White Saviour

[username8348]

Ed Sheeran has said that he wouldn't participate in a rerecording of Do they Know it's Christmas which was first released in the 80s to raise money for a famine in Africa.

The single and other similar endeavours have been criticised as portraying a negative view of Africa and belying a White Saviour complex.

Some critics have said that Africa is capable of dealing with its own problems and such sentiments mean it loses business and investment:

While they may generate sympathy and donations, they perpetuate damaging stereotypes that stifle Africa’s economic growth, tourism and investment, ultimately costing the continent trillions and destroying its dignity, pride and identity - Fuse ODG

Do they know it's Christmas was last rereleased to raise money for ebola. Geldof has denied the claims saying that they're bollocks and the money has achieved a lot.

Western countries give a lot of aid to African nations, is it time to stop that aid? Many countries are feeling the pinch and could plough the money into their own nations.

AIBU to believe that we should stop playing the White Saviour and as advised, let Africa deal with its own problems?

I can see both sides of this, but the one thing I am sure of is that I don't give a tuppenny toss what the millionaire Bob Geldof thinks about it

I find this a quite depressing approach from the lecturer tbh. You have a lot of new students, eager to learn and hoping to help. They are choosing to train for a profession that will be hard work, plenty of unsociable hours and relatively low pay. Then the lecturer turns round and says "well, actually, your reasons for wanting to go into this stressful job are completely selfish". Why would anyone bother? It's so negative and quite offensive. And no, I don't work in healthcare, I chose a much less stressful and challenging career, like the majority do.

Does the song still make money for charities? Is so it seems silly to cancel it, can’t the lyrics just be changed instead.

I get the point that the song is factually incorrect but did find Ed Sheeran’s recent social media post annoying the way he hoped his (new!) personal stance was a forward facing one. He isn’t worried about the song he just doesn’t want to get cancelled.

It’s all very well saying we shouldn’t send aid, we shouldn’t send volunteers, we shouldn’t build hospitals and offer free medical treatment etc - we should empower the local people to develop the skills and do it themselves….BUT it’s been said many times (and is widely acknowledged) that the people in power in many of these countries are corrupt. So how do we empower the locals? How do we set up a college to train nurses, builders, carpenters, teachers? We can’t just turn up and establish these colleges ourselves. It has to go through local government officials, who are corrupt, and would use the “money to build a teacher training college” on their house and garden!

From what you’re saying, it seems you think that the locals do not already have skills etc to put to work. Please remember that the NHS for instance, employs a lot of these so called unskilled locals, to do skilled jobs in the UK.

The bigger problem is corrupt governments in those countries coupled with, our corrupt governments and business leaders who go into those countries to exploit the situation. Alongside, the masses of debt Africa as a continent owes to our governments who just keep adding on to in the form of aid and interest.

The issue is much more complicated and longstanding than singing a song or going in a building something. The west needs to take responsibility for some of the issues in the African continent and actively stop hindering progress. Pretending that African is just some dire country with no opportunity to be self sufficient, is a big part of the problem!

The difference is that when you train to work in healthcare, it's not just about learning anatomy and physiology. A lot of it is about ethics, morals, self-reflection and standard of care. We were master students, not freshly fledged college graduates. That specific lecture was vital to shape us as clinicians and avoid us falling into the patterns of behaviour that so many complain about. I ask myself every day whether something I am doing is driven by what the patient knows is best for them or whether it is something that I find more comfortable for myself.
And the lecturer don't turn around and said anything to us. We came to that conclusion ourselves simply by examining what is below the superficial layers of thought. It's ok to recognize that you are not perfect and that your must reflect on and mitigate your own biases.

I took that to mean that celebrating Christmas is quite low on your list of priorities when there's no food to put on the table. It had nothing to do with religion.

So are you saying they weren't treated with respect? I've never heard that. As I said if I'm starving and someone is giving me food I don't think I'm going to be fretting about them patronising me. I thought this was about other Africans objecting to Africa and Africans being depicted in a certain way that they don't like.

I've only ever had one medical person sweep in and tell me what to do and that was a doctor who wouldn't accept I didn't want amnio due to my age. He was rude about it. Fortunately my Consultant was completely different and supportive. I've only ever had one experience like that and when I've needed treatment or an operation it has been a discussion. Same when 2 of my kids needed surgery. As long as the medical professional could do their job and listen to me I don't care if they've had some lecturer doing amateur psycho analysis with them about their motivation.

