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Fighting Poverty and Repression

Interview with Toby Truell of Corso

• Journal: A lot of people still see Corso as an aid organisation whose work consists of sending old clothes to the poor overseas. Is this what you still do today?

Truell: Despite the fact that Corso moved away from sending old clothes overseas in the early 1970's, that image still remains. There are a number of reasons why we stopped doing that. One is that it looks like giving the caste-offs of the rich to the poor. Another is that supplying old clothes from NZ undermined efforts to set up local clothing industries in some small economies. A third and very important reason is that giving material things makes Third World people dependent - like Oliver Twist and the soup kitchen.

One of the most basic human needs is for people to get self respect, dignity and self-reliance. Giving old clothes and milk biscuits does not do that - it makes them more dependent. Some aid agencies still go in for this sort of aid but Corso would look on it with grave misgivings.

• But most of the money Corso raises in its annual appeal and in other ways is still sent overseas. What sort of things is it spent on?

The poor are invariably poor because they are powerless. They have no bargaining power and no clout. One of the ways they can get some power is by getting together and acting collectively, like a trade union.

A lot of the projects we are being asked to fund now involve collective organisations, for example village leadership projects. These are aimed at getting people to identify their own situation and making them aware their poverty is man-made, not ordained by God, and that if it's man-made it can be unmade by man.

Someone once said that poverty is when someone else decides how you can live. We are trying to help the poor get a greater say over how they decide they shall live. Setting up village organisations so people can get together collectively is one example of the projects we are funding. Another example is establishing local newspapers in the local language which can be passed from village to village to help the people fight unjust landlords or the actions of governments and multinational corporations.

The main thing is making people aware that they don't have to be poor and that they can do something about it, that they are not powerless.

When the colonial powers seized large areas of the Third World they brought with them an alien message. That message of opportunism, individualism and capitalism was opposite to the local culture of communalism and the extended family. This alien philosophy sets man against man and destroys the natural heritage of the people.

• How successful have these sorts of aid projects been?

They have been going mainly over the last three years and have been much more successful in changing people's attitudes, for example the attitude that they must be dependent on handouts from the rich.

The poor are invariably poor because They are powerless.

I should add that as well as having projects in a number of parts of the world, the situations of the people we are assisting do vary. In some places the local people are just becoming aware what they can do if they join together collectively. In other areas we are supporting people who have suffered and are suffering the most vicious oppression because they are fighting for national independence and against imperialism.

For example we are giving assistance to the people of Nicaragua in the reconstruction of their country after years of brutal misrule by the US-backed Somoza family. Corso is funding an educational aid project in Eritrea, a country whose people are fighting for national independence against the Ethiopian government which is armed and supported by the Soviet Union.

And in Southern Africa we have been giving humanitarian assistance to the liberation movements in Azania (South Africa) and Zimbabwe. The people of countries like Zimbabwe and Nicaragua are showing what Third World people can do once they realise that they don't have to be the hewers of wood and drawers of water for someone else.

• When you get a project going do you put a limit on Corso's involvement so a local community organisation, for example, won't become dependent on your assistance for ever?

Our aim is to promote self-reliance. Many projects go on developing after we've finished funding them but we keep in contact with them.

We have moved from one year funding to a programme of funding over a four to five year period so the local people know they will have some security and support for a definite period.

Our aim is to promote self-reliance. Many projects go on developing after we've finished funding them...

One example is the National Rural Conference in Sri Lanka. One of the main objects of that organisation has been to examine ways by which the alienation of Sri Lankan youth could be arrested. The problem they face is a world-wide one and something we've got here in New Zealand as well. Young people drift into the cities, they can't find work or have to take up rotten jobs and become apathetic and give up hope.

By establishing co-operative farms and so on in rural areas of Sri Lanka, the conference aims to give young people self-respect opportunities to work for themselves, their families and their communities and to get them to take their share of responsibility politically, culturally and socially.

• There have been many cases where government officials and local capitalists in Third World countries have profited from overseas aid by stealing goods for themselves or reselling them at huge prices. What safeguards does Corso have to prevent it being ripped off by unscrupulous individuals overseas?

We're careful and cautious in giving aid. We try to make sure it's the right kind of aid and that it goes to the right people.

Because Corso has been going for 36 years we have a lot of reliable overseas contacts who can check out requests for funding for us. We also send our own staff overseas to investigate projects and we bring people here who can tell New Zealanders what life is really like for them in their countries.

We try to evaluate projects once a year to see how they are going. One of our aims in doing this is to see if the methods used in one project in one country can be applied in other areas.

• You mentioned that Corso has brought people to New Zealand to explain the oppression they suffer in their own countries. Can you give some examples?

Last year we organised a tour of NZ by Pat Dodson, a Catholic priest who is a leading aborigine activist in Australia. He talked about the struggle of the black Australian minority for land rights and their battles against multinational mining companies and the government.

We also supported visits by Filipino activists who explained how the people of their country - one of the richest in Southeast Asia - are exploited by foreign imperialism and have suffered under martial law.

NZ bears a lot of responsibility for a lot of the poverty in the Pacific islands.

• As well as supporting projects that promote self-reliance in Third World countries, does Corso try to expose the effects of traditional types of aid by the NZ Government?

We look at the causes of poverty and try to make New Zealanders aware of the contributing factors.

Whereas the United States bears much of the responsibility for the poverty that exists in Latin America, NZ bears a lot of responsibility for a lot of the poverty in the Pacific islands. We have very favourable trade balances with these countries and government aid from NZ helps this country more than it helps the island peoples. Over 50% of NZ government aid is spent here and doesn't even get to the islands.

When this aid does go overseas it helps to set up NZ industries, for example the soccer ball factory in Nuie. This industry isn't much good to the Nuieans because they have to import NZ leather and that's not much use because you can't eat leather. Much of the work in producing a soccer ball is hand sewing the leather, a very hard job. But NZ makes very good profits out of this aid by using cheap Nuiean labour.

• One criticism that's often heard of overseas aid agencies and people who support them is the argument that we should clean up our own backyard before sticking our noses into others' business. What attention does Corso pay to poverty and suffering in New Zealand?

As far as we are concerned Corso would not have any integrity if it ignored what is going on in this country and pretended that poverty just exists overseas.

Corso funded the film A Fair Deal which exposed the growing gap between rich and poor in NZ as well as poverty in the Third World. We were bitterly attacked for that by the government, as we were for making a small contribution to a Wellington Trades Council publication explaining the rising cost of living in this country.

Corso would not have any integrity if it ignored what is going on in this country and pretended that poverty just exists overseas.

• And by doing things like that Corso has paid a high price for its principles because the government withdrew its grant and the tex deductibility status of donations to Corso.

Yes. In addition to losing tax deductibility of donations and the $40,000 annual grant we were subjected to some very scurrillous abuse by government MPs about our organisation, the people in it and the projects we were funding.

But these attacks on us brought a lot of support for Corso. Some 60 overseas organisations and as many in New Zealand protested against the attacks on Corso. One of the organisations that defended us was the Federation of Labour, a long-time constituent of Corso, and a number of its affiliated unions.

However the withdrawal of government support has had its effects and has alienated some who do not understand the issues and who have a Victorian attitude towards aid and injustice.

• Would you say that by supporting Corso NZ workers are supporting their brothers and sisters overseas?

Yes. It has to be understood that people in many Third World countries face almost unbelievable suffering and oppression. Working for an organisation like Corso makes you realise that you can't just read about human suffering and oppression. You have to do something to support the people who are the victims of it.