Read full text: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/02/no_author/foreign-aid-isnt/
Here are two personal stories about foreign aid.
Some 20 years ago when Slow Food asked me to be part of the U.S. delegation attending the International Slow Food Convivium in Turin, Italy hosted by Carlo Petrini, I went with Michael Pollan. Every time I wasn’t speaking, I attended presentations by a delegation from an African country.
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Every single one started with something like this: “We have plenty of resources. We can feed ourselves. You western countries need to leave us alone. Your cheap food dumping displaces our farmers by lowering prices to the point our indigenous agriculture can’t compete. These displaced entrepreneurial farmers and food system folks then get bored and become warlords and gang leaders.”
I was stunned. It was such a blanket indictment, over and over again, that I spent the entire multi-day stay apologizing for being an American. It made me realize this “aid” was about empire-building leverage, creating dependency, and just about anything except real help. It also made me paranoid about traveling abroad to give advice. Since then, we invite folks from there to our farm and give free admission to some of our educational seminars. That way they can see it in our context and adapt it to theirs. Much better.
Story number two. .........
