1. INTERNATIONALISM AND GLOBAL ISSUES
(pg 272 – 297)
KEY TERMS:
Absolute Poverty
Odious Debt
*Is Canada obligated to share it fresh water supply?

2. What are Some Contemporary Global Issues?
Climate Change
The Spread of Disease
Access to Water
Control Over Water

3. Climate Change 1997 Kyoto Accord
Countries that signed the protocol agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020.
After initially supporting it, Canada has since announced it will not meet Kyoto targets.
It is estimated that it would cost the economy $51 billion.

4. The Spread of Disease The World Heath Organization 1300s – Black Death
After WWI – Killer Flu Virus
– SARS
West Nile Virus
Avian (Bird) Flu
Malaria
AIDS
The World Heath Organization
(WHO) works to prevent the
outbreak of deadly diseases

5. Access to Water
Canada has 20% of the world’s fresh water but only 0.5% of the world’s population.
Over 1 billion people have inadequate access to water and over 2 million children die every year because of it.
In 2002 the UN declared access to water a fundamental human right. Canada was the only country to oppose it. Why?

6. Control Over Water
Countries can decide to sell water, divert it for hydroelectric power and decide on rules about dumping sewage into fresh water.
*Does Canada need a law protecting our fresh water?

7. How has Internationalism Been Used to Address These Contemporary Global Issues?
Poverty
Hunger
Disease
Debt

8. Poverty Absolute Poverty a condition characterized by severe
deprivation of basic human needs,
including food, safe drinking water,
sanitation facilities, health, shelter,
education and information

9. Oxfam (an international NGO) identified the following causes of poverty:
Lack of Education
Lack of access to resources (land)
Conflict and War
Trade Rules
Discrimination

10. Hunger 1 person dies every 4 seconds from starvation.
Developing countries are not the only ones affected. In Canada 11% of our citizens live below the poverty line (pg 279)
More and more people are relying on food banks to feed their families.
Should that happen in a wealthy, developed country like Canada?

11. Disease HIV and AIDS Poverty contributes to disease because
people who are poor and malnourished do not
have strong immune systems, do not learn about
disease prevention and cannot afford
medication.
HIV and AIDS
In the year in sub-Saharan Africa:
1,600,000 died of AIDS
22,500,000 were living with HIV 
and many do not use condoms because the stigma is that if you use you have – not that you want to protect.

12. Debt
Countries borrow money from private banks, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Paying back the loans (and the interest on the loans) puts the country in further debt resulting in worse conditions for their citizens.
Pay for water?

13. Odious Debt A debt that is incurred by a despotic power, not to meet the needs of the country but to strengthen the despotic regime.
These debts are owed by the regime, not the
people of the country so the people should
not be required to repay them if the regime
falls
- Alexander Sack

14. Climate Change Greenhouse gas emissions
Disappearance of the rainforest
Melting of the Polar Ice Caps
UN Environment Programme (1972)
Kyoto Protocol (1990s)
Measuring each countries Ecological Footprint

15. Making A difference
Read about Sheila Watt-Cloutier on page 283

16. Human Rights
The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (1948) was created after the horrors of WWII.
Before the UN can take action all 5 permanent members (China, France, Russia, Britain and the US) must agree. Even if one rejects a proposal no action can be taken.

17. Conflict Darfur (western Sudan) – pg 285
In 2003 the Sudan Liberation Army and other rebel
groups began attacking government targets in Darfur.
The SLA claimed that the government (run by Arabs)
favored Arabs over the Black population.
The government has been accused of genocide and
an estimated 200,000 people have been killed and
another 2 million have fled their homes.
The UN tried negotiating with the Sudanese
government but the violence continued

18. Is internationalism the most effective way of addressing contemporary global issues?
International Trade
Countries that trade with each other are less
likely to go to war with one another.
WTO – World Trade Organization helps to
promote this view.
But do all countries benefit equally from
trade?

19. Cont’d
Some say no!
“Free trade cannot be fair to the poor. With no barriers to trade, the poor swim in the same economic stream as the transnational corporations that account for 2/3 of the worlds trade”

20. Taking Turns
3 Readers for page 289

21. Decline vs. Shift
What this really boils down to for some people is that traditional governments are losing some of their powers as the world come together. We must give some power to each other in a system that continues to change.

22. View From Here
Finish it off – 3 readers for page 291.