Jim Taylor’s Weblog

I was told, years ago, that instead of making New Year\’s resolutions I am unlikely to keep, I should name five good things that happened during the year.
        Most resolutions are about not-so-good things that we hope won\’t happen again in the coming year. Like indulging in too many butter tarts. Or chocolates.
        Since my weekly columns usually assail those not-so-good factors in our society, I thought it might be appropriate to list five things worth celebrating.

Waking up to Africa
        The world is beginning to recognize the enormity of the tragedies facing Africa.
        Africa suffered Idi Amin\’s tyranny in Uganda, massacres in Rwanda, apartheid in South Africa and Namibia, genocide in Biafra, starvation in Ethiopia, civil war in the Congo, in Liberia, in Sierra Leone…
        For most of those, we did nothing, or next to nothing.
        The conflict in Sudan has been known – and ignored — for more than 20 years. At last, though, we are at least awakening to the horrors of the refugee crisis in Darfur.
        Similarly, the world is slowly responding to the epidemic of AIDS and HIV in Africa. It particularly affects heterosexual men and women of childbearing age – some 24 million people. In some parts of Africa, one in four is now afflicted.
        Last March, I visited a Victory Centre in a squatter town outside Windhoek in Namibia. A dozen women shared their stories of learning to overcome poverty, illiteracy, and discrimination.
        I couldn\’t help wondering which three of them had AIDS.
        Quite possibly, all of them did.
        Canada has pledged $600 million through CIDA to fight AIDS. Jean Chretien brought in the first national laws to break the straitjacket of patent protection so that desperate people could get generic anti-AIDS drugs.
        It hasn\’t solved the problem. But it\’s a start.

The slow spread of democratic principles
         A few more nations lurched awkwardly towards democracy. Iraq will hold elections January 30. Afghanistan held one in October. In the Ukraine, popular outrage overturned a rigged election.
       Two of the world\’s most populous nations, India and Indonesia, one mainly Hindu, the other mainly Muslim, voted entrenched governments out. India\’s Sonia Gandhi even showed that political leaders need not lust for personal power.
        The most successful democracy in the world right now is probably the European Parliament. Not its bureaucracy, which apparently is as opaque and labyrinthine as any. But as syndicated columnist Richard Gwyn noted, “After killing millions of each other in four major wars over 150 years, the Germans and the French today so completely trust each other that they effectively run Europe conjointly.”
        Now the European nations are taking a further enormous step of faith – opening their ranks to a non-European nation. Gwyn says Turkey\’s entry will demonstrate that radically differing “civilizations don\’t have to clash.”
        Here in Canada, a minority government has worked for about nine months. In a political atmosphere where opposition parties normally see their only role as bringing down the government, that\’s a sign of progress.
        The United Nations is perhaps both our best and worst example of international democracy. Yet despite obvious shortcomings, it remains the only place where nations can argue their case with words instead of weapons.
        And it is at least attempting to reform its structures.

Accepting what we approved
        Canadian courts are showing more backbone than most of our politicians.
        Back in 1982, Canadians overwhelmingly endorsed the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in our new Constitution. It\’s a noble document. But now we\’re finding that fine words have practical consequences. For aboriginal rights. And gay/lesbian rights.
        So a court has ruled that the old Indian Act discriminated against the Samson Cree band; Ottawa owes them $350 million in oil and gas royalties.
        Seven provincial courts have concluded that same-sex marriages cannot be banned under the Charter. The Supreme Court agrees that same-sex marriages can be legal.
        A lot of Canadians apparently object. They want their political representatives to invoke the Charter\’s “notwithstanding” clause to exclude marriage from other Canadian rights and freedoms.
        But that would be, in effect, a vote of non-confidence in our own past wisdom.
        Good for the courts, I say.

Regaining control over corporations
        The cracks in the corporate fortress are widening. From the movie The Corporation, which portrayed corporate psychology as psychopathic, to Thom Hartmann\’s book Unequal Protection: the Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights, more and more Don Quixotes are tilting at corporate windmills.
        For example, the township of Haines in Pennsylvania decreed: “Corporations shall not be considered to be \’persons\’ protected by the Constitution of the United States…” At least nine other townships in Pennsylvania and one in California have passed similar local laws.
        A corporation is, of course, a totally abstract entity. It has offices and officers, staff and equipment. But you cannot touch, taste, see or feel a corporation. You cannot put a corporation itself in jail.
        Yet most laws treat this legal fiction as if it were a person. An extraordinary person, though – who pays taxes at a lower rate than humans. And who enjoys immortality. As long as it pays its taxes and elects its directors, a corporate body need never expire.
        Until now, the corporation has been an untouchable sacred cow. Maybe it\’s finally being gored by its own bull.

Capitalism shows a conscience
        At the same time, capitalism is slowly showing that it may have a conscience. That\’s an impression, not a statistic – I have no hard data to support my claim. But it seems that some components of the capitalist system are no longer waiting for governments to legislate them into acting responsibly. They\’re setting up their own ethics committees, establishing social audits of their performance, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions – whether or not their governments endorse the Kyoto Accord.
sp;      They\’re recognizing that profits cannot survive if consumers don\’t.
        That too is a start.
        There – that\’s my five things to celebrate about 2004. What are yours?
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Copyright © 2002 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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