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Showing posts from August, 2008

Bill Gates should come out against free trade.

Knowingly or unknowingly the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's good works have helped to offset an aggressive and destructive US foreign policy. The Foundation has done its best to save lives and rescue communities in Africa, while in the Middle East, US foreign policy has destroyed lives and communities. What is the Gates Foundation's answer to the conundrum of African development? It is to triage Bill Gates wealth towards helping the poorest people in Africa. The scale is different, but there is nothing new in Gates'philanthropic instincts. Helping poor Africans is a fairly traditional practice for US magnates. Generations of Rockefellers have had lots of fun raising money for African charities at $250,000 a head dinners. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aims to rescue African communities by financing the poor, helping small farmers (in particular women) and combating disease. But when it comes to confronting neo-liberal agendas, the Foundation has had very li