As a budding academic,( Phd. candidate in Poli Sci), I have spent an inordinate amount of time working on the issues of economic development.
Having worked on these issues, I was pleased to get my hip one.org bracelet expressing my committment to progress. However, the enthusiasm was tempered when I saw that Pat Roberston was a celebrity sponsor.
Pat Roberston has played a major role in the instability of the West coast of Africa. As an owner of Freedom Gold Limited
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A7124-2001Sep21, and as a supporter of Charles Taylor, (
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/11/national/main562915.shtml),
a man who is at best a destablilizing element in the area and who may well be a war criminal (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4664269.stm)
He probably knows more about the economics of Africa than the other celebrity sponsors, but he is on the wrong side.