There’s a fresh debate going on in Norway right, touching right into the heart of aid politics. It all started with a chronicle I wrote that was published in Bergens Tidende on April 28th, entitled Be om unnskyldning, Egeland.

Here are a few quotes from the chronicle that translates to ‘Egeland, you owe an apology‘:

…for despite claims of having acted under good pretenses, a great wrong has been done to a people who have had its leadership publicly discredited on the international scene, its sensitive economy disrupted by an invasion of foreign food distributions and its local food culture ridiculed on international television. An excuse from those responsible would be in place, but now that the tide has turned, the voices of the actors previously so fond of the cameras seem to have gone mute.

…And so I ask: has the man who blatantly took credit for having resolved a famine that never was, nothing to say to his defense?

Esther Garvi, Eden Foundation

The debate that followed can be found here.

Other related articles include:

Media distorts the image of Africa, published in Bergens Tidende on April 29th, 2008

Our prejudices rule, published in Bergens Tidende on April 29th, 2008

Harmful aid, published in Bergens Tidende on April 30th, 2008

Norwegian People’s Aid goes self-critical, published in Bergens Tidende on May 3rd, 2008

…I am sorry for using words and expressions that may have caused misunderstandings. Of course, I do not condone lying.

…It is better, cheaper and more effective to prevent crises, rather than reacted to them. But all journalists think that it is better to write about an [ongoing] aid campaign rather than what is being done to prevent the crisis. It’s a dilemma, for we depend on attention to get money.

…what the researchers must understand, is that we need to finance our work. We use a lot of resources to raise money.

Petter Eide, Norwegian People’s Aid

Aid in crisis, published in Bergens Tidende on May 3rd, 2008

Aid organizations have problems with both communication and action. There is a huge difference between what they say, what they want to do and what they actually get done.

Tarje Iversen Wanvik

Why is Egeland silent? published in Bergens Tidende on May 4th, 2008

There was a crisis in Niger, published in Bergens Tidende on May 4th, 2008

Journalists want the television aid galas to end, published in Bergens Tidende on May 4th, 2008

To watch the Norwegian version of the Famine Scam in English, click here.