SIR, — I read Colm Brogan's case for neo-colonialism with interest. In
his advocacy of aid with strings, he starts with the innocuous one of right to audit and presumably would like to include interference with 'damaging' social customs. Since he believes that Russia will not give equivalent aid, the test he proposes for proud-spirited Asian and African leaders is blackmail in reverse.-
It appears to me that he makes a partial con- cession to the Communist case on colonialism by claiming that the ex-colonies stand badly in need of the most primitive medical care and the most primitive agricultural instruction. Perhaps- he could have taken a slightly more tolerant view of status symbols as even advanced nations hanker after costly nuclear symbols.
I hasten to add that I am not unduly sensitive to criticism and outward opinion.
I have seen in India positive and immediate benefits flowing from Oxfam and I am an admirer of its work.
Peterhouse, Cambridge
S. RANGAN 1111AN
Previous page
