關於 primary poverty ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

請支持 #融樂會，關注香港少數族裔教育

10月17日是 ＃國際消除貧困日。根據《少數族裔貧窮狀況報告》（2016年），香港五分之一的少數民族生活在貧困線以下。 他們中有64.7％生活在勞動家庭中，比總貧困人口高出約15％。 由於較低的受教育程度和的技能水平而導致的低收入是造成工作貧困的主要原因。 較低的中文水平亦阻礙了他們的就業能力和社區融合。為了解決世代相傳的貧困問題，香港融樂會致力於增加少數民族兒童獲得優質和公平教育的機會。

各有心人可以透過以下連結，捐贈 Hong Kong Unison 香港融樂會

------------------------
17th October is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

According to the Poverty Situation Report of Ethnic Minorities (2016), one in five ethnic minorities in Hong Kong lived below the poverty line. 64.7% of them lived in working households, about 15% higher than the overall poor population. Lower employment earnings due to lower educational attainment and skill levels of employed persons were the major causes of working poverty. Having lower Chinese proficiency hindered their employability and community integration.

To tackle inter-generational poverty, Hong Kong Unison has worked tirelessly to increase ethnic minority children’s access to quality and equitable education, including calling on the Education Bureau to

monitor racial discrimination at kindergarten admissions,
abolish racially segregated “designated” primary and secondary schools for non-Chinese speaking students, and
provide additional support in Chinese learning for ethnic minority children in mainstream schools.
Hong Kong Unison firmly believes education can help lift this vulnerable group out of poverty towards upward mobility.

Support Unison – act together now to empower ethnic minority children, their families and communities to end poverty!

All funding received will go towards Unison’s advocacy project “Equitable Education for All”.

Someone sent this to me. I agree. We cant keep using lockdowns to handle this situation. Poverty is on the rise.💙😌

-“ A CMCO on KL and Selangor is overkill. What happened to targeted lockdowns? We cannot be lurching from one lockdown to the next, especially for Klang Valley. Do mass testing with antigen RTK to quickly identify and isolate positive cases. (https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2020/10/12/klang-valley-lockdown-no-dine-ins-jogging-work-letter-needed-to-cross-kl-selangor-putrajaya/)

What is the justification for such a strict lockdown on the entire capital city and Selangor? Are we going to see police roadblocks throughout KL and Selangor like during MCO 1? The government must reverse this decision. It is a wholly disproportionate public health response.

With just 34 local Covid cases reported in KL within past 14 days as of yesterday, the govt shuts down the entire capital city? Putrajaya only has 13 cases. Selangor has 224 cases, but only two are red zones (Petaling - 53 cases, Klang - 82 cases).

A Klang Valley CMCO is completely irrational.

And news flash, economic sector can't continue if you prevent people from going out. And obviously we'll see Covid cases reported every day because we can never eradicate the virus until we get a vaccine. After lockdown is lifted, then Covid cases will go up again. Then what?

The MCO was supposed to buy us time to prepare the health care system for future outbreaks, NOT to eradicate the virus. What did we do for the past six months since MCO in March? Are you saying we didn't prepare enough?

WHO has warned against using lockdowns as a primary means of controlling the virus, stating it could have a dramatic impact on poverty. What exactly do you hope to achieve with a Klang Valley lockdown? Slow the virus transmission to prepare some more? Aren't we already prepared?

The government has repeatedly said, as recently as less than a week ago, that our health care system is prepared for Covid outbreaks. So what on earth is the justification for a Klang Valley CMCO that generally prohibits people from leaving home except for work/ buy necessities?

PM said May 1 that it’s impossible for any country to hit zero Covid cases. Ismail Sabri repeated this point on Oct 3. What I want to know is — what exactly is a tolerable number of daily Covid cases in a district for the govt? 20? 50? 100? Or nationwide — 200? 500? 1,000?

MOH claims that they advised a Klang Valley CMCO to prevent yellow zones from turning red, as various districts are recording new cases every day. Well, of course we'll see Covid infections daily; that's the nature of the disease. The old govt narrative (which it has since discarded) during the early days of the RMCO of less than 50 daily cases, or even ZERO cases a day, made absolutely no sense.

With increased testing, we’ll naturally pick up more cases. The more you test, the more you get. Important thing is to expand testing so that we detect and isolate infectious people quickly. So it doesn’t matter even if we record hundreds of cases, as long as we isolate quickly.

