#5065: Haiti's president warns of deepening gap in world's wealth (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: nozier@tradewind.net

Haiti's President Warns of Deepening Gap in World's
Wealth                                                                                       
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Without mentioning problems at home, Haiti's   
president said Thursday that the United Nations must work to stem a
deepening   gap in the world's wealth or risk creating new divisions
among nations. Rene Preval, president of the Western Hemisphere's
poorest nation, said a "social  explosion" could result from millions of
people living in abject poverty at a time when the world's ability to
create jobs has never been greater. He said the poor as well as the rich
should have "dignified" living conditions as  well as access to
technology, which so far is limited to a relative few.  "What's the
point of stepping foot on Mars if there is still hunger in several     
regions of our planet?" he asked. He spoke of "a new source of
inequality and divisions among nations and within  nations," and he
asked: "How can we prevent a deepening in the gap?" Preval also seemed
to lay some blame for the world's ills on corporations, pointing to the
"immense power" of media conglomerates and the placing of profits over
the needs of humans, especially those suffering from diseases such    
as AIDS that can be treated if not cured. "The human cost of these
tragedies is scandalous particularly because the means to mitigate them
considerably do exist," he said.  Preval said states can no longer
develop policies without taking into account the interests of their
neighbors. "Without rules of the road, this globalization would be a
jungle," he said. He said the United Nations needs to be more democratic
to meet the challenges of the modern world. "Globalization is not new,"
he said. "Slavery and colonialism and the two great wars of this past
century are evidence of this."