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Not to burst the bubble, but there's a reason why Elon Musk asked for a breakdown of costs for such a plan a few weeks ago. Throwing money at foundations doesn
by ivanmontillam 5y ago
Not to burst the bubble, but there's a reason why Elon Musk asked for a breakdown of costs for such a plan a few weeks ago.
Throwing money at foundations doesn't automagically solves the problem.
Sometimes it happens that if you donate clothes to some African communities, corruption will take over and your donation will not reach the hands of those in most need. The clothes will instead be sold into the illegal markets, profitting feudal lords.
There's not a lack of intention to help, rather it's the structure, the status quo of things that de-incentivizes such help.
- Lich 5y agoA breakdown was provided by the UN. He never responded.
- sh4un 5y agoBest example ever is Haiti.
- cm2012 5y agoYeah, Haiti and Dominican Republic are on the same island and started in the same place 50 years ago. They're now on wildly different projectories.
- int_19h 5y agoI don't think it was in the same place 50 years ago. Dominican governments have been trying to keep immigrants from Haiti out for well over a century by now.
- metadata 5y agoI think parent might be referring to the Red Cross scandal. https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-red-cross-raised-half-a-billion-dollars-for-haiti-and-built-6-homes https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-red-cross-raised-...
- metaphor 5y ago> Sometimes it happens that if you donate clothes to some African communities, corruption will take over and your donation will not reach the hands of those in most need. The clothes will instead be sold into the illegal markets, profitting feudal lords. I'm led to believe[1][2] outrageous profiteering starts well before such donated assets---which are sold in bales---ever reach the shores of Africa. What privileged 1st world citizens naively perceive as altruism turns out to be nothing more than a facade for egregious textile dumping with middlemen in transit to squeeze out any remaining residual profit...and it's turtles all the way to the ad hoc environmental disasters this racket has created in already immensely impoverished countries. [1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-12/fast-fashion-turning-parts-ghana-into-toxic-landfill/100358702 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-12/fast-fashion-turning-... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB3kuuBPVys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB3kuuBPVys
- tonyedgecombe 5y agoClothes are an interesting point to make. One of first industries to develop in emerging economies is textiles. Africa is having to bypass that because it is undermined by our castoffs.