Wagatwe Wanjuki: if the "charity" is only done to amass more wealth and power, then we absolutely should care about that.

honestly I think motives matter MORE when doing charity. philanthrocapitalism only reinforces inequality.

if the "charity" is only done to amass more wealth and power, then we absolutely should care about that.

bill gates is one of my favorite examples. white billionaire uses the continent as a testing ground, creating charity projects to "help" Africans. then he sells what he learns and then uses that money to undermine policy that'd help native Africans long term

you really don't have to defend white people using algorithm-friendly philanthropy to build wealth. it's a shitty model designed to sustain the status quo!

another example

“At this point, Bezos Earth Fund’s enormous presence in the climate and conservation space starts to look less philanthropical, and more like an attempt to take over the corporate governance system for its own interests and agenda.”

The Bezos Earth fund has pumped billions into climate and nature projects. So why are experts uneasy?www.theguardian.com Jeff Bezos’s $10bn climate and biodiversity fund has garnered glittering prizes, but concerns have been voiced over the influence it can buy – and its interest in carbon offsets

They are philanthropy perverts, only funding what gets them off in terms of control. Effective Altruism is a cult.

Don’t forget being a disaster to public education

and public health! and farming! and many other things! he suuuucks

Yeah few people have had quite the impact on ensuring covid is here to stay that Bill gates has

Asking sincerely: what is the Gates -> covid connection? Or is it just "his foundation's efforts have put enough suspicion on vaccines that..."?

Lobbied to prevent vaccine patents from being opened, pressured some group too not let theirs be open source

Yeah, his idea to provide toilets for developing nations involved expensive, high-tech toilets that needed to source components from companies he invested in. Completely ignoring ways to build ones just as sanitary that cost almost nothing.

didn't he end up selling the tech to NASA or something? like he clearly just intended to get a government contract and used impoverished Africans as a marketing tool

It wouldn't surprise me. From the get-go, it seemed clear to me that his charitable work was more about a tax-dodge than actually doing anything to help people.

And reinforce white saviorism & supremecy, as so so so so so many do.

(Apologies if I'm stepping into an already ongoing conversation)

you're fine! we're on the same page

While I'm almost always like: take their money *and* give them shit... Sometimes that money does more to divide. Like it's not a vanity donation or a "cover" to make people forget bad shit they did. Sometimes it's a lot more sinister and yeah- that can matter a LOT.

An example I use of "more than just rich people using charity for personal gain* like... if Jimmy Saville offered you a million for a children's hospital.. Or if nestle wants to 'donate' formula.

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