MOST PEOPLE would have
cheered the news that 18 of the world's poorest
countries are to have their World Bank and International
Monetary Fund debts cancelled. How could anyone justify
the situation where for every dollar of aid granted to
developing countries, more than $13 came back in debt
repayment?
Henry Reeve and Gareth
Davies
However, this new aid
agreement is still just 3% of the $50 billion dollars a
year that the Make Poverty History campaign is calling
for. Many countries have already paid back more than they
originally borrowed under earlier International Monetary
Fund schemes.
So far the 'summit'
meetings have changed very little. That's why tens of
thousands of people will still be joining the protests at
the G8 meeting in Gleneagles on 6 July or the Make Poverty
History demo in Edinburgh on 2 July.
US President George Bush
allocated the miserly sum of $674 million extra for aid -
very small change for the world's largest economy. Compare
this to the huge amounts of 'aid' Bush gave to some of the
US's allies in 2004. $782 million went to Colombia ($630
million on military aid). $2.2 billion went in military
aid to Israel; $1.3 billion on military aid to Egypt.
On average, $12.9 billion
is spent by African and Middle Eastern states each year on
arms, 86% of which come from the US, Britain, France and
Russia (all G8 countries). One person a minute is killed
by arms, so wealthy elites can profit from the export of
arms, averaging in excess of $25 billion.
Meanwhile, a third of the
world's people cannot afford essential drugs and the
number of African children dying due to poverty-related
diseases has risen to over 500 every hour. Only 10% of
global health research is devoted to diseases that account
for 90% of the world's disease burden, like malaria, which
kills a child every thirty seconds.
The pharmaceuticals
industry is becoming increasingly profitable (its rate of
return of over 18% is more than 4% higher than commercial
banks) as an ever-smaller number of ever-expanding
companies control the global drugs market.
The G8 summit has done
nothing to curb the voracious self-interest of the world's
richest, most powerful capitalist companies. That is bad
news for the poorest people in the world.
in recent years more and
more of aid given has been linked to forcing developing
nations into privatisation. This has had devastating
effects.
Britain’s Department for
International Development (DFID) has given up to £9
million a year to the Adam Smith Institute since 1997.
This right-wing ‘think tank’ thought of such bright ideas
as Thatcher’s poll tax, privatising Britain’s railways,
and partially privatising the NHS.
The DFID gives the Adam
Smith Institute more than countries like Liberia or
Somalia received in aid. They paid them over half a
million in UK aid money for organising a campaign to
convince Tanzanians of the virtues of privatisation such
as a video claiming: “Our old industries are dry like
crops and privatisation brings the rain.”
This rings hollow after
eleven million South Africans had their water and
electricity disconnected after privatisation despite a
three million strong general strike with workers
protesting: “We didn’t fight for liberation so everything
we won could be sold”.
The struggle in Tanzania
forced the government to pull out of IMF plans to
privatise the water supply under British company Biwater.
Workers can resist neo-liberal policies.
Aid is also given directly
to multi-national corporations. Since 1992, the World Bank
has given over $6.9 billion dollars of public money to
Halliburton, Chevron Texaco, Unocal, British Petroleum,
Exxon Mobil and Petronas to build oil pipelines that are
literally pumping the wealth out of developing countries.
As the IMF and World Bank
force “free trade” upon poorer countries, Britain’s
government is providing a welfare state for the rich by
spending £3.9 billion a year (more than enough to get all
the world’s children into school) on the Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Britain’s richest man, the
Duke of Westminster, gets over £896 a day from the CAP,
whereas a single mother with two children, on the lowest
income bracket, gets just £7 a day in family tax credit.
These huge subsidies (£47
million paid to the biggest 224 farms) are pushing the
prices of crops down, forcing more and more of the world’s
people into poverty.
What causes this
catastrophic misallocation of resources? Within a system
of private and undemocratic ownership of industry,
economic decisions are made that maximise profit, whatever
the consequences. In order to tackle poverty we must
create a democratic socialist system, with an economy
geared to need, including an international public health
service and global provision of education.
If you agree with us, join
us in protest at Edinburgh and Gleneagles!
Come to the ISR international youth camp
2nd
to 7th July
Travel
to and from Edinburgh & camp including food and transport
to all G8 counter-summit events
£85
unwaged/ low-paid, £105 waged
If you
can’t make the whole week join ISR on the demonstration in
Edinburgh on 2 July
Travel
to and from 2nd of July Make Poverty History demo in
Edinburgh from London
£35
unwaged/low-paid, £55 waged
For
details of transport from your area to the 6 July
demonstration phone 020 8558 7947 or email
anticapitalism@hotmail.co.uk
