Oxfam Hijacked By The Poltical Left

[Anonymous]

When I see an idiot like YVRMan and a pathetic troll like Pat creaming their jeans over misleading info from a hyper-political "charity" like Oxfam you know it has to be BS. Maybe they should explain how a charity paying their boss $200k/year plus expenses is good for reducing poverty. Class warfare/inequality does not lift anyone out of poverty.

The hijacking of Oxfam by the politicised left is nothing short of a tragedy. It's heartbreaking to see a charity that has built up so much goodwill from so many people being used by activists as a vehicle for global class war. As a result, Oxfam is switching its focus away from global poverty towards something very different: wealth inequality.



It has today come up with some questionable figures suggesting that the richest 1 per cent will soon own over 50 per cent of the wealth. Here is Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, with a message she intends to give before she heads off to Davos:





'We see a concentration of wealth capturing power and leaving ordinary people voiceless and their interests uncared for... The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast.'



She didn't have space, it seems, in her Guardian interview or in the Oxfam research to point out that right now global poverty has been declining faster than at any point in human history.



The first Millennium Development Goal is to eradicate extreme poverty (halving the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day between 1990 and 2015). Here's how the proportion of people in developing countries living on less than $1.25 a day has fallen since 1990:



Even if Oxfam's forecast came true, you have to ask: isn't the charity supposed to be worried about the poor, rather than obsessing about the rich? Its adverts want to you believe that age-old (and laughably incorrect) trope that the poor are poor because the rich are rich: that wealth is a pie, and the powerful are helping themselves to an ever-larger slice. In fact wealth is something that people generate, and on a global basis more of it is being generated than ever before. This ought to be celebrated, because the pie is bigger than ever before - this is translating into fewer hungry people than ever before.



BBC Radio earlier had someone on from Oxfam saying that the shocking wealth of the 1pc stood alongside the fact that 'one in nine' go to bed hungry. Oxfam wants you to believe that the two are somehow linked. There is a link between wealth and global poverty – the more of the former, the less of the latter.



Even if Oxfam's forecast came true, you have to ask: isn't the charity supposed to be worried about the poor, rather than obsessing about the rich? Its adverts want to you believe that age-old (and laughably incorrect) trope that the poor are poor because the rich are rich: that wealth is a pie, and the powerful are helping themselves to an ever-larger slice. In fact wealth is something that people generate, and on a global basis more of it is being generated than ever before. This ought to be celebrated, because the pie is bigger than ever before - this is translating into fewer hungry people than ever before.



BBC Radio earlier had someone on from Oxfam saying that the shocking wealth of the 1pc stood alongside the fact that 'one in nine' go to bed hungry. Oxfam wants you to believe that the two are somehow linked. There is a link between wealth and global poverty – the more of the former, the less of the latter.

http://cdn2.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/blogs.dir/11/files/2015/01/Screen-Shot-2015-01-19-at-08.29.48-365x413.png">



Of course, hunger is only one of the killers of the world's poor. How is all of this inequality that Oxfam complains about affecting the others? Answer: global prosperity is being converted into better medicine and healthcare for those who need it the most. Chinese investment in Africa is now a major factor in helping Africans do things for themselves. Here is another graph that you'll never see in an Oxfam report, published in last month's edition of The Lancet:

http://cdn2.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/blogs.dir/11/files/2015/01/War-on-Disease-620x397.jpg">

We are, right now, living through the golden age of poverty reduction.  Anyone serious about tackling global poverty (and I'm afraid we have to exclude Oxfam from this category) has to accept that whatever we're doing now, it's working – so we should keep doing it. We are on the road to an incredible goal: the abolition of poverty as we know it, within our lifetime.



Those who care more about helping the poor than hurting the rich will celebrate the fact – and urge leaders to make sure that free trade and global capitalism keep spreading. It's the only true way to make poverty history.

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/01/what-oxfam-doesnt-want-you-to-know-global-capitalism-means-theres-less-poverty-than-ever/">http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehous ... than-ever/">http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/01/what-oxfam-doesnt-want-you-to-know-global-capitalism-means-theres-less-poverty-than-ever/

[Anonymous]

When I see an idiot like YVRMan and a pathetic troll like Pat creaming their jeans over misleading info from a hyper-political "charity" like Oxfam you know it has to be BS. Maybe they should explain how a charity paying their boss $200k/year plus expenses is good for reducing poverty. Class warfare/inequality does not lift anyone out of poverty.

The hijacking of Oxfam by the politicised left is nothing short of a tragedy. It's heartbreaking to see a charity that has built up so much goodwill from so many people being used by activists as a vehicle for global class war. As a result, Oxfam is switching its focus away from global poverty towards something very different: wealth inequality.



It has today come up with some questionable figures suggesting that the richest 1 per cent will soon own over 50 per cent of the wealth. Here is Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, with a message she intends to give before she heads off to Davos:





'We see a concentration of wealth capturing power and leaving ordinary people voiceless and their interests uncared for... The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast.'



She didn't have space, it seems, in her Guardian interview or in the Oxfam research to point out that right now global poverty has been declining faster than at any point in human history.



