Untitled Document
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Arundhati Roy |
NGO's real contribution is that they defuse political anger and dole out as aid
or benevolence what people ought to have by right. NGOs alter the public psyche.
They turn people into dependent victims and blunt political resistance.
There are NGOs doing valuable work; there are also fake NGOs set up either
to siphon off grant money or as tax dodges. Most wealthy NGOs are financed and
patronised by aid and development agencies, funded by western governments, the
World Bank, the United Nations and multinational corporations.
They’re what botanists would call an indicator species. The greater the
devastation caused by neoliberalism, the greater the outbreak of NGOs. Nothing
illustrates this more poignantly than the phenomenon of the US preparing to
invade a country while simultaneously readying NGOs to clean up the resultant
devastation.
To ensure their funding is not jeopardised NGOs have to present themselves
in a shallow framework. Another malnourished Indian, starving Ethiopian, Afghan
refugee camp, maimed Sudanese in need of the white man’s help.
They unwittingly reinforce racist stereotypes and reaffirm the achievements,
the comforts and the compassion - the tough love - of western civilisation.
They’re the secular missionaries of the modern world.