Human Civilization, Jeffrey D. Sachs, The Best Humanitarianism and The End of Poverty

    Ending poverty, especially extreme poverty, has emerged as one of the most sine qua non struggles in the history of human civilization. In fact, it is important that we begin with the concept of Civilization before even tackling the complicated and often highly politicized one of poverty. Human beings have lived on this earth for approximately 14 million years. Out of these 14 million years, at most 10,000 have included sendentary societies and ultimately civilizations (Davidson Africa in History). By the way, Basil Davidson’s book is an excellent starting point for anyone seeking to get a comprehensive and objective understanding of our species’ existence on this planet. Thus human civilizations, beginning with the first sendentary societies, have existed for far less than one percent of the time that human beings have lived on this earth. Taking into account this humbling statistic, it is mindboggling that there are so many ignorant cynics who make arguments using absolute expressions like “poverty has always existed or there have always been classes in human society.” No one can thoroughly prove what life was like when we were hunter-gatherers, but it seems clear from archaeological and anthropological evidence that most of these societies had virtually no examples of the extreme social stratification that is present in today’s societies. Certainly, in line in primatology, there were dominant individuals and pecking orders but that is a far cry from classes, extreme poverty and extreme wealth. 

      Thus, a veritable messianic figure emerges. Jeffrey Sachs is easily my greatest living hero. Few, if any, can rival the courage and sagacity of Sachs. I really wish that I had gone to Columbia and majored in Economics or at least found myself studying at the Earth Institute–oh well maybe it’s not too late. Either way, having read Sachs’ chef d’oeuvre for the layman, The End of Poverty, I am struck by the man’s excellent track record and how succintly he let’s us know what the main issues are regarding poverty. Moreover, Sachs outlines tangible solutions that have either succeeded already in many parts of the world where he has practised what he calls clinical economics or prove highly possible.  

© 2007 Paul Ainsworth Delano Francis. All rights reserved.