In the unlikely event that you’ve managed to stumble in here while you and your fookin’ Boosh effigy wait for the droogies to come pick you up;
Africa is a hard place to help. I had a letter from a reader the other day who works with a small Canadian charity in West Africa. They bought a 14-year-old SUV for 1,500 Canadian dollars to ferry food and supplies to the school they run in a rural village. Customs officials are demanding a payment of $8,000 before they’ll release it.
There are thousands of incidents like that all over Africa every day of the week. Yet, throughout the weekend’s events, Dave Gilmour and Co were too busy Rocking Against Bush to spare a few moments to Boogie Against Bureaucracy or Caterwaul Against Corruption or Ululate Against Usurpation. Instead, Madonna urged the people to “start a revolution”. Like Africa hasn’t had enough of those these past 40 years?
It’s another good one.
Read also – this Spiegel interview with Kenyan economist James Shikwati, who states bluntly that Western aid must be ended if Africa is to solve its problems.
h/t Canuckistan Chronicles
I’m all for intelligent aid vs. handing over cash to a dictator for a project as funded by CIDA. I’d rather see cheques cut to the World Visions & Red Crosses and Doctors Without Borders of the world. They know what needs to be done and how to get it done.
The only reasons I’m not backing Martin & Goodale on their take on this are:
(a) It’s Martin & Goodale
(b) They could teach some of those African despots lessons on how to fake a democracy and get a seat at the big-kid’s table
(c) Watching PMPM spout off about providing aid only to those countries that have cleaned up the corruption – WHILE HE KEEPS A STRAIGHT FACE – makes me absolutely gag.
I’ve signed the petitions & sent the emails – just to make him stand up, yet again, in front of Canadians and spout about his “no aid for corruption” crap. I keep hoping someone in the MSM will notice the incongruity… how does the man sleep at night, I wonder? Any of them, for that matter?
God.help.me – I can’t get past that damn Pollyanna inside that keeps thinking things will work out in the end, as soon as “someone” notices and starts paying attention.
Oops, I’m supposed to be on vacation. Cheers!
If you see someone in a public place looking around, nodding, while poking their index finger repeatedly onto a folded newspaper they’re probably reading a Steyn column.
“For God’s Sake, Please Stop the Aid!”
The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the ten…
Thanks Kate for the link.
I was in west Africa a few years ago working at a charity-run hospital, and got a decent look at the goings-on there. The workers had a few stories to tell of the harassment they often receive from the police and government bureaucrats, their voices filled with frustration when they (some foreigners) were giving their very lives to help the Africans the authorities couldn’t care less about.
It was explained to me several times that the career goal of most people there is that of a bureaucrat, not for any desire to serve but because of the security and power that come with the position. My own wallet would have been separated from my person a number times had it not been for the hospital symbol on the door of the vehicle I was riding in. Even the police realize that it isn’t a wise idea to shake down the people who might be tasked to save their lives one day.
Yes, there is a definite need for help to the poor in Africa, but I think the message of Live8 is way off the mark when it’s obvious to me that vast sums of money will never get to the ‘little people’ at the bottom who really need it. Perhaps Sir Bob understands that, but it’s not the message I’ve been hearing from that lot.
PMPM can live and deal with his own hypocrisy wrt African corruption. At least he made the right call this time – one of very few we get from him. And one can only hope that the Canadian electorate will finally wake up and deal with the Libranos’ corruption in the correct manner too. Why should the taxpayers of ‘have’ nations be expected to continue throwing good money after bad, to appease these multimillionaire rock icons just so that they can feel better about themselves? Better to start cleaning up and ridding Africa of their corrupt governments and leaders, than continue to prop them up with our tax dollars.
Nothing grinds me up more than this “revolution” tosh.
If I see one more spotty youth in a Che Guevara T-Shirt – what is it about this bearded, murderous Commie that’s made him such an absurd icon? Fortunately for us all, Bolivian Army marksmanship put paid to his career.
If anyone should be on a T-shirt, I propose Bill Gates – yes, Bill of Microsoft fame – one of those “evil” multinational corporations responsible for allowing us all to do what I’m doing at this very moment.
By the end of 2001, the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” had a total endowment of about US$24 billion. Among the activities of the foundation is the “Global Health Program” which looks to improve the health of women and children, particularly in the developing world by focussing on three areas: vaccine-preventable diseases, reproductive and child health and conditions associated with poverty.
The foundation also funds efforts to provide new technologies in three key areas: education, libraries and public access to information.
US$24 billion from one man, folks.
So the head of a corporation that everyone loves to vilify is quietly doing more for the world than any self-obsessed rockstar, third-rate political hack or dopey anarchist protester.
But Bill isn’t sexy enough, I guess.
And he doesn’t drink Kabbalah water…
Question – Does anyone really believe all the crowds at the Live8 concerts were really supporters of this cause – If you lived nearby wouldn’t you want to go to a FREE rock concert just because it’s FREE and in most parts of the world you got to see some pretty good acts FREE! This whole thing was a bit too much of a joke for me – it most definately was not a message to the G8 leaders and behind closed doors they are likely all saying as much.
I’m getting really tired of Sir Bob and Bono telling my government how to spend my money. Enough already. When African dictators start cleaning their own houses I’ll support them.
They should just pay for it themselves. The crew For the london live 8 have enough money to cover all Geldoff is asking for without harping so the average canuck who gets 30k per year can give more!
Don’t give me none of that do goody good bull shit.
How many millions is Mccartney et al worth?
The Sanctimonious ……..
Pink Floyd
Another link for you Kate: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4657139.stm
Seems there are plenty of intelligent and concerned Africans that want the west to stop this narcissitic fawning over their plight and help them to focus aid whre it is needed….throwing mony at Africa is like throwing guilt money into the Church box for absolution instead of acting to resolve sin.
If throwing money at Africa’s problems was the solution they would be wealthier than we are today. The word is that African corrupt bureaucracy has absorbed the Equivilent of 10 Marshal plans and diverted the funds to patrons and their own pockets….much like the current Librano regime.
Yes, yes, Shikwati is right. If people are always being given handouts for nothing, they’ll have little or no motivation to do anything to get money from other sources, like entrepreneurial activity.
That’s part of the problem in the Canadian Maritimes as well as in Africa. I can say this as I’ve lived here in NB since emigrating from Saskatchewan as a wee lad in ’78. That’s a major factor in the reality of the region being economically behind the rest of the country. As a business graduate of UNBSJ, including much study in economics, I can say I understand the causes of this malaise, and the Libranos are never going to help us move forward. They only very reluctantly agreed to keep their election promise to the Rock to let them keep all oil revenues without clawing back on equalization, which eventually should become unneccessary as Nfld. begins to rise from its economic slumber and become self-sufficient, as long as it pursues the policies that are proven to work rather than those that are proven NOT to work, like the pork-barreling patronage-oriented ACOA.
I am also confident that Stephen Harper understands the situation as well and am absolutely certain that he has the best interests of the east coast in mind. With all regions becoming stronger, the entire nation as a whole will be stronger. It’s all synergistic.
Further, think of this: America has a smaller land mass than Canada. America has something like 250 million people compared to our 30 million. America’s economy is, well, a hell of a lot more massive than ours. This necessarily begs the following question:
WHY IS IT THAT CANADA IS NOT CLOSING THE GAP? WHY IS OUR NATION GETTING NOWHERE AT ALL ECONOMICALLY? I SUBMIT IT IS FUNDAMENTALLY A FUNCTION OF THE ELECTION OF LIBERALS WHAT WITH THEIR SOCIALIST AND UNWORKABLE POLICIES AND THEIR CORRUPTION.