On [On posh white blokes in NGOs]
‘Our Kingdom - Power and Liberty in Britain’
Sam Mwaka-karama
An
article published on a British website; ‘Our Kingdom - Power and Liberty in
Britain’ – caught my attention yesterday 16th Oct 2013: Subject;
Race, Development, NGOs, Gender, UK… [Guppi Bola’s] story is blue eyed in a
subtle kind of way; however it seems the hazel eyed original writer of the
title above [Peter Buffet], and someone else Ben; [Guppi’s boss] may have
triggered the ultimate controversy. Reading Guppi, as the black [under dog] man
I am; I want to appreciate Buffet’s metaphorical ‘I am full, here please’ –
like at the dinner table – the old English country gentleman would most likely
do that and, walk away calmly to the smoking room, as it were.
The issue at hand in Guppi’s discussion [of
Ben’s response to Peter’s Guardian article – and protractedly New York Times
earlier?] opens a direct debate topic and, dramatically; “The world of
development NGOs is full of white men from well off backgrounds. One of them
wrote about how this is a problem in the Guardian last week, and here, one of
their employees responds, looking at who speaks about these things and how; who
is heard, and what should be done about it?”
Certainly to me I think what should be done
about it is encourage the ‘Posh white blokes’ to accept that the Africans [am
Ugandan] are getting well educated enough to run those NGOs. This is a
recognition the [model] or posh white blokes need to share with the [model] or
posh black blokes. It might not be the matter of vacating the seat for the
new-comer at the club dinner table as such – but perhaps creating a squeeze-in
slot.
To me, the problem here might however be
the ‘well off background’ factor. I think all these posh white blokes are being
done favors massively by that ‘well off background’- now don’t read me wrong
here; I think charity management is a delegation of responsibility. And I
believe the Philanthropists or funds contributor charity groups might want to
know who runs the overseas NGO office – what merits might they [as unknown
Africans have] to fit in as a team of ‘posh black blokes’ taking-over from
‘posh white blokes’. How would the blacks perform anyway? I see and seem to
hear these sort of subtle debates at the boardrooms there at the ‘background’
and, my brother Africans might not be up to it by my knowing – I do not want to
sound like one trying to dismiss the status quo in total favor of the white
blokes – because surely management of ‘development NGOs in the social justices’
field need change as well.
The murkier end of the debate is the
shroud! That that dirty old cloth that always covered-up white minds on certain
issues pertaining to black peoples – as Guppi Bola observes; “It strikes me
that it takes someone who looks like you to encourage a response to a problem
that marginalized people have been talking about for many-many years. In
understanding what's needed for a free and fair world, maybe my boss would have
noticed the hundreds of other articles, emails and conversations that spoke of
oppression, privilege, diversity and respect way before Buffet scored an
article in the New York Times”.
And that brings me to my own point of entry
in registering this comment; Guppi slots-in another writer who had for several
years been airing this same views; “Take Teju Cole for example, who tweeted a
series of phrases about the “White savior industrial complex” after the Kony
débâcle more than a year earlier. Cole, an effusive novelist and passionate
equal rights campaigner, speaks vividly about the role of the white male in
many different movements. His article only made it to The Atlantic, but its
relevance is no less significant.
The
inference to ‘[Joseph] Kony 2012’ stark débâcle of the Jason documentary –
which to me points out yet another point in the sometimes fumble-some affairs
of selfless greed in the world of the development NGOs – is fact that the old
boy ‘posh white male’ syndicated by that powerful Philanthropic ‘background’ as
catapulted into the African open field, also developed a hidden [personal]
agenda. Now this new situation is the one that makes some considerations valid;
for instance how the voice of the oppressed actually triggered the precarious
set-up [in the Kony affair] to finally ‘stark debacle’. But certainly even the
Kony documentary had its merits – I mean, what is the point; a man makes a plan
and implements it meticulously to success is merits! If he was white or if he
was black is not the issue. The problem is one way or the other whatever one
does [from within the development NGOs] will eventually involve both black and
white people anyway so, how do you debate powerful ‘posh white males’
dominating the development NGOs and jump to the conclusions that carry racist
under-tone – fine they are advocates of equal rights; the issue is that the development
NGOs field is charity driven and, if a ‘posh white bloke’ wanted to maintain
his personal ‘posh-ness’ then he founds his own money maker and not ‘posh-it’
in the field that has so much to do with not very posh black people. Your
merits are yours personally and, if you use it there and not in public domains
of charity – your achievements will still advance communities of the world one
way or the other be you white or black. I think ‘posh white blokes’ should
found their own ‘Virgins’ and get out of development NGOs. $$$
Writer is an Independent Thinker, Blogger and Book Author.
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