“Why Doesn’t the World Care About Pakistanis?”
With the United Nations classing the Pakistan floods as a worse disaster than the 2004 Asian tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake all combined, why is the amount of aid being donated by governments and by the public so puny? Mosharraf Zaidi wonders:
There is no shortage of theories. It’s donor fatigue. It’s Pakistan fatigue. It’s because the Pakistani government is corrupt and can’t be trusted. It’s because the victims are Muslim. It’s because people think a nuclear power should be able to fend for itself. It’s because floods — particularly these floods — spread their destruction slowly, over a period of time, rather than instantaneously. It’s because of the tighter budgets of Western governments. It’s because of the lingering effects of the financial crisis.
There’s a degree of truth to all these explanations. But the main reason that Pakistan isn’t receiving attention or aid proportionate to the devastation caused by these floods is because, well, it’s Pakistan. Given a catastrophe of such epic proportions in any normal country, the world would look first through a humanitarian lens. But Pakistan, of course, is not a normal country. When the victims are Haitian or Sri Lankan — hardly citizens of stable, well-government countries, themselves — Americans and Europeans are quick to open their hearts and wallets. But in this case, the humanity of Pakistan’s victims takes a backseat to the preconceived image that Westerners have of Pakistan as a country.
Full article: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/19/why_doesnt_the_world_care_about_pakistanis?page=0,0
I haven’t donated to the Pakistani relief fund for one reason.
It’s been in the news recently about money donated to relief efforts have been siphoned off for terrorist purposes. I donated to the relief fund after the Pakistani earthquake and it’s still at the back of my mind whether I inadvertantly caused the deaths of allied servicemen.
I haven’t donated to the Pakistani Fund. It has nothing to do with the religion or the country. I didn’t donate to the Haiti fund or the Sri Lanka Fund. I am heartbroken to see the devastation and the suffering, but in the back of my mind is always the thought that much of the problem is caused by corruption within these countries, which resulted in shoddy construction and infrastructure, and which will result in the infective management and misdirection of funds meant to help the victims of such disasters.
I support one international charity which has a presence in all these disasters and I trust the charity to prioritise these donations as they see fit. I used to give much more widely, but the constant bombardment for donation requests to one disaster after another has forced me to prioritise what is important to me and who I donate money to.
Outcome studies published in peer-review journal would give me more confidence in the track record of charities and the relief efforts they fund than anything else I can think of, but wouldn’t know where to look for a introduction or summary of that sort of thing. Can anyone help?
Sadly, it is increasingly futile to deal with climate change only by attempting to relieve distress. Urgent direct action to counter the climate process is essential. In an overcrowded world large migrations also cease to provide solutions.
Less pollution and exploitation, the global consequences of greed and consumerism, would help greatly. But even being very moral and green will not now suffice.
And no amount of righteous superiority and prayer will spare the faithful of any sort, or redirect disaster on to those of other beliefs, false and despised. The environmental crisis requires reason, compassion and science – humanism.