Now police are saying they'll mount roadblocks in the same way like the first MCO in March. So is this CMCO or MCO 1? Expect huge traffic jams in Klang Valley if the cops are gonna check each car for an employment letter to get to work. And if authorities are going to treat Klang Valley CMCO like MCO 1, expect to see the repeated hurdles to seeking medical treatment that cancer patients previously suffered, not to mention postponed appointments for regular medications from clinics for those with chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. (https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/10/12/cmco-police-to-mount-roadblocks-again-in-kl-selangor-putrajaya/1912050)

I'm sorry to say, but Malaysia's Covid public health policies since the Sabah election were an absolute shambles. No restriction of peninsula-Sabah travel during the election, either for politicians/ campaigners/ voters (the EC could have allowed outstation voters to vote in peninsular stations; they didn't). No enforcement of SOPs on any campaign rally during the election. No mandatory 14-day quarantine upon return from Sabah. No significant expansion of testing -- either RT-PCR or rapid antigen tests.

And before the election, no prosecution of lawmakers who clearly (and even admitted themselves) broke SOPs, including mandatory quarantine. I don't think enforcers even checked government premises to see if they follow the SOPs that they enforce on private citizens and businesses, like MySejahtera check-ins, provision of hand sanitizers, or wearing face masks. Visit government offices in Putrajaya and see how many actually comply with SOPs. Parliament doesn't mandate MySejahtera and hardly provides any hand sanitizer throughout the entire building.

The government also ignored repeated warnings from medical professionals and civil society about prison and detention centre outbreaks. Worse, enforcers even dragged people to police stations and made them wait in crowded and congested areas just to receive their saman. The Sabah surge came from cases first reported on Sept 1 in the Lahad Datu police lock-up and Tawau prison.

And now suddenly, wham, a two-week lockdown on the entire Klang Valley, even though the country's main Covid hospital, Sungai Buloh Hospital, is located in Selangor, not to mention the many other tertiary hospitals in the Klang Valley. Of all places, Klang Valley has the best public health care system. How can Klang Valley not be prepared for a Covid outbreak?

People may be allowed to go to work during the CMCO, but what about small businesses and roadside stalls? Only privileged white collar workers can afford to work from home. And only lawmakers and civil servants can go through any lockdown without worrying about next month's salary.
Boo Su-Lyn (no idea who that is)

The Real Threat to the US is the loss of self-confidence
──An Open Letter to Mr. Secretary Mike Pompeo

真正威脅美國的是自信的喪失
──致美國國務卿蓬佩奧先生公開信

Dear Mr. Secretary Mike Pompeo,
尊敬的國務卿蓬佩奧先生：

My name is Wang Ping-Chung, the spokesperson for the New Party, Taiwan’s political party. During the ongoing pandemic of the Covid-19, the enemy of all human beings, including the American people and Chinese people, is definitely the corona virus. However, as Secretary of State of the United States, you seem to consider China instead of the virus to be your enemy. It lets you do little in pandemic prevention but much in blaming the WHO and China. You have even made great efforts to politicalize the issue of public health in order to attack China, which reflects the United States’ prevailing concept of so-called China’s threat. Nevertheless, the real threat to the US is not China but the loss of self-confidence indeed.

我是台灣新黨發言人王炳忠。值此新冠肺炎疫情蔓延之際，對包括美國人民和中國人民在內的全人類而言，我們的敵人無疑是新冠病毒。但是，您身為美國國務卿，卻似乎認為敵人是中國而非病毒，從而在防疫工作上少有作為，一門心思都用在責怪世衛組織及中國。你甚至用盡心力將公共衛生的問題政治化，就為了打擊中國。這其實正反映了美國長期存在的「中國威脅論」思維。事實上，真正威脅美國的並不是中國，而是美國對自己信心的匱乏。

As President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Only thing we have to fear is the fear itself.” The threat you have to fear today is not other peoples but yourselves. Even though you have done your best to shift blames on the WHO and China, the fact is already clear of the US domestic misdiagnosed cases, which had been seen as H1N1 but in fact corona virus since last autumn. It is also your fault in underestimating the severity of the epidemic while China sacrificed itself to let the world have more preparation time. Accordingly, the Covid-19 has killed more than fifty thousand people in America. As China’s population is four times larger than the US, it is quite shocking that America’s death toll due to the Covid-19 has been above China’s.

