Oxfam Bombast

Every street in Britain seems to have a horde of attractive young hippy-esque charity collectors; they spring on you, ever-ready with a smile and an engaging story of the inordinate good you £5 a month direct debit will engender in the planet. My question is this: how can the request for money be refused? Most of the causes are worthy; the amount of money is not much; we are affluent and buy cappuccinos. Yet structurally we can not say yes to everyone, or we will in fact have no money. But what is the medium used by charity collection? Guilt, just like all other superego messages which surround us and infect us.

We must be hedonists, but sculpt our bodies dawn to dusk and eat only cauliflower.

We must be caring and 'tolerant' but report any suspicious behaviour or bags left unattended.

We must be secular but spiritual.

We must exercise our freedom of choice, but make only the right choices.

We must feed ourselves, and not expect State handouts, but give all our money to charity.

Fail any of these (and the myriad other double-binds) and the upshot is guilt.

In reality what do these charity organisations do, not physically, but psychologically to us? They keep suffering at an arms length. We pay gap year students and those with Big Hearts and sublime souls to do aid for us. When we don't give to charity, we don't keep suffering at arms length; it is right upon us. We have not paid anyone to help. We feel guilty.

Charity functions like the Buddhist prayer wheel, where a strip of paper with a prayer inscribed upon it is clipped onto a wooden wheel. This wheel turns; the wind carries the prayer; we can keep doing whatever else it is which needs doing; we are objectively praying. Oxfam is my prayer wheel. That is why charities always have the hook 'just a few pounds a month...' You are objectively helping.

EXCEPT that they do not help that much. They plaster over cracks, and only then when aims become large. Oftentimes cracks remain unplastered. Yes a few people may be helped, even a million, and yet, have the structural coordinates which created disaster been altered?

The Nazis killed the Jews rather than destroy the capitalists who were really exploiting German workers; the Jews were a terrible sacrifice to the impotence and unwillingness of the Nazis to genuinely effect the coordinates of exploitation. That is why communists were the first to die in the Third Reich -they were trying to strike directly at those coordinates, and the fascists couldn't be having that; after all, many wealthy capitalists were of 'fine Aryan stock', plus the State needed their money and expertise.

Charities are our liberal act of impotence and unwillingness. We don't want to slow consumption, pay more for commodities, to lower trade barriers, to open our borders totally. We don't want to effect genuine change and openness. We don't want them here. To keep them there we have tight immigration policy and Orwellian border police, and so that we aren't all stick and no carrot, we send charities over. The subtext to the whole system is: 'we want your minerals, your agricultural produce, you university graduates, and we want them all cheap. But once we have ravaged your land and people we do not want you. I know this sounds harsh, but here is clean drinking water and a tent. And do not worry, you suffering is justified. It is fate. A mere competitive market disadvantage. The IMF will be along shortly to give further help.'