Links Between Poverty And War
*By John Scales Avery*
04 April, 2012
*Countercurrents.org*
**There are several relationships between intolerable economic inequality
and war. Today 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 a day - 1.1 billion
on less than $1 per day. 18 million of our fellow humans die each year from
poverty-related causes. In 2006, 1.1 billion people lacked safe drinking
water, and waterbourne diseases killed an estimated 1.8 million people. The
developing countries are also the scene of a resurgence of other infectious
diseases, such as malaria, drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
Meanwhile, in 2011, world military budgets reached a total of
$2,157,172,000,000 dollars (i.e. 2.157 million million dollars). This
amount of money is almost too large to be imagined. The fact that it is
being spent means that many people are making a living from the institution
of war. Wealthy and powerful lobbies from the military-industrial complex
are able to influence mass media and governments. Thus the institution of
war persists, although we know very well that it is a threat to
civilization and that it responsible for much of the suffering that humans
experience.
Today's military spending of more than two trillion US dollars per year
would be more than enough to finance safe drinking water for the entire
world, and to bring primary health care and family planning advice to all.
If used constructively, the money now wasted (or worse than wasted) on the
institution of war could also help the world to make the transition from
fossil fuel use to renewable energy systems.
Military might is used by powerful industrialized nations to maintain
economic hegemony over less developed countries. This is true today, even
though the colonial era is supposed to be over (as has been amply
documented by Professor Michael Klare in his books on “Resource Wars”).
The way in which the industrialized countries maintain their control over
less developed nations can be illustrated by the “resource curse”, i.e. the
fact that resource-rich developing countries are no better off economically
than those that lack resources, but are cursed with corrupt and
undemocratic governments. This is because foreign corporations extracting
local resources under unfair agreements exist in a symbiotic relationship
with corrupt local officials.
One might think that taxation of foreign resource-extracting firms would
provide developing countries with large incomes. However, there is at
present no international law governing multinational tax arrangements.
These are usually agreed to on a bilateral basis, and the industrialized
countries have stronger bargaining powers in arranging the bilateral
agreements.
Another important poverty-generating factor in the developing countries is
war - often civil war. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security
Council are, ironically, the five largest exporters of small arms. Small
arms have a long life. The weapons poured into Africa by both sides during
the Cold War are still there, and they contribute to political chaos and
civil wars that block development and cause enormous human suffering.
The United Nations website on Peace and Security through Disarmament states
that “Small arms and light weapons destabilize regions; spark, fuel and
prolong conflicts; obstruct relief programmes; undermine peace initiatives;
exacerbate human rights abuses; hamper development; and foster a 'culture
of violence'.”
An estimated 639 million small arms and light weapons are in circulation
worldwide, one for every ten people. Approximately 300,000 people are
killed every year by these weapons, many of them women and children.
There is also another, less obveous, link between intolerable economic
inequality war: Abolition of the institution of war will require the
replacement of “might makes right” by the rule international law. It will
require development of effective global governance. But reform and
strengthening of the United Nations is blocked by wealthy countries because
they are afraid of loosing their privileged positions. If global economic
inequality were less enormous, the problem of unifying the world would be
simplified.
Let us work to break the links between poverty and war! To do that, we must
work for laws that will restrict the international sale of small arms; we
must work for a fair relationship between developing countries and
multinational corporations; and above all, we must question the need for
colossal military budgets. By following this path we can free the world
from the intolerable suffering caused by poverty and from the equally
intollerable suffering caused by war.
Suggestions for further reading:
1. G. Kolko, “Another Century of War”, New Press, (2002).
2. G. Kolko, “Confronting the Third World: United States Foreign Policy,
1945-1980”, Pantheon Books, (1988).
3. John A. Hobson, “Imperialism; A Study”, (1902).
4. M.T. Klare, “Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict”, Owl
Books reprint edition, New York, (2002).
*John Scales Avery* is a theoretical chemist noted for his research
publications in quantum chemistry, thermodynamics, evolution, and history
of science. Since the early 1990s, Avery has been an active World peace
activist. During these years, he was part of a group associated with the
Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. In 1995, this group
received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. Presently, he is an
Associate Professor in quantum chemistry at the University of Copenhagen
This article is extracted from Avery's book, "Crisis 21: Civilization's
Crisis in the 21st Century", which can be freely downloaded from several
sites on the Internet. for example from
http://www.vrijemeje.com/en/node/129
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