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A Pivotal Year

Systemic challenges aside, we have to start somewhere (after all, the world is spending fiftytimes more for arms each year than it does on development). Now, for the first time in 25 years, poverty is back on the global agenda and the international community must take advantage of this rare political opportunity. Africa is more than a moral test for humanity – it’s a window on what is possible for the entire world, a crucible for the emergence of geo-democratic governance and economic coordination. Despite its detractors, the Africa Plan pushes the political envelop about as far as possible in today’s market-driven climate, and with a good start on development reforms in Africa, a Global Marshall Plan and other global macroeconomic changes may follow in time.

One way or another, 2005 will mark a turning point in global development. With the massive humanitarian response to the tsunami disaster this past winter, the March publication of the Commission for Africa report, discussion of the Africa Plan at the G-8 summit and the European Union in June, the September UN Millennium High-Level Review, and resumption of the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations in December, this is the best chance since the early 1980s for the global community to make genuine progress on poverty and development. It is vital that the world peace movement, international labor, the sustainable development community, civil society organizations, religious groups, government policy networks, multinational companies, the media, and world citizens join together – this year – to raise their voices on behalf of the African people.

Just as the Brandt Report had a powerful and lasting effect, the Africa Plan may have an even greater impact upon the nations of Africa, the field of international development, and global economic planning far into this century. Enabling the African continent to build up and develop its productive capacities – and realize its full human, social and economic potentials – is a monumental challenge, and whether or not this vast project succeeds in all respects, the entire world will be better off for the Africa Commission’s profound determination to make a real difference for the families and communities across Africa. Leaders of the developed world must now demonstrate their own courage and statesmanship in implementing these recommendations, and the global public must stand up and support them before this unique political moment slips away. Now is the time to reverse economic stagnation and social upheaval in this long-troubled region. Either the Africa Plan shall become a clarion call for our generation to mobilize the political will to end poverty in Africa – or a shameful symbol of our failure to deliver real change, condemning the African people to a future even more tragic than today.

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