Bromsgrove Conference Questions

BEACONS Sixth Form Conference at Bromsgrove School: 21.4.08

‘How to Make Poverty History’

Questions to panel from student group following the presentation by Paul Jackson and Lucy Ferguson.
Here are some of your questions at the conference. carry on discussing them - or anything else about the conference itself or development in general - here. (NB: you have to register to use the message board - it'll only take a minute).

1. If EU and US cotton subsidies were removed, cotton exports from sub-Saharan Africa could increase by up to 75%. Wouldn’t this be better help for struggling countries by making them more independent, as opposed to giving them money and then becoming reliant on us?
(Sarah Griffin, Group 2)

2. If trade is to benefit people in the poorest countries, surely it has to take place within a global trading system that gives everyone a fair chance to compete? (Alice Woodyatt, Group 2)

3. Couldn’t direct democracy prevent a corrupt government until infrastructure in the economy grows? (it could be done in smaller states)
(Nick Theodorou, Group 2)

4. Shouldn’t we just leave them to sort out their own problems? (James Brown, Group 3)

5. Do you really feel that financial support is the answer? (James Brown, Group 3)

6. What proportion of the population in places like Africa have HIV? (Victor Popakov, Group 3)

7. Richer countries produce most greenhouse gases but the effects are most felt in poorer countries. How much should our economy be sacrificed to create a better condition in poorer countries? (Thomas Wong, Group 4)

8. Why should we be concerned with international poverty, when we haven’t solved poverty in the UK or USA? (Katy Blunt, Group 4)

9. What do you think of the resort that has been built in Belize, Mexico? Do you think it has taken up too much of the local space? (James Riley, Group 5)

10. Is it really our government’s responsibility to sort out poverty in other parts of the world? If so, how would you suggest more effective ways of interlinking countries with power to help other than the G8 summit? (Ada Cheng, Group 5)

11. Is the help from developed countries ever selfless? Or do the countries receiving help always have to pay a price? (Joel White, Group 6)

12. Should developed countries help developing countries by handing out clothes and food therebycreating dependence? (Alisher Tulbassov, Group 6)

13. Is it better to stay in a conflict zone where you are relatively economically stable and have an established way of life, or move to an MDEC where there is a chance you will be impoverished? (Jonathan Dearden, Group 7)

14. Is it advantageous to forfeit environmental attributes of a country in order to gain short-term economic stability? (Karina Partridge, Group 7)

15. How are countries in debt tackling their debt problems? Should MEDCs be willing to cancel Third World debt, and why? (David Brookes, Group 8)

16. To what extent does tourism have an effect on global warming If this is significant, does it not ultimately contribute to the problems associated with climate change to native industries such as coffee growing? (Frederick Green, Group 8)

17. Do you feel the UK government is doing enough for low HDI countries? (Roberta Conrad, Group 9)

18. Is morality absolute or relative? (Alex Buck, Group 9)

19. Is tribal community tourism providing tribes with a steady income or holding them back from social development? (Rachel Toner, Group 10)

20. With so many impoverished countries across the world, is there a chance of a second wave of socialist revolution? Plus, are socialist ideas and concepts the way forward for these countries? (Joe Harris, Group 10)

21. Will the presence of Western authorities that are helping to build up their governments lead to the westernisation of such countries? (Danil Isaev, Group 11)

22. As a country increases it’s tourism and directs it’s infrastructure towards the tourist industry, does it lose the cultural appeal it once had for tourists? (Sam White, Group 11)

23. Is it right that countries are so dependent on external funding, in particular from MEDCs? (Ben Hunt, Group 12)

24. Does poverty exist in all countries no matter how developed they are? (Ben Hunt, Group 12)

25. As recent evidence has shown, countries such as Ethiopia and Bangladesh are some of the happiest in the world; by importing Western market structures on these countries are we just giving them an unhealthy, materialistic outlook? (Alex Harding, Group 13)

26. Surely by having many charitable organisations such as DFID we are squandering resources. Would it not be a better idea to have just one organisation and make the most efficient use of what we have. (Philip Tear, Group 13)

27. Is it fair that developed countries must be responsible for the survival of less developed countries? Isn’t this punishment for excelling? (Taka Inufusa, Group 14)

28. Is it actually feasible to make poverty history? (different countries have different resources/situations ... unless you eliminated competition between countries there would always be one country excelling more than another … and poverty would return). (Henna Khattak, Group 14)

29. How do you expect to help poverty when the general public is only motivated at times of crisis like the Boxing Day tsunami (Rohil Dattani, Group 15)

30. A slowdown in Uganda’s economy has been seen recently. Before this, the economy was impressive. Will this lead to more poverty? (Shinar Nematova, Group 15)

31. What is known as Zimbabwe today was once Rhodesia, with the largest Black middle class in all Africa; since kicking white men off their farmland they have fallen into poverty. Do you think limited intervention is justified? (Jack Taft, Group 16)

32. It is assumed that we should help people in poverty. Why should we not take the Friedrich Nietzsche approach and just better ourselves? (Andrew Mackintosh, Group 16)

33. Is community-based tourism sustainable, and how does it help poverty?p; (Steven Harris, Group 17)

34. In the second lecture, on the issues of tourism, it was mentioned by the lecturer that she was “as guilty as anyone” when it came to visiting developing countries. At the end of your lecture you didn’t come to a conclusion regarding your views but this would suggest you had a guilty conscience. Would you say this was a fair assessment and if so why? (Henry Cowen, Group 17)

35. Are charities economically helping the development of LEDCs given that they have now become dependent on such aid and have reduced incentives to develop as a country? (Iskra Lawrence, Group 18)

36. The majority of governments in LDC’s seem more interested in spending money on trying to attract more people as tourists instead of providing basic needs and wants, eg. education and health care. (Jodie Poole, Group 18)

37. Given that poverty is a relative concept (eg. someone is always at the bottom of the ladder), is ‘Making Poverty History’ an achievable goal in a capitalist society? (Luke Ladbrooke, Group 18)

38. Why diminish our prosperity for the sake of someone else’s? It doesn’t affect us so do we really want to bother? (Matthew , Group 19)

39. Why should we prioritise the problems of the rest of the world over our own? (Daniel Swan, Group 19)