Pixelated Semantics

A schizotypical inventory

Aid agencies as force multipliers

The Guardian has a carefully provocative article on the declining autonomy of NGOs: "In the war on terror, the market dominates with scant regard for process or rules..." - and so to win "hearts and minds" aid agencies are co-opted as "force multipliers" (itself a phrase described as "sinister" by the story's author) - and the humanitarian objectives of providing aid become engaged in a militarised, ideological economy. 

"There are, despite George Bush's infantile formulation, many organisations that are neither with Bush nor with the terrorists: they occupy a civic space in which ideas can be freely held, in which law is paramount and assistance is rendered on the basis of need."

  But as one GI observes, "the more they help us find the bad guys, the more good stuff they get" - though poverty and injustice are recognised as "factors" that nurture terrorism, their alleviation is chained to acceptance of Bush's Hollywood militarism. Infantile is probably very appropriate for a policy that amounts to "if you're not helping us, we're not helping you".

Item posted by AutoEditor at 11:08 am ::