In our ongoing series, “Track Changes,” we link to online content that we have found to be problematic in its assumptions, framing, or language and provide a question or thought(s) provoked by each piece. We ask how portrayals and representations need to be not only rephrased, but also reframed and rethought.
This is ours for this week. We invite our readers to contribute other articles and posts that could benefit from a critical eye.
by Cilas Kemedjio
“The End of Poverty, Soon”
(Jeffrey D. Sachs for the New York Times)
Jeffrey Sachs believes that it’s critical to raise poverty in Africa to the level of an emergency or a perfect disaster to warrant the attention of wealthy philanthropists or celebrity-humanitarians. Nina Munk (The Idealist. Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty) argues that “it isn’t easy to reconcile the former Dr. Shock with the new humanitarian persona”. Sachs sees no contradiction, insisting that his work against poverty in Africa is no different from his earlier work as chief enforcer of the socially insensitive directives of the International Monetary Fund: “One way or another, he is an emergency physician—a ‘clinical economist’ is how he puts it—and Africa is the patient in cardiac arrest. In essence, using shock therapy to resuscitate a nation’s economy, and prescribing humanitarian interventions to save someone’s life, depends on the same model of thought.” William Easterly, a former World Bank employee who has mutated into a dogmatic critique of his former employee, argues that the World Bank technocrats are incapable of addressing extreme poverty. Jeffrey Sachs started with implementing austerity programs that are the hallmark of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He then discovered poverty in Africa and put in place, with the generous funding of rich Western philanthropists such as Georges Soro, the The Millenium Villages Project. The diagnostic of the “clinical economist” on the African patient who was in “cardiac arrest” is more optimistic. Sachs’ moral indignation has driven his commitment to ending poverty in Africa. Munk invites us to consider “his unusual impatience and blind faith” in evaluating his actions. Could it be that his newfound optimism proceeds from this impatience and this blind faith? Could it be that after the afro-pessimism of the last decades, it had become fashionable to proclaim the good news from Africa? Only long terms trends and a palpable improvement in the welfare of African communities may provide an answer to this question. Let’s retain our right to exercise our critical indignation about the global imbalances that are partly responsible for the indignity of poverty in the world.
Voici ceux de la semaine. Nous vous invitons chers lecteurs à partager d’autres articles et publications, susceptibles de bénéficier d’un regard critique.
Le Néolibéralisme et ses victoires vaines
de Cilas Kemedjio
« The End of Poverty Soon »
(Jeffrey D. Sachs for the New York Times)
Pour Jeffrey Sachs il est crucial d’assimiler la pauvreté en Afrique à une situation d’urgence ou de parfait désastre, dans le but d’attirer l’attention des riches philanthropes et des humanitaires célèbres. Nina Munk (The Idealist Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty) estime qu’il n’est pas facile de concilier l’ancien Dr Shock a son nouveau personnage humanitaire. Sachs ne voit pas de contradictions entre son travail contre la pauvreté en Afrique et son ancien statut d’exécuteur en chef des directives iniques du Fond Monétaire International : « d’une façon ou d’une autre il est le médecin urgentiste- il utilise le terme économiste clinique – et l’Afrique est le patient en arrêt cardiaque. En substance, utiliser un traitement de choc pour ressusciter l’économie d’une nation, et prescrire des interventions humanitaires pour sauver des vies humaines procèdent du même système de pensée. William Easterly, un ancien employé de la Banque Mondiale, qui est devenu un critique virulent contre son ancien employeur, soutient que les technocrates de la Banque Mondiale, sont incapables de faire face à l’extrême pauvreté. Jeffrey Sachs a commencé par la mise en œuvre des programmes d’ajustements structurels ; marque de fabrique de la Banque Mondiale et du Fond Monétaire International. Il a dès lors découvert la pauvreté en Afrique, et a mis en place, avec l’aide de généreux financements de riches philanthropes occidentaux comme Georges Soro, The Millenium Villages Project. Le diagnostic de « l’économiste clinique »portant sur le patient Africain, qui était en arrêt cardiaque, est ainsi plus optimiste. L’indignation morale de Sach l’a conduit à s’engager pour en finir avec la pauvreté en Afrique. Munk nous invite à prendre en considération son « inhabituel impatience et sa foi aveugle » dans l’évaluation de ses actions. Se pourrait-il que son nouvel élan d’optimisme découle de cette impatience et de cette foi aveugle ? Se pourrait-il qu’après l’afro-pessimisme de ces dernières décennies, il soit devenu de bon ton de proclamer la bonne nouvelle de l’Afrique ? Seules une tendance à long terme et une amélioration concrète du bien être des communautés africaines, pourront répondre à ces questions. Nous nous gardons le droit de nous indigner des inégalités globales qui sont en partie responsables de la pauvreté dans le monde.
Do you eliminate poverty by giving, providing a quick solution to arrest cardiac failure, enough to re-instate breathing and announce that the patient has been saved and that he can now go on with his life? How often will African nations continue to be given fish, water, and blankets without their acquiring the skills and technology of fishing, procuring water from her environment or indeed fashioning blankets from her own resources? First things first, Africa can only rid herself of poverty from within; from re-gaining control of her numerous resources and harnessing the political will and commitment to use these for the common good.
Exercising our critical indignation leads us nowhere, emergency humanitarian intervention is a philanthropic stop-gap. The lasting solution comes from within the continent itself. Africa must shut its doors, gird her wrapper and set to work. She must grow and emerge from within to be sustainable. It is a bewildering paradox to be so richly endowed and yet so poor.
Helen Chukwuma.
I agree that emergency aid and humanitarian monies are just stop-gap fallacies that will never address the fundamental issues of poverty and social injustice. The point that experts seem to be missing is the fact poverty in Africa can only be understood within the global and historical forces that have made it very difficult for Africans and their governments to develop sustainable programs. For example, adjustment programs imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on African economies have devastated social welfare programs, make African economies more vulnerable to the vagrancies of world markets. It is impossible for Africa to “shut its doors” because issues of poverty are global. The demand must be for the Internationale of the Poor to articulate its views in a global manner, and find both the language and the means to make the Cartel of the Rich listen cilas kemedjio