(no subject)

[lpetersson]

Yes it's all very dreadful and awful, but the last 25 years seems to have been one long crisis for Africa so I guess I'm just inured to it by now. I see the pictures and I can't be bothered reading the stories. When I occassionally do, they read exactly like the ones from when I was a kid in the 80s.
And each time there's an outpouring of sympathy while we try to relieve our conscience by giving a bit of money to some charity.

Rather than give money (Or perhaps in addition to...) how about you all stop voting for the bandits and robbers who have been causing these disasters for the past 40 years... Mmkay?
If you vote Tory or Labour you can pat yourself on the back and say 'Job well done' for helping them keep Africa in poverty. And the next time you reach into your vallet to give some aid, try to consider whether you're part of the problem or part of the solution...

Comments

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

The main change necessary in those impoverished African is institutional change.

[lpetersson.livejournal.com]

True.
The corrupt dictators propped up by prosperous governments need to be toppled.
As does the corrupt governments everywhere else :)
And yes, I includes the British government in those.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

And yes, I includes the British government in those.

*nods* They're probably pretty corrupt. But it's not daily corruption for the average person. The sort of corruption where you have to pay a "correctional fee" to have your passport stamped properly, for example.

[lpetersson.livejournal.com]

Yes, in civilised western countries that's called stealth-taxes and it pays for the governments friends in business.
Personally I think it's just as corrupt and in some ways maybe even worse.
In the situation you describe the money goes to someone who probably doesn't have much where as in England it goes to people who are already rich...

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

In the situation you describe the money goes to someone who probably doesn't have much where as in England it goes to people who are already rich..

Good point. Very good point.

[blakeshell.livejournal.com]

SCORE!
cynicism: 1
Sappy brainwased capitalism: 0

[nibber.livejournal.com]

if you vote tory PUNCH yourself very hard in the face for being a twat...
it goes alot deeper than forty years, and its not just us. i will continue to use my right to vote for what i concider the best party in England and then international issues come second. apart from global environmental issues which are all encompassing, not that that changes anything politically of course...

[lpetersson.livejournal.com]

Yes, or get someone else to give you a bat-kiss ;)

And of course you should vote for the party you think is best, all I'm saying is that the people who vote for the parties who cause all this suffering should also learn to shoulder the blame rather than pretend that they can make it alright by giving a few pennies to a charity..

[blakeshell.livejournal.com]

good polocy, I'm sure many people who voted for bush were thinking the exact same thing....

[rainbowskye.livejournal.com]

Sorry if I upset you :/
Maybe I should have said something about governments and so forth on my post; and yes, it *has* been one long crisis for Africa. I know everyone's got 'poverty fatigue'. But I still think the two go hand in hand. Whatever any of us voted two months ago, nothing's changed, and if sending whatever money we can means that even a hundred children don't die this month I still think that's worth it. I'm not very good with numbers; seeing that 8,000 children a day die from dehydration is too big for me to cope with. Thnking that I might be able to make a difference to one life even makes me want to do anything I can. How about you get people motivated to lobby the government? I'll join in if you organise!

[lpetersson.livejournal.com]

No you certainly did not.
Your idea is a good one, it just annoys me that so many people vote for someone who help cause these crises and then say 'Oh what a terrible tragedy' and then go and vote for the same party again. Or buy products from the same company and so on...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_marauder_/]

One particular policy of the developed world makes it difficult for the underdeveloped world to get a foot on the wealth-spiral - and that's the system of farm subsidies, agricultural tarrifs and quotas.

Thes old-fashioned and arguably unnecessary policies, of the sort vehemntly favoured by Monsieur Le President, basically prevent much of the very trade that these developing countries badly need. Put up barriers to agricultural products and what else are they going to sell us? Aircraft parts? Hardly. These must go.

The other problem, which is far more difficult, is that of bad government. During the Cold War, our priorities were different. Most of Africa leaned towards the USSR - and consequently we tolerated all sorts of rancid regimes because they were more sympathetic to us than the alternatives. Now we're living with the legacy of those strategic policies.

