Gutter politics mark Happiness Day
YESTERDAY, March 20 was International Happiness Day. If you have been following the activities of Panama’s campaigning politicians you can be forgiven if the news passed you buy.
I have witnessed elections close up in more than half a dozen different countries, and have yet to see anything as down and dirty as Panama’s current battle, taking place under the umbrella of an ethical electoral agreement.
Early this morning I was shown Twitter images of “cartoons” with unsubtle homophobic overtones allegedly sent out by a high ranking cabinet member.
And there’s still six weeks to go as the political landscape sinks below gutter level.
What is demonstrably absent is reasoned debate of issues at the presidential or mayoralty
campaign levels. I shudder to think of what is going on in the trenches among would be deputies.
We are overwhelmed with slander, innuendo, obfuscation and downright lies. To compound it all is the biggest forest of visually polluting election hoardings I have ever seen,even in Panama. All of this while health clinics struggle with malfunctioning equipment, underfunded Santo Tomas hospital uses sheets that no ghostt would wear and many students head for schools that haven’t been upgraded for generations.
But their elected representatives, some of whom who have been drawing there $7,000 a month, plus side benefits, throughout those generations, are cool to the idea of raising salaries and standards of schoolteachers.
The initiative to declare a day of happiness came from Bhutan – a country whose citizens are considered to be some of the happiest people in the world. The Himalayan Kingdom has championed an alternative measure of national and societal prosperity, called the Gross National Happiness Index (GNH). The GNH rejects the sole use of economic and material wealth as an indicator of development, and instead adopts a more holistic outlook, where spiritual wellbeing of citizens and communities is given as much importance as their material wellbeing How about that as a guideline for our elected representatives?.
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Marking the Day of Happiness, Global March Against Child Labor says education is the single most important variable for well-being and happiness. Global March has released a policy paper on ‘Out-of-School Children and Child Labor’, which contains some gems of information that should be required reading for all seeking political officeIt re-iterates of Global March’s strategy – the elimination of child labour, achievement of Education for All (EFA) and poverty alleviation. They are inter-connected global goals and thus access to education is one of the key components within the broader poverty alleviation strategy. At the launch of the policy paper, Chairperson Kailash Satyarthi said “Happiness begins from the smile and joy of a well protected child, and ends with the sadness of an exploited child. Education for all will be a distant dream without ending the scourge of child labor. Opportunities and a promising future for children can only be guaranteed with free education of good quality for all children.” According to latest figures, there were 57 million out-of-school children of primary school age in 2011. The paper focuses particularly on the ‘hard-to-reach’ children and within them child labourers. Moreover, a large number of children engaged in the worst forms of child labour are a direct result of marginalization in education. The document also explores the major obstacles to attaining universal primary education and eliminating child labor: .Low quality and inequity in learning: Millions of children attending schools for several years do not master basic skills. Lack of teachers, overcrowding in classrooms, low school attendance are amongst the many reasons affecting the quality of education and learning. Insufficient funding and allocation to education: With the, the adverse impacts on the number of out-of-school children and child laborers are more pronounced than ever before. it is thus most pertinent to ensure that countries spend at least 6% of their incomes on education. Haldis Holst, said, “Free quality education cannot be a luxury for the few; it is a necessity for everyone. Sustainable quality education for all will not be achieved without appropriate investments in quality teachers, quality learning tools and the quality environments needed to facilitate teaching and learning.” SPRING AHEAD March 20 is also the Spring Equinox, when in Northern climes look forward to new beginnings. Can Panama do the same? . |