The first Millennium Development Goal is to eradicate extreme poverty (halving the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day between 1990 and 2015). Here's how the proportion of people in developing countries living on less than $1.25 a day has fallen since 1990:



Even if Oxfam's forecast came true, you have to ask: isn't the charity supposed to be worried about the poor, rather than obsessing about the rich? Its adverts want to you believe that age-old (and laughably incorrect) trope that the poor are poor because the rich are rich: that wealth is a pie, and the powerful are helping themselves to an ever-larger slice. In fact wealth is something that people generate, and on a global basis more of it is being generated than ever before. This ought to be celebrated, because the pie is bigger than ever before - this is translating into fewer hungry people than ever before.



BBC Radio earlier had someone on from Oxfam saying that the shocking wealth of the 1pc stood alongside the fact that 'one in nine' go to bed hungry. Oxfam wants you to believe that the two are somehow linked. There is a link between wealth and global poverty – the more of the former, the less of the latter.



Even if Oxfam's forecast came true, you have to ask: isn't the charity supposed to be worried about the poor, rather than obsessing about the rich? Its adverts want to you believe that age-old (and laughably incorrect) trope that the poor are poor because the rich are rich: that wealth is a pie, and the powerful are helping themselves to an ever-larger slice. In fact wealth is something that people generate, and on a global basis more of it is being generated than ever before. This ought to be celebrated, because the pie is bigger than ever before - this is translating into fewer hungry people than ever before.



BBC Radio earlier had someone on from Oxfam saying that the shocking wealth of the 1pc stood alongside the fact that 'one in nine' go to bed hungry. Oxfam wants you to believe that the two are somehow linked. There is a link between wealth and global poverty – the more of the former, the less of the latter.

http://cdn2.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/blogs.dir/11/files/2015/01/Screen-Shot-2015-01-19-at-08.29.48-365x413.png">



Of course, hunger is only one of the killers of the world's poor. How is all of this inequality that Oxfam complains about affecting the others? Answer: global prosperity is being converted into better medicine and healthcare for those who need it the most. Chinese investment in Africa is now a major factor in helping Africans do things for themselves. Here is another graph that you'll never see in an Oxfam report, published in last month's edition of The Lancet:

http://cdn2.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/blogs.dir/11/files/2015/01/War-on-Disease-620x397.jpg">

We are, right now, living through the golden age of poverty reduction.  Anyone serious about tackling global poverty (and I'm afraid we have to exclude Oxfam from this category) has to accept that whatever we're doing now, it's working – so we should keep doing it. We are on the road to an incredible goal: the abolition of poverty as we know it, within our lifetime.



Those who care more about helping the poor than hurting the rich will celebrate the fact – and urge leaders to make sure that free trade and global capitalism keep spreading. It's the only true way to make poverty history.

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/01/what-oxfam-doesnt-want-you-to-know-global-capitalism-means-theres-less-poverty-than-ever/">http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehous ... than-ever/">http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/01/what-oxfam-doesnt-want-you-to-know-global-capitalism-means-theres-less-poverty-than-ever/

I do not know anything about Oxfam..



But, I make an effort to avoid large international charities if at all possible.

[RW]

ac_rollseyes Oh the old charities are evil debate because they pay people.



The only problem with this article is it misrepresents Oxfam's focuses. Oxfam has four main focuses for its resources - Economic Justice, Essential Services, Rights in Crisis, and Gender Justice.  Wealth disparity falls under economic justice IMHO.

[Lance Leftardashian]

I like big rich charities. They can use their considerable resources to influence debate and even elections.

[RW]

Considerable resources.  LOL!

[Anonymous]

As big a troll as Gary err Lance is, he is right about big charities like Oxfam and political agendas. Oxfam has been criticized in the past for this shit in the UK.



I took a peek at VF this morning and that troll moron YVRMan copy and pasted yet another anti-Canadian oil article from TYEE. The TYEE is on the payroll of the US based TIDES foundation ffs!! They game our system to gain charitable status on behalf of their billionaire paymasters. Making puppet videos is not charitable work, it is political. A REAL charity they are not. A REAL scam on the other hand......

[RW]

It's not on the payroll of TIDES.  It's on the payroll of TULA.  Tides CANADA manages and contributes to their donor-advised Tyee Solutions Society Fund.  All funders sign releases guaranteeing full editorial autonomy.

[Anonymous]

It's not on the payroll of TIDES.  It's on the payroll of TULA.  Tides CANADA manages and contributes to their donor-advised Tyee Solutions Society Fund.  All funders sign releases guaranteeing full editorial autonomy.

The Tides Foundation wired $15,000 to The Tyee to help fund their "tar sands" campaign. It's a lobby group, which is legal, we do allow that in Canada. TIDES Canada is a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency. Tides Canada lets donors launder their gifts through their Canadian charitable number and pass the money right on to The Tyee to continue its anti-Canada, anti-oilsands propaganda.



The Tyee couldn't get a charitable number on its own. No problem, the Canadian branch plant of those San Francisco bullies will make a tax loophole for them. The donation can be 100% anonymous. This also work Dogwood Initiative, Environmental Defence, Pembina, Great Bear and whole bunch of other TIDES "charities".