Creative conversations as global neighbours: Fair Share?

Members of our church are joining with others in the Creative Conversations as Global Neighbours:FAIR SHARE?  program and exhibition at  the Annandale Creative Arts Centre.

“This Creative Conversation seeks to bring together artists, performers, activists and thinkers to reflect on our role as neighbours in our global society. This is an invitation to share stories, interrogate experiences, ask questions and seek answers to creating a sustainable and more equal future for all.”

http://www.annandalecreativearts.com/creative-conversations

Exhibition

GLOBAL NEIGHBOURS: FAIR SHARE?

Australia likes to consider itself the country of ‘a fair go’. The phrase has been a part of our collective mythology for so long that some of us don’t even know what it really means. But are we a country of the ‘fair share’?

Right now there are many debates happening around us about what is and isn’t ‘our problem’.

Many are outraged that the latest Federal Budget included another $300 million cut to international aid and development. But why do we need to give foreign aid? And is it fair for the United Nations to ask developed countries like us to aim for 0.7% of Gross National Income to be used for these purposes? (For the record we give less than 0.3% – the lowest percentage since we began keeping records in the 1950s).

Or consider the fact that if everyone in the world were to live like Australians, we would need 4.8 planet Earths to provide all the resources we use and absorb all the pollution we create. What does this mean for creating a sustainable future for generations to come?

In the last decade, the number of refugees who have been resettled in Australia, represent only 0.99% of all refugees resettled across the world. We could argue then that Australians aren’t really giving refugees a fair go, or doing our fair share to ease the burden of developing countries that bear the brunt of displaced people groups.

In an increasingly interconnected world, it is hard to escape inequality and the way we may possibly contribute. Nowadays, we have more opportunities than any previous generations to experience the many benefits, and costs, of interacting with other countries and cultures. As global neighbours, then, how important is it for us to consider whether we are taking and giving our fair share of the world’s resources?

We may be the country of a fair go, but are we willing to do our fair share?

This Creative Conversation seeks to bring together artists, performers, activists and thinkers to reflect on our role as neighbours in our global society. This is an invitation to share stories, interrogate experiences, ask questions and seek answers to creating a sustainable and more equal future for all.

http://www.annandalecreativearts.com/creative-conversations