July 6, 2005
Could last weekend's "Live8" event, rock concerts worldwide raising the
awareness of poverty in Africa, be considered a success? That depends on how you
define success. Putting aside my misgivings about the self-congratulatory nature
of the event, Sir Bob Geldof and company did indeed focus the world's attention
on the desperate needs of the African people. And the organizers were determined
to put pressure on the G-8 nations meeting today in Scotland to pump billions
into Africa.
Now, I don't want to rain on Geldof's parade. But as good as his intentions are,
I doubt that his approach would work. That's why I did not sign the recent
letter circulated by religious leaders, urging President Bush and the G-8
members to give massive sums to Africa and indiscriminately cancel all debts for
the poorest countries.
My view about what needs to be done is more like the approach taken by NEW YORK
TIMES columnist David Brooks. Brooks recently visited Africa, accompanying Mike
Gerson, one of President Bush's assistants. Here's what Brooks, who is a
self-described Jewish agnostic, said about helping Africa fight poverty and
AIDS: "If this were about offering people the right incentives," Brooks writes,
"we would have solved this problem. But the AIDS crisis has another element,
which can be addressed only by some other language. . . . The AIDS crisis is
about evil. . . . It's about disproportionate suffering. . . . It's about these
and a dozen other things -- trust, fear, weakness, traditions, temptation --
none of which can be fully addressed by externals. They can be addressed only by
the language of ought, by fixing behavior into some relevant set of transcendent
ideals and faiths." Brooks later went on to write that the Bush Administration's
approach "is built upon the assumption that aid works only where there is good
governance, and good governance exists only where the local folks originate and
believe in the programs."
Prison Fellowship's ministry members in Africa, and other mission groups I know,
all confirm what Brooks says. The hard fact is that African poverty will not be
solved through international concerts by celebrities or by pressuring the G-8.
Money alone won't work any more than an alcoholic can be cured by giving him
money. To dump limitless funds into corrupt governments does nothing more than
create more multi-million dollar dictators who stash their funds away in Swiss
bank accounts -- good for the Swiss bankers, bad for the African people.
The key to the African crises is to find ways to target the aid to the people
who need the funds. This is what Christian ministries do best -- and what we
should all be supporting.
And we should be asking our public officials not simply to open the treasury,
but to use funds to encourage freedom, the rule of law, and good government.
Otherwise, we'll simply be propping up corrupt regimes that take the food out of
the mouths of the poor.
So thank you, Sir Bob and company, for reminding the world of the tremendous
problems in Africa. Now maybe you'd like to come and visit some of those mission
outposts where you'll see organizations like World Vision that have been doing
this for years, quietly getting goods and food to the people who need it most.
And yes, maybe you would even like to give them a hand.