Aid

[Pogue]

I wanna do a job in the future to do with aid and developement, like working in Africa and the like, third world countries. I know many leftists are sceptical of such stuff cos it doesnt cut to the root of the problem, which is capitalism.

I wanna do something like education or healthcare though, immediate things which are needed, things which can get people up off the ground. Cos obviously an educated populace has life chances, a future.

Do you guys think the charity and aid missions are pointless/'reformist'?
Or good?

Whats a good group to go with? Both temporary voluntary and also in terms of a career.

[#FF0000]

It's temporary relief for a handful of people.

So of course it's completely worthwhile!

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about groups you can join up with to do such work. The only one I know of is the U.S. Peace Corps.

[Sugar Hill Kevis]

Of course it's not a waste of time... It will directly effect the lives of the people you work with, altering it immensely. It won't bring justice and equality to the world, like many liberals seem to believe. But, it's worthwhile...

As for an organisation though, I'll have to let somebody more in the know field that one...

[FreeFocus]

Look into Mercy Corps. A wonderful organization which does a lot to build infrastructure and an independent outlook in oppressed countries.

[BobKKKindle$]

I know many leftists are sceptical of such stuff cos it doesnt cut to the root of the problem, which is capitalism.It's not just a matter of aid being reformist or not effective - aid is often a form of imperialism, especially when it is given by the governments of developed countries, but even when it is given by organizations which are nominally separate from the government. According to the Development Co-operation Report issued by the OECD in 2005, almost sixty percent of total aid is tied aid, which means that it is given the condition that the recipient countries will agree to spend the aid on goods which are produced by the donor country even if these goods are not suited to the needs of developing countries, which provides an immediate benefit to the donor country in the form of export revenue and can also establish a permanent relationship of dependency due to the need to purchase spare parts and other products which are necessary to keep the original good in working order. Aid can also be given on the condition that the recipient country will adopt certain policies which benefit the corporations of the imperialist core such as eliminating regulations on the movement of foreign investment, privatizing state assets, and allowing firms to pollute the environment and subject the workforce to intense exploitation. Even if aid was given without any kind of conditions it would not be able to counterbalance the ongoing resource transfers from the periphery to the imperialist core in the form of interest payments, returns on foreign investments, and export revenue.

Don't go into aid work.


Cos obviously an educated populace has life chances, a future.

Not really - the small minority who do obtain a good education generally work with the MNCs which are operating in their country or migrate overseas in search of high pay. The only way to reserve the historical and ongoing underdevelopment of the periphery is to end the exploitative resource transfers which currently occur on a world scale between the periphery and the core, and to address the historical injustices committed against the periphery by forcing the core to give reparations thereby temporarily reversing the direction of resource transfers until the concept of a core/periphery dichotomy becomes redundant as the two spheres have been equalized.

[Pogue]

So you think all aid work is pointless? Teaching for some NGO in Africa was something I was interested in doing.