Phil > This weekend's world wide concerts for the poor especially in Africa must be especially heart warming for you, as I saw the Reverend Tutu and Mandela, your countrymen, front and centre.
Indeed, it was. I was glued to the TV with admiration and pride at how my countrymen have managed to turn the African begging bowl into an object of international concern -- especially amongst those who will ultimately be expected to fill it -- and I don't mean the G8 but the millions of ordinary poor and working class Western folk who will each have to forfeit something in order that the billions of dollars can be raised.
> Debt forgiveness and prosperity for all!
African elites, Western corporations particularly drug companies and especially those who get their hands on all that beautiful African oil. Indeed, they can call it the "Poverty Industry" (with apologies to Norman Finkelstein)
amazon.com
>>Finkelstein's main argument is drawn against the aggressive attempt by corrupt Jewish businessmen to capitalize on the image of Jewish suffering of the Holocaust, which is a reality in the United States and Israel. This abuse of history and of human emotion is actually driven by a more sinister agenda to achieve the political goals of Israel<<
> I wonder though, to whom was this debt owned?
I believe some Western banks. They would have had to write off the debt anyway because the money is long gone and the countries who borrowed it can't repay. But who would have -- could have -- expected such a fanfare?
> In any case, will the average poor African see any difference in his standard of living? You don't have to answer that.
OK, I won't. But should you, however, be maybe a bit curious as to my opinion, however, I'll give you a clue and that is that I have seen in my own country how the lot of the poor black is unquestionably worse under our new, glorious "democracy" than it was under the "evil, genocidal, racist", apartheid regime. Of course, for the elites, particularly the ANC plutocrats and oligarchs, it's been a completely different story. |
