Back in September I had a bit of a rant when the Globe and Mail provided me with a special Kielburger section to the paper, without mentioning it was paid advertising. (Paid in one way or another.)
I wrote an indignant letter to the ed, and another one to the public editor, fully apprising them of my indignation. These efforts went nowhere.
I couldn't believe that I'm the only one who smells fish in the Kielburger creation myth, and so I googled "Kielburger critics."
Low and behold, these guys came up.
That's the first I ever heard of CanadaLand, which tells you something about how dialled in I am on what's happening in resistance culture. They were ranting about the Globe's Kielburger collaborations years before I even noticed them!
Anyway, I think I'll let them carry the ball. I can't afford to get sued.
Showing posts with label Kielburger cult. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kielburger cult. Show all posts
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Monday, March 31, 2014
Junior says "nein danke" to Kielburger Kult
Yup, they put on another "Me to We" Kielburger extravaganza at Junior's high school today.
At this point in his academic career Junior has had the misfortune of sitting through these Kielburger sales pitches at least a dozen times.
But one thing that the Farm Manager and I pride ourselves on is the fact that we've managed to raise all of our children with a healthy skepticism for received wisdom, whether that wisdom is received from state or church or news media or advertising industry or education system or Kielburger Kult.
Or parents, for that matter...
If you're not familiar with the Kielburger do-gooder behemoth it's probably because you haven't had a child in the education system anywhere in North America in the last 15 years. While Kielburger foundational myths are constantly undergoing fine-tuning, this much seems to be true; a couple of astute parents spotted the do-gooder instinct in their offspring at an early age, and encouraged them to run with it.
The offspring are now blue-ribbon lawyers who have created a labyrinthine network of for-profits, non-profits, and semi-profits to channel "aid" to poor children in what used to be called the Third World, all of them (the Kielburger corporate entities; not the poor children) revolving around the Kielburger's "Me to We" and "Free the Children" brands.
The fulcrum of their operation seems to have been unlimited entre into the education system. "Leadership" courses in many high schools allow the Kielburger edifice to provide lesson plans and curriculum that, surprise!, favours active participation in fundraising for the various Kielburger brands.
So Junior was treated yet again to a slick schtick that had exceptional production values and a really good "motivational speaker" (ie salesperson) by high school auditorium standards.
The problem with this entire operation isn't that they get kids to think beyond themselves. That's a good thing. The problem is that they are a big business. They are firmly tied in to big corporate sponsors, big celebrities, and big government. They promote a top-down model of "help" that assumes the "Third World/developing world/under-developed world" is what it is because there's not enough happy prosperous middle-class children in North America raising money for them.
The reality is that poverty in that world is the direct result of the systemic exploitation of those societies by ours.
If we were serious about helping the less fortunate, we'd stay home, and by "we" I don't mean just the do-gooders. I mean the geologists and the oil-exploration guys and the diamond merchants and the mercenaries and the arms merchants and the lot of them.
There's way more than enough local ability and intelligence in Haiti and Ecuador and throughout Africa to solve their own problems without our help, and more than enough wealth in the ground to pay for it.
That's not a message those budding activists are likely to hear from the Me to We machine.
At this point in his academic career Junior has had the misfortune of sitting through these Kielburger sales pitches at least a dozen times.
But one thing that the Farm Manager and I pride ourselves on is the fact that we've managed to raise all of our children with a healthy skepticism for received wisdom, whether that wisdom is received from state or church or news media or advertising industry or education system or Kielburger Kult.
Or parents, for that matter...
If you're not familiar with the Kielburger do-gooder behemoth it's probably because you haven't had a child in the education system anywhere in North America in the last 15 years. While Kielburger foundational myths are constantly undergoing fine-tuning, this much seems to be true; a couple of astute parents spotted the do-gooder instinct in their offspring at an early age, and encouraged them to run with it.
The offspring are now blue-ribbon lawyers who have created a labyrinthine network of for-profits, non-profits, and semi-profits to channel "aid" to poor children in what used to be called the Third World, all of them (the Kielburger corporate entities; not the poor children) revolving around the Kielburger's "Me to We" and "Free the Children" brands.
The fulcrum of their operation seems to have been unlimited entre into the education system. "Leadership" courses in many high schools allow the Kielburger edifice to provide lesson plans and curriculum that, surprise!, favours active participation in fundraising for the various Kielburger brands.
So Junior was treated yet again to a slick schtick that had exceptional production values and a really good "motivational speaker" (ie salesperson) by high school auditorium standards.
The problem with this entire operation isn't that they get kids to think beyond themselves. That's a good thing. The problem is that they are a big business. They are firmly tied in to big corporate sponsors, big celebrities, and big government. They promote a top-down model of "help" that assumes the "Third World/developing world/under-developed world" is what it is because there's not enough happy prosperous middle-class children in North America raising money for them.
The reality is that poverty in that world is the direct result of the systemic exploitation of those societies by ours.
If we were serious about helping the less fortunate, we'd stay home, and by "we" I don't mean just the do-gooders. I mean the geologists and the oil-exploration guys and the diamond merchants and the mercenaries and the arms merchants and the lot of them.
There's way more than enough local ability and intelligence in Haiti and Ecuador and throughout Africa to solve their own problems without our help, and more than enough wealth in the ground to pay for it.
That's not a message those budding activists are likely to hear from the Me to We machine.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
We Day; is Ellen Johnson Sirleaf a blot on the Kielburger brand?
In a couple of weeks 20,000 screaming teens will converge on the Air Canada Centre in Toronto in a celebration of all things Kielburger.
The Kielburger cult claims to have built hundreds of schools around the world and saved countless third world children from whatever it is they save them from. Their "Free the Children" NGO must not be confused with the much longer established "Save the Children" NGO.
One of the keynote speakers at this years "WeDay" is Liberian president and Nobel prize recipient Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female head of state in all of Africa.
Here's a brief quote from the "Human rights in Liberia" Wikipedia page;
Both nepotism and corruption are indeed widespread in Liberia. Among the country's other very serious human-rights problems are ritualistic killings, police abuse, incidents of so-called “trial by ordeal,” arbitrary arrest, the denial of due process, violence against women, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, child abuse, human trafficking, and child labor.
That's not a flattering picture. Furthermore, those idealistic youth would be well advised to delve into Madame President's record on LGBT rights. They would be shocked.
Not that many of those idealistic youth will do that. The Kielburger brand is all about harnessing youthful idealism and energy into a dubious "aid" program that boasts top-drawer corporate sponsorships.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, but those 20,000 youthful idealists should be aware that what they're really celebrating is Craig and Marc.
The Kielburger cult claims to have built hundreds of schools around the world and saved countless third world children from whatever it is they save them from. Their "Free the Children" NGO must not be confused with the much longer established "Save the Children" NGO.
One of the keynote speakers at this years "WeDay" is Liberian president and Nobel prize recipient Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female head of state in all of Africa.
Here's a brief quote from the "Human rights in Liberia" Wikipedia page;
Both nepotism and corruption are indeed widespread in Liberia. Among the country's other very serious human-rights problems are ritualistic killings, police abuse, incidents of so-called “trial by ordeal,” arbitrary arrest, the denial of due process, violence against women, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, child abuse, human trafficking, and child labor.
That's not a flattering picture. Furthermore, those idealistic youth would be well advised to delve into Madame President's record on LGBT rights. They would be shocked.
Not that many of those idealistic youth will do that. The Kielburger brand is all about harnessing youthful idealism and energy into a dubious "aid" program that boasts top-drawer corporate sponsorships.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, but those 20,000 youthful idealists should be aware that what they're really celebrating is Craig and Marc.
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