Should western nations stop aid to Africa?

[Kleng]

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/internatio...,363663,00.html (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,363663,00.html)

Interesting read.

[Severian]

This guy's operating from a "free market" starting point but a number of his points are good. For example, food aid does perpetuate dependency and aid Western agribusiness by driving African farmers off the land.

One thing he's wrong about, the aid like everything else is not driven by "overbenevolence" but by the desire to perpetuate dependency and exploitation. More money is extracted from the Third World, and probably Africa, in interest on the massive foreign debt than is given in aid.


The current G-8 aid package comes with all kinds of strings attached, which would perpetuate and deepen imperialist economic domination of Africa.

As Thomas Sankara said, "The only aid we favor, ist that which puts an end to the need for more aid."

[widget_man]

For every $1 put in aid $3 come out. sorry not much of a point but wanted to put the fact across.

[Young'un]

Alot of aid given to countries doesn't get always get to end user, my father is in a charity club (more like organisation, there all around the world) called Rotary, they raised 6000British Pounds and had to fly someone out to actually give it to the people working on the buildingswhere the Tsuami hit instead of sending it to some aid office where only a quarter to half of it actually was used on buildings, if any of it.

They found this out from another club who raised around 5000pounds, but when they went back to the area 1 month ago, only just over a quarter of the building plans where actually made, the head of the club said "where's the rest?", so the head of making the new buildings replied with "what do you mean? This is what you sent us, we are ver grateful."

Giving money aid to Africa won't work, cancelling debt, i think will work. Just constantly giving the same aid, over and over will do nothing, it just runs out eventually, but cancelling debt and trying to get these countries a fresh start is the best thing i think they can do.

[Commie Rat]

From a reasoning mind, this seem like a good idear- although harsh- to force africa to stand on its own 2 feet

[bolshevik butcher]

I can see the point in this, But it seems like an exceptionally painful process. It would ahve to be done gradually, i mean they couldn't pull the aid out overnight.

[bunk]

One of the conditions with the aid and cancelling debt the G8 has made is that African countries must remove all restricitions to privatisation.
Did anyone else hear about the guy at the African Union say that Africa should disintegrate it's countries and become one united continent

[bolshevik butcher]

Sounds like a great idea! But i doubt it'll catch on..... Yeh, aid is abused by nations as a tool for making money.

[che's long lost daughter]

If these countries want to end poverty, what they should do is to end poverty in their own land first rather than meddling with other countries' affairs trying to front the fact that they want to make poverty history with an ulterior motive of imperialising the country which they say they want to help. I agree with Shikwati, what they should do is not to let poor countries like Africa to depend on them totally but to allow them to stand in their own feet. In the first place, do countries like America really as in wholeheartedly giving aid or they just want to glorify themselves knowing they did that and feel ever powerful?

[Socialsmo o Muerte]

I didn't read the link, but the answer to the question is yes.

Aid to Africa does not help it. There is a post in O.I. about this too. It's the politics that needs changing. Like someone has already pointed out, for every $1 recevied they probably end up paying $3 back, so what's the point?

Also, it just strenghtens the dollar diplomacy which American and the West can enforce in Africa. If trade laws were fixed and properly managed, Africans could build their cointinent on the obscene wealth of natureal resources they have. Industrialisation would be straight forward.

[Super Mario Conspiracy]

I read an interesting book about globalization - how it was forced onto countries. If the country did not accept it, then it would be declared a "rouge nation" - and a fresh candidate for a CIA coup (like Chile during Allende's time). If the country accepts the globalisation - well, then they get exploited and end up like Argentina (after the globalisation).

Excellent book: "The Sorrows of Empire" by Chalmers Johnson, deals much with American imperialism and it's effects (for one, I found out that the US have over 750 bases around the world, and that a great deal of taxpayers money goes into them).

[Socialsmo o Muerte]

Another good book is by Joseph Stiglitz, "Globalization and It's Discontents". This sets it out perfectly.

That book turned me into a socialist!

[Vallegrande]

How many rogue nations are there now?

[Red Heretic]

The only thing that will stop the poverty in Africa is socialist revolution. We should support serious revolutionary organizations in Africa in a monetary way I think.