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I slept one hour last night, but I’m doing well. Had to be up at half past five, in order to appear live at quarter past seven this morning on God morgen Norge. It was a nice brief chat with Signe Tynning and Nils Gunnar Lie and I am left wondering what Norway is thinking.

The UN are furious (no surprise here). Egeland is furious (no surprise here). The BBC are furious (no surprise here). Although my personal opinion was that Johanne Sekkenes of the MSF (Doctors without borders) came out very well (as a individual wanting to do good and set things right), the organization produced a press release showing that they are furious/upset as well.

Norway is left wondering what on earth happened; the world is left wondering why there are politics behind aid which is supposed to be something genuine and beautiful (after all, the aim is to help others, not ourselves!); and I am left wondering why it is ok to show demeaning pictures of Africans and why the needs and values of Africans (often so different from the Western world) are constantly ignored, while the world claims to be speaking in its interest?

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Copyright Eden Foundation 2006

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Copyright Eden Foundation 2006

If there is one thing I would like from this whole thing, it is for the poorest of the poor to have their voice heard, and to be respected for all they are. The one thing that stands out to me in this documentary is that the poor get to speak and have their say. Dignity is important to all people. Why is the world so set on destroying that? What purpose can it serve?

As for the voice of the Norwegian people, the debates are up. On the Norwegian site Debatt under the topic ‘Is Egeland Bluffing?’, “TV titter” writes the following (”roughly translated”, as usual):

There is a need for a thorough debate about how people in Africa are portrayed in Western media. Newspapers and television show close-up pictures of African children in such a disrespectful way that similar footage of Western children of would have landed you in jail [the police]. Aid organizations and journalists completely ignore the tradition African food, and African countries are bombarded with food handouts that destroy their agricultural economy. The aid organizations exaggerate on purpose in order to raise money and maintain their administrative positions. Ordinary people have to wake up!

I also recommend Knut Sparhell’s post on the documentary.