by Michelle Wilkinson

Created on: July 17, 2008

Poverty only seems to become an important news story when the powers-that-be decide it is an important issue. When the G8 countries decide to have a little get together and talk about rising fuel prices and the rise in food prices, for instance. The representatives of these nations can talk all they want about tackling poverty, but let us face it; global capitalism means that there are going to be losers in the world, as well as winners. Representatives of the G8 talk about cancelling the debt of developing nations, but what they say and what they do tend to be two different things. They are not really interested in tackling poverty, but rather in being seen to tackle poverty.

Indeed, it is a lot easier to be seen to tackle poverty many miles away. We have all seen the evocative images of starving African children with their distended stomachs and flies buzzing around their eyes. We can then pride ourselves on doing our bit' by donating some money to a worthy charity without facing up to the fact that Africa does have wealth, that not everybody in Africa is starving, struggling to find shelter and water and to access adequate healthcare and education. In fact, there are some very wealthy people in Africa, but that kind of picture painted of Africa would not enable people to feel good about themselves in the West, now, would it?

Media outlets prefer to focus on poverty in places such as Africa because the picture of poverty is starker and because, in a way, it is easier to portray these people as helpless. Perhaps this is why images of starving children are particularly well-utilised by the media because they really are helpless to change their situation. Poverty in the West is regarded in relative terms and so it is easier to dismiss. It only seems to become an issue when other sections of society feel threatened by the presence of poverty, particularly if social order is threatened through crime, for example.

Poverty exists year-round, but seems to be highlighted, besides during the various conferences held by members of the G8, UN and EU, when there is some kind of political upheaval and when there are humanitarian crises. Often they go hand-in-hand. Take Zimbabwe, for instance, where inflation is now running at over 2 million per cent. Zimbabweans decided that they wanted change, and so voted for Morgan Tsvangirai to replace Robert Mugabe. However, Mugabe insisted on having another round of voting in which he was the only candidate, after Tsvangirai pulled

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>