About the Author
Born and raised in Dublin Ireland, I became politically aware at a young age. I was 16 when George Bush Junior was pushing towards an invasion of Iraq. I joined the anti-war movement and attended weekly meetings helping to organise and publicise protest marches in Dublin and Shannon. After finishing secondary school I spent 2 months travelling through Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Egypt during which time Israel invaded southern Lebanon. A year later I travelled to the Occupied Palestinian Territories with a group of Irish political activists, journalists and community workers to learn more about the situation on the ground. We met with peace activists, refuseniks, medical professionals, university professors and students and I witnessed first hand the violent treatment of Palestinians at check points and how the Israeli occupation affects the lives of ordinary people.
I went on to study for my Bachelor Degree in International Relations at Dublin City University graduating in 2010 with first class honours. During my time in university my interest in Middle Eastern politics grew to include a great interest in Latin American Politics (particularly the then emerging move to the left), the political role of human rights, economic neo-imperialism, women’s rights, US foreign policy and the role of multinational corporations and NGOs in creating the current world system.
Between my first and second years of study I travelled through Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. Following my second year in university, as my course did not have an Erasmus option in a Spanish speaking country, I deferred my final year of studies and travelled to Central America on my own for 6 months to improve my Spanish and learn more about the cultures of these countries.
After finishing University, in November of 2010, I returned to Central America for a further 6 months during which I spent time working as Volunteer Coordinator and PA to the General Coordinator of a small development project (Caras Alegres) located in Las Rosas, a small village outside of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. I witnessed first hand the level of poverty and social exclusion felt by Guatemala’s indigenous population, particularly indigenous women.
Since returning to Ireland I have spent time working as a volunteer researcher with the Latin American Solidarity Centre and as a web communications volunteer with the European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland. I will be leaving again for Nicaragua in a few weeks where I intend to spend a number of months volunteering.
Dear Jenny,
Your piece on NGO shenanigans is jaw droppingly fact packed and excellent. A resource piece to file and keep for reference for all time. (http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/04/ngo-the-guise-of-innocence) One of my paramount rants, I could go on and on as to personal experiences with some household names ones and some who spring up, say all the right things, get caught and vanish of the planet (with the names associated with them.) But yours is a ground breaker. Congratulations and many thanks.
Your article above can now be also found here: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=30191 I took the liberty of forwarding. Kindest, felicity a.
Hi Jenny,
I just came across your piece about NGOs on DV. Terrific. Well done. I smelled a rat from day one of the so-called “Arab Spring”.
john andrews
Felicity and John, thank you both very much for your positive responses to my article, I appreciate the input.
And Felicity, thank you for sending me the link to globalresearch.ca, it’s fantastic to see the untold side of a story spread as far and wide as possible!
This is a very new blog so content is limited at the moment but there will certainly be more to come so watch this space!
Happy Easter to you both,
Jenny.
Dear Jenny,
I really enjoyed reading your article on Jeffery Sachs’ Bid for WB President. I run a think tank called http://www.thedevelopmentcafe.org and its main functions as an organization are listed here http://www.dev-cafe.org. We would be very happy if you can contribute to our think tank and also get involved with us in having a development cafe chapter in Ireland. Do write to me if interested.
Best regards,
Valentine
Hi Valentine,
I would be very happy to get involved with your think tank, particularly in establishing a development cafe chapter in Ireland. Do you have an email address I could contact you on to discuss these issues in more detail?
All the best,
Jenny.
Dear Jenny,
I found your article well written and a useful part of an important discussion; but I must disagree with you on your definition of NGOs, which is much too narrow. Many NGO receive funds from governments, especially those who take contracts. The taking of funds from governments doesn’t make them a non-NGO; its the degree of independence that matters. I absolutely respect those who never take government funding; but it is short-sighted to claim that if a non-profit does, it isn’t an NGO. Many NGOs have a political or religious agenda as well. As for Freedom House, one of its founders Eleanor Roosevelt, would strongly disagree that it is NOT an NGO. To the contrary, the organization is a chartered non-profit that has a record of challenging the US government and other governments.
Dear Larry,
Thank you for your comment and I am sorry it has taken me so long to respond.
I had not intended to define NGO as ‘entity that does not receive government funding’. It is the combination of majority government funding, a blatant political agenda that suspiciously reflects United States foreign policy interests and preferences and the prominence of former government officials, politicians and military on the board of the National Endowment for Democracy that makes it difficult to define it as an NGO by anyone’s definition. Usually when an organisation receives the majority of its funding from government it would ensure that its board does not consist of government or former government figures in order to perceived as a genuine NGO but this is not the case with NED. It is true that many religious NGOs have an agenda but this agenda is usually far more transparent and out in the open. The NED is far more illusive in describing its clearly right-wing and highly political agenda.
