STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Ike Seneres
Four freedoms of the times

In his address to the US Congress that he delivered on January 6, 1941 the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said that “In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms”, and he identified these to be the “freedom of speech and expression”, the “freedom of every person to worship God in his own way”, the “freedom from want” and the “freedom from fear.”

In these present days that are part of the “future days” in the mind of Roosevelt, millions of people around the world are still denied these human freedoms, and sad to say, many of us are still not free from “want” and more so from “fear”, although the present denials of these freedoms have taken on new forms and expressions.

\Analyzing what “freedom from want” would mean in these present days, I could see that the present denials of this freedom have taken the form of the denial of personal incomes which translates into the lack of “freedom from poverty”, the denial of food supplies which translates into the lack of “freedom from hunger”, the denial of health services which translates into the lack of “freedom from sickness” and the denial of quality education which translates into the lack of “freedom from ignorance”.

Analyzing as well what “freedom from fear” would mean in these present days, I could see that the present denials of this freedom have taken the form of the denial of human security which translates into the lack of “freedom from environmental risks”, the lack of “freedom from structural risks” and the “freedom from consumer risks”.

Over the past years, many governments and movements have declared “wars” on the four “evils” of poverty, hunger, sickness and ignorance. Some of those who tried may have succeeded in one way or the other, but for the most part in many areas of the developing word, these four “evils” are still present in their most vicious forms, seemingly not wanting to go away.

Until now and rightly so, “human development” and “human security” are still the popular buzz words in the United Nations, the biggest and most equipped organization in fighting these “wars”. Big as it is however, it still has to rely on the actions of its member countries, and this is where I think the ordinary citizens of the world could help, to come to the side of their own member governments in fighting these “wars” in their own localities.

The Human Development Index (HDI) that was developed by the United Nations provides member countries with a scientific way of measuring success and failure in the delivery of public services that are meant to address the problems of poverty, sickness and ignorance. I am guessing that in the reckoning of the HDI developers, the problem of hunger could be addressed indirectly if people would have the means to buy food.

Using a very practical method of computation, the HDI measures the per capita incomes, the life expectancies and the literacy rates of its member countries. It goes without saying that increasing the per capita income would be a way of reducing poverty, increasing the life expectancy would be a way of reducing sickness and increasing the literacy rate would be a way of reducing ignorance, at least in macroeconomic terms.

Inspired by the HDI, I am now organizing a development program that will implement this scientific method in the microeconomic level, in self-contained communities where the data collection and the mobilization of the needed resources would be doable and sustainable.

To be more specific, the program will introduce livelihood services for the purpose of reducing poverty by increasing per capita incomes. It will introduce health services for the purpose of reducing sickness by increasing life expectancies. It will also introduce education services for the purpose of reducing ignorance by increasing literacy rates.

In addition to the use of the HDI methods, the development program will also implement four experimental standards in the project sites. These are the standards for Green Architecture, Intelligent Infrastructure, Clean Manufacture and Organic Agriculture (GICO). All of these four standards have been tried out in some countries in some form or the other, but to my knowledge, there has never been an experiment to converge all four at the same time.

On one hand, the use of the HDI method will address the goals of human development; while on the other hand, the use of the GICO standards will address the goals of human security. The GICO standards are meant to reduce environmental risks, structural risks and consumer risks.

On the economic side, the GICO standards will also bring down the costs of food, electricity, gas and water. It will also bring down the costs of telephony, internet and cable television. On the practical side, it will make “Zero Waste” a reality by making it easier for everyone to recycle.

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