I cannot understand why people concerned with allieviating poverty do not mention the prime cause everywhere - increasing population. As resources become scarcer, elementary mathematics dictates that more people means less for all. Only the Chinese government, and to a lesser extent the Indian government have had the courage to address this problem, and have been abused by human rights activists for their trouble. The easiest way for Australia to limit its population growth is to end immigration. Trying to reduce poverty without action on population is pissing in the wind. Currently world population is increasing at 6 million per month.

Trying to reduce poverty without action on population is not just ineffectual. It is an action which diverts attention away from the most fundamental cause of poverty, thereby preventing progress.
When this is done deliberately, it might very well fall into the category of a crime against humanity.

"Make Poverty History" ....BRANDING & SLOGAN RIGHTS ? Myyyyy goodness. OXFAM.. If was not already pretty much totally cynical about some of these NGO's i sure would be after that kind of thing.

Poverty can be caused as much by entrenched vested interest as by anything else. Usually such local vested interest has an external connection in African countries, closely tied to our own insatiable demand for resources and the lust of despots to fill their Swiss bank accounts.

Did anyone manage to catch the Soweto gospel Qoir when they were around recently ? I look at them as wonderful examples of how to overcome poverty in the mind and heart for a start...

When we learn to live 'country style' (which is probably a lot closer to the 'Biblical' notion of loving your neighbour than we experience in the cities) things will be a lot better for us all.

Israelite farmers in the Old Testament were under a divine unjunction to NOT harvest to the nth degree of produce, deliberately to provide social welfare for the struggling widow, poor and alien. They were allowed to come in after the harvest and pick what remained.

No matter how we structure society, there will be those who are or become poor relative to the rest, all it takes is a bad business decision, a climatic disturbance, an accident, family breakdown.

There is no solution to this, apart from compassion and sharing as able. The Israelites were constantly reminded by God to be compassionate to the alien in their midsts "because you were also once aliens in foreign land, and slaves".

City life and economic prosperity are a lot like an antibiotic for the concience, immunizing us from the nagging reality of the less fortunate.... until it's our turn

Yes Plerdsus. Current unsustainable populations will keep third world countries poor and their children dying. But that notion is not “complex” enough for the academics and others who prefer to blame colonialism – despite the fact that ex-colonies other than the likes of India have been on the skids ever since they gained their independence. And there are those who ignore the non-PC fact that some cultures are simply not equal to the task of surviving in the modern world. The conspicuous compassion gangs also fail to understand the role in the problem of the despotic creeps who are supposed to be running these countries but are robbing them blind. Civilizations have died out in the past. Perhaps the phenomena is not still occurring. Survival of the fittest still applies.

Leigh, what rubbish.
Despite growing populations in the 'third world' it is the industrialised nations of the first that are unsustainable - depleting the natural resources and environment that sustains life in their own countries and throughout the world.
It is also these countries - in particular the USA - that refuse to grant aid to organisations promoting safe sex education and safe free abortions for women in the third world who then cry about overpopulation. Let's stop the first world hypocracy.
The causes of poverty are complex. They are based on historical factors that have led particular countries to different levels of development - colonialism is one of these factors.