World Socialist Web , writing from a Marxist perspective that I don’t share, reports that Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and other humanitarian INGOs (International Non-Governmental Organizations) are increasingly dominated by the imperial concerns of the Western powers, a conclusion that I support:
The military mobilization around Typhoon Haiyan and the role of the MSF in Syria are just the most recent examples of the growing nexus between imperialism and INGOs.
The 2011 book, Humanitarianism Contested, Where Angels Fear to Tread— authored by two leading American political scientists, Michael Barnett and Thomas G. Weiss—while written long before these specific events, is a timely read for its exposure of the trend.
The book gives an insider’s view of the business of humanitarian aid—now a veritable industry, estimated at a whopping $18 billion a year, with a staff numbering over 300,000. As one might expect, the book is in no way a critique of capitalism. The authors hold out the hope for a reform of humanitarianism, believing that it is the most significant existing effort to address poverty and the effects of war. Despite this outlook, the book brings to light the basic trajectory of the humanitarian industry: the massive growth of state-funded INGOs and their operational integration with imperialist governments.
The use of the emotional appeals to humanitarianism by the imperialist powers is not new. The Marxist movement has long sought to expose the class interests behind the crocodile tears of the ruling elite as it embarks on new rounds of conquest and plunder in the name of humanitarianism.
While treating diseases, supplying food or making micro loans, a broad range of state-funded organizations—there are 37,000 separate INGOs—are working in every area of concern to world imperialism. Many, like MSF, have become involved in CIA and military operations and serve as informants for the imperialist powers. [4]”
MSF is Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), the French medical aid organization founded by French neo-conservative Bernard Kouchner.
As I blogged a few days ago, MSF was the outfit hyping the Ebola virus from the start and calling for a world-wide coordinated campaign against it.
Interestingly, several MSF workers have been killed and other attacked by Africa villagers, who, for whatever reason, believe that the presence of the team is leading to deaths among the native people.
This might not simply be the result of superstition and ignorance.
Delaware State University professor Cyril Broderick wrote an article in a large Liberian newspaper, The Liberian Observer, claiming that Ebola was manufactures by US weapons research. Doubtless, such stories have influenced ordinary people in Africa.
But what is interesting to me is that the piece has been prominently cited by the Washington Post, which isn’t usually how “conspiracy theories” are treated.
They are usually given silent treatment.
Another point.
I mentioned earlier that Francis Boyle, the prominent human-rights activist, has been repeating the same accusation as Broderick in one of the leading alternative outlets, Russia Today.
What really lies behind such pronouncements is anyone’s guess, but it would be safe to conclude that there are many, many political and financial interests at work in this story.
When the Western major media is involved, caveat lector is always the best counsel.