It is now an archive for my newspaper and magazine pieces. My blog can now be read at: www.spectator.co.uk/stephenpollard
Politics, economics and culture from the master. Unmissable.
Melanie Phillips home page
Melanie Phillips' peerless blog. Read, and learn.
Daniel Finkelstein's Times Comment Central
A daily must-read.
Tim Worstall
Lots of interesting nibbles - and a ruthless swatter of economic gibberish.
Harry's Place
Must-read left of centre blog from writers who understand the threat to the West.
Clive Davis
Always interesting selection of culture and politics, from an Anglo-American bent.
Samizdata
Libertarian blog, packed every day.
Norm's blog
The thoroughly sensible thoughts of renowned left-wing academic Norman Geras, Professor of Government at Manchester. And cricket, too.
Public Interest
Peter Briffa's inimitable take on The Yazzmonster and other assorted demons.
Reform
The public sector reform group; their website is an invaluable source of data and ideas.
Centre for the New Europe
The leading European public policy think tank.
Developed by:
| September | 27 |
| 2004 |
Do you want to help to kill an African? It’s very easy. Just sign Christian Aid’s petition against free trade.
According to the charity’s current campaign: “Millions of farmers in poorer nations are being gradually ruined by free trade.” As evidence for this, it cites “the onion farmers of Senegal. With free trade forced on them, they’re unable to sell their produce because their local markets are flooded with onions imported from Europe.”
That statement is true, apart from one detail: it is not a description of free trade but of its opposite, protectionism.
The EU foodstuffs market is warped by the subsidies of the common agricultural policy (CAP). When EU farmers export, they sell products which would not have been grown without subsidy. The EU spends €2.7 billion a year paying farmers to grow sugar beet, for example, while it imposes high tariff barriers against sugar imports from the developing world.
The CAP generates immense surpluses that cannot be sold within the EU. Much of these are exported at low prices that undercut those charged by the developing world’s unsubsidised producers. And when they attempt to export to the EU, their access is blocked by trade barriers. The EU’s agricultural tariffs are as high as 250 per cent. Free trade is the solution, not the problem.
According to Oxfam, if Africa could increase its share of world trade by just 1 per cent, it would earn an additional £49 billion a year — enough to lift 128 million people out of extreme poverty. That will happen only if trade barriers are lifted.
There are two possible explanations for Christian Aid’s misguided campaign. One is that those behind it are so stupid that they simply do not know that free trade involves abolishing subsidies, pulling down trade barriers.
The other is that they know that full well, but have an anti-globalisation, anti-prosperity agenda that they are attempting to disguise with an apparent but misleading concern for the developing world.
A recent paper by the Centre for the New Europe calculated that one person dies every 13 seconds somewhere in the world — mainly in Africa — because of the EU’s protectionism. The Christian Aid campaign’s stated aim would make that figure even worse.
MessageSpace
I aree with you wholeheartedly.. but.. given that the CAP exists and, if the French have their way, will do so for some time to come, could it possibly be argued that some form of protection is legitimate as a defence against such hostile action?
Excellent piece, Stephen. I saw the advert for the first time on Saturday and could not believe its stupidity.
Spot on. None but the most cynical would deny the good intentions of Christian Aid and other such organisations in wanting to alleviate such dreadful and horrific poverty, but when these sentiments come up against monoithic ideologies of anti-westernism and anti-globalisation, bankrupt ideology triumphs, precluding any real and practical change.
I looked up that paper by the Centre for the New Europe, it seems to be EU TRADE BARRIERS KILL By Stephen Pollard, Alberto Mingardi, Cecile Philippe and Dr. Sean Gabb (pdf document). It must have taken you a lot of effort to dig that one out, Stephen.
I agree that Christian Aid have got their message totally wrong, since what we have now isn't free trade. That doesn't mean, though, that completely free trade would be good for development, even if the eradication of protectionism in OECD countries would.
Secondly, has Stephen actually read the Centre for the New Europe paper which contains that eye-catching claim about one person dying every 13 seconds "because of the EU’s protectionism"? Because I have, and it's a very shaky claim indeed. It rests on the assumption that trade protection is the only reason why 20,000 people die every day from hunger, which is unfounded. EU trade protectionism kills, but not on that scale. It's important to get these things right rather than just going for the biggest number.
