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Hungry for change: kids are in the frontline
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And will the leaders of the richest countries in the world make the tough decisions needed to stop the deaths of the 30,000 children a day killed by extreme poverty?
With the Live 8 events approaching and a deal on debt relief for the world's poorest 18 countries already in the bag you could be forgiven for thinking things are starting to look rosy for anti-poverty campaigners.
But are things really looking up for the poor of Africa?
Amsterdam Forum pulled together an expert panel to look at the debt relief deal already announced by the rich countries and the Live 8 wish list.
Live 8 organisers want debt cancellation, a doubling of aid and trade justice for Africa and they want the leaders of the richest countries, the G8 countries, to tackle these issues at the summit in Scotland starting on 6 July.
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Forum host Andy Clark was joined for the discussion by Basker Vashee, a Fellow of the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute and an advisor to the Dutch Development Co-operation Ministry.
Taking part, from Nairobi, was Njeri Kinyoho, a policy researcher with the charity Action Aid.
And taking part from Washington was Dr Appolinaire Djikeng, President of the NEPAD Council, an organisation set up by young African professionals to support the New Partnership for Africa's Development, the African Union's body set up to boost economic growth and tackle poverty on the continent.
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Live 8 is a series of five free concerts being held around the world featuring the biggest names in rock and pop. Acts confirmed in London include Madonna, Paul McCartney, Coldplay, U2, Robbie Williams and Elton John. "This is without doubt a moment in history where ordinary people can grasp the chance to achieve something truly monumental and demand from the eight world leaders at G8 an end to poverty." "The G8 leaders have it within their power to alter history. They will only have the will to do so if tens of thousands of people show them that enough is enough." "By doubling aid, fully cancelling debt and delivering trade justice for Africa, the G8 could change the future for millions of men, women and children." |
Dr Appolinaire Djikeng on trade justice:
"Trade justice is something which is extremely important. It is a moral responsibility that should really be tackled at this point here. Without that, there is no hope for farmers in Africa. This is really one of the problems of the modern world - injustice in trade is really just killing Africa."
"If you really cannot alleviate that problem then you can send ten thousand times the aid to Africa, you're not going to help them - the cycle will just go back to where it started."
Njeri Kinyoho on trade justice:
"If we don't correct the current imbalance in the rules of trade then certainly we won't be moving much. Issues of the G8 subsidising their farmers at the expense of what farmers in Africa are producing, for me, it is totally unacceptable."
"The G8 must stop asking us to stop subsidising our farmers when they know they are able to produce a surplus of products and then dump them and kill our markets - to me that's not just."
"If we are demanding trade justice then what we are saying is: 'Stop all these trade distorting subsidies that you are providing up there and allow us to support our farmers so they go beyond just being primary producers so they can engage in the global market.'"
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Live 8: rocking poverty's foundations
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"There is absolute reluctance to give up subsidies to farmers in the North [the rich countries] to bring about some sort of fair trade in the world system."
"It's really very tragic. Take a statistic: there's been a between 40 and 70 percent decline in the prices of the four major commodities - coffee, cocoa, cotton and sugar - in the last ten years, and that means an enormous problem for the African economies and these prices have collapsed due to over-production in the rich countries due to subsidies."
Basker Vashee on whether aid and debt relief pale into insignificance when compared to trade:
"Yes I think so. The trade system as it is being implemented at the moment is directly at the expenses of African producers."
Njeri Kinyoho on what the recent debt-relief deal for the poorest 18 countries, 14 of which are in Africa, will mean for Africa:
"I think I would be a little cautious because issues of poverty in Africa must be seen in totality and as some countries enjoy debt relief and you have other countries that are still struggling with poverty we won't get far. In a way it's divisive because Africa needs 100 percent debt cancellation."
Basker Vashee on debt relief deal:
"You can't help being cynical when you look at the people who are being forgiven their debt. These are countries that were largely not paying the debt anyway because they didn't have any money to pay the debt - so it's really going back to an old fashioned sort of hype."
"The conditions that are also placed on the 18 countries are also very severe. The 18 countries are expected to conform to market forces; they expect these countries to accept multi-national corporations from the West and expect them to balance their budgets, which might mean an increase in poverty rather than a decrease. You might say this is a great thing because we don't have to pay, but you pay in different ways."
Njeri Kinyoho on Live 8:
"I think it's a welcome initiative but if we are talking about Africa and if the focus is on Africa then I think what Bob Geldof should have done was to actually reach out to African celebrities and have this a collaborative event, so that Africa's presence is felt even at that particular event."
