5 News Stories we all want to read

by Ana Paula Valacco

… and who knows how much longer till they make the headlines:

  • The last person with HIV was cured
  • Earthquake in Bangladesh: no fatal victims
  • Latin America: first in the rankings of Government Transparency
  • The peace was signed with the last terrorist groups in the Middle East
  • The literacy level is total globally

Each one of these news would have a great impact, doesn’t it? Currently they are highly aspirational and, in many aspects, almost uthopical. For example, just a week ago we mentioned how hard it is for long-standing conflicts and with multiple factors to reach a solution that satisfies everyone involved, so that the news reach the front page and we are sure it is not a bluff.

On the one hand, it seems like many of these accomplishments stand in the way of the interests of certain groups, protagonists of the most diverse conspiracy theories (supported or not) to prevent them from happening. They are objectives that should be prioritized not only in public policy agendas, but also in the individual decisions of the actors that may influence their achievement.

Let’s take for example the news that the total level of literacy was achieved. Thus, no boy, for example, not even in our country, nor in farthest rural area, is at the mercy of others for not being able to read or write. Something this basic is still fiction for many people around the world. Countries like in the Sub Saharan Africa region have literacy levels of 40% (check the World Bank database). In Latin America, the minimum literacy rate has been reached, but the dropout levels are very high, answering to issues concerning informal labor, violent situations and other needs that make the problem multicausal and very hard to eradicate. The children do eventually start their education. To finish that education is another story (and for it to be consistent with the personal project of each person is an even deeper issue).

Now let’s move on to another topic of our small list. Imagine a natural disaster, like an earthquake, hits us fully prepared to overcome it without casualties. Once again, the human wits and decisions have done, based on planning, proper allocation of resources, prevision, technology and a strong dose of empathy, everything possible to keep the inhabitants of the endangered area safe. Tools for quick rescues, refugees of fast deployment, elements for water sanitation and hygiene to prevent the proliferation of diseases are advances that already are in the hands of some, but that do not reach many more.

Anyway, all these news have a great component in common: they depend on the initiative and on the innovation with a social meaning, articulated and interconnected around the world. Being totally idealists, they may never make the news, since they will be result of a committed and determined process which will naturalize their fulfillment.

Global problems with local solutions, but that are created by inevitably looking at each other. In this sense, the SABF and other initiatives that work towards the internationalization and the cooperation among students around the world, contribute to create this global perspective that it’s needed for these news to become news.