More on aid to Africa

When I initially read about the upcoming Live8 concert, I knew that it wouldn't make a real difference in terms of actually battling poverty due to the reliance on foreign aid. I, however, had not really read up on recent criticisms specific to African aid. Diane Warth at Karmalised has been on the ball here and provided a post a few days ago linking to numerous articles about African aid, including one where Ousmane Sembène, the Senegalese-born 'father of African cinema', flat out calls Live8's contribution "fake".

Whether it's direct governmental food aid that winds up being dispensed to supporters of African despots, or more of the loans churned out by neomercantilist bodies like the IMF and World Bank that result in escalating debt and continued poverty amongst the masses, this continuation of the notion that aid is the answer is not helping to alleviate poverty one bit. The only thing that will make a difference is continued debt cancellation, along with resistance to the state capitalist grip on the African continent.

Speaking of state capitalism in Africa, Richard Garner wrote an extensive post about it yesterday that explains how political bodies and the influence of western multinational corporations prevents free enterprise from taking off, resulting in the perpetuation of the poverty that plagues the African continent.