See my previous post. No I don't need some lecturer doing amateur analysis on why people want a certain job and I have always, in over 70 years, found medical professionals were willing to listen and don't need your lecturer implying that we are all so stupid we can't advocate for ourselves. If you think he's right you have little respect for your patients.

Who gives a rats ass about Edd Sheeran.

However Africa and the poverty of some of its nations are something that we should and western governments need to do something to help.

God, I never thought I’d say this but I’m with Ed Sheeran on this one. The reason we pay international aid is because we colonised Africa, stripped it of its natural resources and enslaved its people. That’s the wealth we used to build infrastructure, industry, the NHS - all the things that make us feel like a wealthy nation now. Consider it like interest on a loan if you like - we owe something to the rest of the world, for a long long time, if not forever.

If Bob Geldof gave such a shit he should round up his mates and get them all to pay their frigging taxes 😂

I'm involved with some projects in one of the poorest African countries. The process and the aims are massively different from the way charities operated in the past.

All the small projects that I know aim for the groups to be totally self-sufficient within quite a short term. The resident westerners talk to the locals to find out what they want to do and for the result to be. Then they bring their knowledge of facilitating projects to the task.
They find local people to train the participants wherever possible (I'd say 95% of the time), they provide transport to towns where materials can be bought (the nearest sizeable town to these projects is almost four hours away) and they support until the group is fully trained (in things like book-keeping as well as whatever skill (sewing for example) and able to cut the strings. The financial help might only be at the beginning (say, funding for the sewing machines for sewing groups, and the tools for the carvers) and the rest is simply bringing project experience and general encouragement.

The only time that I've known foreign volunteers to come out to these projects is in areas where no locals have the expertise (for example a physiotherapist to do some basic training in handling and facilitating mobility for their disabled family member, for carers in the villages).

The reactive handouts thing isn't as common as it used to be, and safeguarding and careful management of funding is now paramount.

...and on a more trivial note, even the title of this song is appallingly ignorant, given that most of Africa is Christian.
🙄

How was Band Aid and Live Aid money actually spent? Did any money go to development after the immediate need for food was addressed. I don't know but I imagine some people do. I do know the BBC made allegations that the money went to buy arms but had to retract those allegations.

Are people just assuming the money went to the wrong people, was patronising people or do they have evidence?

Jeremy Vine was discussing this with Tony Hadley and a couple of the producers of Band said today, he asked Tony Hadley what je thought of the comment by Ed Sheeran. Tony Hadley said he would tell him to "shut up" the money has gone direct to projects that have helped. He asked if anyone would anyone stop Children in Need etc because essentially they offer the same support and the projects they fund should be funded by the government.

No one in this day and age should be living in those conditions.

I don't for a second think the government funds issued to countries in need is spent in the right way, and as has been suggested, corrupt officials have always misappropriated the finds.

Why should race (or any other characteristic for that matter) matter? Surely any publicity to highlight the plight people are facing is good?!

You comment is highly bizarre as nowhere did I mention my lecturer making any comments about patients. I guess, it is best not to derail the thread which isn't at all about that. I was replying to someone other than you who asked me a very specific question about examining intrinsic motivators.

But none of these projects require an entirely unskilled teenager from the UK to go on a gap year pretend job.

Google Africa volunteer and you will get site after site of self serving companies, offering gap year vounteering with the company organising making fortunes when you look on company house.

Lets be fair, Children in need has it's critics also.

When ES says "the narrative has changed" I wonder exactly what has changed in the ten years since he was last very happy to be involved in his version of Band Aid?

Or is just now worrying that his involvement then is as problematic as has it been produced now?

Everything has it's critics from what I can see.

I hate being called a white saviour. It's really irritating!

I volunteered in a charity that happened to be helping white people. People were happy that I did it.

When I volunteered to help in a charity that primarily helped people with a different skin colour to mine, I was called a white saviour by someone.

So should we only help white people then ?

It doesn't make sense

I think it's meant to suggest that in 1984 people were starving to death in their thousands and Christmas that year might just possibly have slipped their minds

I don't think we should stop aid to developing countries in Africa and elsewhere, however I think it could be better applied.

The continent has changed a lot since 1984, and in any case Ed Sheeran's contribution should have been with his consent.

Yes, every time it is played on the radio, tv or streaming service it makes money for Band Aid.