To think Stacey Dooley was right in her response to David Lammy

[CoolCarrie]

“ Africa doesn’t need white saviours” says Lammy commenting on pictures of Stacey Dooley on a comic relief trip. Why pick on her? Loads of celebrities over the years have gone to Africa to show how money is helping the poorest of the poor, and the huge difference it has made over the years.
What Africa does need is governments that are not corrupt and better leaders.

Agree with David Lammy.
I personally can not believe anyone rates Stacey Dooley as a ‘journalist’. I’ve watched a couple of her facile documentaries and her simple minded insights and commentary are incredibly irritating.

So on the one hand this thread is saying that Africa is in a mess because of white colonialism. Then OTOH, it's saying that Africa isn't as bad as is made out, that there's money and wealth and that 'white saviours' aren't needed. Which is it? If there's wealth then why are people still dying?

Why does it have to be one or the other? The UK is the 5th largest economy in the world so why is a homeless crisis and millions of people living in poverty? Look at the inequality between deprived areas like Hartlepool and affluent households in Kensington.

And this is just one country, imagine a continent of different countries, cultures, climates and ethnic groups all experiencing different standards of life.

“So what many are trying to say is that, Africa is ok, and they should be left alone to do it themselves with no help”
I’m pretty sure nobody is saying that. But i’m also prettt sure nobody is expressing negativity and disgust about whites people either. Maybe i’m just missing something......

So on the one hand this thread is saying that Africa is in a mess because of white colonialism. Then OTOH, it's saying that Africa isn't as bad as is made out, that there's money and wealth and that 'white saviours' aren't needed. Which is it? If there's wealth then why are people still dying?

The two things aren’t mutually exclusive. Yes there is wealth in Africa - it is a continent with cities, towns, villages and industry, universities, financial centres, agriculture etc. just like anywhere else in the world. That doesn’t negate the fact that there is widespread inequality and poverty (and how colonialism/present day exploitation of African resources by the west contributes to that). But the point is that ‘Africa’ is more than just the dusty villages full of pot bellied children in rags that Comic Relief perpetuates. And within that array of people and skills there are plenty of people able to tell stories about Africa themselves without the need for Stacey Dooley and co to tell their stories for them while they stand mute in the background. Surely a film can still be emotive without a celeb crying in the foreground? And, if not, it proves Lammy’s point that the white saviour narrative is so engrained in our consciousness that the sight an African owning their own story won’t evoke feeling from the British public.

The question whether Comic Relief is needed isn’t under question (at least by Lammy).

My comment that ofc we should aim to improve African governance but we can still help African charities was in response to Pp who said we should focus on African governance. It seems to have attracted some sneery comments though.

Tbh c9mparisons by some pp of the uk Brexit sh@tshow to the governance of many if not most African nations shows a (perhaps wilful) lack of knowledge of the situation in Africa. Corruption is endemic in many African nations and is widely seen by development economists as being the main barrier to growth. Ofc other countries in the world including the uk have issues with governance but a country such as Somalia, Nigeria or DRC does not have equivalent governance issues to the uk. I have family from an African country and have seen these things first hand.

We have our own problems at the moment yes,. We should try to resolve them, absolutely. But we can still do something about other problems (and there are things we can do to influence governance in other countries as I pointed out earlier).

I don't think that is what people are meaning overseas aid is a good kind thing, what people are saying is having celebrities /rich people pose withchildren making it all about them is what needs to stop.

Ed sheeran put 2 kids in a hotel theother year that isn't solving a problem it is sticking a plaster over it. Comic relief are sending celebrities with thebest intentions and it turns into look what I am doing scenario. Which stacey Dooley demonstrated when she replied to David Lammy. what are you doing

Downcast

Thank you for the links, I have made a small donation.

For anyone else looking for the way things can be done, and I'm not saying it is right way, just a different way.

The river pod Africa project (which does not need donations at the moment, if you have spare money then please send to Downcast's friend).

This is an RC charity project which took me a bit of getting over but the idea is that water turbines will be installed in Kenyan rivers, these can then create electricity. The local schools are involved and eventually the students in the schools (50% from the girls' school), when they graduate will be able to build, maintain and repair the pods and therefore have a career.

The only white people sent out are the inventor of the pod and a post grad student. They are working with a student from the area studying in Manchester.

www.fern-flowing-power.com/news.html

And we can also help good charities and community groups in the uk and Africa while improving governance in both!

And I agree- Stacey Dooley comes across as a pretty vacuous but I have a real problem with people who spend their time criticising without saying anything positive or doing anything practical to help. Stacey Dooley is promoting a women’s health clinic and trying to raise money for it. I think that has to be a good thing and that most people who’d benefit from that would rather have it than be used by David Lammy to make a political point. If his comments put people off donating and that clinic has to shut, who benefits? David Lammy maybe but at the cost of women and children’s health.

And if anyone should stick to worrying about what is going on with Brexit, shouldn’t it be a uk MP? His comments were also blatantly racist.

