A world without poverty

Among his many commitments in Turin last June, Professor Yunus also collected the Craftsman of Peace award, awarded to him in 2022 with the following motivation: "For his life spent in promoting a more just and fraternal economy, capable of making It focuses on people, especially women with their ability to choose, to act, to be a more responsible and driving part of society.
For the commitment to building a world without poverty, unemployment, pollution, also through entrepreneurship oriented towards social needs, following the credible path of peace".

Poverty is created by a system that shows no interest in solving the problems of the poor. By opening doors for them, people can begin to take action to resolve them. The important thing is first of all the ideas, which give continuity to the action.
Imagining, living values and commitment, to promote autonomy, having as a solution generating income, not just giving it" This is the summary of the message that Professor Yunus relaunched after having experienced the People's Lunch with many young people, one of the most significant educational experiences that Sermig proposes.
A small number of people sitting at an elegant table laden with food; in front of them, many more sitting on the floor, with a half-empty plate...
Of course, nothing personal: the places are assigned by "identity cards" distributed at random, which correspond to different lives, born in a certain place in the world, in conditions of wealth, well-being or poverty (more or less devastating and permanent) and then in peace, or in war... The very different proportions are those that reflect the enormous inequality and concentration in the distribution of income and above all wealth in the world.

With all that entails, different perspectives, different abilities, hunger…
Faced with this "destabilizing" scenario, the people involved are left free to act "as it seems right to them": sharing, asking for justice, help, abandoning themselves to waste... To then share emotions and considerations together on what they have just experienced: always a source of reflection important, which can become opportunities to start looking at oneself and others differently.

Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist and banker, is the creator and creator of modern microcredit, that is, a system of small loans intended for entrepreneurs who are too poor to obtain credit from traditional banking circuits. For his efforts in this field he won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1976 he founded the Grameen Bank, the first bank in the world to make loans to the poorest of the poor based not on solvency, but on trust.
Since then, Grameen Bank has disbursed more than $5 billion to over 5 million applicants.

By the editorial team
Focus - Let's prepare peace
NP August / September 2023