A Solution to Poverty?

There is no single silver bullet to solve poverty; it must be approached on an holistic platform. Poverty can’t be overcome by providing food, but must aim at assisting the poor with finding ways to produce an income that will provide them with the basic essentials of life.
Easier said than done, but some initiatives have succeeded. Here is an extract form my book “World without War, made possible by empowered individuals”.
“Poverty is a major cause of unrest and over-population in the world. To own property is one of the most basic incentives for people to be able to help themselves. This does not need to be a plot of land; at its most basic, it may be a herd of goats, or a sewing machine.
“Economic theorists have always recognised the importance of secure property rights in creating the right incentives to produce and invest.”

Secure property rights played an important role in the rise of western Europe’s economies, and students of less developed countries and ‘transition economies’ reinforce this lesson. The creation and support of property rights are the responsibility of governments, and by corollary, their loss is often caused by dictatorial governments driven by communist policies, or by greed, power or racial discrimination, with no understanding of economic principles. Communism has failed as a result, although the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is managing a slow transition to capitalism by a gradual process. Her economy in the south east of the country at least is adopting some of the capitalist methods of transacting business in accordance with WTO rules, albeit with government capital under licence. The recent ruling in the PRC to permit private ownership of land is a further step away from communism in its strictest form. The transition is however likely to be associated with considerable unfairness and continuing hardship, as it appears that many properties were acquired from very poor peasants simply by displacement without compensation. In the end, to be accepted more widely, the PRC will need to be seen to conform even more to WTO and UN requirements for fair trading and human rights.
The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh through its founder, Muhammad Yunus, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2006 ‘for their efforts to create economic and social development from below’. His bank has initiated the worldwide trend of the introduction of micro-credit, loans for very small amounts to assist poor people to get started. The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh formally began operating as a specialised credit institution in 1983, although its history can be traced back to an innovative pilot project that began in 1976. The bank gives small-business loans to the poorest of the rural poor on a group liability basis instead of requiring any collateral. Because they have no collateral, the Grameen Bank borrowers do not have access to conventional sources of finance. This is seen as a major tool in the battle to break the cycle of poverty for millions of people around the world. ”
Infrastructure in the third world is just as important as education. A farmer needs to be able to transport his produce efficiently to market, which requires at least a path for a horse or ox drawn cart, or even a bicycle. If this farmer has to rely on a buyer to come to his property to buy, the price will never be satisfactory, but at a market place, the comparison with others will create better fairness.
Another way to assist in third world and developing countries, is by Moral Capitalism. This is the way socially responsible corporations utilise the low wages available in those nations, and at the same time supporting the development of infrastructure, education and training, by helping to reduce corruption, and engaging local suppliers and subcontractors. The result will be a growing economy and increasing access to the international market.
Corporations of this type have formed an institution, “The Caux Round Table”, that has established the principles to achieve such moral capitalism since shortly after WWII. Moral Capitalism: Reconciling Private Interest with the Public Good

Social Changes from Emancipation

The period of Emancipation in Europe in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries was a time of social and political change. Governments went from monarchies to a democratic, liberal and just states with a parliament where citizens could participate in making political decisions, the "Rechtsstaat". This process was slow and painful. The change from being a serf to becoming a citizen (in the sense of Immanuel Kant) (Perpetual Peace) was difficult, as people had lived in serfdom for millennia. Suddenly one had to learn to make political decisions oneself for the national good. As a result of this dilemma, people voted for whoever appeared to be the strong man. The outcomes were revolutions and dictatorships: Lenin, Hitler, Atatürk, Mussolini, Chiang Kai-shek, Franco, and others. The transition from despotism to democracy in the western world in the sense of a true Rechtsstaat is barely finished now. Aboriginal people in Australia got their vote only a few decades ago.

The main cause behind these changes was the industrial reform and resultant capitalism. Kings and emperors were no longer the richest people in their realms, and capitalism was able to control politics. This then changed the traditional craftsmen into "machines" to use Karl Marx's term. (Capital: An Abridged Edition (Oxford World's Classics))
Philosophers at that time attempted to solve the untenable breech between money and labour, and this then brought about the political changes with the introduction of a bureaucracy that had the responsibility to find a fair deal for all.

One could look at the changes that took place as follows, and I quote from my book (world without war: made possible by empowered individuals (Volume 1)):
"The ‘Gemeinschaft’ had become Tönnies’ ‘Gesellschaft’, translated as ‘society’, where people were less connected through ‘familiarity’ and were under the influence of Habermas’ ‘control media’ of administration and money, unless they were able to apply rational analysis. The development from the pre-reformation system of government into a social democracy could roughly be described as four ‘shifts’ towards legitimisation. Habermas (Reason and the Rationalization of Society (The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. 1)}:
“The first shift led to the ‘citizens state’, which was developed in western Europe during the time of Absolutism and became the European ‘states system’. The second shift led to the ‚Rechtsstaat’ (constitutional state), which took on an exemplary format in Germany during the 19th century. The third shift led to the ‘democratic Rechtsstaat’, which spread throughout Europe and North America as a result of the French Revolution. The so far last shift ultimately led to the ‘social and democratic Rechtsstaat’, which was achieved in the battles of the European labour movement during the 20th century, and was, for example, promulgated in article 21 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Governments and their bureaucracies were hard pressed to understand the process of social and economic change, and looked to philosophers to clarify what was needed. As a consequence, everyone became a ‘philosopher’, with the result of their ‘trade’ getting into disrepute. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) was quite derogatory about those who believed that they could provide services as philosophers without the requisite training:
“Indeed, what we have seen develop of the philosophy of the newer times with the greatest pretension over the state, that it justifies every-one, who wishes to participate, to believe that they can do all that themselves, and as a result to give themselves the proof to have the power of philosophy.” (Hegel: Elements of the Philosophy of Right (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought))
Democratic governments, the successors to monarchies, were, and according to Noam Chomsky still are, influenced by the power of money and media, and administered the economy and defence often at the expense of immediate humanitarian matters. Education was usually given lip service by emphasising training to suit commerce rather than the development of the students’ social understanding. Education should provide subjects that teach rational analysis and reason as in the humanities, but even now, they are not prominent in curricula, while in reality training is preferred to satisfy the need for skills in manufacture."
What is important in our times now, is to realise that many countries of the third world and even the developing world are going through exactly the same changes of political turmoil as Europe did during the period of Emancipation. The sudden freedom to vote and contribute to decision making of a political nature is for the same reasons, Those countries can only be helped by education, not just job training, education that teaches local history and culture, and also the historical background to the troubles caused by emancipation elsewhere in the world. Don't let them make the same mistakes that had caused so much bloodshed in Europe.