, it is likely that fierce competition for food and water will result in more armed conflicts, especially in areas of the world already devastated by extreme poverty and violence
Many of us in the United States complain about weather that is noticeably hotter and drier than in previous years. But the real impact of this global warming phenomenon is more profoundly felt in the southern hemisphere of the earth, where island nations are being submerged by rising sea levels - and huge populations, especially in Africa and Asia, are in danger of starvation due to crop failures caused by steep declines in rainfall.
There is also a rise in the temperature and acidity of the earth's oceans that could bring about the extinction of countless fish and marine species that feed human populations.
While the scientific evidence of global warming is overwhelming (even President Bush has finally admitted that something is wrong), the will to take massive and necessary action to stop it is still lacking.
The United States, which constitutes some 5% of the world's population, has contributed about 25% of the greenhouse carbon load in the earth's atmosphere. Africa, with a total population of a billion people, contributes just 3% of the total carbon load.
Yet only a small group of courageous women and men are at the forefront of the struggle to enact policies that might reverse the rising level of environmental pollution that is the primary cause of global warming.
We, as a species, don't have much time to act, and the Muslim community must be a vital, and active, part of
the solution.
This past April, on Earth Day, I posted an essay on the benefits of energy-saving light bulbs, and the fact that such devices could significantly cut not only our own electricity bills, but our collective dependency on power generated from non-renewable (and polluting) enerty sources.
Now, for the sake of our earth, I am appealing to Muslim institutions to take collective action toward shifting to enerty conservation for a green future.
Already, some 300 colleges and universities in America have taken bold and dramatic action to develop "green" technologies for energy conservation and reduced dependency on polluting, fossil fuels. Muslim mosques, schools, and civic institutions should join them.
I pray that, as we fast during the sacred month of Ramadan, that we remember the thousands of people, representing many spiritual and ethical traditions, who have also fasted, for the sake of the earth.
And I pray that we will become more aware of our collective responsibility as Khalifah for the creation entrusted to us by Allah the Almighty.
I urge all of you to visit the websites listed below for information on how Muslims might become more engaged in the struggle to, quite literally, save the earth, and all of us who dwell here.
Please visit the following sites:
http://climatecrisiscoalition.org
http://www.globalgreen.org
http://www.climatenetwork.org
http://climateemergencycouncil.org
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Poverty Is Also an Issue for Muslims
By Ibrahim Abdil-Mu'id Ramey
MAS Freedom Civil and Human Rights Director
WASHINGTON, D.C. (MASNET) Aug. 30, 2007 - There were two bits of interesting economic news that surfaced this week. In one story, the late hotel magnate, Leona Helmsley, willed the sum of $12 million from her vast estate for the care of her beloved dog, named Trouble, while leaving absolutely nothing at all for two of her grandchildren.
The second, and much more relevant story, was a report that the poverty rate in America had declined, for the first time in the years of the Bush presidency, to a little more than 12 percent of the population. This means that, statistically, a little over 36 million people in America are classified as "poor"- that is, having less than $20,000 in income for a family of four persons.
In the Washington, D.C. area, the statistics were less than encouraging. The capital of our nation has a higher statistical poverty rate (21% of our residents) than all but one state in the union (Mississippi), and the reported racial income and wealth gaps that separate black and white D.C. residents were startling. White Washingtonians earn, on average, 150 percent more than their African-American counterparts.
Poverty is not an economic issue that most people in America - except the poor themselves - pay much attention to. With the exception of former Senator John Edwards, none of the Democratic or Republican candidates have mentioned poor people in their campaign speeches. We are, for the most part, much more likely to watch the gyrations of the stock market, or the rising price of milk, or worry about the interest we pay on our mortgages, than to think about the 36 million Americans living in poverty, or the 35 million more who are classified as "working poor" - barely surviving from paycheck to paycheck.
Poverty has not gone away in America. It is pervasive, and destructive – and an it an issue that Muslims must engage. But how?
I have two suggestions. First, and most radical, is that we share with others the Islamic concept of prohibition of Riba, or interest, as a cornerstone of our interpretation of economic justice. Our religion teaches that people must not be oppressed by usury, and that economic fairness requires us to seek alternative ways to engage in financial transactions. In an Islamic economic system, for instance, predatory payday loans, with annual interest rates sometimes exceeding 300 percent, would not exist - and society would seek to eradicate the financial exploitation of poor and working people by encouraging fair and livable wages, instead of "minimum" wages that only allow for a "sub-minimum" standard of living.
