From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

2 POWER AND POLITICS I BELIEVE, THEREFORE I AMATTITUDES AND BELIEFSDevelopment is often framed in dessicated terms such as interestgroups, economic growth, institutional evolution, or technologicalchange, while ignoring the central importance of attitudes and beliefs– people’s views and the values that underpin them. Development is atleast as much about passion as about calculation. In terms of theirimpact on development, attitudes and beliefs are deeply ambiguous:they can empower or disempower, mobilise or pacify. In the rightcircumstances, they can build a public ethos among the powerful,or open the door to the ‘power within’ that lies at the heart of activecitizenship.Attitudes and beliefs help to explain why people so often act inways that contradict the idea of ‘rational choice’. Even the simple act ofcasting a vote owes much more to belief in the importance of democracy,or of a citizen’s duty, than to self-interest – only a negligible numberof votes actually change the outcome of an election. Across the world,citizens and political leaders act out of conviction, not just out ofself-interest. They set up or take part in organisations, work tirelesslyto improve their own lives or those of other poor and excludedpeople. Often the work involves genuine sacrifice, of time, foregoneopportunities, or physical safety. Meeting and talking with activists isone of the greatest honours of working for an organisation like Oxfam.When it comes to attitudes, more grizzled activists – and parents –have always moaned about the lack of commitment of the young.In the eighth century BC, Hesiod observed: ‘I see no hope for thefuture of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth oftoday, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words’. The goodnews is that, in poor countries, surveys suggest that such grumbling ismisplaced: in China, India, Nigeria, Viet Nam, and Zimbabwe, youngpeople are at least as interested in politics as older people. In Indonesiaand Iran, interest in politics is highest among the young, and steadilydeclines with age. 19 In rich countries, there has been a steady rise in thepercentage of the population that has taken part in a demonstration, astrike, a consumer boycott, or a petition, even as conventional partyactivism has declined. 20 Such youth activism has a lasting impact.Participating early in life is a good predictor of ability and willingnessto engage in the future. 2135