A word to the rich from a place of the poverty...

Avid readers of this blog may remember my stories about one of my heroes, the wonderful ex monk Paul Baker Hernandez whom I had the joy of re acquainting myself with last year after nearly 18 years. Paul is a wonderful activist and wandering minstrel who lives these days in Nicaragua. His Charity Echos of Silence supports some of the poorest and moist oppressed people in the world. He's just written to folk here in Scotland with his view of the Global crisis from a place where abject poverty is not a political football but a personal reality. Its worth a read...

Crisis! The spreading econo-eco tragedy is bringing home to us all what most Nicaraguans live through day after day: homes, savings, jobs, forests - even lives gone. And of course, charity also contracts when the system that supports itself largely by decimating the 'Third World' goes into shock, so the outlook for serious international support is more than ever bleak.

However, solidarity is different. In the best Nicaraguan and human tradition of courage under fire, we believe this crisis is actually the moment for us all to reach out across frontiers and divisions and really go for building the new world order we've longed for so, an order based on peace and justice, cooperation and community. Now, at last, as individualistic consumerism begins to self-destruct, we can reclaim our values, our children, our very planet.

So, instead of the usual Christmas cry for help, Echoes of Silence invites you to join us in Water not War, a campaign requiring all governments to commit 1% of all military budgets and personnel to providing fresh water to every person on Earth. Not only would such a measure save millions of lives and reduce global warming significantly, it would also make the profound psychological shift of beginning to build down weapons and war, while preventing ever more terrible resources wars. Please check the WNW website: http://waternotwar.pbwiki.com. Time is of the essence. And, especially since the collapse of the UK pound has devastated our income, donations are still vitally needed (www.PeaceWorks.com). Thanks, and much love from our tiny but indomitable Nicaraguita.

Now there's a wee challenge to our ideas of how to respond to the credit crunch. For get your cash for more spending, lets give up a little more to help a lot....