GGO have a paper out criticising Bono, Christian Aid et-al
http://www.global-growth.org/bonosmanifesto.pdf
For info, GGO's comments section has a debate about their paper:
http://global-growth.blogspot.com/2004/09/bonos-manifesto-u2s-bono-has-launched.html#comments
The numbers are always subject to some error, but there can be no doubt that the CAP places a huge burden on already weak economies. As poverty and premature death go hand in hand it is inescapable that this leads to unnecessary suffering and death.
Free trade in agriculture would not only strengthen African economies, but would allow diversification away from cash crops which are often bought at below their true value by state monopolies. Thus free trade strengthens the people versus their corrupt and rapacious governments.
"The numbers are always subject to some error"
It's not an error, they're just fictitious. Anyone who repeats them is either ignorant of their derivation or being deliberately misleading.
"Free trade in agriculture would not only strengthen African economies"
Actually, completely free trade in agriculture would probably see Africa losing its existing shares of European markets to more efficient producers.
"would allow diversification away from cash crops"
They're already 'allowed' diversify, but they're finding it extremely difficult to do so without the protective barriers that helped UK, the US and the Asian 'tigers' do so at similar stages of development.
"Thus free trade strengthens the people versus their corrupt and rapacious governments."
An overly simplistic perspective, in my opinion.
Whilst I would agree that the 'one person dies every 13 seconds' is hard to really back up, the general point that EU protectionism kills people in the Third World is beyond reasonable dispute. Well said, Stephen.
I'm surprised that neither Stephen or any of the commenters lining up to condemn Christian Aid has managed to address the substance of their position on trade and development, outlined here: http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/409trade/index.htm.
In fact, Stephen seems to be agreeing with their assessment of the causes of Senegal's onion problem, and is only narked at their mis-use of the phrase 'free trade'. In the report itself they explicitly say that liberalisation is useful in certain circumstances, but they explain what those circumstances are rather than simply assuming as an article of blind faith that free trade must always be good everywhere and every time.
So, since so many people here seem to be get so annoyed about empty rhetoric, what about actually getting to grips with the real arguments?
Er Jim, It was Christian Aid that chose to put out their cretin - left advert. It doesnt strike me as particularly unreasonable to argue against that rather than some obscure policy paper they havn't chosen to even mention.
BTW the link doesnt work.
Er, yes it does, if you're able to copy and paste.
The advert has been used to attack Christian Aid using language ('economic idiots', etc) which suggests a deeper critique, but it seems to me that people aren't willing to actually engage with the substance. That's their perogative obviously, it's just that it means it's a superficial attack.
Er, Jim, if Christian Aid make the centrepiece of their public advertising a bare faced lie, why should they not be attacked ? EU Trade subsidies quite simply are the antithesis of free trade, and to state otherwise is a falsehood. And it is a deliberate falsehood unless you wish to claim that the advertisement was somehow published in its current form by some unfortunate accident. If you wish to dispute that, please state why you think the EU CAP system is in fact a free trade system.
Ufortunately, the "free-trade" US does the same. Subsidized US cotton is wiping out small cotton growers in Mali and other African countries. Of course, the cotton-growers association donates considerably more to political powers than small, poor African farmers. It is a pity that we can't practice what we preach and let people lift themselves out of poverty.
"why should they not be attacked?"
I've already said that the ad campaign is wrong. But it's also inconsistent with their full report on trade, and I was hoping for a grown-up debate on that. Obviously I'm looking in the wrong place.
