opinion

The reader certainly would never believe this fantastic scenario. Neither, one hopes, would Mandela. The president of the world (as he was called at the event) probably retains his sanity. He just lacks economic knowledge. If he understood how markets work, he would stop asking the wealthy countries' government for even more aid to eradicate world poverty.

History, of course, shatters Mandela's claim into a million little pieces. The primitive man was obviously poorer than the modern man. He was poor because he was at the mercy of nature and only utilized whatever it gave to him. It was his determination to satisfy his natural needs that forced man to modify nature, to hone survival techniques, to generate wealth.

Man covered himself in fur to protect his body from the cold weather. He constructed walls and roofs to guard against the storms. He developed weapons to hunt animals and to defend himself from the enemy. He built boats to cross seas and later invented new technologies to carry his voice across those seas. And he made machines that could do all of this in ever more efficient ways. Indeed, wealth is man-made.

Only through understanding what creates wealth and what inhibits it can one comprehend why some countries have so little money that they beg for handouts. Most political activists in developed countries, instead of reasoning soundly, appeal to some kind of compulsory "charity" that only corrupts their own government. By confiscating the property of its citizens through taxation and thus violating their rights, government defeats its very purpose for existing.

Mandela's statement is an example of the economic confusion broadcasted by pop-stars, academics, and television talking heads. To them, the world would be rich if only individuals would renounce greed and stop pursuing their self-interest. Governments should repress these harmful impulses and let richness flow through government redistribution.

But government doesn't generate wealth --- individuals pursuing their self-interests do. Foreign aid is a prime example of how simply taking money from one group and giving it to another does not create wealth. Africa has received hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid in both grants and low interest loans. Now the countries find themselves unable even to pay off the loans, as Mandela's plea for debt cancellation demonstrates.

African politicians are the real beneficiaries of this aid, as they divert money to friends, family, and party members. Foreign aid only leads to the people becoming more dependent on their governments, and then it saddles those people with massive debts.

On the other hand, poor countries that did not receive major foreign aid in recent decades were able to rise out of poverty. Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea are examples of countries that didn't rely on other countries' sympathy, but prospered on their own merits once their governments increased economic freedom.

We don't need government intervention to banish poverty to the dust heap of history. We need free markets. Civil society will organize itself as long as it is free to do so. Natural disasters like the tsunami tragedy have provided enough evidence to demonstrate this point: private charity by Americans exceeded government aid by over $100 million. And the demand for products in a crisis rewards those entrepreneurs who are willing to relocate and change their activities to supply the urgent needs of people who were otherwise in over their heads. Human cooperation alone is the engine for raising production per capita and reaching real prosperity.

After generations of bad policies, instead of assistance programs, poor countries should come up with programs to reduce their own governments. Contrary to Mandela's proposal, what they need from the rich countries are fewer actions, not more. No trade barriers, no inter-governmental foreign aid, and no subsidies. The solution for poverty is the same as the solution was for slavery and to apartheid: liberty.

The author is a columnist for the Brazilian online newspaper M’dia Sem Mascara (http://www.midiasemmascara.org) and a law student at the Catholic University of Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro