Private Voluntary Organizations As Agents Of Development by Robert F. Gorman

Author:Robert F. Gorman [Gorman, Robert F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Sociology
ISBN: 9781000308167
Google: Xq2bDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-06-04T04:55:46+00:00

The Feasibility of an Apolitical Position

Rev. Msgr. Roland Bordelon, CRS Director for South America, admitted that, while on the level of intention it is necessary and possible for a relief-oriented PVO to have an apolitical position, in the order of implementation it is very difficult. He stated that:

As soon as you accept a dollar from a government--whether it be Sweden, Canada or the U.S.--there is a political tinge. As soon as you work under approval from a host government, e.g., Chile or Peru--there will always be a little political tinge.34

CRS participated from 1975 through 1978 in the Minimum Employment Program (PEM) of the Chilean government by contributing food packages destined for workers in partial payment for their labor in public works projects. This program, however, has been highly exploitative of workers in that it has not paid them the legal minimum wage and has also used such laborers in productive (not merely marginal) jobs, thus replacing many full-time public employees. Moreover, none of the PEM laborers receive social security or health care, nor are they guaranteed work on anything more permanent than a day-to-day basis. In the perspective of most Chileans, PEM has not been a service to the poor but one more manipulative instrument of the government against them.35

CRS participated in PEM for three years largely for political reasons. Groups within Chile brought pressure to bear on AID (CRS' single most important benefactor), convincing U.S. government officials that PEM was a step toward alleviating unemployment and hunger in Chile in 1975. AID, in turn, urged officials of CRS in New York to contribute some PL 480 food to PEM despite some internal reservations on the part of the CRS staff. The Chilean Catholic Church's local affiliate of CRS, Cáritas, acted as the local conduit of the food packages for PEM. Many Chileans in the working classes were scandalized by this very ambiguous and political action by local and international agencies of the Church, and saw it as furthering the Chilean junta's exploitative policies. CRS and Cáritas withdrew from PEM in 1978, not because of the moral or political implications of PEM, but because AID no longer considered Chile a priority area for its Food for Peace program and thus reduced its PL 480 programs in that country.36

Other large U.S. PVOs also have difficulty in staying free of politics. While representatives in CARE USA, for example, indicated to me that their organization takes an apolitical stance, the reality in some cases may be otherwise. Thomas Kines, National Director of CARE Canada, in assessing the position of his U.S. counterpart, felt there is at times a definite political orientation in the decisions of CARE USA:

The U.S. branch of CARE is most sensitive to what the U.S. government wants. When we meet in New York to discuss worldwide CARE projects, sometimes when we seem to agree that CAKE should not pursue some projects on technical grounds, the New York directors say, "Wait a minute. AID wants us in there. Get AID on the phone right now and let1s talk to them about this.

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