Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Attack on Oxfam/Charity/International Aid

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    The Attack on Oxfam/Charity/International Aid

    When I search for a specific word (in the basic or advanced facility) it brings up the threads that word has been mentioned in but I can't find a way to go to the actual posts that do.

    Have I missed something or is that at does at the moment?

    The word I was searching for was Oxfam, due to the current news story - has that been discussed anywhere, out of interest?
    Last edited by Ray de Galles; 12-02-2018, 13:48.

    #2
    Google still tends to be a better bet for that in my experience

    Someone mentioned that the Oxfam thing happened seven years ago on one of the politics threads, but I would be quite interested to hear from any posters with aid experience as to how common this is.

    Comment


      #3
      I don't think I've ever managed to get a result from this iteration of the site via google, only the old OTF archive.

      I was wondering if anyone had discussed what seems like a deliberate coordinated right wing attack on the entire idea of charity and especially international aid?

      Comment


        #4
        That was the gist of the point in the politics thread.

        I think it was Nef, in either the Brexit or Corbyn thread
        Last edited by ursus arctos; 12-02-2018, 13:42.

        Comment


          #5
          The BBC has been running this story for about 5 days straight. yes it seems to be co-ordinated with a Rees Mogg Petition and the interventions of Mordaunt and Patel.

          The bbc attack includes the fact that the country head who was fired was given a months wages to ensure continuity. They were running an emergency aid programme. After an earthquake.

          Could someone change the title of this thread if we're going to use it to discuss Oxfam btw?

          Comment


            #6
            It's made the Washington Post this morning.

            Some flack is earning their corn

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Nefertiti2 View Post

              Could someone change the title of this thread if we're going to use it to discuss Oxfam btw?
              Was thinking the same thing but we don't have the facility to do so yet, do we?

              Comment


                #8
                Nope, we have to hope Snake pops along and does it for us.

                I'm guessing VT would have some good insight on this topic.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Thank AE, I've sent Snake a PM.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    As Ray suggests, this is a Rees-Mogg-related co-ordinated attack on international aid and charities. It smacks to me of the co-ordinated attacks on the BBC (although, as mentioned, they are complicit in this). Mourdant's comments this morning suggesting that funding to Oxfam will be pulled if she isn't satisfied upon meeting them is particularly alarming.

                    As someone who is a local co-ordinator and collector for Christian Aid - who have also been implicated, I am very concerned that, after years of diminishing donations (and collectors), this sort of smearing will make it very difficult to collect this year.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Ray de Galles View Post
                      When I search for a specific word (in the basic or advanced facility) it brings up the threads that word has been mentioned in but I can't find a way to go to the actual posts that do.

                      Have I missed something or is that at does at the moment?
                      Bit weird to do it, but...

                      Click Advanced Search
                      Click the tab marked Search Single Content Type
                      Enter your search keyword in the field

                      At the bottom, select Show results as Posts

                      That should do the trick.

                      Comment


                        #12

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Thanks Snake, both for the search tip and title change.

                          Going back to Oxfam, Nef is right that the BBC's complicity in this attack seems particularly naked. R5 is never the most subtle or nuanced of sources but the tone of their coverage this morning was incredibly biased, as was the choice of interview I heard with some nebulous "expert" on international charity aid whose credentials were not aired and who seemed like an obvious right wing stooge.

                          Increasingly the BBC's adoption of the government and right-wing tabloid agenda brings to mind that Churchill quote NHH used to use about people hoping "that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last".
                          Last edited by Ray de Galles; 12-02-2018, 22:29.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            What everybody said.

                            I don't think that Oxfam staff need to be using prostitutes, obviously. But a couple of suggestions were made that were especially serious and damaging to Oxfam. One that the Haitian prostitutes were refugees from an earthquake and the other that "some of the prostitutes in Chad may have been underage". Has anybody backed these assertions up properly?

                            Comment


                              #15
                              no. "may have been under age" is as close as anyone has got.


                              oxfam's deputy director has resigned

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Cheers.

                                What about the Haitians, do we know? That's got a whiff of bullshit to me too. "Staff working on relieving earthquake use prostitutes" easily becomes "staff pay women just pulled out of the wreckage for sex".

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Suzanne Moore.

                                  Prostitution implies choice and consent. It is not clear how any choice was made, in the devastating aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, when women had so little that they were bought for the price of a meal or a cheap pair of shoes.
                                  Is this actually established fact? I don't mean "No, it was two meals", I mean are we clear that what Oxfam workers did was directly linked to the earthquake in this way?

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    I assume the government is also threatening never to hire investment banks again?

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Indeed.

                                      Or hire itself, seeing Foreign Office staff have doubtless used prostitutes.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        @EmmaVardyTV
                                        Feb 11
                                        More
                                        Int Development Minister Penny Mordaunt says she’ll meet Oxfam tomorrow to ensure they’re giving all info on Haiti scandal to authorities
                                        "to ensure the story gets more coverage".

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Glad to see OTF's general bewilderment at this story is the same as mine: Seedy old men hire prostitutes when they travel for work.

                                          Why is that only wrong for senior charity workers?

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            Why do people seem to be suggesting it's ok for senior charity workers?

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              I dont think anyone is. they are asking about what has caused the reemergence of a case 7 years ago in which the perpetrators were fired in .a Newspaper once edited by the father of one of the most extreme right wing campaigners against overseas aid, and why it has dominated the news cycle for five days running. At least that's what I'm asking.

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                I've never seen any NGO or charity staff take advantage of the services of sex workers, but I have seen Forign Office staff meet up for a game of darts in Beijing before nipping off to the local brothel for a spot of sex-based fun and games, while families were waiting for them to come home and hear about the arrows.

                                                Most NGOs are staffed by extremely dedicated individuals, often working in difficult and dangerous locations. Using the examples of a few rogue individuals (and that is not to excuse their behaviour - taking advantage of vulnerable people for sexual gratification should be an immediate sacking offence - feels like a planned attack on the international aid budget.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by Nefertiti2 View Post
                                                  I dont think anyone is. they are asking about what has caused the reemergence of a case 7 years ago in which the perpetrators were fired in .a Newspaper once edited by the father of one of the most extreme right wing campaigners against overseas aid, and why it has dominated the news cycle for five days running. At least that's what I'm asking.
                                                  Yeah, I think everyone agrees the original action of the Oxfam employees was unacceptable but this current frenzy has very little to do with it and everything to do with softening people up to turn against Oxfam in particular, major charities who do anything to oppose structural unfairness in the system and international aid as a concept.

                                                  Radio 5’s completely biased interviewee even had the temerity to mention Oxfam’s recent campaign on wealth inequality (see the tweet below that was decried by the right wing press and twitterati a couple of weeks ago) as an example of it’s “irrelevance” to charity work when in fact that is clearly the trigger for this attack.

                                                  https://twitter.com/oxfamgb/status/955473292781121537
                                                  Last edited by Ray de Galles; 12-02-2018, 21:13.

                                                  Comment

                                                  Working...
                                                  X