What is poverty? Part 1 What are the causes of poverty?

BY ERROL A. GIBBS

What is poverty? Poverty is a state of existence underpinned by lack or scarcity of specific resources that people need to enable their growth —spiritual, emotional, mental, educational, economic, and physical. Likewise, their country of birth, compounded by structural injustices, may hinder their capacity to thrive in life without assistance.  Notwithstanding, some individuals lack motivation and industriousness to lift themselves out of poverty.

What are the causes of poverty? Many quote Biblical maxims such as “For there will never cease to be poor in the land…” Perhaps the hope is that one can justify his or her “moral alibi” that poverty is an acceptable state of human existence. Then, there is a command “…that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and the poor and needy in your land” (Deuteronomy 15:11).

The Biblical axiom should undermine any conscious or subconscious belief that God has meted out some grave misfortune of poverty upon humankind, only to then appeal to our charitable nature. Have we ever considered that the central focus of this command might have been a foretelling of the phenomena of poverty as both intrinsic and extrinsic —carefully engineered —intentionally or inadvertently, as a by-product of wealth creation?

The underlying command, however, infers that human beings have specific responsibilities and accountabilities for addressing poverty “in the land” (the Earth). Notwithstanding, some people dismiss the hardship of others as self-inflicted —likewise, self-determinant —using their lifestyles as an example of how impoverished people should rise out of poverty,

Although these observations are not pervasive, poverty has macro-level causes despite the complex narratives about deprivation in various parts of the world, and among individuals and families. It is laudable, though, that the United Nations (UN), the highest humanitarian agency in the world, together with 15 major organizations have mobilized to fight the scourge of poverty in the developing world. (https://borgenproject.org/organizations-fighting-poverty-developing-countries/).

Furthermore, in September 2000: The General Assembly of the United Nations, at its 55^th Session, adopted a resolution, A/RES/55/2, the United Nations Millennium Declaration to end poverty by the year 2015. In the year 2016, statisticians tell us that almost 10% of the world’s workers and their families lived on less than US$1.90 per person per day (https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/poverty/).

On November 07, 2019: The UN Secretary-General called on business leaders to use their “enormous influence” to push for inclusive growth and opportunities that benefit all people and the planet. Seventeen Sustainable Goals are the blueprint for achieving a better sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/).

What are these complex causes of poverty that seems to elude the noble efforts by individuals, community organizations, governments, and other global entities? A brief insight: Eric Williams’ (1911–1981). Capitalism and Slavery (London: Andre Deutsch Limited © 1944 by Eric Williams), provides a chronology of the enormous wealth generated by the Black African Slave Trade (the 1600s – 1900s). Moreover, indigenous and tribal peoples have fallen victim to the dominant Western nations.

The evidence is in the ravages of war, genocide, colonization, apartheid, exploitation of natural resources, violations of agreements, unfair indigenous land resettlements, and broken treaties. The statisticians tell us that 1% — controls 44.8% of the world’s wealth. Arguably, the empirical evidence demonstrates that there is a need to reverse engineer the multiple human ecosystems that have fostered centralized wealth and power in the hands of a few.

Notwithstanding, the industrial revolution of the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, fostered the expansion of the middle class, and helped to “trickle-down” growth prospects for some developing nations. Successive revolutions up to the fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0. (Klaus Schwab 2015) of the twenty-first century created enormous wealth —generationally, for dominant Western capitalists nations.

Today, poor peoples and nations still grapple with the fragmented pieces of their broken lives and heritage (generational poverty). They struggle to break the stranglehold of signed declarations meant for perpetuity, augmented by foreign aid and charity as opposed to repatriation and reparation, technology empathy, and economic justice. They attempt to function in an ecosystem, engineered for perpetual dependency, as they strive for equality and acceptance.

Many other circumstances underpin poverty, such as greed for excessive wealth and power, racial prejudice, systemic racism, social marginalization, and inadequate education. Every intellectual observer is aware that justice can be unequal between the rich and the poor. The challenge to human civilization, though, is to understand better that people can be materially rich, and yet spiritually poor, which undergirds all other forms of poverty.

Neither the wealthy nor the improvised are immune to the trauma and misery of friendlessness, drug addiction, alcoholism, fear, anxiety, and depression. A breakdown in the human spirit puts both the wealthy and the poor in the same mental realm to seek the unfathomable meaning and purpose of life. Part 2 of this article will briefly explore 25 “word” solution perspectives that would eliminate, mitigate, or manage poverty on the Earth ―regardless of cause.