What has stood out this year as it draws to a close, is the "globalization of indifference," a term coined by Pope Francis.
An
indifference first of all to the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya
people from their centuries-old homeland in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Some 650,000 have fled rape, killings and torture ... their houses,
villages and crops burned, their livestock stolen, leaving nothing for
them to come home to. Meanwhile, the erstwhile Nobel "Peace" Laureate
and self-annointed queen of indifference, Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto
ruler of Myanmar, and the generals responsible have little to fear
despite having committed appalling crimes against humanity. No one
seems to have a tally of the total slaughtered but, according to
Medicines Sans Frontieres, in just the first month after the violence
erupted in August, at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed, including 730
children.
Another humanitarian catastrophe is Yemen. The
blockading of ports and the greatly intensified bombing campaign hurt
civilians most. Those who can, have left the country, and are figured
at over 200,000; internally displaced persons number over 3 million, or
greater than 1 in 10 of the population. Meanwhile, the blockade
prevents the delivery of food and emergency humanitarian aid. Estimates
vary but a million people have contracted cholera because necessary
food, medicine and fuel is not reaching them. If there is an answer, it
lies in negotiation and compromise. But outside powers are using the
factions to increase their zones of influence, and Al-Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula is its own wild card. For now the pain and suffering
and killing are likely to continue.
Rising inequality in
the U.S. was given another boost by the Trump/Republican tax bill
(certainly not fought tooth and nail by the Democrats). For those with
an interest in figures, the 2018 World Inequality Report will be an
eye-opener: In 1980, the bottom 50 percent in the U.S. earned over 20
percent of national income while the top 1 percent cashed in 11
percent; By 2016, the amounts had almost reversed (13 percent for the
bottom half and over 20 percent for the top 1 percent). All of this is
not an accident but a direct result of policy: from the Reagan tax cuts
to Bill Clinton's NAFTA. The public reaches out for saviors but gets
the pre-owned by, or belonging to, the self-same 1 percent. Just look
at the makeup of the senate.
Our president, of course, chose to pull out the U.S.
from the Paris climate accord -- now the only country outside it. The
world does not march to the beat of an irrational out-of-step drummer.
So it was with his acceptance of Jerusalem as Israel's capital negating
five decades of US policy. It led the UN General Assembly to declare
the decision "null and void" by a vote of 128-9, despite crude and up-front pressure by the Trump administration.
No matter the signs, let us hope for a better 2018.
.
1
1
1
