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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2018)
Street Roots • Jan. 5-11,2018 k lo iA /O YUNUS, fro m page 10 human beings are selfish people,” Yunus said. In Adam Smith’s language, ‘self- interest means ‘selfish’ so all businesses in the world became selfish businesses, to make money. “That is a misinterpretation of "Charity does not solve human beings. Real a problem. Charity only human beings are both maintains the problem selfish and selfless of poverty; It doesn't let together at the same it get worse. Elimination time. of poverty Is about more “If you can have a selfish business, you can than keeping people also have a business alive, taking care of based on selflessness them. You have to make where you are not them active so they can interested in personal rr take care of themselves. benefit but a collective benefit for the world. M U H A M M AD YUNUS That is a social business. A non-dividend company to solve problems.” A hand up, not a hand out The next part of Yunus’ theory also chimes closely with the street paper model of giving vendors the help to help themselves, but this mind-set can go much further so that everybody, instead of seeing themselves as job-seekers, finds ways to create their own opportunities. “Poor people have skills, but they let them be used by the people who have the money, and they get the benefit,” Yunus said. “It is assumed human beings have to work for somebody else. That’s absolutely wrong. Historically we are independent people. When we were in caves, we were not sending job applications to anybody. We took care of ourselves and did that for hundreds of thousands of years. We have to go back to rediscover ourselves as creative people, entrepreneurs.” One of the keys to unlocking the enormous potential of a social revolution is highlighting the difference between social businesses and charity: “A charity dollar can be used only once, while a social business investment dollar is recycled indefinitely. “People understand it very quickly; money never disappears,” Yunus said. “People talk about poverty, governments are giving foreign aid, churches are devoted to charity. I wouldn’t say there is not enough attention or resources, but it is not given in the right direction. Charity does not solve a problem. Charity only maintains the problem of poverty; it doesn’t let it get worse. Elimination of poverty is about more than keeping people alive, taking care of them. You have to make them active so they can take care of themselves.” Yunus is involved in many projects around the world that promote responsible economics, and he works with 45 universities that teach courses on social business. He is confident young people will steer the world in a different direction. “The difference between older generations and this generation is that they have the tremendous power of technology at their fingertips,” he said. “But the system doesn’t tell them what to do with that; it only tells you to find the best job in the best company so your life is done. That’s very unattractive for young people with so much power. “They are looking for things to do, and being an entrepreneur is an option for them. They can create social businesses too. In that case, they use their talent, their creative power and technology to solve a problem. They feel they are not future leaders; they are leaders already!” Courtesy o f IN S P n g o / The B ig Issue U.K. bigissue.com, @BigIssue DJOKOVIC, fro m page 9 N.D.: They have all been lessons, and I would not change a single one of them. Everything always happens for a reason. I learned a lot from my defeats, as much as from the triumphs, and from the wrong decisions, as well as from the good ones. Every single one of them was a step towards the final goal, and they eventually brought me to it. Had there been fewer mistakes, perhaps it would have been a different path, and the question is where it would have taken me. L.: Since you spend a lot o f time training, playing matches and traveling, what takes up the life o f a professional athlete beyond sports? How much o f your time is there fo r your family, fo r local community and, broadly speaking, for the society in which you live? A Week of Silence ' ^-4*^ *>• I don’t want to get it out But I don’t want to lie Nothing here to talk about Just the clear, blue sky "Tolerance Is a result of several things - openness, love yon carry w ithin you, and the capac ity to understand other people without being judgmental. Tol erance requires constant work; children look up to parents as models of behaviors, and if we are not open and tolerant, our children w ill not he either. But X also believe that things are changing and that people are increasingly more accepting oi each other, regardless ©I their mutual differences/' N.D.: The last six months were primarily dedicated to my family, and that was the most wonderful period for us. Aside from that, I have transformed many of my interests into various projects I am intensively working on, so I do spend a significant amount of my time on planning, discussions with teams, and I find it all very fulfilling. And when we add activities related to my foundation and Unicef, for which I am a global ambassador, it is only then that we can talk about the lack of time, because tennis is taking all the rest. Translation fro m Serbian to E nglish by M irjana Kosic. Courtesy o f Liceulice / INSP. by Peter Salzmann NOVAK DJOKOVIC The earth is flat and wide And nothing else besides It goes round and round and round And always a low, drumming sound A high-pitched crying A warning warble It thinks it is dying It is so horrible The people come, the people go They are sad and they are cold They are bought and they are sold They only reap what others sow. Think this, but don’t think that I’m sensitive about that fact So please, please don’t be a rat And tell them all and ruin my act So we tell each other lies All sunshine and clear, blue skies And as the earth goes round and round We listen for that drumming sound.
