A Man of the People

I was recently reminded of this year's Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Muhammed Yunus, and was quite impressed with his scope and depth of consciousness with regards to alleviating the dire conditions of the poor not only in his native Bangladesh, but in other developing nations as well. Dr. Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering work in the use of microcredit. He set up the Grameen Bank in 1976 with just $27 from his own pocket. Thirty years on, the bank has 6.6 million borrowers, of which 97% are poor women who desire to establish their own business.

Dr. Yunus discovered that microcredit can be both commercially viable and an engine for socio-economic change. Grameen Bank has helped millions of Bangladeshis rise above poverty, not through charity, but through hard work and a little faith in their abilities. His success in helping the poor help themselves has been duplicated in many other developing countries. He has proven the value of direct investment from the bottom up in bringing about economic development. Microcredit and its success stands in direct contrast to the billions of dollars in foreign aid that is wasted when the West gives "aid" to Third World tyrants and dictators.

Everyday hundreds of millions of people on our planet struggle to just survive. They struggle not with questions of war and peace, not with decisions to launch bombs or practice diplomacy; but with how to find enough food to feed themselves and their families. Their needs are basic and consume most of their existence. They, our fellow human beings, our fellow brothers and sisters, live on the neglected edge of society. Dr. Yunus, three decades ago, resolved to do his part to help his fellow brothers and sisters step away from the edge. In doing so, Dr. Yunus understood what the current occupant of the White House to this day does not: that peace and stability in this world cannot be achieved until and unless the roots of poverty are addressed.

So, big up to Yunus!

To learn more about Dr Yunus & Micro-Credit:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6262679
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/business/14nobelcnd.html?ex=1161662400&en=b0d7ee54b0cea3a4&ei=5070

Directed by Desire

Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan gathers the work from Jordan's ten books of poetry and includes 70 never-before-published poems-a tender, fierce, and innovative series that she wrote before her death.

As Adrienne Rich writes in her "Foreword": "June Jordan . . . wrote from her experience in a woman's body and a dark skin, though never solely 'as' or 'for.' Sharply critical of nationalism, separatism, chauvinism of all kinds, as tendencies toward narrowness and isolation, she was too aware of democracy's failures to embrace false integrations. Her poetic sensibility was kindred to Blake's scrutiny of innocence and experience; to Whitman's vision of sexual and social breadth; to Gwendolyn Brooks' and Romare Bearden's portrayals of ordinary black people's lives; to James Baldwin's expression of the bitter contradictions within the republic."

In short, Directed by Desire is a breathtaking overview and the definitive June Jordan volume.

See: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=3571

Cool audio poetry sample: http://audiopoetry.wordpress.com/tag/poet/june-jordan/

-MixMasterE