Government in Africa is a mess. You have to search far and wide for a country that's even remotely well run. Where economic development hasn't been in suspended animation for the last 50 years due to rampant corruption, ruinous inflation, monetary incompetence, warring, absence of rule of law, etc. Those states lucky enough to have been blessed with natural resources (e.g. Ivory Coast) have had the proceeds from these plundered year-in-year-out by whichever military strongman happens to be in charge.

It's very sad to observe that Rhodesia and South Africa, even in the Apartheid days, were probably the least of Africa's problems - not the worst.

Unfortunately, when decolonisation took place, the great powers indirectly put in place a succession of despots who have proved far crueller than the colonial administrations ever were.

[lpetersson.livejournal.com]

You have to search far and wide for a country that's even remotely well run

Botswana :)
Although that's partially because they have rejected the 'solutions' given to them by the world bank and IMF.

But yes, I agree with you completely.
It's because we support the regimes and don't let them trade fairly they are in such a hole.
And also because the coloniser drew up countries no matter how the tribes who lived there were split up...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_marauder_/]

We’re mostly in agreement.

However, to say that it’s entirely our fault (and not at all the fault of the self-serving c*nts who’ve been running the show more-or-less since independence) is to imply that Africa can’t govern itself.

It’s akin to not punishing a toddler for scribbling on the wallpaper (because it knows no better) but instead blaming one’s self for letting it gain access to a felt tip pen in the first place. Is Africa really that pitiful? I don’t believe so. If they’re grown-up enough to rule themselves, they’re grown-up enough to take their share of responsibility.

Okay – we haven’t helped as much as we could. The free trade that existed in the days of the British Empire (to take Britain as an example) has given way to a web of tariffs and barriers that were largely the result of the depression. That’s what makes it difficult for these countries to trade in the products that make up the majority of their output, and for which the developed countries represent by far their biggest market.

True also – the IMF writes some strange prescriptions (some of its thinking appears pre-Keynesian on the surface). But to say the IMF is the cause of these economic problems is like saying doctors cause disease because they can frequently be found around sick people.

I’m not arguing. We agree that Africa needs decisive action. I’m just not confident that debt relief and aid will really benefit them – I expect a lot of it will just be plundered / wasted / embezzled as they carry on, business as usual.

Africa needs a range of measures – both stick and carrot. Letting their farmers trade with us would be a start.

PS: Leif mentioned you might be up for the Beer Festival in a couple of weeks. If you are, then good.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

I approve of forgiving African Debt: go on, cut them some slack and release more credit, one of those nice new Saladin amoured cars will look ever so nice alongside the Presidential Mercedes.

And direct aid does help poor people from the Third World: many of them work in the casinos, the hotels and the kitchens, and provide sexual services in London to the direct beneficiaries of our contributions.

Angry? Well, yes, but not about the corruption. I mean, we were like that once, and much that should be considered dishonest has simply become institutionalised and is now accepted - and legal business practice around here. Planning decisions, for example.

No, what makes me angry is that my taxes are paying for economic warfare against countries that have a great deal to trade with us, if only they were permitted to do so, if only our subsidised produce didn't get dumped on their markets, and if only we chose to provide fair contract terms and stable, orderly and honest markets for their commodity exports.

[phantomsophie.livejournal.com]

oh yes people who vote conservative or labour do need to be punched, and tell them on a regular basis as well.

[nibber.livejournal.com]

my flatmate voted tory, but then he's a money grabbing city boy/facist so what can you expect. i'm glad people agree with me as i thought i'd get abuse for that one...

[phantomsophie.livejournal.com]

ah anyone who doesn't have their head in the clouds when it comes to politics would agree with you. some people have just been indoctrinated to think they can't vote for anyone else but labour or conservative. This whole attitude of "We can't change anything". I want to say to that actually if more people stand up and say no that's crap, and then enough people join them, isn't that called a revolution? anyway people like that make me sick.