Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Hands off African Countries

Let's not fool ourselves, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an American institution that aims to further the interests of America and, sometimes, its friends. This institution has been giving crap advice to developing countries, especially in Africa, for several decades. As a result, most of the countries now suffering food shortages and overall food insecurity are in dire straits because they followed IMF advice to dismantle the support mechanisms they once gave to their farmers and other food producers.

If free trade is such a good thing, why does the US and the EU subsidize their food producers to such an extent that developing countries cannot compete? Is it possible that these wealthy regions want developing countries to depend on them?

We in the West boast about how much money and aid we are 'giving' to developing countries but in reality, we take far more than we give. We buy raw materials as cheaply as possible and sell back finished products, often produced in developing countries by people who are paid slave wages, at grotesque prices.

Yes, corruption is a terrible thing and top politicians in developing countries shouldn't accept bribes. But Westerners are falling over themselves to bribe them, and that must stop too.

We have failed to help developing countries to develop, the only hope now is that we stop preventing them from developing.



The photograph is of a school in Isiolo built with donor funds. The school is far away from anyone and there are no surfaced roads. No one goes there. Sphere: Related Content

No comments:

Post a Comment