Letter: Stained glass & gifts

Ian Blignaut of Ballito writes:

So, it took only a day and a half to raise $1 billion for the rebuilding of Notre Dame cathedral.

I am reminded of the sage words of that great spiritual teacher Silver Birch when he said “The power that fashioned the universe is not impressed because you build a great cathedral and fill it with beautiful music and have stained glass windows and impressive processions. You cannot imprison the Great Spirit in a building”.

Most of the money raised was pledged by 3 rich families.

All have been accused of serious tax dodging activities.

Liliane Bettencourt (L’Oréal) was taped by her butler conspiring to hide €80 million in secret Swiss bank accounts and not declaring assets.

Bernard Arnault’s LVMH Group through their Louis Vuitton Foundation received nearly €603 million from the French state towards the nearly €790 million construction costs of their Frank Gehry-designed contemporary art museum.

The Pinault family’s Kering conglomerate dodged $1.6 billion taxes in Italy through the structure of their Gucci subsidiary.

All this quickly donated while their poor, working and middle-class compatriots languish under the effects of globalisation and austerity.

The Yellow Vests aren’t amused, and who can blame them.

Methinks the world’s rich really have outlived their usefulness to humanity.

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