And that microcredit holds the key to ending poverty permanently. On a macro scale, it is only by recognizing the common bonds of humanity which link us that we can mitigate the hatreds generated by narrow nationalisms, the ignorance that breeds isolation, petty partisan politics, tribal rivalries, and religious extremists. Democracy thrives with healthy economies and vice versa. When people are poor and weak, they have no time or energy to defend their basic human rights as free men and women who have a say in their country's laws and leaders. When democracy frays, other political systems win - and the world has had enough of totalitarianism and terrorist regimes.
Democracy begins in the communities and villages.
This is where humanity loses or wins. This is where we need to put our muscle, minds and the programs that empower people, through the work of NGO's, from the bottom-up, at the grassroots level. With an infusion of larger amounts of capital that can significantly increase the amount of monetary, educational and human resources required to bring microcredit to the millions of entrenched in chronic poverty, we can create new global markets, and the world will ultimately benefit from increased trade and prosperity. The model and tools are here to finally, at long last, end poverty permanently. This should be one of the great new goals for humanity in this new century and new millennium.