Make Poverty History Campaign

[michele cryer]

www.christianaid.org.uk/campaign/index.htm

This year, Ronan Keating was invited to become a Trade Justice ambassador and to join us in the call for trade justice.

"I've had an unbelievable, life-changing experience...my duty to the people I met is to speak out about trade justice and it begins now I am back." Ronan Keating.

The Trade Justice Campaign wants a fairer international trading system that works in favour of the poor. At present it is stacked against them. In 2005, Trade Justice will be a vital part of the call to 'Make Poverty History'.

Ronan Keating has seen for himself why we must call for change on trade. If you believe that to end poverty and protect the environment we need Trade Justice - not free trade, please Vote for Trade Justice.

TO VOTE: TEXT "CHANGE" TO 84118...Texts charged at standard operator rate.

London PO Box 100, SE1 7RT. Belfast PO Box 150, BT9 6AE. Cardiff PO Box 21 CF14 2DL. Edinburgh PO Box 11, EH1 1EL. Dublin 17 Clanwilliam Terrace, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2.

www.christianaid.org.uk registered charity no 258003 republic of ireland charity no CHY6998

Christian Aid...We believe in life before death.

[octoberlost]

A change on trade?

Sounds a bit wishy washy....

[michele cryer]

Maybe you should explore some of their other campaigns, see if they could be considered wishy washy too...and if so, why you feel that way?

[Mitch]

I am highly suspicious of these campaigns as to me they are ingrained in capitalism - using celebrities to front fundraising from a 'philanthropy/charity' stance - I don't do charity.

The problem is that they work within the system not against it - so in a way they perpetuate it. Keeps lots of people in London highly paid and feeling good about themselves patching up poverty aroung the world and working with the State instead of instigating hard hitting campaigns against corrupt states in the West who are responsible for poverty. The State is the problem, and I'm firmly in a position now where working with the State to try and do deals with it will make no difference what so ever. This realisation has been part of my journey to anarchism, but I did not get to this point over night - I made many mistakes along the way!

I am sickened now that this charity approach is increasingly becoming the norm aka bandaid, Children in Need- we are going backwards. States create injustice, then charity organisations come in pious like to save the day - I reject this totally. The question is as anarchists how do we begin locally and nationally to create alternative realities to this - to create a new way of thinking where people support each other and reject the top down charity of the State and pompous arse religious organisations feeling good about themselves patching up poverty worldwide etc. The State and such organisations seems to me to feed off each other.

A recent example I can give of the ridiculousness of this situation is with the National Group on Homeworking who have been working with Oxfam on the injustice of homeworkers in this country being paid well under the National Minimum Wage - Oxfam began working on the Christmas Cracker Campaign with NGH, but now then as the campaign progressed and some top retailers like Tescos and Sainsburys were being attacked for creaming off profits on Christmas Crackers off the back of low paid homeworkers, mostly women - Oxfam withdrew their support of the campaign. Why - because they get funding and do deals with such retailers and they work with the State, so they withdraw as soon as things get prickly because they rely on the funding from these sources.

So - it is my view that there can be no working with such charities to bring about change - indeed they are ingrained in and are part of the problem and should be attacked for it.

I would like a thoughtful debate on such issues, with clear examples - rather than vague statements Octoberlost which do not help in learning and moving forward.

Best Mitch

[octoberlost]

Mitch said:

I would like a thoughtful debate on such issues, with clear examples - rather than vague statements Octoberlost which do not help in learning and moving forward.

Best Mitch

I try not to be arrogant, if someone doesnt understand a point I make Im more than willing to elaborate, but it was only an off the cuff comment.

I will post something more detailed on this, in a short while...

[octoberlost]

Too often Im side stepping certain important debates, so I will endeavour to try and answer why I think charity is poo.

According to wikipedia 'charity' is derived from christian theology meaning
the ultimate perfection of the human spirit, because it is said to both glorify and reflect the nature of God. In its most extreme form charity can be self-sacrificial.

The religious part aside, the central problem I have is that is that charity is as much about pity, and I mean this in a non-constructive manner, in that we help others, because we would hate to be in that situation ourselves, rather than helping someone constructively.

Charities also are embedded in the status quo, they never challenge causes and only symptoms. The recent traversty around the Asian Earth quake is a good example, but I have several times donated to people collecting for this, as I think in this case its inescapable. But I would be much more at ease if I knew who was using my money and for what.

So I think we instead should be posing Solidarity, which is constructive and doesnt render the victim helpless, but equal terms with ourselves. Its binding relationship which doesnt enforce political roles.

