Development aid is a matter of justice, not generosity | Letters

We import poor countries' health workers, we extract their raw materials on unfair terms, and we exploit their cut-price labour, writes Richard Middleton

Most defences of development aid are, well, too defensive (Editorial, 21 April). What is classed as "aid" is more properly described as a small repayment towards the much greater sums we extract from poor countries. We free-ride on their education systems, especially by importing health workers. We extract raw materials under trade terms that systematically disadvantage them. We boost our corporate profits (some of which find their way into tax revenues) by exploiting their cut-price labour, exporting carbon emissions as a bonus. Our banks launder the proceeds of corruption among their elites (and again our treasuries benefit - at least some of the time). Our industrial fishing fleets decimate their waters. The list is endless. And all this before even considering historical factors such as colonial looting, slavery and past greenhouse gas emissions (now contributing to the very environmental and food crises which some of our "aid" then attempts to ameliorate). It's not a question of "generosity"; it's a question of justice.
Richard Middleton
Crossmichael, Dumfries and Galloway

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