Listened to LBC this morning with some interesting chat on this. A lot of people calling to say that charity from comic relief etc is not only not appreciated, but it is also harmful to Africa. Comic relief today announced they would not be sending celebrities to make videos. David Lammy has obviously had a lot to say on the matter.
The obvious initial response is to say âwell I wonât be giving any more money you do not want thenâ. Do those complaining have a point or is are they being ungrateful?
Not that at all Bob. They are not saying they will rely on it, that they do not need it at all and white people are only doing it to ease guilt about slavery and colonial crimes of the past.
Who were the people calling in? Those in Africa that had received money or those in Africa that received nothing? Or those that do not even live over there?
Fuck thatâŚhavenât given that a second thought, I donât feel Iâm assauging the sins of my forefathers, never have and never will do. Iâll give to whoeverâs plight moves me, no matter where they are, what colour, whatever religion.
If they canât deal with that, thatâs their problem.
I think the main problem is that it was never the publicâs problem to sort out, bar creating the political pressure to assist with the structural problems of the continent.
The problem there is political will, or lack of it. This is driven by several factors, but itâs worth noting that weâve had public calls for foreign aid budgets to be reduced. Thanks to the finger-pointing that goes on whenever our domestic public service is defunded, itâs a politically toxic suggestion.
If you look at most countries that have successfully moved from developing to developed, it isnât aid that has got them there. Itâs trade, and without wanting to lay every problem at the feet of the EU, its existence means that Africaâs nearest trading partners are prohibitively expensive to trade with.
In short, this isnât a problem for the likes of Bob Geldof to sort out. Even his clumsy attempts to make a difference are a bit dodgy.
Tonight, thank God itâs them instead of you
Basically sums up why more elegant and lasting solutions are required.
David Lammy is a prick of the highest order, he could open a box of cornflakes and find some thing to be outraged at
Comic relief have done a huge amount of good, a lot of what they do is sustainable - ie helping people set up businesses to be able to fend for themselves. And who doesnât appreciate a mosquito net.
having the celebs there raises the profile. It helps get joe public to pony up a few quid more. How the fuck is this a bad thing.
David Lammy and his outrage brigade can kiss my arse
Itâs a business,and is very lucrative for some. Last year comic relief paid 1.3 million in redundancy payments as part of the ârestructure of the organizationâ. Is this really what people donated for?
There seemed to be two type of contributors, 1) non white people who were saying thank god someone has finally said what we were all thinking/Africans saying we need to stop giving money and start apologising.
(I guess white people) calling in to say they will never give money again if it is not appreciated and Lammy et al can stick it up their bollox.
Repeat for an hour.
Was on bbc radio London tonight as well. Same kind of phone in.
If I can spare a couple of quid which could buy a mosquito net or fund an inoculation etc why shouldnât I help? Getting flak for doing so is hardly going encourage people to do more. It is more likely going to make them pull up the ladder and slam the trap door.
I walk around our most impressive cities and know that many of them were built on imperialism, slavery and murder.
There is also no doubt that we both benefit from things done long in the past that ensured British hegemony for a couple of hundred years, including a lot of the bad shit. Our cityâs most famous monument is a testament to bad shit. Itâs got arrow slits, presumably because bad shit went on outside, and some of the wall wankers needed to be shot.
I acknowledge all that, but I wasnât there. As I said in my first post on the subject, there is a role for the public and a role for the state. Iâd be more than happy for us to apologise as a state for some of the things the state has done, and to my reckoning, we already have on a lot of this stuff.