It’s interesting that when the President’s Club hit the headlines, the Guardian was unequivocal in its condemnation, yet now that one of its darlings is in the same spotlight, we get a slightly different perspective. The latest is Zoe Williams.
Yet predatory behaviour from aid workers, UN officials and Oxfampersonnel is peculiarly repellent, uniquely dispiriting. That anyone exists who would go to the most desperate places on earth, and seek out people vulnerable enough to be exploited without consequence, while preaching their own do-gooding – maybe even getting to a point where they believe in it – is enough to kill your faith in Project Human.
So far, so good.
Jacob Rees-Mogg has been more straightforward, arriving at Downing Street last Friday to deliver the view of 100,000 Daily Express readers that foreign aid is a “madness” that must be ended. Trevor Kavanagh, writing in the Sun, traces a direct line between the sex scandal and the “arrogant fundraisers” who believe themselves to be above the law, having “along with the Guardian and the BBC [claimed] the moral high ground”. It is a world view in which altruism leads directly to abusive behaviour: having the audacity to believe that one person can and should help another engenders superiority, which is of course the gateway moral flaw to coercing girls who may or may not be underage into sex.
Oxfam – along with the rest of the third sector steals our money – it really is as simple as that. And for Zoe Williams to suggest that this is one rotten apple is disingenuous in the extreme. It is endemic. Aid merely fuels dependency and corruption. I have no problem with immediate emergency relief, but the aid programme is riddled with corruption and really should stop. The Grauniad headline is repugnant in the extreme:
The Oxfam sex story is horrific. So is the war on foreign aid
No, Zoe, Oxfam is merely one of many parasitic NGOs that steal taxpayers’ money and piss it up the wall. The war on foreign aid is right and proper. It is a disgrace and needs to stop now. While the charitable sector forces me to give to them via the tax system, I will refuse to give one penny more in voluntary contributions – given that Oxfam is so deeply repugnant and has always been, I would never under any circumstances willingly give to them. What I find horrific is that the state forces me to do so. If this scandal is but one pin prick in this war against third sector greed and corruption, then it is a good thing. End all foreign aid now.
Nicely put.
Amen to all that. If they want to spend that amount then spend it here in the UK. Abolish homelessness. Set up a large cancer drugs fund and improve outcomes to decent top end first world levels. Fund our armed services properly so they can deliver disaster relief both in the UK and abroad. It can be done instead of ending up in some despot’s Swiss account.
I quite agree — abandon Foreign Aid — and all government funding of ‘charities’ immediately.
@LR
DM Link ” It is endemic”
Cough
H/T Pcar comment @ TW’s place ?
I did subsequently see that but had already found Lawson’s piece myself 😉