Starving Africans and hungry bears

Ottawa Sun ^ | June 23, 2002 | Greg Weston

[Clive]

As battalions of heavily-armed police and combat soldiers load up with tear gas to welcome the world to this week's planned street riots and other festivities of the G8 summit meeting in Alberta, ordinary slow-thinkers like me are bound to wonder if this two-day political gabfest could possibly be worth all the danger, hassle and expense.

The short answer is, no.

The long answer is, you must be joking.

For two days this week, U.S. President George Bush, Tony Blair of the U.K., and the other leaders of the eight most powerful western countries on earth will gather at the Kananaskis resort in the Rockies, about 80 kilometres from Calgary.

As host of this year's conflab, Jean Chretien has decreed the centrepiece of discussion will be a new "action plan" for helping to lift Africa from continental misery.

"I am not known as someone of idle dreams and empty ideals," Chretien recently promised a gathering of Ethiopians who obviously had never read the PM's ethics code.

Don't get me wrong: Chretien's call to action for the world's rich nations to come to the aid of Africa, is noble and needed.

More than half of Africa's 820 million people live on less than a $1 a day; 200 million have no access to health services; 250 million have no safe drinking water; southern Africa is home to two-thirds of the world's AIDS cases; one in five Africans is a victim of war; high infant mortality is the norm. But the immediate issue is not whether Africa needs help, or if Canada and the other civilized nations should be whipped into action.

The question is whether this week's G8 meeting is really necessary to get food into African mouths, or indeed if it is likely to achieve anything useful for anyone.

First, there is the issue of cost and the prudent use of public funds. Those of us on the outside of the Chretien dictatorship probably will never know how much the Liberal government is hitting Canadian taxpayers for the summit. Published reports so far put the tab at about $300 million, or approximately $8.3 million for each of the 36 hours the leaders are on terra Canadiana, including Bush's nap time and Chretien's putting practice.

Given that Canada's entire new commitment to African aid is $500 million, paying $300 million for the talks and press conference does seem a bit excessive, even for the Chretien government. More to the point, that $300 million roughly equals the total daily sustenance required for the entire impoverished population of southern Africa.

Or maybe, for the same money, ask 100 million starving African children if they would rather have food for a week, or give George Bush two days to try to figure out what channel on his translation machine will give him Jean Chretien in English, assuming Bush even cares what our prime minister is saying.

Judging by the advance media coverage of the summit by the U.S. and other foreign press, Chretien's plan to save Africa isn't exactly keeping other leaders of the world awake at night.

A search of the New York Times for stories containing the words "G8 and Canada" produced a comprehensive list of, um, nothing. The Washington Post at least mentioned the Kananaskis summit in a three-paragraph story this week.

Unfortunately for Chretien's plan, what the Post reported was: "World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn last week urged the G8 to agree that Africa should receive at least half of the $12 billion in new aid that rich nations recently agreed to provide by 2006 to developing countries.

"But although some nations may go along, that proposal isn't going anywhere with the Bush administration."

One of the biggest stories in the recent U.S. press about the summit ran in the San Francisco Chronicle. The article began (really -- we're not making this stuff up): "President Bush may have a lot on his mind at this year's G8 economic summit in Canada, but at least one presidential worry has been put to rest -- he won't be devoured by grizzly bears. Canadian wildlife officials have quietly laid plans to trap and collar all the grizzlies they can find roaming near the conference site."

Unofficial sources tell us the collars are actually intended to help the RCMP distinguish the grizzlies from summit protesters, thus helping to save the bears from being accidentally shot on sight. (Okay, really unofficial sources.)

'Legendary headache'

The Associated Press put out an equally heart-warming story on its worldwide wire service, beginning: "Legend says Kananaskis was named for a Cree Indian who survived an ax blow to the head. A summit of the world's industrial powers in late June could be another legendary headache for this Rocky Mountain hiking and skiing haven." The same article noted that "services such as the water supply are being checked."

From where a desperate Africa is watching this week's $300-million photo-op for Jean Chretien and friends, it must seem a tad late to be checking for something funny in the water supply.

Greg Weston is Sun Media's national political columnist, his columns appear Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

[usadave]

Give a man a fish and you've fed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish and you've fed him for a lifetime.

So why do we continue to give to starving Africans? The giving never seems to come to an end. We deperately need to try a different approach to ending famine in Africa.

[backhoe]

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