Emilly C. Maractho (PhD)
It may be a while before we come to terms with recent events around international aid unravelled by a series of executive orders signed by the American President, Donald Trump.
Many are angry, including those who just a few months ago supported his candidature. They never saw this coming. Some are bewildered, thus desperately calling for immediate action to reverse those decisions. Not even the recent end of the democratic governance facility could have prepared Ugandans for this. Occasionally, it is hard to appreciate the anger or entitlement.
Someone has been supporting you and one day they decide to end it. They are doing what you should perhaps be doing for yourself. The first reaction is to be angry with them and give those labels. They are very inconsiderate, mean, mad, difficult, and all other uncharitable labels. You claim that they have so much money they do not know what to do with it. Now they are misusing their power too. They just want you to die of hunger or whatever it is that may take you without their handout.
You start wishing them very bad things, marshal all kinds of bad intentions. Rather than say thank you for the help thus far, let me find new ways to live, you rally others to hate them too. I know some will say, this is not fair. This is the American President we are talking about. Millions and millions of jobs are at stake in many countries. Most of us know a person affected. Real lives are at stake.
The grass and crops in our backyard so far away from America will suffer because funding for climate change is dwindling. Yes, we can raise the stakes and make this no ordinary matter. To think our beloved media is a victim too, how can that be acceptable? We could find good reasons to remain angry.
One of the most forceful arguments I have heard since these events is that we could roll back gains made by women’s participation in public life or wipe out any potential for their future participation if nothing is done about these things of Mr Trump. If you do not see the connection, there it is – gender, health and climate can go to the back burner and in the hands of those it concerns.
People are finally wondering if it is okay to have women’s empowerment as an organisational goal if their funding opportunities are not to be jeopardised. We have to wonder if diversity is a good word, thing or not. For some, this is a game. For others a serious existential threat.
With many funders forced to reconsider their priorities, the areas likely to suffer are those that do not offer dramatic episodes of loss like women’s empowerment or media freedom. But what if an end in a relationship like that is actually the beginning of freedom?
Imagine not having to deal with the conditions and embracing the freedom that comes with not having them? What if their going away is actually an opportunity for better partners to come and see just how valuable you are? What if their absence allows you to reach for that depth within yourself that you knew nothing about? What if this is a good opportunity for you to grow up and start looking at what your leaders are doing with interest? What if this makes government use domestic revenue a little more wisely?
Many more people in civil society organisations are now concerned about sustainability, being frugal and changing their ways of doing things. They see this as an opportunity to cultivate meaningful partnerships and relationship with domestic actors and leaders. This could give them real freedom.
In the book, Angela Merkel: The Chancellor and her world, it is noted that without freedom there is nothing. According to her, ‘Freedom is the joy of achievement, the flourishing of the individual, the celebration of difference, the rejection of mediocrity, personal responsibility’ and of course, that the secret of freedom is courage. And we have been falling short on all these things with all that aid, embracing mediocrity.
In the development literature, there were these guys who argued that the developing world would never deal with underdevelopment unless they broke away from dependent relationships. They were persuasive and got people to like what they were saying but not enough to have the courage to break away.
Even though it seemed like the right thing, it never got done. So the temptation is to let sleeping dogs lie for as long as necessary until something or someone comes and shakes you. Maybe, Mr Trump has just shaken people. They may as well wake up and gather some courage to reach higher for the freedom to do things differently and to achieve on their own terms. Just maybe.
Emilly Maractho
