And they destroyed Seattle for nothing.
In 1999, smelly hippies and communists from all across the country converged on Seattle in the name of the poor and destitute of the world, to save and protect them from the evil corporations that rule the planet. What better way to help the poor than to kick in store windows, throw firebombs and generally stink up the place?
This week’s issue of Forbes carries an article outlining the benefits the poor countries of the world have realized thanks to the very globalization that was supposed to “crush”, “oppress”, and “impoverish” them, according to groups like Public Citizen.
The business-bashing group Public Citizen argued as much in a proclamation signed by almost 1,500 organizations in 89 countries in 1999. Whereupon hundreds of protesters rioted outside a conference of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, shattering windows, blocking traffic and confronting cops armed with tear gas and pepper spray. Six hundred people were arrested.
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Cut to 2007, and the numbers are in: The protesters and do-gooders are just plain wrong. It turns out globalization is good–and not just for the rich, but especially for the poor. The booming economies of India and China–the Elephant and the Dragon–have lifted 200 million people out of abject poverty in the 1990s as globalization took off, the International Monetary Fund says. Tens of millions more have catapulted themselves far ahead into the middle class.
Someone once said, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for life.” Kenyan economist James Shikwati said, “For God’s sake, please just stop [the aid].”
Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape. Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor.
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Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa’s problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn’t even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.
Which brings us back to the Forbes article and the ever fulfilling promise of globalization:
It’s remarkable what a few container ships can do to make poor people better off. Certainly more than $2 trillion of foreign aid, which is roughly the amount (with an inflation adjustment) that the U.S. and Europe have poured into Africa and Asia over the past half-century.
Globalization is helping the poor of the world a lot more than anything these useless hoodlums are doing.
