Forgiving
Africa
With the G8 countries preparing to cancel $40
billion in debt owed by several African countries, a fresh start
is promised. But what has really changed? Acton talks to Africans
about their views of the debt forgiveness campaign.
The One Campaign, an advocacy group formed by international relief
agencies that is promoting greater U.S. spending on foreign aid,
has drawn support from prominent evangelical Christians and a pack
of celebrities including U2’s Bono. But Anthony Bradley observes
that the campaign, with its focus on greater governmental action
rather than personal sacrifice, “promotes a depersonalized
and sterile form of help characteristic of the secular appeal to
radical individualism.”
Acton Interview:
“We
want to work hard, and pay our debts,” African views of
the G8 debt cancellation agreement.
The Acton Institute discussed the debt cancellation
agreement and the moral nature of business with two Africa experts
who were attending the institute’s June 14-17 Symposium event
in Grand Rapids, Mich. The Rt. Rev. Bernard Njoroge is bishop of
the diocese of Nairobi in the Episcopal Church of Africa, and a
member of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission. Chanshi Chanda
is chairman of the Institute of Freedom for the Study of Human Dignity
in Kitwe, Zambia.
Video clips from the interview
are available below:
Other Articles on African Aid
James Shikwati - “The WTO and the Voice of the Poor”
Rev. Michael Oluwatuyi - “An African Solution for Africa’s Poverty”
Akinyi June Arunga - “Letter from Nairobi: Why the world’s poor are no longer willing to remain ‘indigenous’” (PDF)
Rev. Gerald Zandstra - “Mr.
Chibuye and the AIDS widows of Zambia”
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