Culture, Politics, and the Plight of Children: A Challenge to Researchers

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments Vol 13, No.2 (2003) ISSN 1546-2250 Culture, Politics, and the Plight of Children: A Challenge to Researchers Jay Moor UN-HABITAT Nairobi, Kenya Citation: Moor, Jay. “Culture, Politics, and the Plight of Children: A Challenge to Researchers.” Children, Youth and Environments13(2), 2003. Having worked for the United Nations for over 13 years on both normative and operational issues, I have been as frustrated as Professor Dasberg with the veil of sovereignty that hides national bad habits. Prior to the mid-90s, good governance as a subject for international negotiation was taboo. The “C” word, corruption, was unmentionable. Over time, with the almost total failure of international development schemes, member states could no longer pretend that governance and leadership were sovereign matters, out of bounds. As all other avenues to development led to nearly naught, even the UN has come to recognize the root problems that can no longer be ignored. Issues of good governance and integrity are now fundamental to most development programs. I must say that research had little to do with it. Most of the change was brought about by a few international civil servants who could feel the damage that was caused by lack of accountability, lack of transparency and just plain bad leadership. Even as openness and honesty have been thrust upon member states, we should not fool ourselves into believing that politicians will stand still for it. Beyond sovereignty, there is a great wall– culture– to hide behind. This is evident in a number of problem areas, not least of all in the worsening plight of children. The child as innocent lamb is a hypocritical myth. In the real world, children are seen as factors of production; as future 152 enemies; as commodities to be bought, sold and used; as sex objects; but not as the beatific lambs of the Bible. From the global vantage point of the United Nations, it is painfully obvious that human children are not universally accepted as gifts from God, little angels to be cherished and nurtured to adulthood. Evidence lies in the brick and carpet factories of South Asia; in the brothels of China; in the sculleries of Kuwait; in the crack houses of urban America; on the stoop labor farms of Mexico; on the urban streets of Africa; in locked and sealed cargo containers on the high seas; as well as in the bedrooms of many, many socially prominent men all over the world. The Ten Commandments would have children honoring their fathers and mothers but they do not commit parents to care for their own children. What were the adult authors of the Decalogue thinking of? That children are always lovingly cared for but then become naturally ungrateful beyond reason? Or that we might really despise our parents for things they have done unto us? Certainly, physical and sexual abuse were not unknown 2,500 years ago. The dark-hearted among us might view the Fifth Commandment (Fourth for Catholics) as an instrument to assist these ancient perpetrators in covering up their crimes. The commandment in Exodus 20:5 promises that the children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren will be punished for the misdeeds of their fathers. Where did this thought come from? And where does it take the human race except into a permanent hell of domination, caste and class? The point is that a globalized culture is no less human than many of the repressive rural cultures we have seen throughout history and, in many ways, is a device to harness the fears and frailties of those cultures. In doing so, globalization expands the scope and scale of man's inhumanity, but it did not invent it. Corporate business, engaged in liberalized trade and finance, can squeeze the compassion from life. But so can traditional 153 culture. It is usually the people who are marginalized and struggling economically that cannot afford to be human, as measured against today's norms. Stories of the truly good person abound precisely because they make good stories and in some way offer hope amidst the brutality of everyday life. In reality, among individuals, parents and corporations, those struggling to survive...