Language of development co-opted for war purposes

Andy Storey is known to most newspaper readers as the person who says "no".

As chairman of Action From Ireland (Afri), he has opposed Ireland's involvement in the European Rapid Reaction Force, NATO's Partnership for Peace and the Nice Treaty (on the grounds of militarisation).

At present, he is opposed to the US's so-called "war on terrorism".

"The co-opting of the language of development to legitimise militarisation is very cynical and dangerous," he says of the publicised humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. "Food drops are a notoriously ineffective way of supplying food to people in need. It could even end up fuelling the conflict not the people."

Storey's knowledge of the language of development and the needs of developing people is based on sound experience. He spent a number of years working for Trocβire as a research advisor before spending a year in Rwanda, post-genocide. Today, he lectures in development studies in the Centre for Development Studies, Kimmage Manor in Dublin.

He says he despairs of the current US actions, but brightens when he talks of one recent notable campaigning success. "The Nice Treaty was a big win. It was also a major shock. The actual weight of consensus, with all of the major political parties, the employers' organisation, the farmers' organisations, the major trade unions and most of the newspapers in favour, may have prompted an adverse reaction from people. At an Afri conference in Kildare, the previous year, I had argued strongly that we couldn't just be an organisation of glorious losers. We needed to win something, even if only for our morale. I quoted the Saw Doctors "To win just once". To be able to turn the tide, albeit briefly, was very sweet."

Sitting in his office in the college belonging to the Spiritans, or Holy Ghost Fathers, it seems an incongruous setting for someone who comes from a Church of Ireland background. Storey says that, some 36 years ago, Father Richard Quinn of the Spiritans (a missionary order, mostly in Africa), set up a refresher course in development studies for missionaries. That evolved into the Centre for Development Studies, which is "part of the Holy Ghost College, but doesn't have any religious or confessional component. It's a purely secular centre, although it still attracts some religious students."

There are up to 70 students pursuing development studies at undergraduate (national diploma) or postgraduate (diploma or MA) level. The biggest source of funds is the Department of Foreign Affairs, through the Ireland Aid budget. As well as giving scholarships to up to 12 students each year, it also provides a core grant to the college, which employs five full-time teaching staff. The scholarships are primarily targeted at countries linked to Ireland under the Ireland Aid programme: Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Lesotho, Mosambique and Ethiopia.

Storey says: "We have more than 20 different nationalities represented among our students. You don't get that diversity elsewhere. The gender balance is usually fairly equal. And the average age of students is mid-30s, ranging from early 20s to 50s." The result is that people bring a huge amount of experience and knowledge of development work with them. "That makes for a very rich resource, both for teachers and students."

There is serious competition for places, with four or five times more applicants than there are places. The college has on-campus accommodation for 20 overseas students, who are housed in a recently-built apartment block.

Storey comes to this quiet grove of academe via an unlikely early education. "I went to Bawnboy Vocational School, in Cavan. It was a real tech. Up until two years before I did the Leaving Cert the school only taught up to Inter Cert. It was not the most academic environment." Of his class of 16, he reckons he is the only one to go to university. A few went to regional technical colleges and nurse training.

While in TCD, Storey joined the One World Society. "I was part of a team that won a national debating competition on development issues in 1986. The first prize was a trip to Irish aid projects in Tanzania and Kenya. That was my first exposure to Africa."

However, when he graduated, with a degree in economics, he followed a fairly traditional career path, becoming a research assistant in the ESRI. "It was a very good training. They take training seriously in the ESRI. It was a questioning, critical environment and was open to alternative ideas." After two years, he joined a private sector company that offered economics consultancy, including some development work.

From there he went to work for Tr≤caire as a research adviser, before heading to Rwanda, post-genocide. Still employed by Trocβire, he was mostly involved with funding local NGOs. "Six months after the genocide, it was very much a rehabilitation phase, repairing buildings, replacing staff in existing organisations and recruiting staff for new organisations such as the Genocide Widows' Group.

"It was a year of waiting and counting, a strange year. A year when mass graves were still being found. Psychologically it was very difficult. Everybody has a story of loss, usually a desperate story. To some extent, you become inured, but, to some extent, it also creeps into your consciousness. There's a sense of bafflement, and, in some cases, admiration, that people can still carry on."

His PhD thesis has grown out of that experience. The title is somewhat offputting in its academic speak: "Looking at discursive constructions of the Rwandan economy before 1994". It's an examination of the World Bank perception of Rwandan problems - essentially technical difficulties with excessive state interference and what it saw as excessive government. Almost no attention was paid to inequality or corruption issues, and the perceived technical problems were not seen as sufficient reasons to discontinue funding the regime, says Storey.

He also examines newspaper and magazine propaganda before the genocide. "Many of these used a scapecoating strategy, blaming the Tutsis for the economic ills. It was very similar to anti-Semitic propaganda - 'they're ripping us off, they're overcharging, they're to blame'.

" My argument is that this doesn't correlate to the reality but it was a very powerful perception that fed into mass ethnic mobilisation. Truth matters less than perception. It is a kind of plea to scholars, and others, to take perception seriously.

"People can ridicule Arabs who believe Osama bin Laden when he makes a false connection between Palestine and his actions. I suspect that many Arabs see it as valid. You can disagree with this perception but unless you take it seriously, you will be in a great deal of trouble.