<img width="84" height="67" align="right" src="/_images/pg_ratings/none.gif" alt="Safe for all readers" /><img width="150" height="150" align="left" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/6/6d/20070217072748!BlankMap-Africa.png" alt="Africa" />
<p style="
line-height:normal">Africa is in a horrible state. I say this because I live in Africa and I tend to focus on a few more problems closer to home rather than those a little further away [say for example, the middle east]. We have governments who are oppressing their people and claiming free and fair elections. We have warlords running countries into the ground. We have drug smuggling. We have people being forced into slavery. We have poverty and starvation on massive scales. All this while those in charge grow fat off the land and their people suffer. We have charities in the first world countries collecting monies for “humanitarian aid” which is given. Then we have governments which do food drops, medicine drops, send troops in to aid one faction or another and stir up disaster or force a regime change. This is paid for by money collected from taxes which is taken from tax payers throughout the world who have no say in the matter. All this for “just” and “noble” causes. Or is it..?</p>
<p style="
line-height:normal"><a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67931/michael-walzer/on-humanitarianism">This article</a> by Michael Walzer on humanitarianism has both echoed a lot of my views and has given me some new insights. I have some of my own view points and opinions which I’m going to try explain.</p>
<p style="
line-height:normal">Just so that we are on the same page, here are some definitions:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Charity </strong>- The voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money, to those in need.</li>
<li><strong>Humanitarian </strong><strong> </strong>- Having <span name="hotword" id="hotword">concern <span name="hotword" id="hotword">for <span name="hotword" id="hotword">or <span name="hotword" id="hotword">helping <span name="hotword" id="hotword">to <span name="hotword" id="hotword">improve the <span name="hotword" id="hotword">welfare <span name="hotword" id="hotword">and <span style="cursor:default" name="hotword" id="hotword">happiness <span style="cursor:default" name="hotword" id="hotword">of people.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="
line-height:normal">There are a number of charity organisations through-out the world that provide relief in times of need. For example with the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709598">recent events in Japan</a> and <a href="http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010/haiti.quake/">last year’s earthquake in Haiti</a> we had multiple organisations and various nations rushing in to provide relief from the immediate tragedy they suffered. This is noble and fantastic work these folks have done. </p>
<p style="
line-height:normal">If you contrast that to the food drops done through Africa each year by numerous organisations, there’s very little or no co-ordinated effort. There was no recent tragedy. Or maybe there was, but the tragedy has been going on for years if not generations. What is happening in numerous countries, food that is dropped off to help people get out of hunger is taken by warlords and then given to the population by these war lords. The people are too hungry to fight back. So this “relief aid” is just perpetuating a cycle of violence and oppression.</p>
<p style="
line-height:normal">In other countries, governments send in troops to try help out, or appear to be helping out. If one takes a close look at the political motives behind it, there is no humanitarian reasoning behind it. It is out of pressure from public to try stop something that’s going on. In the very worst case it is because sending troops in will help the government get rich through a new government they wish to install where they have set up agreements to get mineral or fossil fuel wealth out of the country. Of course it is difficult to prove any of this without getting into conspiracy theories. But if you look at it, where governments have intervened there has been motivation. If you look at what’s potting in the middle east, you have the US rushing into states that have oil and relieving the citizens of that country of their oppressor. The fact that they may have weapons of mass destruction to be used against the US is also a very good reason for them to do what they’ve done. Now compare this to Zimbabwe. You have Uncle Bob jumping up and down saying how much he hates the UK and the rest of the first world countries and how they should leave him alone. He’s taken the breadbasket of Africa and made her population starve, reliant on aid from the rest of the world for a period and persecuting people who oppose his rule. What has this country with all the manpower and resources done to get the breadbasket of Africa back on its feet so that it can feed itself and some of the other countries in Africa.</p>
<p style="
line-height:normal">I’m not going to get into the politics that prevent South Africa from intervening because I may have a fundamentalist ANC member come and kill me while I drive to work one morning. ( I really hope that I’m joking about that).</p>
<div style="
line-height:normal">From the same article:</div>
<p style="
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<blockquote>“The UN Security Council rarely acts effectively in crisis, not only because of the veto power of its leading members but also because its members do not have a strong sense of responsibility for global security, for the survival of minority peoples, for public health and environmental safety, or for general well-being. They pursue their own national interests while the world burns.”</blockquote>
<p> Professor Walzer referred to the teachings of a Rabbi, physician, and philosopher Maimonides:</p>
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<blockquote>“ Maimonides has a famous discussion of the eight levels of <em>tzedakah</em>, but only two need concern us here. The highest form of charitable giving, he wrote, is to set up a poor man in business or in work of some sort, to make him independent. This is the height of <em>tzedakah</em> because it recognizes and respects the dignity of the person who is being helped -- which is also, obviously, a requirement of justice. When charity perpetuates dependency and subordination, it is unjust.”
<p> </p>
</blockquote>
<p> This particular paragraph reminded me of why I appreciate the Jewish faith as an outsider agnostic, culture and teachings. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with every Mitzvah or teaching, but it doesn’t stop me appreciating them and the good that they do, the good they teach.</p>
<p style="
line-height:normal">What I gleaned from this is that these nations and organisations should only be helping with relief in critical situations and then commit themselves to long term repair. Maybe I thought this because it echo my set of beliefs. Think about it. Help Africa help herself. Africa has all the minerals, all the rainfall and all the land to be able to feed herself and take care of herself. She needs educated children who have full bellies that can seize control of their bright and happy future from the current dictators, warlords and other oppressors.</p>
<p style="
line-height:normal">To get out of this mess, Professor Walzer proposed the idea of a “welfare state” who would be able to co-ordinate efforts of charitable and humanitarian organisations. I believe that this is an idea that those with the means should follow through with. It has its challenges for sure. Who would lead this welfare state? How do you keep government politics and self-serving agendas out of it? How do you give it enough power to act in the benevolent way it needs to? How do they setup policies so that the right people act at the right time. How do they monitor the on-going repairs needed and ensure that they are effective?</p>
<p style="
line-height:normal">Right now, the few non-political organisations that are effectively doing what they can are fighting fires with water pistols. It isn’t enough. There needs to be a global revolution to do good by the people in need. Help people help themselves. Help people get dignity not dependency. Uplift people, don’t oppress. We have so much more to gain and so little to lose.</p>
<p style="
line-height:normal">The personal choices I make is to give to charities that uplift people and communities. I give only a small portion to relief charities and a larger contribution to repair charities.</p>
<p style="
line-height:normal">There are many charities that you can give to. For example in the US, <a href="http://learntodream.org/about-us/">The Change Exchange</a> is a fantastic charity that builds schools, educates teachers and provides the support needed for education of children in Africa. Another charity of a similar nature is <a href="http://www.achieveinafrica.org/why.php">Achieve in Africa</a>. Their counter part in the UK is <a href="http://www.schoolsforafrica.co.uk/content/view/6/6/">Schools for Africa</a>. Through donations to organisations like these, you help Africa help herself. There is a place for relief aid, but repair aid is more beneficial in the long term. Africa needs charities who collect for repairs not for relief. Food drops oppress. Education uplifts. Teach people how to help and there’ll be more hands in the future to help out others. <br />
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We can end this cycle of oppression and dependency if we focus our efforts in the right areas instead of giving blindly and accepting what our leaders say as the right thing.</p>
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