Social and political issues related to Singapore and the South East Asia region. A blog which attempts to do so in a non-trivial manner treating opposing views with the respect they deserve.
Contributions are welcomed from all regardless of your political persuasion.
A rather controversial video I found on youtube made by Christian Aid and Jubilee 2000.
Two men from the World Bank go to a hospital to collect debt from a new born baby. Campaign ad against Debt made by Christian Aid and [allegedly] banned from UK TV.
very interesting ad. thanks for sharing it. honestly haven't read enough about the world bank and the debt problem; haven't studied it properly, but this really reminds me of somaliland. it was featured on the BBC's "Holidays in the Danger Zone: Places That Don't Exist" series.
because somaliland isn't officially recognised as a country, they've never been able to get loans from international institutions such as the world bank. this situation forced their democratic government to become self-reliant and run the country with the resources available and no borrowing. in stark contrast to many african nations, somaliland has almost zero foreign debt; a clean slate.
thoughts: what if somaliland's situation had been imposed on any other african government that has borrowed so heavily? while it's very possible that the end result wouldn't be as optimistic as their's, it's almost too easy for the mind to connect these dots that are visible to the naked eye.
links for reading pleasure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holidays_in_the_Danger_Zone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somaliland
I am the U Tube blogger who posted this video. I'm from the UK and all i can say is we must stop this madness. As a human being how can we allow this to continue. Instead of being internalised, Now is the time to open our hearts and develop compassion in order to be of benefit to others. Now is the time to show our humanity rather than our selfishness. We have the power to change this world for the better. All we have to do is believe and want to change things. I hope and pray that we can make that decision. With love Ghostsurfer x
very interesting ad. thanks for sharing it. honestly haven't read enough about the world bank and the debt problem; haven't studied it properly, but this really reminds me of somaliland. it was featured on the BBC's "Holidays in the Danger Zone: Places That Don't Exist" series.
ReplyDeletebecause somaliland isn't officially recognised as a country, they've never been able to get loans from international institutions such as the world bank. this situation forced their democratic government to become self-reliant and run the country with the resources available and no borrowing. in stark contrast to many african nations, somaliland has almost zero foreign debt; a clean slate.
thoughts: what if somaliland's situation had been imposed on any other african government that has borrowed so heavily? while it's very possible that the end result wouldn't be as optimistic as their's, it's almost too easy for the mind to connect these dots that are visible to the naked eye.
links for reading pleasure:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holidays_in_the_Danger_Zone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somaliland
cheers.
I am the U Tube blogger who posted this video. I'm from the UK and all i can say is we must stop this madness. As a human being how can we allow this to continue. Instead of being internalised, Now is the time to open our hearts and develop compassion in order to be of benefit to others. Now is the time to show our humanity rather than our selfishness. We have the power to change this world for the better. All we have to do is believe and want to change things. I hope and pray that we can make that decision. With love Ghostsurfer x
ReplyDeleteBig Christian Aid march in London today on issues of IMF and World Bank. Christian Aid published three podcasts live from the event
ReplyDeletehttp://nightingalesangatwcc.typepad.com/podcast/