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| Islam can Make Poverty History |
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Radical new rules are needed to run the global economy
Radical new thinking is required. New economic rules are needed to govern the global economy because capitalism is inherently unjust and exploitative. Professor John Gray writes: "A worldwide free market is no more self-regulating than the national free markets of the past. Barely a decade old, it already contains dangerous imbalances. Unless it is reformed radically, the world economy risks falling apart in a replay, at once tragic and farcical, of the trade wars, competitive devaluations, economic collapses and political upheavals of the 1930's…As global laissez-faire breaks up, a deepening international anarchy is the likely human prospect"
There are several intellectual contradictions evident in capitalism which have been explored. The free market with its emphasis upon non-state intervention has never been achieved because this is not how economies behave in reality. Economists recognise that the market alone cannot solve problems, which means that one recognises that philosophically and structurally capitalism is erroneous in its roots and branches. So how can one reform capitalism when in origin its principles contradict reality? There is a plethora of irrational and contradictory logic; while national governments were required to govern national economies, how can a global economy be run by national governments? Effective global governance is required and this is where the debate needs to be focussed.
Globalisation shaped by capitalism is creating catastrophic problems and this is exacerbated by the secular values, which motivate nations to exploit one another and compete with each other for power and influence. The Commission for Africa in this regard is but a ploy to further British influence in Africa. This is evidenced in the rivalry between Britain/EU and the US for control of Africa's resources The US oppose 100% debt relief on some of the poorest countries and has rejected calls for an immediate end to subsidies on cotton and sugar, as called for by the Africa Commission. The United States has devised its own conditional aid plans known as the Millennium Challenge Account, for which few countries have qualified, but it will not sign up to Gordon Brown's development bond plan, the International Financing Facility (IFF). The nomination of the architect of Iraq's invasion Paul Wolfowitz as the new President of the World Bank also raises serious questions about U.S. commitment to helping the world's poor. Also, when we examine the Marshall Plan for Africa it is misleading. When aid was given to Europe in the aftermath of WWII it was equal to $100 billion at current prices while the total aid to Africa in 2002 was $22.3 billion. So the comparison is rather misleading and the reality of the two continents are very different.
There needs to be a radical shift in thinking and any solution for world poverty, and organisation of the global economy requires a comprehensive solution that addresses people's values, criteria and objective in life. The Islamic ideology - in spite of human imperfections in its implementation - provides that alternative. Islam links our actions to higher values and greater ideals which address the core of the problem facing the world. The belief that the human mind can determine good and bad regardless of time and complexity, which is the basis of capitalism, is proven to be erroneous. If millions of people who have died from poverty are not sufficient proof then no proof will really suffice.
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