|
Britain has announced that it will waive all bilateral debt owned by the world's poorest 41 countries in a relief package worth a total of more than five billion pounds. France recently made similar announcements. These initiatives are part of an international debts relief program which the world's richest countries agreed to last fall. The intention is to write off 90% of the money owed by the heavily-indebted poor countries. Will this really work? Lenny Henry, a comic who wears a red nose, thinks so. "Since the first Red Nose Day in 1988 I've traveled to 5 African countries to report on some of the crucial work that Comic Relief is funding. I've met some incredible people. I've been inspired, moved and occasionally pretty damn frightened, and I've learned something. I've learned that if you give people in Africa a fighting chance of improving their lives, they'll work their butts off to see that it happens." Henry and other entertainers have made international debt relief a cause celebre. However, there are skeptics, including Karl Ziegler, Director of the Centre for Accountability and Debt Relief (CADRE). He argues that most over-borrowed nations are dominated by ruling elites; familial, tribal or military, whose first priority is to feed their offshore bank accounts and provide sustenance and support to the military or police forces that maintain them in power, and that unconditional debt relief to the world's over-borrowed nations will not help their poorest citizens. Personally, I would favour the view taken by Mr. Ziegler. The build-up of the debt by third world countries has benefited the rich far more than the poor, so why should its forgiveness do anything different. No structural change favouring the poor will occur in the benefiting countries. If Mr. Ziegler is right, as I suspect he is, Mr. Henry's red nose comedy has become something of a farce, nothing more. Happy Holidays to all,
|