Gender-based violence is one the gravest Human Rights violations on the face of the earth and yet it is such an abstract term. It’s so abstract that it makes empathy difficult when using it – like many other words that are more concepts to talk about reality, a reality so harsh, that those concepts perpetually fail to also convey the reality they represent. Collateral damage, extreme poverty, xenophobia, gender-based violence…
Football has long been known as having an alcohol problem – ranging from the lowest leagues to the biggest stars, from coaches to supporters, and alcohol fuelled violence. Fifa knows the harm caused by alcohol on all levels and in all dimensions of the game, especially affecting children and youth.
And yet Fifa opts for the money that Big Alcohol pours into the bank accounts, ridiculing its own prevention campaign. 11 for health – okay, but millions in profit – matching!
Continuing this sponsorship deal, and pressuring governments to change their laws in order to promote alcohol are tactics to target children and youth with alcohol marketing, only to profit from children who take up alcohol use at an earlier age; from a culture that glamorises alcohol and is taught to associate football with alcohol…
Woolworths, Australia’s largest packaged liquor retailer, was responding to criticism that advertising material at the store might encourage under-age alcohol use. And in that very submission they reached a new low point in putting profits over Human Rights:
Woolworths made the claim that exposing children to alcohol advertising helps protect them from ”the seductive powers of capitalism”.
The BBC isn’t noted for running stories that the alcohol trade doesn’t like. So I was surprised to see a feature on it this week referring to a sharp decline in the number of young Britons consuming alcohol…
Former President of Kenya Daniel Arap Moi recently announced that alcohol use had become rampant in Kenya – that it was as high as it had been in the 1970s and warned Kenya was slowly slipping back into alcoholism. For most who are currently aware of the “Alcoholic Drinks Act” enacted in Kenya in 2010, this may come as a surprise. How can there be an increase in use when there’s a law in place to reduce this…
In contrast to previous scandals and investigations, this time high-ranking top managers of the biggest beer producers could be found guilty of price-fixing. This scandal shows the hypocrisy of Big Alcohol: While they are fighting with all means possible the introduction of evidence-based policies that would increase the price of alcohol (for example through higher taxes) benefiting in a double-punch-effect lowering of alcohol harm and increasing the public health promotion budgets, they apparently have no problems illegally arranging prices only benefitting their own profits…
What political will to implement alcohol policy (or the lack thereof) can (not) accomplish in terms of saving lives, improving the economy, promoting health and well-being…
Other than alcohol’s detrimental impact on education there are more examples of how alcohol is an obstacle to development. Consider the waste of natural resources…
The success of ADIC shows that the power of people can go beyond the power of money and profit…
2013 is a year in IOGT history filled with great successes and fantastic accomplishments. As it comes to an end, it’s time to reflect, remember and cherish those moments of glory and to express thanks and appreciation to everyone involved…
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