http://www.arabnews.com/?page=13§ion=0&article=66768&d=11&m=7&y=2005
Monday, 11, July, 2005 (04, Jumada al-Thani, 1426)
Save Muslims From Poverty
Abid Khazindar . Al-Riyadh
Leaders of the eight richest countries in the world met a few days ago in
Edinburgh. Among the many things they had to discuss was how to eradicate world
poverty. A few days before the meeting, the world watched a series of Live8
concerts which featured scores of artists. The concerts were part of a "Make
Poverty History" campaign aimed at alleviating the sufferings of the world's
millions of poor. Demonstrators greeting the G8 leaders carried banners and
presented slogans demanding action against poverty and the cancellation of poor
countries' debts - in addition to allowing agricultural subsidies for poor
countries and free access to markets in more affluent nations.
The youth of the world who converged on Edinburgh were blessed by
Cardinal O'Brien, leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, who said the purpose of
the gathering was to "bring to the attention of the G-8 leaders the need for
something more, that governments must act to alleviate some of the terrible,
dire poverty that does exist around the world, and especially in Africa."
Pope Benedict sent his greetings to the gathering and prayed for the
participants in the rally and for world leaders that they would all play their
part in ensuring a more just distribution of the world's wealth. Former South
African President Nelson Mandela reminded the G8 leaders of the need for urgent
action and called for the world's poorest nations to be granted multilateral
debt relief, worth billions of dollars. "I hope you will do everything within
your power to ensure that your meeting will finally conclude in a truly
historic agreement," he said, adding that the G8 leaders should not hesitate to
stop the mass murder being perpetrated against humanity, referring to the
estimated 300,000 children plus hundreds of thousands of adults who die of
hunger.
"Make Poverty History" comes at a time when many of the poorest countries
of the world are in the Muslim world, according to Malaysian Prime Minister
Abdullah Badawi. Now, it is our right to protest in the strongest words and ask
this question: Why hasn't a single Muslim voice, either a leader or an ordinary
citizen, joined this international effort? It is indeed unfortunate that while
the entire world has been calling for eliminating poverty, no Muslim voice has
been heard as part of the campaign. The banner that should be raised by every
Muslim should be "Save Muslims From Poverty." Will we ever see such a thing?
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