Archive for November, 2006



Saturday, November 25th, 2006

An urgent appeal from Rav Casley Gera

Faithful reader,
First, let me take the opportunity to thank you for your support over the first few weeks of this project. Your comments, whether complimentary or critical, are invaluable. Even the ones that offer me viagra.
Now, however, I turn to you in dire need of further assistance.
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Saturday, November 25th, 2006

Commission to Mars*

The conversation on how to reduce Africa’s poverty problem is fraught with disagreements. Aid: essential lifeline or dictator’s delight? But one thing which almost everyone agrees on is the importance of economic growth.1 Growth, the argument goes, means a “larger pie” to feed everyone with. Jeffrey Sachs (who I’ll go back to soon, I promise) […]

No Comments » - Posted in The Main Proposals by Rav Casley Gera



Tuesday, November 21st, 2006

Commission: Impossible 3 - The One No One Watched

News coverage of Africa isn’t just about starvation, disease and corruption. It’s also about war - or, as modern policy-speak seems to have labelled it, Conflict. Many Africans are sick of the continent being associated with non-stop war, just like they’re sick of it being associated with non-stop starvation and misery. But just as, despite […]

No Comments » - Posted in The Main Proposals by Rav Casley Gera



Saturday, November 18th, 2006

Commission: Impossible 2

Criticisms of Africa’s governance have long been a staple of many of the voices opposed to aid and debt relief. Africa, they say, is poor because it’s mismanaged. We shouldn’t throw any more good money after bad until they improve. So it’s interesting that the Report of the Commission for Africa, rather than simply leaping […]

No Comments » - Posted in The Main Proposals by Rav Casley Gera



Sunday, November 12th, 2006

Fantastic stats: the answers!

Missed the questions?
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Sunday, November 12th, 2006

Fantastic stats

The Africa Commission Report is peppered with some of the most eye-catching statistics about Africa’s development plight. Now, we all know out-of-context statistics aren’t to be trusted. But they sound really good when you drop them into conversations.
To make things interesting I’ve jumbled them up. Can you match the figure to the fact?
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2 Comments » - Posted in The Main Proposals by Rav Casley Gera



Sunday, November 12th, 2006

Commission Impossible?

The Commission for Africa (which everyone calls the Africa Commission) was set up in early 2004 to study the “Africa problem” in detail and come up with proposals for the UK’s presidency of the G8. Its report, entitled Our Common Interest, was published in book form and online in early 2005.*
Because the publicity blitz surrounding […]

No Comments » - Posted in The Main Proposals by Rav Casley Gera