What a lovely post to see.
Where do I begin?
Some of the gems of that article:
I now hear people ask, “what’s the R.O.I.?” when it comes to alleviating human suffering, as if return on investment were the only measure of success. Microlending and financial literacy (now I’m going to upset people who are wonderful folks and a few dear friends) — what is this really about? People will certainly learn how to integrate into our system of debt and repayment with interest.
My wife and I know we don’t have the answers, but we do know how to listen. As we learn, we will continue to support conditions for systemic change.
It’s time for a new operating system. Not a 2.0 or a 3.0, but something built from the ground up. New code.
What we have is a crisis of imagination. Albert Einstein said that you cannot solve a problem with the same mind-set that created it. Foundation dollars should be the best “risk capital” out there.
What destroyed many "third-world nations" was colonialism, neo-colonialism, and the capitalism that seems to have existed throughout those periods (although in slightly different forms). What's funny is that "charity" or aid given to "third-world nations" is accompanied by a sort of "white saviour complex". This self-image of benevolence was also a piece of the justification for colonialism and slavery (ie. "we're saving the heathen savages from their filth and violence by giving them civilization and religion"). Yet it was a twisted self-image as colonialism and slavery were brutal systems that dehumanized the oppressed, stripping them of their basic rights and fruits of their labour, in order to make a profit for themselves as well as provide those on top with illusions of superiority. Likewise, aid from international organizations has caused Africa to sink into debt (because of irrationally high interest) and basically involved blackmailing poor nations into allowing transnational corporations (which are mostly run by Westerners) access to their resources without boundaries. These transnational corporations dominate many nations' resources, taking the profits to the West, so that the host nation sees barely any of the profits. This extreme financial power allows transnational corporations to influence government policies in these poor nations, to the detriment of the host nation. If the government's policies do not favour the transnational corporation, they often threaten to move out entirely of that nation. (Since they own the means of production, which are very expensive, it is difficult for the host nation to pick up where they left off and this causes the nation to fall even harder).
Aid from nations are often self-interested and not at all to the interests of the country that receives the "aid". An example would be "tied aid". Aid from "non-profits" or international organizations often involve imposing Western-centric systems into the nations where aid is received. And it goes without saying that these imposed systems are devised by Westerners, specifically whites. This means that people of these poor nations are not given any say in how they are told to run their nations. So what does that say about sovereignty (I won't even go into how the US and its Western cronies violate many nations' sovereignty in other ways)?
The current international economy favours the West, specifically the US. The current system of international politics clearly favours the US. These systems also maintain and exacerbate the extreme inequality in the world. So are "third-world nations" supposed to shut up, take what little is so benevolently given to them by their "saviours", allow themselves to fall for the cultural imperialism (which teaches them that these Western "saviours" are superior), and take it? That appears to be the case.
That's why I'm so glad to read this article. It's so refreshing and honest. The system cannot be tweaked for equality to exist. It needs to be tore down and a better one to be put in its place. But those who hold the most power in the world have the most to lose if this happens. They have shown that they are willing to invade nations, topple multiple foreign governments, and murder thousands upon thousands of innocent people if there's even the slightest chance of a non-Western nation rising to power. This is especially true if it is a Middle Eastern or African nation, as these regions have the most to gain from toppling oppressive international systems.
I'm ranting. :p I'm sure this could be explained better but I'm tired, it's past fajr, and I need sleep. The most ironic thing is that I'm trying to get into aid or something similar, but only working in ways that won't contribute to corruption inshaa Allah. lol But you get the gist. It's just a bad system all around.