seher squirting carly squirter x@x seehersquirting squirting movie x@x seher scuirt cytherea mpgs x@x tuggjop interracial samples x@x toggjob students movies x@x togjobs eighteens orgy x@x starsze latwe niunie seks x@x striptizerki latwe niunie seks x@x studentki latwe niunie seks x@x pikantne modelki oralnie akty x@x ostre modelki oralnie akty x@x spragnione modelki oralnie akty x@x ostre panny grupowo porno x@x pikantne panny grupowo porno x@x mokre panny grupowo porno x@x seks opalone fotosy x@x porno opalone fotosy x@x erotyka opalone fotosy x@x seks opalone fotosy x@x porno opalone fotosy x@x erotyka opalone fotosy x@x
carmowe fotki porno wielkie cyce
carmowe galerie amatorki
carmowe galerie filmowe fetysze
carmowe galerie filmowe gwiazdy porno
carmowe galerie filmowe hardcore
carmowe galerie filmowe latynoski
carmowe galerie filmowe mature
carmowe galerie filmowe modelki
carmowe galerie filmowe starsze
carmowe galerie filmowe znane kobiety
carmowe galerie hardcore
carmowe galerie modelki
carmowe galerie murzynki
carmowe galerie porno azjatki
carmowe galerie porno hardcore
carmowe galerie porno laski
carmowe galerie porno latynoski
美女视频录像
激情自拍录像
三级片
免费成人电影
免费黄色电影
免费激情电影
免费色情电影
免费性交电影
免费性爱电影
三级片
美女视频录像
人体艺术图辑
黄色网站
色情
色情网站
成人网站
三级片
三级片
三级片
三级片
三级片
三级片
黄色网站
激情小电影
激情小电影
艺术激情享受
激情小电影
日本强奸电影
郎裸体图库
林心如拍黄的图片
性生活片电影在线
性感丝袜美女图片
玉蒲团之玉女心经
十八淫书
色兔妹妹图片
全球十大禁片bt下载
性交裸体图
亚洲成人淫民网
妹妹厕所走光图片
视频聊天
成人电影
黄色电影
激情电影
色情电影
性交电影
性爱电影
情色电影
同志电影下载
激情视频下载
明星露点图片
写真电影
阴部图片
乳房图片
明星裸照
性爱视频
偷拍图片
免费电影网
免费在线电影
看免费电影
免费电影网站
最新韩国电影
两性生活
性教育片
免费电影神话
最新电影无极
免费激情电影
免费黄色电影
最新电影下载
成人性爱电影
美女图片
美女走光
美腿图片
三级片
强奸电影
美女祼体图片
黄色电影下载
免费色情电影
性感美女图片
漂亮妹妹图片
做爱图片
美少女
幼女图片
舒淇写真集舒淇全裸照
偷窥电影偷窥小说偷窥图片
美女被强歼小说
巨乳小电影免费下载
美女厕所偷窥
视频mm自拍艳舞
仙人洞美女
一个馒头引发的血案
神雕侠侣
少妇
美女 美女图
明星露点写真
裸体写真 明星裸体写真
人体艺术写真
美臀
女人图片 性感美女图片
女性乳房 女性乳房写真
女人屁股 女性屁股 偷拍
偷拍女人的图片
18 贴 图 台湾 成人
男同性恋写真图片
午夜天堂成人小说-午夜天堂成人电影
台湾网络小说 台湾网络电影
小龙女与尹志平
图片性闻
美女洗澡小游戏 美女洗澡偷拍电影
艳舞
成人图库
女明星图片
丁字裤
免费电影在线看
免费电视连续剧收看
美臀 翘臀 图片
少妇展穴
色影无忌
三级片
性感美女床上自拍
三级片
免费成人电影
免费黄色电影
免费色情电影
免费成人电影
免费色情电影
免费黄色电影
免费成人电影
免费黄色电影
免费黄色电影
免费色情电影
免费色情电影
床第间的正点自拍
露点图片
女性最易献身时刻
自拍DV
偷拍录象
美女诱惑写真自拍短片
人体艺术另类
成人小说
黄色网站
成人论坛
成人图片
走光
三级片
视频录像激情视频
18dy-脱轨电影,tuogui
性感美女床上自拍
色情影音-激情写真media情色
激动电影-18dy
18dy-激动电影
免费小电影
性电影
免费成人电影下载
免费电影在线观看
宽带电影
经典电影下载
免费恐怖电影
免费影片下载
免费影院
最新大片
十八电影网
美女写真
人体艺术
日本av电影
情色电影
同志电影下载
激情视频下载
明星露点图片
写真电影
阴部图片
乳房图片
人体写真
美国大片
免费成人影片
在线看电影
成人网站
乳房 图 奸淫
极品嫩穴图片
美女插穴
黄色小说
在线激情电影
性教育电影
两性电影
看电影的网站
免费看电影
免费在线电影
免费电影下载