| RE: "Aid accountability," by Jesse Keith, Viewpoint, Sep 07-13, 2006.
Bill C-293 will do very little to reduce poverty in the global South. It will just make us here in the North feel better. Aid does not change the systemic root causes of poverty. The $50 billion of aid given to the South each year is nothing compared to the $500 billion transferred from the South to the North in the form of interest payments, unfair tariffs, dumping of subsidized goods etc. This is not even including the daily looting of resources. This is like giving with one hand and taking back with ten while portraying yourself as generous and benevolent. As Vandana Shiva says, "It's not about how much wealthy nations can give, so much as how much less they can take." Until we here in the North realize that we have gained so much wealth through exploitation of the South, aid will continue to have little to show for it.
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