• FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    15
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    USAID has a complicated history. On the one hand, preventing deaths by starvation is absolutely laudable and something that every rich nation should be trying to do. However as a tool for soft power, USAID was used to turn subsistence farmers off of their land so that US companies can buy it or so that the country becomes entirely reliant on the US and will do whatever they say, and that’s pretty evil.

    That being said, cutting USAID overnight is the stupidest way to go about fixing the problems that USAID creates (and obviously Trump doesn’t care about the evil side anyway).

    • themaninblack@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      9 hours ago

      Hey, I spent some of 2009 and also 2013-2014 in Kenya working alongside USAID folks

      Not calling you a liar but could you please educate me? My experience was that the goal was the opposite.

      Now, wading through shitty opportunistic local capitalistic scumbags was an issue, but a separate one.

    • JustAnotherPodunk@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      10 hours ago

      Well, to be fair, I live in America. USAID helping world hunger is good and I support that. And we could have done a bit more. And USAID manipulating foreign production to maintain my countries dominance is also to my benefit. Very much so.

      It’s not evil. It’s morally ambiguous at best.

      I want to help people, and I want my representation to do the same, but not to the point that it undermines my own countries dominance, and therefore my own livelihood. Because the other country wants that same power to themselves for their own benefit. And probably not to my own benefit.

      I think it’s fare to say that the next country will give way less of a shit about my well being. That’s my problem. My representation failed miserably.

      It’s not evil at all. It’s actually a very reasonable and a very human way of looking at the scenario.