Pushing Poverty

Sorry for the rant, but that's what blogging is all about. As the title of mine says, this is my dumping ground, so grab your shovels and dig in.




Live8, the G8 summit, Make Poverty History, and the list goes on. All of a sudden it's cool to be worried about Africa and it's plight. I don't mean to say that I don't care about what happens to them, but I am interested in the current boom in interest.

The Live 8 Concerts have taken place and people are talking about the problems and that is all good. What isn't good is the solutions being thrown about. While Boner and Sir Bob have noble intentions I think that they are doing more to feel good about being filthy stinking rich, than they are doing to help. The one thing I find the most interesting about the plight of Africa is that people refer to it as exactly that, Africa. Here is a continent that contains over 50 countries that are far more different than the 3 countries that share the continent of North America. We can't even come up with a single policy for the problems and challenges that meet our countries here, so how can we be expected to fix Africa with a single thing?

The stars want us to push our governments to throw money at the problem in a typical manner of modern man. After all, can't money fix everything? Africans are poor? Give them a few bucks. When you see the homeless man sitting downtown, panhandling for money to eat or buy more liquor, do you honestly think that if enough people give him a quarter that he won't be poor and homeless anymore? The problems go a lot deeper than just cash folks. I find it interesting that even the leaders of the G8 countries think along the lines of money and a single solution for "Africa". The push by Make Poverty History isn't to end poverty but to simply ensure that everyone has a shirt and some food (A bit of a glib take, but not too far from the truth). Not to end poverty at all, but to simply end extreme cases of poverty. But what happens when this is achieved and everyone in "Africa" has these basics and still are treated like cattle?

While I don't know what can fix the problem, I also know that the current band-aid style solutions of patching holes with tape won't last for long. Is there a possibility that we can make it worse by providing them with more cash to fuel the problems? I'm not entirely sure that giving "Africa" more money or forgiving their debts will improve anything. With a lot of the countries deeply rooted in corruption, much of that aid will simply be consumed and distributed by those that already have money. Many of the countries that show devastating poverty on television have another face you never get to see. Check out Addis Ababa in Ethiopia;


Still think all that aid money gets to the straw huts and villages you see on TV?

While it may be pessimistic to think, I've always wondered if this is why they like to maintain the cycle of poverty. As the aid flows in so increases the take for the corrupt.

Maybe we need a deeper look into the problems and challenges of each country involved. Parents don't treat each of their kids the same do they? Why should be paintbrush an entire continent with a wad of cash and just ignore the problem. While it seems cruel to not give money to help, maybe we need to take a deeper look and help them solve the their problems instead of just hiding our own shame at our fellow man under a pile of dollar bills. Maybe it's even more cruel to facilitate the further decay of these countries while simply plodding along and ignoring the deeper problems.

A challenge to the G8 leaders would be to help the countries in Africa to reform and help themselves. I'm not saying that they need to do things our way, god knows we have our own problems too. Maybe they need some help to get on the right way though.

Oh well. Let the stars have their time in the limelight and when they all blow out of the picture and the people stop clamoring for more money to be sent overseas, maybe it won't be too late to still try and do the right thing.