Green shoots of recovery ?

Tens of millions more people in Africa and elsewhere will be driven into poverty this year even though the world is recovering from the global financial crisis, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said .

"We estimate that 64 million people worldwide will fall into extreme poverty because of the crisis and an additional 30,000 to 50,000 babies may die in sub-Saharan Africa," he added.

Many organisations claims that government policies and business behaviour cause world poverty and always call for new investment and new reforms to address and mitigate the problem.

Governments don't pursue policies that put profits before poor people because they have chosen to do this rather than chosen not to. Nor have they given in to pressure from the rich and powerful to pursue policies that favour them. They don't have any choice in the matter, because they are not in control of things. Governments operate within the framework of an economic system — capitalism. Governments put profits before poor people because they are obliged to by the impersonal workings of world market forces, not out of choice. The same goes, even more forcefully, for capitalist corporations. Their whole purpose is to make a profit on the capital invested in their businesses so that their shareholders can benefit. That's the nature of the beast.What is required is not the reform of this system but its replacement where the Earth's resources become the common heritage of all humanity and only on this basis can these resources be mobilised to eradicate world poverty and ensure a decent life for every man, woman and child on the planet.