July 22, 1999 Web posted at: 5:03 p.m. EDT (2103 GMT) by Nancy Weil

From...

NEW ORLEANS (IDG) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter speaking here tonight challenged wealthy companies like Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) to contribute more to humanitarian causes that help poor people globally.

Not to be challenged without a response, CA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles Wang appeared onstage after Carter's keynote talk at the CA World user show and reiterated a pledge he had privately made to the former president. Wang said that his company will contribute whatever software the nonprofit Carter Center in Atlanta needs. Carter and his wife, Rosalyn, operate the center, which assists global humanitarian efforts.

Despite barely touching on technology issues during his speech, Carter attracted what appeared to be the largest crowd for a keynote speaker here. The crowd he drew was certainly the most responsive of the conference so far, greeting the 39th U.S. president with a standing ovation and applauding various comments he made during his brief remarks. The crowd fell silent when Carter said that he suspects audience members share a lack of concern overall for the impoverished state of much of the world's population.

Rich people, by Carter's definition, are those with decent homes, education, healthcare and hope for jobs, who live free of fear when they venture outside of their homes by night, and by day, who feel that the judicial system and police will be on their side.

"The poor people are the ones who don't have those things," Carter said. "Unfortunately, those are most of the people in the world."

A quarter of people globally currently have incomes of less than one U.S. dollar a day, he said. Carter noted that the ratio of poor people to rich people has risen dramatically in the last three decades and now stands at 65 to 1, while in the world's most impoverished lands, such as Ethiopia, the ratio is 100 to 1. The differences between rich and poor are creating a "horrendous crisis" on the planet, he said.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE
	IDG.net home page
Make your PC work harder with these tips
Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net
IDG.net's personal news page
IDG.net's products pages
Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you
Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletters
Search IDG.net in 12 languages
News Radio
	Fusion audio primers
	Computerworld Minute

Carter takes a special interest in Africa, where ongoing political and tribal conflicts continue to rock various nations. Instead of confronting problems there, the world view turns instead to other regions, he said, specifically pointing to Yugoslavia as an example. Refugees from Kosovo were given a daily food allotment from humanitarian groups of $1.23. While that certainly isn't much, refugees in Sudan and Ethiopia -- regions battle-torn far longer than Yugoslavia -- subsist on 11 cents daily for food, he added.

Kosovars have access to one doctor for every 700 refugees. In Africa, there is only one doctor for every 100,000 refugees, Carter said.

"We've been deeply consumed with, obsessed with, the conflict in the Balkan region," said Carter, who refuses to collect speaking fees when he gives speeches.

Referring again to the continuing conflicts in Africa, Carter said, "most of us in this audience don't even know about it and, I would guess, don't care very much."

Some 28 percent of babies born in Africa are HIV positive, he said. Half of the soldiers in various militaries in Africa have AIDS, "but we're almost immune to their suffering," Carter added.

However awful the situation in Africa, and elsewhere in the world, "it's not a hopeless cause," he said, speaking of the work done by the Carter Center as an example of what can be achieved. More than half of the center's budget goes to healthcare and great strides have been made in battling with diseases and parasites that plague poor nations.

U.S. corporations have been "very responsive" to pleas for help, Carter said. E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company made a fabric for a water filter that doesn't rot after being repeatedly wet and then dried in tropical climates, he said. The filters are used to purify water in countries where Guinea worm threatens the population. Merck Pharmaceutical Company has donated drugs and the Nippon Foundation has sponsored food programs, Carter said, adding that such corporations have contributed asking for nothing in return.

"These are the kind of things that can be done to alleviate the suffering of those we don't know or maybe even care (about)," Carter said.

"I'm very proud of our country in most ways," he said. However, "we are insensitive, really, to the needs of people. Ours happens to be the stingiest country of any industrialized country."

Of 21 industrialized nations, the U.S. comes last in terms of its humanitarian aid, Carter said, urging instead that the country become known for being "the greatest champion of peace" and for giving to those in need. Companies like CA, which Carter noted has 11,000 workers in 47 nations, need to ask, "How can we help the people in Haiti, in Guyana?"

Long-distance carrier Global Crossing Ltd., based in the Bahamas, is laying fiber cable lines to Africa that will "feed into every nation the modern opportunities of life," Carter said, issuing his challenge"to reach out to those who are not so fortunate."

His voice dropping so low it would have been nearly a whisper were it not for the microphone, Carter ended his talk by saying that those more fortunate must encourage "peace, freedom, human rights, a decent environment in which to live and the alleviation of suffering among children. That's my hope. That's my prayer."