Quote of the Day

"Soon after the real colonialists left Africa, a new breed of Western colonialists emerged: the statist Non-Governmental Organisations that want to save us from everything from genetically-modified food to globalisation - and growth. These 'consumer' and humanitarian groups and 'development' charities are united in the belief that modern industrial civilisation, profit and competition are unethical.

In their view, people, particularly in developing countries, would be better served by state control that puts 'equity' and the redistribution of wealth ahead of the economic dynamism that has enriched the West and such eastern countries as Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. But despite their claims to speak for the poor, only a few hundred of the several thousand NGOs registered at the United Nations come from developing countries. The vast majority are from the USA, with many from Britain, France and Germany.

These groups have influence way beyond their size. Many poor countries do not have the technical capacity to formulate their own policies for services such as health, so they consult NGOs or bodies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), mandated with providing impartial scientific advice to governments. The WHO has been colonised by these NGOs, acting as policy consultants and playing a big part in formulating the WHO's technical and policy advice to members." — Temba Nolutshungu, director of Free Market Foundation of Southern Africa and South African libertarian