Secondly, a more immediate Muslim response is simply that we vote, as individuals and members of a value-centered community, and that we cast our votes for policies that address the terrible reality of poverty in America.
All too often, we seem to forget that poverty is not just about personal issues, or purely economic factors. It is also dependent upon a large set of factors determined by political empowerment. When we vote on issues related to, for instance, funding for public schools, or health care, or child care for working moms, or public employment creation, we are voting for policies that impact on the economic lives of tens of millions of poor people. Similarly, when we support (or hopefully challenge) the enormous allocation of public funds for the war system, we are sending a direct message to the leaders of America regarding whether we should wage a war in Iraq, or a serious war against poverty here in the most affluent nation on earth.
In a nation where dead billionaires leave millions of dollars for their pets, and the shopping mall is a virtual temple of worship, some might say that the goal of totally eradicating poverty in America is hopelessly utopian. But I believe that ending poverty is a struggle that can be won in a generation, and one that Muslims can positively impact. It will require moral character and courage, but the task is far from impossible.
I truly believe that the plight of poor people is one than we must lift up, not only by sharing the positive Islamic vision of economic justice and fairness for all human beings, but by also taking our "souls to the polls" in 2008 and voting for public policies that will move us all toward the end of eradicating, once and for all, poverty in America.
MAS Freedom Civil and Human Rights Director
WASHINGTON, D.C. (MASNET) Aug. 30, 2007 - There were two bits of interesting economic news that surfaced this week. In one story, the late hotel magnate, Leona Helmsley, willed the sum of $12 million from her vast estate for the care of her beloved dog, named Trouble, while leaving absolutely nothing at all for two of her grandchildren.
The second, and much more relevant story, was a report that the poverty rate in America had declined, for the first time in the years of the Bush presidency, to a little more than 12 percent of the population. This means that, statistically, a little over 36 million people in America are classified as "poor"- that is, having less than $20,000 in income for a family of four persons.
In the Washington, D.C. area, the statistics were less than encouraging. The capital of our nation has a higher statistical poverty rate (21% of our residents) than all but one state in the union (Mississippi), and the reported racial income and wealth gaps that separate black and white D.C. residents were startling. White Washingtonians earn, on average, 150 percent more than their African-American counterparts.
Poverty is not an economic issue that most people in America - except the poor themselves - pay much attention to. With the exception of former Senator John Edwards, none of the Democratic or Republican candidates have mentioned poor people in their campaign speeches. We are, for the most part, much more likely to watch the gyrations of the stock market, or the rising price of milk, or worry about the interest we pay on our mortgages, than to think about the 36 million Americans living in poverty, or the 35 million more who are classified as "working poor" - barely surviving from paycheck to paycheck.
Poverty has not gone away in America. It is pervasive, and destructive – and an it an issue that Muslims must engage. But how?
I have two suggestions. First, and most radical, is that we share with others the Islamic concept of prohibition of Riba, or interest, as a cornerstone of our interpretation of economic justice. Our religion teaches that people must not be oppressed by usury, and that economic fairness requires us to seek alternative ways to engage in financial transactions. In an Islamic economic system, for instance, predatory payday loans, with annual interest rates sometimes exceeding 300 percent, would not exist - and society would seek to eradicate the financial exploitation of poor and working people by encouraging fair and livable wages, instead of "minimum" wages that only allow for a "sub-minimum" standard of living.
Secondly, a more immediate Muslim response is simply that we vote, as individuals and members of a value-centered community, and that we cast our votes for policies that address the terrible reality of poverty in America.
All too often, we seem to forget that poverty is not just about personal issues, or purely economic factors. It is also dependent upon a large set of factors determined by political empowerment. When we vote on issues related to, for instance, funding for public schools, or health care, or child care for working moms, or public employment creation, we are voting for policies that impact on the economic lives of tens of millions of poor people. Similarly, when we support (or hopefully challenge) the enormous allocation of public funds for the war system, we are sending a direct message to the leaders of America regarding whether we should wage a war in Iraq, or a serious war against poverty here in the most affluent nation on earth.
In a nation where dead billionaires leave millions of dollars for their pets, and the shopping mall is a virtual temple of worship, some might say that the goal of totally eradicating poverty in America is hopelessly utopian. But I believe that ending poverty is a struggle that can be won in a generation, and one that Muslims can positively impact. It will require moral character and courage, but the task is far from impossible.
I truly believe that the plight of poor people is one than we must lift up, not only by sharing the positive Islamic vision of economic justice and fairness for all human beings, but by also taking our "souls to the polls" in 2008 and voting for public policies that will move us all toward the end of eradicating, once and for all, poverty in America.
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