正如羅斯福總統所言：「我們唯一要恐懼的就是恐懼本身。」今天你們真正該恐懼的，不是其他國家，而是你們自己。縱使你們挖空心思要將責任推給世衛組織及中國，但真相已非常明確，那就是早在去年秋天，美國就有新冠病毒被誤診為流感的病例。甚至當中國犧牲自我，幫助世界有更多準備的時間，你們卻低估了疫情的嚴重性，種下了錯誤。如今，新冠肺炎已奪走超過五萬名美國人的生命。人口不過是中國四分之一的美國，死於新冠肺炎的人數竟已超過中國，著實是駭人聽聞。

I feel so sorry for the suffering of your people, yet it is never too late to mend. However, not only did you palm off the responsibility on others, but you also undermined international solidarity against the pandemic. Moreover, you even try to deny the status of the WHO as the coordinator for universal combat against diseases, which in some way means challenging the global institutions under the governance of the United Nations. It is so unbelievable that the United States, viewing itself as the world leader above half a century, is tending to destroy the world order recognized by the international society. The very reason I can think of is the loss of America’s self-confidence. It is the threat to both the US and the whole world.

我為貴國人民的遭遇感到遺憾。事實上，現在亡羊補牢，猶未晚也。然而，你卻只忙著將責任甩鍋給別人，甘為全球抗疫戰鬥中的害群之馬。你甚至想否定世衛組織作為全球抗疫協調者的地位，在某種程度上等同挑戰聯合國下的國際體制。超過半世紀以來總將自己視為世界老大的美國，如今竟然要破壞國際社會公認的秩序，這真令人難以置信。我唯一能想到的理由，就是美國已喪失了昔日的自信，這不僅對美國是一大危害，同時也威脅到全世界。

For Liberalists in the United States, China has been believed either an opponent or a violator to international institutions. As far as it’s concerned, there had been debates whether to keep containing China economically and militarily or engaging it institutionally. Both were resulted from America’s confidence in its leadership. Consequently, the confidence gradually changed into arrogance, luring the United States into aggressions upon other countries as the global superpower without permission from the UN Security Council. It made America exhausted at last. Therefore, the United States has become an isolationist, and even a betrayer to the global institutions they established before. On the contrary, China seems more like a protector of the world order.

對美國的自由主義者而言，中國長久以來被視為是國際體制的反對者或破壞者。在這種思維下，從而產生美國對中國政策的爭論，探討是否應繼續以經濟及軍事手段遏制中國，或者改以引導的方式使中國融入國際體制。事實上，以上兩種想法都源自對美國領導能力的信心。這種信心逐漸變成一種傲慢，驅使美國在缺乏聯合國安理會同意下，依然發動對其他國家的侵略。這些對外侵略最終拖垮了美國，使美國元氣大傷。如今，美國變成了孤立主義者，甚至背棄過去自己建立的國際體制。反之，中國還更像是國際體制的捍衛者。

On the other hand, for Realists, the predominant thinkers in international politics, China has been seen as the primary rival to America. As they estimate there will be threat if any other regional hegemony occurs, the nation’s fear becomes beyond what its capability can hold. To some extent, this is the real crisis to your people. In fact, different from western nations developing themselves by oppressing and exploiting others, the Chinese people have risen out of poverty at the cost of blood, sweat, and tears of our own. I would like to remind you of Franklin Roosevelt’s self-evident words that nothing to fear but fear itself. The only threat you should conquer is the threat in your mind.

另一方面，對國際政治中的主要流派，也就是現實主義者來說，中國一直被當作美國的首要對手。根據他們的理論，一旦有任何其他區域強權出現，便會對美國產生威脅。這種對威脅的恐懼，實際上已非美國國力可以負荷。這種恐懼其實才是美國真正的危機。事實上，不同於西方國家靠侵略他人成就自己，中國崛起靠的是自己的汗水和血淚。容我再次引用羅斯福總統不辯自明的話：「除了恐懼本身，我們無須恐懼。」你真正須要戰勝的威脅，其實就是你的心魔。

As Henry Kissinger has argued, relations between China and the United States need not – and should not – become a zero-sum game. He also suggested that China and America build a Pacific community with each other. Thinking in the same way, Chinese President Xi also claimed that the vast Pacific Ocean has enough space for the two large countries of China and the United States. Furthermore, I believe the world is large enough to embrace different political and social systems. As western liberalism in recent years has met difficulties in over-consumption and government failure, we should be more open-minded to the superiority of Chinese governance in some fields, especially the high efficiency in defeating the epidemic. The United States should also be more self-confident to have China rising under the global governance of international institutions, sharing with mutual benefits instead of destroying each other. Without doubt, only by doing so can the United States overcome the real threat and bring the world peace and prosperity, the real universal values for all mankind.