If I remember my history well, charity organisations brought notoriety to certain gentle men, who with their money they earned from exploiting workers in industry, during the industrial revolution, would make a public image for themselves by giving to the poor. Lets not forget real charity as gone on everyday since then, and its from the workers to the bosses, and less we forget this, the only difference is we dont get credit for it. When Royals or Tories give, we dont ever hear the end of it! Charity therefore is just a way to enforce social conditioning and is clearly an acceptance than the economy is choatic and can not supply the needy.

Therefore to counteract this wayward trend we should strive to practice mutual aid, solidarity and co-operation whereever people are taking a social struggle to improve themselves. Its not a golden rule as such, but money is much better spent this way.

[Mitch]

octoberlost said:

Charities also are embedded in the status quo, they never challenge causes and only symptoms. The recent traversty around the Asian Earth quake is a good example, but I have several times donated to people collecting for this, as I think in this case its inescapable. But I would be much more at ease if I knew who was using my money and for what.

So I think we instead should be posing Solidarity, which is constructive and doesnt render the victim helpless, but equal terms with ourselves. Its binding relationship which doesnt enforce political roles.

I agree with this, but it would be good to have a debate. For example, I would link some of your comments here to my raising of the Oxfam issue and their withdrawal from the homeworking campaign. Charities as you say seek short-term patch ups rather than hard hitting attacks on the system, and indeed I think they go to great lengths not to upset the system too much.

Trouble is, when you criticise 'charity' these days you're accused of not caring. You're up against it, because charity, those in power have convinced us, is the answer. But in my mind it disempowers us who give as well. I would give my time and efforts and any spare money I have to a longterm change to the system. It's harder to do this, than put money in a pot.

In the 1930s when there was a massive drive to send food pacels and money to those fighting Franco in Spain (particularly in the factories in the North, especially Jewish run factories clothing factories like Montague Burtons) it was a campaign with a drive behind it of revolution, of a change to the system and in some way contributing to that, to help bring that about, and of the working class here connecting with the working class in Spain. I think anarchist and socialist networks should be working to create campaigns with this focus, campaigns which have at their core a hard hitting attack on the system.

At the moment, these campaigns, as I have tried to point out elsewhere on this forum with postings on Environmental Campaigns around Sellafield (going back to Ronan Keating - bless his cotton he keeps popping up - what a charitable old soul he is - Keating has also fronted campaign's to shut sellafield) are top down, within the system, fronting celebrity - quick fixes, disempowering community campaigning.

I would stress again that I see a link between this increasing 'charity' approach as encroaching into many areas including state funded community campaigns - again top down, patching up, disempowering - they too create many jobs for middle class professionals many of whom live very well outside the areas they are proclaiming to help.

We have been here before, and the Victorian monuments to be seen in many Burnley parks and phallic shaped monuments on many a Northern hill top put up by 'gentle men' Victorian industrialists proclaiming their good works and charitable handouts, gleaned off the back of low paid workers in their factories are clear reminders that charity is nothing new within capitalism. Celebrities fronting campaigns seem to me a modern form of this.

Co-operation is an answer, but you have to be wary here also, as the beast is rather clever at infiltrating and taking over top-down local co-operative efforts. If you look into the history of co-operation as well, you can see problems there with projects ingrained in the system, rather than an attack on it.

The answer I think is clear local co-operative projects with anarchist ideas behind them - with absolutely no connection with state funding or influence.

Um methinks I'm about to be tarred and feathered again in Burnley - all well and good, as I refuse to be disempowered!

[michele cryer]

Thanks for your posts Mitch and Octoberlost...I understand and agree with your sentiments. However, being the Libran that I am, unable to make decisions as I'm too busy weighing up both arguments...I would just like to ask how we, as local community networks, can get involved in the wider issues of poverty in 3rd world countries without the involvement of the bigger organisations and government which are already dealing with them in their own way...as the government and the charitable organisations have been able to create a sort of goodwill between themselves and the governments of the countries affected, which might take years for a small network of community backed anarchists to do...or we might never be accepted by them, so our efforts would fail. I'm sorry to have to fall back on established forms of aid, but I keep thinking of the airlines that are used to send the aid abroad, and the trucks etc. that are used to distribute the aid...how would we begin to overcome these obstacles?

At a local level I believe that working as a community to aid each other can work, and is preferable, I'm just not sure if it would be a practical alternative at the moment for aiding overseas countries.