Oh yes Bertrand, I have seen some posts on here which really made me uncomfortable, and the hatred behind them, it seems to be trendy to be anything other than white. Like white people should be embarrassed about their colour. Yes because of colonialism, but because of all that they stand for. It is like tarring everyone with the same brush, it would be ludicrous to say that about any other race.

The problem for comic relief is that there is a finite amount of money that people can donate. So if they want it, they have to convince people that they need it more than any of the other hundreds of charities competing for people's attention. Which is why it doesn't serve CR to show African nations as anything other than poor and in need. People are inclined to say that if African nations have money then they don't need ours, especially when we are confronted more and more in our daily lives by increased homelessness and food banks right on our doorstep. People respond to what is in front of them - it's horrible but true. And there is so much horror in the world that no amount of money donated by ordinary people can fix it all. So I think maybe CR are caught between a rock and a hard place. They know their approach is flawed but it does work. People see their money doing good things and yes, they get an emotional kick back from that and the money keeps coming.
Professional charities aren't stupid - they know what works. Ultimately the important thing is that women in Uganda get healthcare. Lammy might be right but he's also wrong if anything he says threatens those women getting what they need (and all the other people who need it too). Because Africa isn't fixing this.

“I have seen some posts on here which really made me uncomfortable, and the hatred behind them,”
C&P please.

This is not a thread about ‘negativity and disgust towards whites’ at all.

The last time I looked Stacey Dooley was just holding a little boy. The disconnect is just staggering in that somehow the narrative is ‘promoting women’s health clinic’ ... no she is not!

There are some poor souls in the background in some office having to complete forms, fill in compliance statements and funding documents to get only a small % of the funding needed. Stacey Dooley hugged an african kid and called it ‘doing something’

Please don’t underestimate how hard it is for those charities to get the funding. Very often there are local set-ups that can do a better more efficient job.

Just where my parents live in their African town there are soup kitchens daily, Shelters, kids refuges, clinics that are all run by the churches and other NGOs.

'Yes because of colonialism, but because of all that they stand for. It is like tarring everyone with the same brush, it would be ludicrous to say that about any other race.'

It does seem an acceptable thing to do, generalise massively about white people, 'white saviours' when as you say if other people were judged on their skin colour there would rightly be outrage.

I find whether it's children in need showing clips of dying white children or comic relief showing clips of strarving African children there is always an uncomfortable gratuitous side to it. People seem to need to be moved and feel pity before they donate. Perhaps we need to look at other ways to appeal to people to get their wallets out.

Lammy might be right but he's also wrong if anything he says threatens those women getting what they need (and all the other people who need it too)

But if the appeal clips show the same level of need, the same overstretched clinic and the same value of comic relief money, within the context of the same night, with the same entertainment, and the same celeb appearances in the studio, with the difference being the appeals aren’t fronted by a white celeb but instead created by African filmmakers (say), do you honestly think donations would drop? The UK based appeals rarely feature a celebrity but are still hard hitting.

Comic relief supports Uk charities I think the money split 60/40 but we never see celebs advertising a young carers on insta do we. I get that the go where they are asked but maybe a womens project in newcastle just isn't appealing enough for Stacey . Tbh I don't know what I am trying to say but it seems to me that Africa is more worthy for the privelaged (sp)

I have to say I get his point. There is a lot of wealth in Africa and they are probably doing their best to address the poverty. Africa is vast, and made up of many countries. Comic Relief probably makes no difference whatsoever.

Oh we are on the same track Inspiration

Bertrand I haven't got the time to trawl through 15 pages of posts, but there are, and there is a general tone of white negativity!

“Bertrand I haven't got the time to trawl through 15 pages of posts”

Thought not. People who make statements like that never do.

'However "right" his comments are, if he isn't going to actually do anything then there is very little point to his attitude.'

I disagree - his comments have begun a conversation about this issue.
I can't say I'd given the issue a great deal of thought beyond eyerolling at the retired baby boomers I know who visit Africa to assist in building schools and churches. Some of these people are in their 70's and do no manual jobs in their own homes - they hire qualified tradespeople.

If the schools would get built without them, then fair enough they don't need to be there. But if they wouldn't, isn't it better that they do it and the school gets built!

Yes I would say his contribution may achieve more than many of the celeb trips to Africa.

'If the schools would get built without them, then fair enough they don't need to be there. But if they wouldn't, isn't it better that they do it and the school gets built!'

Why not one person go over and direct local tradespeople instead of several unqualified people spending charity funds on air fares and lodgings?

I’ve just read that David Lammy was very, very strongly in support of the Iraq War and has been one of the biggest opponents of an inquiry into the same.

Personally I think I prefer Stacey Dooley’s contribution to the image of the British state abroad far more than his.

I mean FFS, he’s partially responsible for civilians being carpet bombed in a pointless war and he’s having a go at Stacey Dooley for hugging a baby? He needs to have a word with himself.