to think comic relief is a manipulative millionaire sleb lovein?

[glasnost]

After watching most of last night's nth comic relief can't help thinking it's ever more hypocritical in laying a guilt trip on us poor folk to get us to part with some of the dwindling cash we have whilst never getting to the root of the problem.

Political corruption, greedy pharmaceutical companies etc. Without addressing these core problems we'll keep on having comic relief as an annual salve to people's consciences while poverty and injustice continue.

Jonathan Ross et al who earn vast amounts have alot of front in standing there emotionally blackmailing us when the obscene wealth he and others like him earn is part of the problem. AIBU?

I wonder how many of you have visited any of the countries that the charities help?

It's very easy to pass comment from your armchair or from behind a computer screen about charities and poor countries and what should or shouldn't happen. But the reality is that people need help NOW, and charities provide that help.

I spent some time working for a charity in Uganda and travelling through poor countries (not just in Africa). It's AMAZING how many hundreds of schools and orphanages and wells and clinics there are now :)

Of course there are still problems and ultimately long-term and sustainable change has to come from the top from the countries themselves, but in the meantime charity DOES make a difference.

glasnost Cuba failed because Soviet Union stopped subsidizing it in the 90s (when it itself fell on hard times in the aftermath of fall of socialism/communism). Venezuela has taken over giving money to Cuba now, so it is in a better shape, but average salaries are still around 10-15 USD (!!) average and shops are still empty. Healthcare is good for various reasons none of which to do with efficiency. If we all paid 95% of our incomes into the NHS it would also be damn great. Corruption is the result of non-accountability of the governments to their people and not because someone gives bribes. Go to Russia and try to start any business without bribing.

I am sorry to say, you are way out of your depth on this subject. I suggest you go to the library to read something worthwhile or start travelling a bit more.

Good post, Badgercub I have been out to townships in Africa and met in one a lady called Vikki who had turned her hut into a B & B. In the face of impossible odds, she was employing people. Her place was beautiful - little pink soaps in the basins, hand-made quilts. Apparently the smallest hotel in the world. Gave people a taste of Real Africa. The township was organised, industrious, terrifically vibrant. There were projects like craft selling to tourists - which was letting people have a market for incredible work.

Practical help. As you say - seeing it on the ground shows just what can be done.

"so toffee crisps kills babies and kitkat kills orangutans

so buy not buying those products would effectively do more than giving money - is that right?"

Yes, but you'd have to boycott pretty much everybody if you want to be sure of only purchasing goods with a completely ethical supply chain. That's why the Nestle boycott is just a load of BS. It's an easy target because who actually is inconvenienced in any way by not buying a Nestle product? Why boycott Nestle and not the oil companies (so walk everywhere), all the electronics producers, all the clothes producers making clothes in SE Asia etc etc? You've got to be consistent.

Agree with Punkatheart.
Good post

personally i dont think much progress is made whilst the african govts are so corrupt

i watched a prog a while back where money had been given to set up an orphanage or may have been a childrens hospital and they went back after a few years and the whole place had been stripped - even down to the tea towels!

you cant help people like that

still, i expect the african govts will be appreciative of the money towards their new fleet of Mercs and holiday homes

lusciousliz - you could say the same of non-African governments. What about the expenses scandal etc?

It's not fair to condemn and generalise about an entire continent based on the actions of a tiny minority. Just because one orphanage project didn't work, doesn't mean all the others haven't.

You're right in that corruption does happen, but it is overemphasised and gives people the wrong impression of how much work charities actually do.

You can't drive for many miles without stumbling across a successful project :)

Punkatheart who ever said that giving money is wrong? It's probably silly though. I actually mentioned in one post that I've given to comic relief but that doesn't help. At all. And the original title of the thread was actually aimed at the slebs schmoozing and salving their consciences at the same time. If it makes us feel better then fine let's carry on throwing our money away but it's not gonna solve this problem.

And corruption is caused often by colonial legacies and western corporations plundering Africa. That's not being addressed at all by giving a fiver here and there. Why don't they ever mention these issues on comic relief? It's a guilt trip to lay on us by a mess created by others.

Badgercub - I have, I did really feel moved by the children I met

I watched a little of the show last night, right up to the point where Lenny Henry broke down in tears because he encountered a situation (in an African country) which shocked and upset him more than anything else in all the year's he has been doing Comic Relief. "The worst I have ever seen" is what he said.

That made me wonder what aid really achieves in the long term. Has anything really changed? In the short term aid saves lives and makes a difference - as badgercub said and that is why I will give to Comic Relief. £1 for a mozzie net is a no-brainer, but when the solution is so cheap and simple, why are people still dying for the lack of mozzie nets?

Aid seems to maintain the status quo, rather than make a sustainable change.

"And corruption is caused often by colonial legacies and western corporations plundering Africa."

Please explain.

There is a lot of poverty in Africa, I should know because I grew up in poverty.

