Paul Theroux on Africa, Bono and Aid

[glossyp]

I found this piece from Sunday's Advertiser to be very thought provoking. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this and discuss. Please move as needed. Paul Theroux Commentary

[Linkmeister]

Re: Paul Theroux on Africa, Bono and Aid

Counterpoint to Theroux.

I've read a lot of his material, and I gotta say he's gotten more crochety every year.

[glossyp]

Re: Paul Theroux on Africa, Bono and Aid

What an excellent link with good discussion and postings. I have never been a fan of Mr. Theroux' writings in general, finding him tedious at best and down right annoying at worst. What caught my attention in the piece was the somewhat startling call for accountability on the part of all of us - from those who give money to those who spend it to the people who receive. There is no doubt that the old way of thinking that throwing more money at the problem is not the solution. And, I while I find Sachs interesting, I'm not buying the arguments unreservedly.

[Linkmeister]

Re: Paul Theroux on Africa, Bono and Aid

Every aspiring writer (or published one, for that matter) should make it a point to check out Making Light (the blog I linked to above) regularly. The authors are editors at Tor, and their readership is composed of writers and readers. Pick an Open Thread and just enjoy reading for a while.

Much of what I could say to Theroux was said in that post I linked to. (Be sure to read the initial link above the comments.) Accountability is unquestionably desirable. Nobody would argue too hard about that. But in many cases it's almost impossible. Throwing money at Africa in the form of loans doesn't work, since most of those countries haven't got the wherewithal to ever pay it back. That's why Bono has worked for years to get the debt erased.

(I never understood the logic of the IMF and the World Bank in the first place; making a loan to someone or some country which will never be able to pay it back made no sense to me.)

So, aid. Ok, but not aid in the form of contracts to the Halliburtons/Bechtels and Fluors of the world. Aid in the form of education to train the engineers, the water plant operators, the sewage plant operators, and all the rest of the people who make infrastructure work. Then aid to build that infrastructure with locals doing the labor and operations after it's complete.

[kimo55]

Re: Paul Theroux on Africa, Bono and Aid

...for myself..
I have never been a fan of Mr. Theroux' writings. Until I picked up "The happy isles of Oceania". (the first book of his I read)
In general, finding it tedious at best and down right annoying at worst, when I can't read his latest.

[sinjin]

Re: Paul Theroux on Africa, Bono and Aid

Well, I'm a long time fan of his despite the fact that he can be tedious and annoying. So can I. I would take his comments as well considered.