正如季辛吉所言，中美關係不應該也不必要變成零和博弈。他並倡議中美兩國應該締造太平洋共同體。中國國家主席習近平也從同樣的思路出發，呼籲太平洋之大應同時包容中美兩個大國。我想，世界之大也同樣能包容不同的政治及社會制度。近年來，西方自由主義遭遇了不少難題，諸如過度消費、政府失能……等。我們實在應該用更開放的態度，學習中國在一些領域中的治理優勢，尤其是在此次抗疫中展現的能力。美國也應更自信地接納中國，接受中國在全球治理的國際體制下崛起，和中國共享利益，而非相互毀滅。無疑地，唯有藉由如此，美國才能戰勝其真正的威脅，也才能為世界帶來和平與繁榮──那才是人類真正的普世價值。

Sincerely yours,
Wang Ping-Chung
Spokesperson for the New Party

新黨發言人
王炳忠 敬啟

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The Real Threat to the US is the loss of self-confidence
──An Open Letter to Mr. Secretary Mike Pompeo

My name is Wang Ping-Chung, the spokesperson for the New Party, Taiwan’s political party. During the ongoing pandemic of the Covid-19, the enemy of all human beings, including the American people and Chinese people, is definitely the corona virus. However, as Secretary of State of the United States, you seem to consider China instead of the virus to be your enemy. It lets you do little in pandemic prevention but much in blaming the WHO and China. You have even made great efforts to politicalize the issue of public health in order to attack China, which reflects the United States’ prevailing concept of so-called China’s threat. Nevertheless, the real threat to the US is not China but the loss of self-confidence indeed.

As President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Only thing we have to fear is the fear itself.” The threat you have to fear today is not other peoples but yourselves. Even though you have done your best to shift blames on the WHO and China, the fact is already clear of the US domestic misdiagnosed cases, which had been seen as H1N1 but in fact corona virus since last autumn. It is also your fault in underestimating the severity of the epidemic while China sacrificed itself to let the world have more preparation time. Accordingly, the Covid-19 has killed more than fifty thousand people in America. As China’s population is four times larger than the US, it is quite shocking that America’s death toll due to the Covid-19 has been above China’s.

I feel so sorry for the suffering of your people, yet it is never too late to mend. However, not only did you palm off the responsibility on others, but you also undermined international solidarity against the pandemic. Moreover, you even try to deny the status of the WHO as the coordinator for universal combat against diseases, which in some way means challenging the global institutions under the governance of the United Nations. It is so unbelievable that the United States, viewing itself as the world leader above half a century, is tending to destroy the world order recognized by the international society. The very reason I can think of is the loss of America’s self-confidence. It is the threat to both the US and the whole world.

For Liberalists in the United States, China has been believed either an opponent or a violator to international institutions. As far as it’s concerned, there had been debates whether to keep containing China economically and militarily or engaging it institutionally. Both were resulted from America’s confidence in its leadership. Consequently, the confidence gradually changed into arrogance, luring the United States into aggressions upon other countries as the global superpower without permission from the UN Security Council. It made America exhausted at last. Therefore, the United States has become an isolationist, and even a betrayer to the global institutions they established before. On the contrary, China seems more like a protector of the world order.

On the other hand, for Realists, the predominant thinkers in international politics, China has been seen as the primary rival to America. As they estimate there will be threat if any other regional hegemony occurs, the nation’s fear becomes beyond what its capability can hold. To some extent, this is the real crisis to your people. In fact, different from western nations developing themselves by oppressing and exploiting others, the Chinese people have risen out of poverty at the cost of blood, sweat, and tears of our own. I would like to remind you of Franklin Roosevelt’s self-evident words that nothing to fear but fear itself. The only threat you should conquer is the threat in your mind.

As Henry Kissinger has argued, relations between China and the United States need not – and should not – become a zero-sum game. He also suggested that China and America build a Pacific community with each other. Thinking in the same way, Chinese President Xi also claimed that the vast Pacific Ocean has enough space for the two large countries of China and the United States. Furthermore, I believe the world is large enough to embrace different political and social systems. As western liberalism in recent years has met difficulties in over-consumption and government failure, we should be more open-minded to the superiority of Chinese governance in some fields, especially the high efficiency in defeating the epidemic. The United States should also be more self-confident to have China rising under the global governance of international institutions, sharing with mutual benefits instead of destroying each other. Without doubt, only by doing so can the United States overcome the real threat and bring the world peace and prosperity, the real universal values for all mankind.