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Charitable Cause

IMF | 25.06.2004 20:28

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The piece above is written not particularly because I have a major problem with charities which do indeed try to alleviate some of the suffering that goes on in the world. However everytime they use the advertizing techniques they employ then they reinforce the stereotypical vision of 'developing' countries. i.e that these countries are somehow 'under developed' in need of our 'benevolance' and 'charity' and in general unable to look after themselves. It is upon this supposition that we can go to war against them, 'for them'. Of course what they really need is just to be given a break from our eternal political, and economic harassment.

IMF

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

Further Links

25.06.2004 20:40

Free graphics provided for your anti consuming / war / oil stuff if you like this or what's on the links below, just post a message. Also, CW I would be very grateful for
any assistance in sorting out a web page, I'll take a look at what I need to do. Mail me if you are still interested.

Urgent Report Of A ...
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No Further Text Required
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Electric Ladyland + some technical files
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Jesus - (see this link if you think this is all SPAM)
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The futures bright.
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Better than BP
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Headz
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/05/291112.html

Fairies
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Growth
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/05/291930.html

Head of state
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/05/291375.html

Philo
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/05/291118.html

Cock
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ArtyFarty
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289710.html

Torture
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/05/291608.html

Ten Steps
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/05/291919.html

Free Markets
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/05/292026.html

TV
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289557.html

Oil Corp
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289507.html

Pirana Fun
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289382.html

Class A Sunset
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Market
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IMF
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289167.html

Cheesy Sunset
 http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289326.html

Economic Growth
 https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/05/291930.html

Halloween
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289051.html

IMF
mail e-mail: a.mcnamara@uke.uni-hamburg.de


-nice

25.06.2004 21:28

I like some of your things more than others
this one i do like
keep it up

cat


Not their fault

25.06.2004 21:37

Charities such as Unicef and Oxfam cannot help it if governments have oppressive policies towards developping countries, in fact many of them campaign against the root causes of poverty, eg one million faces campaign against weapons deals or Drop the Debt campaign.

If I were starving to death I would not particularly care if Western countries had a negative stereotype of my country if this meant that charities were not allowed to give me clean water, food and medical care.

Although it is important to change the system, this is a long term goal, in the short term charity and depressing images of starving kids are, unfortunately, necessary.

Paul C


UN FREEMASONS

25.06.2004 23:57

The UN is nothing other than a bunch of freemasons .. I should put some links up but I'm a bit knackered
but you can easily find links to UNESCO/ UNICEF /international rotary club/ lions clubs/ and then onto masonic lodges all of these also collect money for "charitable" causes .it's one big front ...

rotavator


Lucis aka Lucifer Trust

26.06.2004 00:50

Well, rotavator, I share your level of knackeredness. We could at least point out the new age avatar's globalist inclinations in their interest in publishing of the UN reports

“No one will enter the New World Order unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. No one will enter the New Age unless he will take a Luciferian Initiation."
David Spangler, Director of Planetary Initiative, United Nations
 http://www.prisonplanet.tv/members/reports/911 - Decent into Tyranny.doc

dh


charities

26.06.2004 09:43

“Charities such as Unicef and Oxfam cannot help it if governments have oppressive policies towards developping countries, in fact many of them campaign against the root causes of poverty, eg one million faces campaign against weapons deals or Drop the Debt campaign”.

Actually, the relationship between government and non-government organisations is often rather more cosy than you suggest although I don’t deny that charities can achieve an improvement in some peoples lives and some are involved in government lobbying towards changes in international and national social policy. However, staff working for charities at the top end, often live lives not dissimilar to colonialists in other countries, surrounded by appalling poverty. Walled enclosures, black servants, big expensive parties..

Also charity itself is a way for government to slither away from responsibility for the deaths of so many people globally for corporate and political reasons. The World Bank and other structures of capitalism wield enormous power and the view of development promoted (with structural “adjustments” within countries, that destroy and distort local infrastructures with terrible human consequences) has become the usual norm. In a sense, charity is a sticking plaster beneath which the wound continues to fester, but it makes the skin look better (and there is the feel-good factor to!). The whole issue of development is really worth looking at whenever you've got a spare few hours. The point is that charities are often complicit and make interesting compromises as they follow the money.

Also in some cases, (such as some refugee charities), the charity acts as an agent of the state in the implementation of asylum policy, for example..

Finally, I like this image. Depressing images of starving kids often produce the opposite result to the one intended and do not address any of the political reasons.

heather


forgot to add news from namibia

26.06.2004 10:20

my friend who has recently returned from working for a charity in namibia (a country which has been written of as unsustainable by the USA because the working age population is decimated by AIDs)said that much of the work of the NGOs there is focused on creating and maintaining the overally bureaucratic administrative structure seen as essential to put into place programs for aid. This level of bureaucracy is seen as necessary also for the kudos of the government of the country which is then perceived internationally as structuring itself along western ideas and principles. Consequently, huge NGO conferences are organised in one of the poorest countries in the world, aid programmes are created from the top down and marginalises the effort and struggle of namibian people to organise their own solutions. In fact, the work of NGOs in Namibia often reinforces the dependence of the Namibian people on aid programs not of their own creation and therefore their dependence on western society with all that entails.

Similar criticisms could be made without trying too hard about charitable programmes to "help the poor" in this country.

heather


oh how absolutely wonderfull "the poor" will be delighted ..

26.06.2004 22:32

yes i am sure that there are a lot of dedicated people working for NGO's but most of them are full of shit.
They write a lot of and they talk a lot of shit because they are not really supposed to do anything and they have to make some kind of excuse, to themselves, to explain what the fuck they are doing.
They are just lackies to the corporate power brokers who certainly couldn't give a toss about "the poor" wether they live in the UK or some other shot hole. The sheeple will conitnue to follow them to hell while we conspiracy theorists might not survive much longer longer but at least we'll know who and why for they did it ..

wordsworth nuvink


"If I were starving I wouldn't care..."

28.06.2004 09:58

No I wouldn't care too much about the negative spin either if it was the difference between a sandwich and not, however the graphic is not for the starving. It's for us we are the ones that are the victims of that stereotype as much as they are, we are the ones that are manipulated into wars and supporting vile programmes such as plan columbia etc etc. We are the ones that do not learn from other cultures because of the underlying sense of superiority. We become the ignorants which we think they are, a similar thing is seen in the general English trait of thinking we are lucky not to have to learn a foreign language, as if it's 'lucky' not to have the opportunity to discover another way of thinking.

IMF


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