![]() ![]() Since then the flow of aid has actually decreased to its lowest level (in relation to members' combined gross national product) for 20 years.3 Oxfam describes the rich country record on aid as “derisory” and their trade policies akin to “highway robbery.”4 The …Įditor-Richards is right to emphasise that aid to poor countries needs to be well managed if it is to be effective and that the rich countries need to be as generous with their aid as with their rhetoric.1 While the total amount of aid from rich countries continues to fall sharply, however, we have to be pessimistic about the likely effects of yet another global health fund initiative. Estimates based on World Bank data suggest that over 40% of the 614 million people in less developed countries live in absolute poverty and that average life expectancy is now 25 years less than it is in developed countries.2 Ten years ago the countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) promised to scale up their development assistance. The gap between the rich and poor has widened steadily. So “fire” meant longer and longer forays into the forest, stealing fallen branches from under the blunt eyed gaze of snakes for just one single bucket of drinkable water.1 “Fire” meant gathering up a pile of sticks in a village that had already been gathering firewood for all the years since God was child, picking its grounds clean of combustibles as efficiently as an animal combing itself for lice. ![]() ![]() “Boiled,” a small word, meant twenty minutes over a roaring fire on a stove that resembled the rusted carcass of an Oldsmobile. It had to be carried a mile and a half, and boiled. Finally, violence can be immediate (Will stabbed Xavier) or it may involve a time lag (Yolanda left Zach to starve). Violence can be direct (Quinn punched Robert), indirect (Steve was aversely affected after seeing Ted punch Ursula) or structural (Victoria died from lead poisoning as a result of working in a mine). Violence can be physical (Monica punched Nancy, breaking her nose in the process) or psychological (Orlando verbally assaulted Patrick in public, inflicting psychological harm on Patrick). Violence can be directed to other people (Harry punched Ivan), to inanimate objects (Jack smashed the door), to animals (Kendy hanged the cat by the tail) or to oneself (Louise slashed her wrist). Sometimes violence takes the form of an act (Fred killed Gina by lethal injection), although other times violence takes the form of an omission (Fred killed Gina by not giving her the medications she needed). Sometimes violence refers to an outcome (Daniel raped Elizabeth), although other times it is the intention rather than the outcome that defines violence (Daniel tried to rape Elizabeth). Reading the literature on violence one usually is confronted with the following scenarios: we speak of someone ‘being violent’ (Anthony forced his way through the crowd), or someone ‘doing violence to’ something or someone (Bill’s interpretation of the play does violence to the text). The difficulty one faces when trying to come to terms with the meaning of violence is that this single term is used in a number of different ways, and it covers a vast array of different phenomena. Violence is an exceptionally complex and still very obscure concept. ![]()
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