Misdirection
The biannual comic relief cash raising drive has never quite sat right with me. It’s not comic relief in particular, but any of the high-profile charity onslaughts, headed up by celebrities of varying degrees. They always leave me with a vague sense of suspicion. Now, I know this is a bit of a controversial issue on which to place any sort of negative slant , and believe me, I abhor the human misery that is needlessly heaped upon so many, and yes, of course something needs to be done about it. But I wonder, are these charity drives really the best way of helping people living in poverty in some of the most deprived areas of the planet? I’m not entirely convinced that these ‘brave celebrities’ are in fact as dedicated to putting an end to human suffering as is made out.
I’m talking about the recent ‘celebrities climbing Kilimanjaro’ effort in particular here, because it was this that really made me think about it all. They raised £1.5 million for comic relief, and probably more. What could possibly be wrong with that? Well, nothing in itself, but lets take a look at this whole thing in it’s entirety. First of all, their flights were paid for by Richard Branson, or more specifically, Virgin airways (charity donations are tax deductible I believe). While we’re at it, given that traveling by air is a very ecologically unsound thing to do, certain alarm bells are already ringing. Secondly, their climb was accompanied by a party of some 200 guides, kit carriers, cooks and so on. Hang on a minute, this is starting to sound a bit like an all expenses paid trip of a lifetime. Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to travel to Tanzania and climb one of the most famous and iconic mountains in the world? I know for sure that I would leap at it. Then, on their return, instead of ‘enduring’ the charter flight back to blighty, they are all treated by Mr Barlow to a surprise reward for their efforts in the form of a private jet. A private jet? Are you kidding me? That’s £50,000 pounds right there. Now, I’m not begrudging these people their outrageous wealth (well, maybe a little), but right now, this is looking to me like a business jolly for those involved. And at the end of it all, these folk get a load of media coverage and general profile boosting that must have felt like mana from heaven. After all, the stock in trade of a celebrity is to court the media, and gain as much exposure as possible. Well, that’s all boxes ticked then.
I don’t want to be completely cynical here, and certainly, they all put a lot of effort into a task that was physically quite challenging. But, is this really tackling the problems it claims to be tackling in any meaningful way? Or is it simply great PR for some already famous and wealthy celebrities? I wonder what the total costs incurred by this trip are? When you consider that a complete state of the art film crew and editing suite accompanied the party, including runners that literally ran from wherever the film crew was each night down to the bottom with the footage to be edited, and then back up again, one can’t help feeling the costs would have been significant.
OK, we all get the picture. Here is a load of white wealthy pop stars and celebrities on a big all-expenses paid PR stunt under the guise of charity. I guess that’s what they do, and we can’t really blame them for it. After all, it’s us, the public that lap up the output from these people, and sustain their positions and lifestyle, so we can’t really complain can we? What really grates is the delegation of guilt to the general public. We have to endure a host of famous faces, against a backdrop of starvation, death and disease, telling us that it is our duty to give whatever we can afford to the cause, and help end the suffering; “Look at these people behind me, starving and dying, and unless you send in fifty quid, they will all certainly die”. Hang on though, how much money did Live aid raise for Africa? Several million. What about all the previous comic relief drives? Not to mention the continuous street collections of a hundred charities all working hard to save Africa? That’s millions, probably billions of pounds. But the problems don’t seem to diminish. Africa is one of the richest continents in the world in terms of natural resources, so what’s going on? Now I’m no expert, but I did a little digging, and within a very short space of time, I read that in 1997 (I know, it’s well out of date, but it’s the principle I’m outlining) comic relief raised 47 million pounds that went to Africa, and the states that received that money in aid paid it back and more to the International Monetary Fund in one single day of national debt repayments. And that didn’t even cover the interest that was accruing!
Crikey! All that money didn’t even make a dent. National debt is what’s crushing these poverty stricken areas, and it’s not just Africa, it’s South America, South Asia, anywhere considered third world is in it’s situation due to the strangle hold that the Western capitalist system has it in. So, how did this national debt happen in the first place? Well, in different ways, many of them the fault of exploitation from first world countries. For example, during the times of colonial rule, many African countries built up a national debt under the occupying government, and when they gained independence, part of the deal was that the new country took on the existing national debt. On top of that, they needed loans to set up their new fledgling governments. On top of that again, most of the established industries that used local natural resources were owned by Western multinational companies, which syphons money out of the country, and into the economy of the West. Another cause of debt would be what is known as ‘odious lending’, whereby the International Monetary Fund lends to a corrupt leader of a country, in the full knowledge that the money is being used for purposes other then the good of the country, and later demands repayment from a country unable to meet these demands. In effect, the poorest and most oppressed people pay the most, and several times over. Here’s an example that will resonate with most; The South African National Party government that implemented apartheid, the racist, oppressive regime of segregation and discrimination from 1948 - 1994 had to borrow massively to maintain itself (and therefore apartheid), due partly to the international trade sanctions that where imposed upon it by the international community (sanctions which didn’t stretch to financial services apparently). When the African National Congress, led by Nelson Mandela, took over the government in 1994, they also took on the debt incurred by the previous government, a debt amassed by implementing the very system that had oppressed the people who now had to pay it off. So the black population of South Africa had to endure the terrible reality of apartheid, and then, had to pay for it financially. Nice. The IMF, incidentally, is the financial body set up to ‘foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world’. It is them who make the loans, and them who are taking the repayments from indebted countries who can ill afford it. Furthermore, they pressurise indebted countries to apply ‘structural adjustment’ to their budgets and economies, which essentially means that resources are diverted away from important social services such as education, health, housing etc. and channeled into debt repayments. They are a financial co-operation of most of the UN countries, and their interests are in maintaining exchange rates at an acceptable level, and generally looking out for the financial interests of the West. I could go on, but I won’t. You can read more for yourself, this is a good starting point, but if you look around there’s loads of information available.
So, I wonder if Cheryl Cole, Gary Barlow and the rest really are the key to solving starvation and poverty in Africa, or is this whole thing just a way of dealing with the guilt we subconsciously feel at the outrageous injustice practiced by the West as a whole? I mean, if we all feel bad for a day or so, give some money to the cause, well, we’ve done our bit then haven’t we? We have a whole 2 years before the next few days of guilt and charity. Shouldering that guilt stops us asking questions of those who are really responsible. And in the meantime, the careers of certain celebrities will receive a boost, multinational corporations will continue to exploit the poor whilst making massive profits, the third world will continue to be beaten by a huge rod of debt, and human suffering will continue on an unimaginable scale. Unimaginable for us that is. The people suffering, I’m sure, have no problem imagining it.
