|
|
Jan. 26, 2007
The state that we're in
We must all be vigilant, says UN envoy Lewis.
REBECA KUROPATWA
Picking up his morning newspaper in the morning, Stephen Lewis
was wholly fascinated when reading major stories about moving the
arms of the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight.
It's a move that reflects a very serious situation of nuclear production
and peril, Lewis pointed out to a Winnipeg audience Jan. 17. The
United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa was speaking
at the University of Manitoba (U of M) as part of Raoul Wallenberg
Day. His topic was The Silent Struggle: Gender and Race Beyond the
Canadian Border.
Lewis noted that the arms have been at seven minutes to midnight
since the days of military build-up during the Cold War and the
Cuban Missile Crisis – and have not moved since then.
"Today," said Lewis, "the clock's arms are being
moved closer to midnight, because of the realities of international
terrorism, the demonization of religions, the extremes that are
clashing worldwide and the phenomenon of climate change."
If he could go back and live his life again, Lewis observed, he
would devote much more time to pursuing the question of climate
change. "That is probably the apocalypse that faces the world
30-50 years from now," he said. "My kids and grandkids
will be dealing with the consequences of today's fossil fuel use
that are fast becoming a nightmare."
He said the arms of the Doomsday Clock are being moved because of
the "potential inundation of coastal regions and complete reordering
of agricultural lands and productivity, from the plains of China
to the agricultural areas of Africa and the possibility that small
island states can disappear beneath the waves, all on top of the
growth of nuclear threat." No one, he said, should take these
developments lightly.
Lewis said that of all of the global problems today, there is something
crucial that is missing. There is no recognition, he believes, "of
the ravages that are caused by poverty and disease, of what is happening
to the three billion people on the planet who live on less than
$750 a year, or the 1.35 billion people who live on less than a
dollar a day.
"Many international agencies behave as though they have no
responsibility at all," said Lewis. "You can't imagine
the force of influence that the United Nations can bring on these
issues if it decides to do so. Nothing has been more frustrating
to me over these years than watching the opportunities being frittered
away. There is nothing more important than the struggle for social
justice and equality."
Lewis has a long history with the UN. He served as the Canadian
ambassador to the organization from 1984-'88 and was also chair
of the committee that drafted the five-year UN Program on African
Economic Recovery. He was deputy executive director of UNICEF in
New York and part of the panel investigating the Rwandan genocide.
During the Winnipeg lecture, he said that there are nearly two-and-a-half
million children in the world who are now living with AIDS, and
more than 90 per cent of them are in Africa – 720,000 of them
require treatment today in order to stay alive and only five per
cent are receiving treatment.
Lewis asked, "How do you explain the delinquency of governments?
An aware and enlightened citizenry can turn up the heat. I am not
asking for any quintessential humanitarianism. I am asking only
for simple, basic human decency. If individuals and organizations
get together, services can be established on the ground that provide
much-needed medicine, targeted interventions and support for women
and influence in the government and the UN. In this way, the continuing
growth of this pandemic can be averted."
In March 2003, Lewis launched the Stephen Lewis Foundation for people
who are struggling with HIV/AIDS in Africa. For more information,
visit www.stephenlewisfoundation.org.
Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.
^TOP
|
|
