Make Poverty History

Hello - bet you didn't realise I had blogging access to this site!

I read an interesting article today in The Times, which made me think carefully about the Make Poverty History campaign. The author basically slagged it off, because it is anti-fair trade (ie. no restrictions on trade for anyone) by saying that protectionism, even for domestic markets of poor countries, ultimately dents their ability to exploit their competetive advantages (like cheap labour/low costs).

Hmm. I can't tell if that's true, but he points to the past 30 years as not having helped - even tho it was a similar situation.

Anyway, just made me think a bit. The issues are HUGE and complex. But I still think the world needs to hear this campaign - and its emphasis that trade should be balanced in favour of the poor, so that the politicians might eventually take some smaller steps towards those kind of goals.

And who cares if it exploits a few celebrities along the way?