I read the interview, I haven’t read Moyo’s book. In the interview the distinction is made between systematic aid, usually provided by western govts to African govts, and emergency aid. Her beef doesn’t seem to be with emergency aid but with systematic aid that distorts local economies and political relationships. Noone is actually against, for example, provision of basic emergency medical care to save lives in the short term, right? I doubt that individual contributions make up much of the systematic aid.
I her book is title and promoted the way it is for shock value—the same way she’s not against emergency aid, few people are against the idea of real economic development and independence for African nations. Seems like a ‘non-wood’ argument: ‘aid isn’t helping Africa develop, what we need is non-aid!’.
Off topic, but Mayo also says: “NASA spends billions on a MARS project, but they don’t really think we’re going there.” Which is wrong, unless you think remote controlled exploration isn’t really ‘being there’.
There has been a similar conversation going on for some time in Australia about welfare dependence in Aboriginal communities. It’s a common view amongst a new generation of Aboriginal leaders that welfare dependence is at the heart of the social problems faced by remote communities, and they call for more restrictions on welfare and a greater emphasis on personal responsibility and entrepreneurship.
I read the interview, I haven’t read Moyo’s book. In the interview the distinction is made between systematic aid, usually provided by western govts to African govts, and emergency aid. Her beef doesn’t seem to be with emergency aid but with systematic aid that distorts local economies and political relationships. Noone is actually against, for example, provision of basic emergency medical care to save lives in the short term, right? I doubt that individual contributions make up much of the systematic aid.
I her book is title and promoted the way it is for shock value—the same way she’s not against emergency aid, few people are against the idea of real economic development and independence for African nations. Seems like a ‘non-wood’ argument: ‘aid isn’t helping Africa develop, what we need is non-aid!’.
Off topic, but Mayo also says: “NASA spends billions on a MARS project, but they don’t really think we’re going there.” Which is wrong, unless you think remote controlled exploration isn’t really ‘being there’.
There has been a similar conversation going on for some time in Australia about welfare dependence in Aboriginal communities. It’s a common view amongst a new generation of Aboriginal leaders that welfare dependence is at the heart of the social problems faced by remote communities, and they call for more restrictions on welfare and a greater emphasis on personal responsibility and entrepreneurship.