tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811379.post113768724933143251..comments2023-08-01T10:13:03.257-04:00Comments on In and out of the world: BBC NEWS | Africa | Cattle raids 'kill 38' in KenyaDamselFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11609237417738825530noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811379.post-1137773224235808582006-01-20T11:07:00.000-05:002006-01-20T11:07:00.000-05:00Since I work for an NGO, I can state surely that a...Since I work for an NGO, I can state surely that all the NGO workers I know really want to be part of making change happen and believe that they are doing so in at least a small way. I do not necessarily agree with them. <BR/><BR/>I agree with you that there is no serious expectation or intent among the powerful to eliminate poverty. As in the entry I wrote on Kenya, this is a rational choice. The question is why is it rational and for whom? I can't see that it is rational for big business. Keeping people poor and uneducated does them little good (although some radicals steadfastly believe otherwise, I point them to India, where education and the advent of a middle class allowed businesses to take greater advantage of that market). <BR/><BR/>Is it government? I expect so, but I can't really find a good reason for it, other than that elimination of poverty "over there" or even in this country is simply not politically expedient in a democracy with term limits and period elections. War is much more expedient (or appears to be so in a campaign).<BR/><BR/>Thus, regarding Iraq, it makes sense that our government took us to war. Conquering is much more public and obvious and quick than transforming. Who cares what happens afterward? No one will notice once Iraq is off the front pages, which it will be once the bombs stop dropping.DamselFishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11609237417738825530noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811379.post-1137772585179521972006-01-20T10:56:00.000-05:002006-01-20T10:56:00.000-05:00Last night we watched The Constant Gardener. Wow. ...Last night we watched The Constant Gardener. Wow. It brings home the callousness of international “aid” programs. <BR/><BR/>What do we, the wealthy countries, hope to achieve with the work being done by governments and NGOs? I don’t believe that there is an expectation that we will arrive at permanent solutions to poverty in the LDCs. Permanent solutions would require greater commitment and sacrifice than governments and individuals are prepared to make. We will tax ourselves to undertake a misguided war to promote a “democratic” government in a country that will balkanize the moment we pull out, yet we would not put the same level of effort into programs to bring about systems to rationalize aid with culture in the developing world.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com