10 Propositions on aid for Africa, protest and politicians

for Talk Radio 106, "Ireland's radio station of the year", 11 June, 2005

1 Make Poverty History's platform is a sexy-sounding menu which disguises a soft-liberal agenda for Africa's development
2 Mssrs Blair and Brown are wrong to adopt it as their own, when at their best they are capable of making a free-markert, sound-government development case
3 Bush, Blair and Brown probably care about equally about poverty in Africa.
4 "Dropping the Debt" (DtD) may do good if it is done slowly with binding conditions on the recipient governments
5 Policies which helped Africans make Africa solvent would knock DtD into a cocked-hat
6 The quality of aid matters more than its quantity. We need to know much more about its real effects
7 Privatisation, free-trade (not "FairTrade") and capitalistic growth are better for Africa than soft left-liberal prejudices
8 It is not politicians who are "generous" with aid, it's tax-payers
9 Westerners can probably help Africans more with voluntary activities than their states can achieve through government-to-government channels
10 Campaigners should aim to convince voters more than should aim to pressure politicians. When we're persudaded, we'll vote for vote - at the moment we won't

ends