正當全球人都為著Live 8而興奮，期待著G8對貧窮國家採甚麼政策時，世界各地的非政府組織，對於這個極高調的活動有不同的解讀，請閱這篇Live 8的背後。
另一篇文章則是講述減貧組識Make Poverty History (MPH)背後的政治，與Tony Blair等政客、與George Soros等財閥的微妙關係，及MPH在宣傳滅貧時，竟也淪為剝削者。
在NGO工作多年，亦很明白NGO的掙扎：與建制究竟要建立何種關係，以致能從建制中尋找影響政策的契機；同是亦要保持在建制以外，對當權者的批判性。在香港這種華人社會，這種「無間道」式路線，特別難走！
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4 comments:
Interesting indeed. (Hope you guys know what 'interesting' really means in contemporary English language.)
First of all, these 3 things should & must be seen as separate entities: 1. Make Poverty History; 2. the G8 agenda put forth by British PM Tony Blair; 3. Live8 championed by Lord Geldof. Yes, they are intertwined together, especially in these recent days; but still THEY ARE DIFFERENT THINGS.
I thought the ambiguous interrelationship between MPH and G8/Blair administration is almost common sense. Each party has its own agenda, openly &/or secretly.
It is almost common sensical for people in the UK that Blair is trying to 'save' his (& his govt's) ethical image when he is suffering from such serious credibility crisis in the past year -- the most serious being lying before going to war. The UK is just taking up the European Union presidency in July. He puts forth as agenda for the G8 summit 2 main things: Africa debt and global warming. If he succeeds in achieving anything, it will (hopefully) makes his govt look good not only in front of his own country but also look ethically superior in the world -- especially compared to US President GW Bush. (GW has refused, is refusing, & will refuse to sign the Kyoto Agreement, cos it hurts the US practice of energy consumption!)
Make Poverty History, as an NGO coalition, is happy to make use of Blair's agenda. So, this is simply a textbook case of political action. Nothing so stunning at all. You give & take, and each side tries to get as much as it can, through making use of the other's image and resources. At the same time, each party is trying to 'steal the show'.
The articles quoted by Stevelkk are in my opinion self-righteous. The English one from ZNET is even patched with conspiracy theory. The best (or perhaps only possible) practical implication we can draw from these articles (esp the ZNET one) is TO DO NOTHING AT ALL -- cos nothing practiceable is ultimately ethical.
BTW, according to the logic of the ZNET article, I suspect that Stevelkk's org has very special relationship with Commercial Radio, with PCCW, and possibly with Oxfam (not to mention the HKSAR Gov). Just look at the background of the top management in that organisation! They have been working on high level in those org/companies for a long time!
飲者，你正正擊中了我想說的：陰謀論。
我想，大部份的壓力團體都以陰謀論，猜測所有個體／團體所作的舉動隱藏的動機。這類推測最厲客的地方是他的神祕色彩，因為一切都沒有真憑實據支持，當事人當然不會承認，但亦難以否認，一句講晒：水洗唔清
在華人這種功利主義的民族，這類思維更大有市場，因為我們都會認為「沒有著數，點會咁好死？」
不過，我認為官／為政者，必需對這類的事情保持敏感，盡量避嫌，因為實在有太多「有心人」「?」實你了！
這亦是我原文所說NGO的路是「難走」的原因。
Another 'smaller' problem is about the brief response from 育成to the Chinese article. He(?) quotes the BBC massive coverage of the Live8 concerts and laments it as a sign of the 'downfall' of the European Society. What a blind comment from someone who does not know what is happening!
Come on! The context is:
1. BBC is a key supporter behind the project of Lord Geldof and has given it a prominent position in ALL its media for the last several months. BBC even produced a documentary series and published a big book on 'Geldof in Africa'. Why not cover this conert?
2. It is a common practice for BBC to do live coverage of different concerts & events all over the country. Every year it does extended live coverage of a flower show for weeks! These things are done all the time! Why not this concert?
Totally agree with you Yam. This is what make me feel bad after I go back to HK. Why people just like to 大驚少怪? And think that everything has problem~~~ crazy~~ okok.. people just like to make themselves 'cool' (if you understand what cool mean in US, not HK) and have 'special' view point. damned!
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