Ethics 8th Edition by Barbara MacKinnon,Andrew Fiala

Exercise 4

Colonialism and Globalization. Robert is excited about the recent focus on global justice within institutions such as the United Nations and the World Bank. His family emigrated from Africa to the United States to escape the poverty and political instability of his home country. He thinks these new initiatives will be helpful to those they left behind. But his brother, Daniel, is not convinced. Daniel complains, "Nobody helps without asking for something. Most of those international organizations serve the interests of the countries who caused our unhappiness to begin with. The rich countries are always taking advantage of the poor. They enslaved and marginalized lots of us and exploited our countries' resources. Then they left us with a mess." Robert disagrees. "I don't know why you blame others for the poverty back home. Anyway, I'm glad that the rich countries are finally helping. Our people need any help they can get." Daniel responds, "They owe us for what they did to us. But I still don't trust them."
What do you think? Do rich countries owe something to poor countries? Do rich countries offer their help without strings attached? Or is Daniel right to be cynical?