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The #UKAid budget cut is the act of a callous government. But we must re-think aid if we’re to turn the tide. My take on the debate this week (1/7) https://newint.org/features/2020/11/27/dont-just-defend-aid-make-it-just
In essence, cuts are only part of the story. Raab also laid out a new strategy this week in which poverty is barely mentioned, and aid is explicitly tied to British interests around the world. (2/7) https://www.devex.com/news/poverty-reduction-missing-from-new-uk-aid-strategy-98655
Increasingly, aid will be used to eg. expand the role of the City of London post #Brexit, as it tries to transition from the premier European financial hub to a financial hub for emerging markets… (3/7)
… and to facilitate trade deals in which southern governments are told to drop regulations and protections to make life easier for British capital. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cross-government-prosperity-fund-programme (4/7)
This undermines the whole purpose of aid, which should be a small contribution to redistributing wealth. Aid shouldn’t be about building Britain’s power. We’re one of the wealthiest countries in the world, even though many don’t feel it. Aid should help redistribute power (5/7)
Neither is aid a matter of charity, any more than it is charity that we should pay our taxes to provide council housing and social protection, regardless of whether we ourselves use those things or not. The very term ‘aid’ is deeply unhelpful and should be changed. (6/7)
#UKAid pales next to the damage Britain still does. Fighting for a bigger budget to be spent on more of this 
is counter-productive. If we want to regain support for ‘aid’, we must re-envision it as part of a broad platform for global justice (7/7) https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/5/24/africa-is-not-poor-we-are-stealing-its-wealth/
is counter-productive. If we want to regain support for ‘aid’, we must re-envision it as part of a broad platform for global justice (7/7) https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/5/24/africa-is-not-poor-we-are-stealing-its-wealth/