There is also a lot of success in Africa - you won't see this because it is not newsworthy.

Charity organisations do a lot of good work. It is amazing how peoples lives are changed, how women are emancipated and how children are given a good education because of your donations.

In my home country, the government is corrupt but things are changing - slowly. The old croonies are dying, the youth are slowly coming up and the economy is improving.

Poverty makes you work hard. The 3rd world will catch up, one day.

bemybebe - I would take that to mean the historic and rampant exploitation of the rich and varied natural resources of the African continent for the benefit of rich Europeans.

Sorry to speak for your glasnost - if that is not what you were trying to say.

YABU.
Yes, they are wealthy, BUT they are at least making an attempt to help. Indeed some of them do it for selfish reasons but so what? They have the 'power' of celebrity to make people watch.

It is a human obligation in my opinion to give to charity. We are lucky comfortable westerners. I get very angry at people moaning about it. If you object, come up with a better solution please.

glasnost, YES drug companies should be doing much much more, YES western world contributes to the problems (for example, the churches attitiude to contraception and its impact on spread of HIV) BUT these things are sadly unlikely to change and until they do, if giving a few quid can help then we have a responsibility to do so.

Your vision of stopping tragedies before they need charity is laudable but come on, its not going to happen and certainly not overnight, so for now "throwing cash at it" is the best we can do.

Colonial legacies

It's not an excuse for current political problems but you cannot ignore the impact of colonialism. Natural resources were taken and brought here and vastly improved the economies - Africa was always going to be behind!

"Poor countries usually have highly regulated economies that give rise to large monopoly rents. Accountability in these countries is generally weak. Political competition and civil liberties are often restricted. Laws and principles of ethics in
government are poorly developed and legal institutions charged with enforcing them are ill-prepared to address this complex task. Watchdog organizations that provide information on which detection and enforcement for anti-bribery action is based, such as investigators, accountants, the press, and other civil society organizations, are not well developed and are sometimes suppressed. On the other hand, the discretionary powers of administrators are large, with poorly defined, ever-changing and poorly disseminated rules and regulations making the situation worse." U Myint Dec 2000 Vol7, No2 APDJ

ivykaty I have to be honest I think your comparison is utter nonsense. To liken wanting to provide food, shelter and medicine to dying people in need to heroin addicts needing a fix is at best innappropriate and at worst a bit sick. Their hunger is not self inflicted - it is forced on them - so millions of people feel moved and want to help. There is nothing wrong with that - it is called compassion and if there was a bit more of that and a bit less "oooh it wont work" I suspect that whilst the world may not be better, it would at least be less bleak.

thx1138 - "Has anything really changed?"

Yes!

Twenty years ago there were 3 democracies in Africa, now there are 23.

The number of deaths from measles in Africa fell by 91% between 2000-2006.

In Nigeria, savings from debt relief have been used to hire 40,000 extra teachers.

4 million more children can be educated in Tanzania now that school fees have been abolished.

Rwanda has the largest proportion of women in parliament than any other country in the world.

A third of Africans live in countries where the economy has been growing at 5.5% for the last ten years.

Etc etc etc. These are just some snapshot facts from Comic Relief, but there are thousands of other improvements I could list!

I think it is easy for us to forget in the west that it took hundreds of years for our countries to become as rich as they are. It didn't happen overnight, and it won't happen overnight in developing nations either. Look at how it's taken to build the buildings for the Olympics! Many African nations have existed for mere decades, or less.

It will take time, but things ARE changing.

Glasnost....I am with your political ideas. But they are long-term. And in the meantime we must dip our hands into our pockets and give what we can afford. I support local charities; and give homeless people something.

But I did once ask "Why should a child have to go to Terry Wogan for a wheelchair in this country?"

So I can see what glasnost is getting at.

The poor may well "always be with us" But lets try and shrink the obscene numbers. And Red Nose day does something in that direction

gabby I too agree with glasnosts politics but it is naive of him/her to think it is so simple and to sneer at attempts to make changes on the relatively small scale of red nose day.

I would love to carry on posting but got my little baby to take out. He's white and a westerner so would never appear in those films showing dying babies. Haven't we become inured to African people's suffering? Isn't it almost pornographic to show their unbearable suffering? If they'd been blonde, blue eyed babies wouldn't we rise up and want to bloody stop this once and for all? We've created their poverty, we sit and watch images of their children dying, we hand over our money and the cycle continues. I'm sure our overriding sentiment last night was actually for there but for the grace of god.

And it's all to do with colonial legacy. The poorest, most unstable countries in the world are ones with a colonial past or present. The plundering continues. Would we be willing to sacrifice our cars and halt the taking of their oil if it meant eradicating their poverty? I think not.

Who the fux sneering? Ross and those fake slebs are the ones sneering at who can't/won't cough up.

I think I prob care more about the poor than those who hand over their cash but whose lifestyle keeps those couìntries poor.