Lies, Damn Lies

The G8-sort of great

Well the G8 has spoken... and they've sort of done well. So, the big news is doubling of aid, and cancelling of debt. Which are good things, of course, especially debt. Thing is about aid, it is essential, but when you get down to its charity, and thats not what it means. Africa isn't this stereotype of corrupt or helpless individuals, they are people, just like us, and if we give them a chance, I fully believe they will be able to make poverty history. So really the important parts are stopping debt, which we are doing, but not as much as we might have hoped. Basically, this is a summary of achievments and failures.

To be honest, its kind of what I expected. Getting countries to drop trade barriers is hard, because it is not a popular move. I mean, the thing is, while it may well be good for the economy in the long run, you have places like France which has a huge agricultural industry. An artificially large one, actually, boosted by wasteful subsidies. But if you drop these, people will lose their jobs. There will be hardship. This is the reality of what campaigners are calling for. No decision is easy, and its hardly in any French leaders interest to call for this. But when you weight this against the thousands who die unecessarily every day... its nothing.

So yeah, change will be hard, and yesterday was a step forward, just not as big as it could be. Keep giving your support, there will be work to do for a long time.

posted by Mr K @ 3:58 pm