You are correct that Freedom House is a far less nefarious organisation than NED but it cannot be denied that the organisation has used its monopoly on ‘freedom statistics’ to promote a right-wing notion of what freedom is. Left-wing countries with regular free and fair elections are defined by Freedom House as less free than right-wing autocratic regimes.
HI Jenny, thanks for your thoughtful response to mine. I do agree that at times it is hard to separate government and NGO, especially when one uses former government officials, although I was a Director in an NGO, and it is doubtful anyone felt they or I took instructions from any government, even though I’m a former diplomat. That said, I do know of some who are essentially agents of governments. I think you are making what to me is a useful discussion, one which I plan to follow. PS. I wrote a book on techniques of Diplomacy, which is intended to help animal welfare NGOs. You can find it on Springer.com; and I’m doing one now as well for humanitarian NGOs. I would very much welcome your comments and reflections on the first part of the book, which asks NGOs to engage in real diplomacy, compete in other words with government diplomats. I think you will agree with the argumentation; but I’d very much like your critical input. If that’s of interest, my email is roederzaway at yahoo.
Dear Ms O’Connor:
I really enjoyed your essay “Austerity, Growth and Germany’s European Policy” (recently re-produced in the online version of Counterpunch). Your article is full of well-informed, timely and intelligent observations. The picture you draw of the current state of Europe, and of the Eurozone in particular, seems entirely accurate. Excellent diagnosis!
I find the remedy you offer, alas, somewhat less convincing: that is, the adoption of a latter-day version of the Marshal Planl, with Germany in the role of the United States.
For one, I’m convinced the Marshall Plan was far less successful than the history books would have us believe. Germany, of course –and to a significantly smaller extent France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria– flourished impressively almost as soon as ERP funds were made available. The same, however, cannot be said for several other major beneficiaries.
Italy, for instance gets, at best, mixed reviews: While Northern Italy quickly regained its previous status as one of the sophisticated manufacturing regions of the world, Central Italy –especially south of Rome– remained (and remains) stagnant and economically lackluster to this day. the Far South of Italy, and Sicily, resemble nothing so much –economically– as neighboring Third World countries such as Tunisia and Egypt –despite heavy infusions of international grants and loans. Another recipient of sizeable ERP funds (in proportion to its population) was Greece, which resulted in very modest economic gains –as is all too obvious today.
You failed to mention Britain, which was perhaps the largest recipient of ERP aid: Notwithstanding, Britain’s industrial and manufacturing sectors have continued to decline steadily since then.
You cannot transfer a healthy economy –like, say, Germany’s– from one region to another that is completely different and at a much lower level of economic development and sophistication. Economies are complex, self-regulating systems, like biological organisms, that can be stimulated and nurtured to some extent, but in the end, have to grow from the bottom up, and in their own good time. They are vulnerable to mis-conceived policies.
Rather than proceed with a lengthy and boring disquisition on what I think really needs to be done if Europe is to regain its economic well-being, I’ll simply refer you to the work of the late Jane Jacobs. Have you heard of her? Have you read any of her books? She was a great intellectual outlier, dedicated to the understanding of urban life and its role in economic development. Because of her independence and originality, she continues to be ignored or marginalized by much of the academic and professional establishment: city planners, macro-economists, policy wonks, etc.
I strongly suggest you read one of several key works by Jacobs, for instance the concise “Cities and the Wealth of Nations” (Random House, 1984 –still in print). I don’t think you’ll regret it. She writes about such topics as the Marshall Plan, the uniformization of currencies, regional and inter-regional trade, and economic globalization with stunning luminosity and unfailing common sense.
Wishing you the best,
David Isenbergh
Washington, DC
Dear David,
Thank you for your comment. I believe, however, that you may have misconstrued the remedy I was proposing. The point of my article was to demonstrate that there are a number of socially orientated policy options that cost very little and to show that Germany’s current insistence on austerity without any socially orientated policies is damaging to her image in Europe.
The reason I mention the Marshal Plan was not to propose that Germany provide a Marshal Plan for Europe as this would be disastrous. Germany remains the economy that is keeping the European economy afloat, should she start to use this economic advantage to endlessly bail out other European countries, it would destabilise the core economy of Europe the result of which would be a far deeper crisis and probably the collapse of the single currency. My reason for mentioning the Marshal Plan was to show that Germany claims that her post-war economic rebuilding and strength can be attributed solely to a strict austerity regime simply are not true. Similarly, the reframing of the European crisis as a crisis of government borrowing and spending, in the case of Ireland and Spain, is simply incorrect and offensive as both had very small amounts of structural debt before the crisis.
My main point was to show that these lines of German rhetoric are counter productive and that her lack of socially orientated polices has merely served to alienate people in Europe. I believe that austerity is necessary, but alone it will achieve nothing. There are, however, other options beyond Keynesian style direct economic stimulus. See my conversation with Mark, above, in which I make clear the reasoning for my critique of Germany’s Europe policy.
typo. roederaway