While I'm endorsing and encouraging any effort to actually do something about AIDS and to fight poverty, I also have mixed feelings about this campaign. Is it truly about humanitarian motives, or is it another attempt to blend us, to raise lots of money that won't change a thing for good? Additionally I see there's a lot of fashion going with it. Granted, star celebrities making a statement in the ONE commercial are eye catching. If Al Pacino is saying it's cool and every girl's dream Brad Pitt shows up twice, hey, it's got to be cool. The wrist band at the top of the ONE website is really stylish too. Don't you want one?
More things about ONE are questionable. Is it just money that's needed, or is it a change of policies towards Third World countries? What would be required are true efforts by corporations, thinking over their Globalization efforts. It strucks me odd, the topic Globalization is not even mentioned on the site, while it actually is the main cause for current poverty in the Third World. It also annoys me that there is no word about what will be done with the money, if it is invested in permanent changes, such as long term planned education systems, schools and university programs for the poor and true help to support and maintain a locally bound economy, that is not driven by trade treaties with international company networks such as Nestle, Nike, Coca-Cola. Sorry, but stating this is "...in the best American tradition of helping others help themselves..." has a bad aftertaste. It's simply hypocritical to mention "best American tradition" and failing to make any comment about current U.S. policies.
I found World Vision among the names of the founders of the campaign. World Vision is on the black list for humanitarian organizations with a bad history in letting large amounts of money disappear.
For years, World Vision has used tv commercials in which they show closeups in slow motion, big eyes of african kids surrounded by flies. The only information they gave in these commercials was the bank account number of World Vision. Make people feel sorry so they send their money. Is that all there is to it?
You can talk to one.org and ask them to explain why they don't do anything beyond raising money: one@data.org
Globalization is one major reason for poverty. It is caused by the true powers ruling the world, leaders of the western economy, at the top Oil companies and the largest corporate networks.
Addiontal resources:
The ONE campaign
globalissues.org: Causes for poverty
A guide to giving: "World Vision is the largest of the right-wing evangelical organizations."
- Henning von Vogelsang
- June 9, 2005 5:51 AM
- Permalink