Not So Great Expectations

Thursday’s message in the editorial pages of Madrid’s centrist El Mundo newspaper and the leftist Mexican La Jornada is one of profound skepticism that the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, will bring about even a modest solution to the problems of poverty in Africa or to the challenges of global warming.

El Mundo praises British Prime Minister Tony Blair for framing the topic as an international solidarity issue but has qualms about the ability of the G-8 countries to deal with the enormous needs that besiege Africa, a continent where “extreme poverty walks hand in hand with a political situation that can’t guarantee prosperity.”

La Jornada is less generous in judging the intent and political will of the G-8 leaders to offer aid to Africa in meaningful amounts: “Not even the modest $50 billion Bob Geldof and Bono are asking for to fight off poverty will be granted at Gleneagles and not for lack of resources, as [the G-8’s] military budgets reflect.”

In Buenos Aires, Clarin’s editorial doesn’t comment on poverty in Africa but brings the issue closer to home by pointing out that 43% of the people in Latin America are so poor that they are unable to take advantage of the basic political and social rights of citizenship, and that this now threatens the region’s democratic stability.

Regarding global warming, both the Spanish and Mexican newspapers blame the U.S. and President Bush for refusing to even discuss ideas on how to deal with energy consumption and environmental pollution.

Sergio Munoz