Here's some red-hot truth-telling from Muriel Gray regarding the attempt to "make poverty history" by appealing to the "better angels" of our leaders' natures. An excerpt:
"What if poverty in some of the worst affected areas of the globe is not simply the result of mismanagement, incompetence, corruption, and indifference? What if it's the result of deliberate economic engineering? A terrible thing to contemplate indeed, since no amount of public protest, like the impending Live 8 rally in Edinburgh, could possibly have an effect if the people responsible were not only devoid of shame for the plight of the poor, but were actually rather pleased with themselves at how effectively they block wealth creation in the countries of interest to their financial plans...
"....Bush is not remotely scared of our righteous ire. Bush's remit to those who put him in power - that's the multinationals and not the American people - is to keep the third world poor and his paymasters rich. Indeed, the reality is that all the G8 leaders' jobs are to keep their own people wealthy and make sure those big-eyed, fly-blown starving children don't grow up to compete with them on a level playing field and damage their economies.
"It's true that evil flourishes when the good do nothing, and for that reason alone Live 8 is an important event. But it's only the moral, the responsible and the altruistic that respond to civilised peaceful persuasion. Bush, contrary to Geldof's enthusiasm for him, not only falls very far outside those qualifications but is demonstrably one of the most thoroughly corrupt, greedy, dishonest, murderous, wicked and disgusting individuals ever to hang his hat in the White House.
"How pop stars singing and fresh- faced youngsters waving placards at such a creature can hope to affect his slimy, coal-black soul is anybody's guess...."
(From the Glasgow Sunday Herald, via Smirking Chimp.)
