Free Republic

The millions donated to Ethiopia in 1985 thanks to Live Aid were supposed to go towards relieving a natural disaster. In reality, donors became participants in a civil war. Many lives were saved, but even more may have been lost in Live Aid's unwitting support of a Stalinist-style resettlement project Isn't it better to do something rather than give in to despair or cynicism and do nothing? This is the reproachful question familiar to anyone who has criticised organisations that view themselves as dedicated to doing good in the world. To those UN agencies, relief organisations and development groups working...

Libertarians hold that a moral society is a society based upon consensual behaviour. This principle is held in higher esteem than other principles, such as altruistic causes, including, but not limited to, disaster relief. A libertarian critique of the present relief situation holds that, of course, it is both permissible, and even recommended, that we help our fellow human beings on the other side of the planet. For a libertarian, the problem arises when we utilise government as an instrument, using coerced tax funds, to perform the charity work. Despite the moral ends of disaster aid, a libertarian holds fast...

In under a month, more than 4,000 trays of pizza thousands of bottles of cola were delivered to IDF soldiers stationed in Judea, Samaria and Gaza thanks to the generosity of friends of Israel around the world. The initiative to raise money to send pizzas to the soldiers serving on the confrontation lines was that of several reservists who wanted to get world Jewry involved and bring a smile to Israeli soldiers’ faces. Since that first month, the orders have not ceased arriving, according to the project’s initiators. The contributions in pizzas have reached tens of thousands of dollars, thus...