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30,000 children die each day from extreme poverty
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"This is a very important but it's really not the end of the road, it's just the beginning and I think that if all stakeholders take part in this, especially Africans themselves, I think we will soon be able to see the end of the tunnel."
Basker Vashee on Live 8:
"I'm very gratified by this tremendous interest in Africa that has been generated by this events, including the pop concerts, which involves a lot of young people. It focuses attention on the problems Africa faces and I hope it's an opportunity to focus on the problems."
Dr Appolinaire Djikeng on corruption and African leaders reluctance to criticise each other:
"Leaders in Africa are still very cautious and we think that through NEPAD [the New African Partnership for Development] those leaders will finally come to the table and agree to the fact that they have to be accountable, that they have to set up good governance and they have to really govern for their people and not for themselves."
Basker Vashee on corruption:
"We've had corruption in the past because Western powers increasingly supported very nasty dictators in Africa - those are the ones who accumulated the wealth of Africa and spirited it away."
"There is a UN convention against corruption and 25 countries have signed that convention not a single G8 country has signed, because they are very aware that if the UN starts pointing fingers at them there'll be a lot of companies and institutions in Western countries that'll be up for corrupt practices."
Here's a selection of the emails you sent us:
Brian Merritt, Canada: "What Africa needs is a cure, not a band-aid (excuse the pun) to mask the reluctance of the G8 politicians to do what is right. The major portion of all aid should go to help the needy and not the greedy."
Frank Scimone, Amsterdam, the Netherlands: "Let me start by saying that I fully support efforts to end poverty. However I find the fact that many who fight poverty at the same time completely ignore one of its major causes - explosive population growth - hypocritical to say the least."
"We are too worried about politically correct and religious sensitivities. In many already overcrowded countries the population is doubling every 20 years or so. It's true that an increase in living standards leads to a decline in birth rates, but problems of overcrowding and environmental destruction are so extreme that immediate and drastic measures must be taken."
"The world community must do everything possible to achieve a drastic lowering of birth rates. There should also be an immediate international ban on logging. Such measures should be accompanied by programmes to end poverty. Feeding a few billion more babies while doing nothing about birth rates and the environment is a short-sighted recipe for disaster."
Peter Muvhali, South Africa: "If there's no good governance in most of the poorest countries in Africa, writing off debt will mean nothing to the majority of the poor people in Africa. Now my question to the panelists is: Don't you think those countries who are going to benefit from the written off of dept will be going to make other dept in future?"
Jude Kirkham, Vancouver, Canada: "Complicated problems surely require complicated solutions after all. Ultimately, the solutions to third world suffering lie with their own people and governments. Supposedly, NEPAD is a recognition of that fact, yet just look at the inability of African governments to even acknowledge the monstrous nature of Mugabe's Zimbabwe. Comments, Mr Djikeng? Or perhaps you would prefer to change the subject and utter the usual meaningless platitudes? I rest my case."
Jasmin Nanda, Amritsar, India: "The Live 8 will make a difference by having an impact on the masses around the world by making them aware of the poverty of African people and how it affects them but it's naivety to even think that the politicians will be impressed.They already know it and even if they rally around to support Africans financially. The African politicians are not going to help their people to come out of poverty as it will mean an end to billions of dollars of debt relief and end to their source of income.Who cares for the poor, slogans are just a means to get votes to come into power and power corrupts absolutely."
Michael Morris, Columbia, MD, USA: "Let me get this straight: five big FREE concerts not to raise money but to put pressure on the G8 to send billions of dollars(euros) to third world countries. This is both silly and dangerous. I fully support private fund raising (not government anything) for whatever the cause. These poor countries need peace, freedom and above all free enterprise. I don't mean third way socialism either. If you want to help, then give them your know-how, maybe just some good examples. Hint: These are mostly former European colonies. How did YOU leave them?"
P. Medellin, Texas, USA: "Live 8 is just another publicity scam for Geldof and his list of has beens. If Geldof and Sting really want to relieve Africa of poverty, maybe they should collect all of the aid and other money that the corrupt African leaders and government officials have stolen from their people and socked away in Swiss bank accounts."
"Giving anymore aid to Africa is just throwing good money after bad. Corruption and superstitious ignorance must be eradicated from Africa before those poor people can prosper from their own labor and natural resources. I wonder if those do-gooders have ever thought about using some of their wealth to fund advertising campaigns to keep people from supporting companies that profit from conflict diamonds and resources? It seems that those kind of "saviors" always want to save the world with everyone else's money but their own."