mg, I would if I could. I'm just not sure if my resources would be better spent at home, as kat said, or if my health would hold out in the heat of Iraq. I'm more conditioned for cold than heat ...

Thanks for the link art. I've been looking into credible relief organizations to donate to or volunteer with over the last few days. Click here for another listing of humanitarian organizations providing emergency relief for the people of Iraq.

I wondered about the World Bank being on that list though, as I've heard many conflicting reports about the supposed "help" that particular institution gives third world countries. Here's what veteran activist Starhawk has to say about it:

"World Bank/IMF -- the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are sister institutions. Set up after World War II, originally to loan money for Europe's reconstruction, the World Bank found its loans weren't necessary because the Marshall Plan provided interest-free money. It turned to the Third World, where it has become notorious for making loans for huge, environmentally destructive projects that primarily benefit large transnational corporations. The Narmada Dam project in India which would displace hundreds of thousands of traditional farming families is a current example.

The International Monetary Fund is primarily know for its imposition of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) on Third World countries. By the eighties, the less developed countries were finding that World Bank loans had not, in fact, stimulated their economies, and they were unable to pay the interest on their large international loans. The IMF stepped in, offering to loan more money to service the debts on outstanding loans, but imposing policies on the countries in question that required them to orient their economies to earning foreign exchange rather than providing for the needs of their people. They were to open their resources to foreign investment and cut programs in education, health care, or social welfare. The U.N. estimates that six million children a year die because of policies imposed by the IMF and World Bank."


Finding credible relief organizations appears to be a piece of work! In the meantime, I intend to help War Child Canada, by buying their Peace Songs CD (all proceeds earmarked for the relief of Iraqi children) when it's released on April 15. I posted a thread about it a few days ago - and there's information at the link.

Peace - daylia