Government support in global apartheid

There are many root causes for global apartheid, and one critical cause is the government of any nation, supporting it with its policies. According to a July, 2001 article in "The Nation":

"Article 25 of the Universal Declaration states that "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services."'

But the problem is that there is uncetainty as to whether or not a nation is obliged to follow this declaration and do what is necessary for their people to live an adequate life.
This is also a mjor problem when it comes to diseases since under-developed countries have high amounts of low-wage communities who become more prone to deadly diseases such as AIDS. The article continues...


"The proximate cause of the spread of AIDS is HIV, but vulnerability to infection is linked not only to behavior but especially to unequal power relations between women and men, and to poverty and living conditions [see Eileen Stillwaggon, 'AIDS and Poverty in Africa,' May 21]. Poverty, in turn, is linked to race and to the structural position of communities within countries and of countries within the world economy."

Because of countless fees that add on to the cost of vital medication for treatment, many people are left to die as their govenrments watch and the pharmaecutical industry gets richer. Simply, most of this problem lays soley on the G8 Nations

who control the fates of the impovershed nations, in terms of supplying critical funds to the underdeveloped nations. As George W. Bush continues to slash taxes, the government chest becomes more empty, meaning less money to use not only to pay off its debts, but to provide for other nations. The US has no problem functioning under a huge deficit since it is on good terms with loaners from all over the world but that is not the case for African nations who struggle for necessary loans because of their reputation and history of inability to compete with the western world.

Global apartheid can best be summed in this one paragraph in the article...

"Today's inequalities build on a foundation of the old inequalities of slavery and colonialism, plus the destructive aftermath of cold war crusades. Like apartheid in South Africa, global apartheid entrenches great disparities in wealth, living conditions, life expectancy and access to government institutions with effective power. It relies on the assumption that it is "natural" for different population groups to have different expectations of life. In apartheid South Africa, that was the rationale for differentiating everything according to race, from materials for housing to standards of education and healthcare. Globally it is now the rationalization used to defend the differential between Europe and Africa in funding for everything from peacekeeping to humanitarian assistance ($1.23 a day for European refugees, 11 cents a day for African refugees). As one relief worker said, 'You must give European refugees used to cappuccino and CNN a higher standard of living to maintain the refugees' sense of dignity and stability.'"