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Just hanging out reading the paper ... more than 160ft above the ground. This is the Highline Meeting Monte Piana, an annual festival for extreme sports enthusiasts in which people can clamber along a685ft long rope stretched over ravines in the Dolomite mountains of northeastern Italy — and then get comfortable in a brightly coloured hammock to read, have a chat, take a nap or even play guitar.PICTURE OF THE WEEK

SEBASTIAN WAHLHUETTE/AURORA/SOLENT

The farmers in Mubende,Uganda, never saw it coming. Onthe morning of Sunday, February28, 2010, soldiers arrived whiletheywereinchurch.Hearinggun-shots, theyrushed to theirhouses,whichwere already in flames.While some soldiers kept the

farmers at gunpoint to stop themtrying to save their homes, otherspouredpetrolovertherecentgrainharvest inthebarnsandburntthatas well. One eight-year-old childwas trapped and died. The dairycowsweredispatchedwithaburstof machinegun fire.Then the soldiers marched

morethan20,000farmersawayatgunpoint. Never come back, theywere told; the land is no longeryours. The farmers, many ofwhose homesteads had been intheir families for generations,were unhappy to learn that aBritish company was taking theirland. It was going to grow forestsand then sell the timber.The farmers were even more

distressed to learn that the WorldBank had financed and promotedthe project. The farmers mighthave hoped that publicity wouldhelp them.And indeedayear laterOxfampublisheda report onwhathad happened. The New YorkTimes ran a story on the report onSeptember 21, 2011. The next daythe World Bank promised aninvestigation. But as we approachthe event’s sixth anniversary theWorld Bank has never had toanswer publicly for its role.The rights violatedhere include

property rights, freedom tochooseyourowneconomicactivi-ties and constitutional rights thatguarantee your human rightsagainst government abuses.Those of uswho believe econo-

mists should openly considermoralvalues suchashumanrights

have no claim to self-righteous-ness — many of us came embar-rassingly late to such an argumentanyway—andwe respect those ofthe opposite view. The importantthing is just that a serious debateshould happen— on both sides.Economists do also debate a

scientific hypothesis about rights,that economic and political rightsalso constitute the best system forending poverty. Here’s roughlyhow the theory goes: with prop-erty rights, farmers choose forthemselves what is the best use oftheir land. They know their owncircumstances better than outsideexperts, and they have the incen-tive to use the land in away that isbest for themandtheircustomers.Withpoliticalrightswecanhold

our governments accountable, torespect and protect our economicrights, and to meet any of ourneeds that can be addressed onlyby public services, such as healthservicesorsuppliesofcleanwater.The neglect of poor people’s

rights in foreign aid and develop-menthasdeephistoricalroots.The

Mubende story has elements thatgo far back into the history ofAfrica.The western powers justify

their support of oppressive rulerssuch as Uganda’s by support ofhumanitarian objectives such asrelief from hunger and disease.This is ironic,because if thetheorysketched above is correct, dicta-tors thatdeny individuals freedomare not part of the solution; theyare the cause of the poverty in thefirst place.There was a similar story back

inthedayswhenthewesterncolo-nial powers were themselves theoppressive rulers, often governingthrough African intermediaries.They justified the continuation ofcolonial rule because of its abilityto provide technical solutions tohunger and disease and askedhumanitarians to ignore thepolit-ical issues such as colonialismversusself-determination.In1938a report by Lord Hailey on Britishcolonial rule in Africa already hadthe same technical answers thatwe have today on malaria, mal-nutrition and cleanwater.Hailey justified colonial rule as

necessary to these technocraticsolutions, in which the BritishEmpirewouldjointhe“movementfor the betterment of the back-ward peoples of the world”. Hemade the argument that poorpeople did not care about theirpolitical rights: “Political libertiesaremeaninglessunlesstheycanbebuilt upon a better foundation ofsocial and economic progress.”

When British humanitariansasked, “What shouldwedo to endpoverty?”,Haileywanted themtofocus on answers such as vitaminA capsules for malnutrition andboreholes for clean water. Hewantedthemtoembracethetech-nocratic illusion that humanita-rians could ignore political issuessuch as colonialism. He did notwant themtoaskwhether coloni-alismmight be perpetuating pov-erty, not solving it.A better answer to “What

should we do to end poverty?”might have been “We should endour own colonialism”. If we aregoing to criticise rights violationstoday, let’s not neglect to criticiseour own governments. Let’s ex-amine even ourselves as develop-ment workers and experts andphilanthropists as voices in theglobal debate on autocracy versusfreedom.Bill Gates praised the Ethiopian

government in 2013 for setting“clear goals, choosing an ap-proach, measuring results andthenusing thosemeasurements tocontinually refine our approach”.Gates said that this “helps us todelivertoolsandservicestoevery-bodywhowill benefit”.His foundation has spent more

than$265m(£175m)onhealthanddevelopment in Ethiopia over thepastdecade.Hesaid thathe“hadagreat working relationship” withthe late Ethiopian autocrat MelesZenawi,whosepolicies“maderealprogress in helping the people ofEthiopia”.Gates isverymuchem-

bracing the technocratic illusion;heseemsunawareoftheargumentthat dictators do not cause pro-gress; they cause poverty.Similarly, celebrities who

advocatedevelopmentusually callfor more technical solutions andseldomhighlight violations of lib-erty for the poor by theWest or bylocal governments.Expert plans accomplish little;

advocacy for freedomcanaccom-plish much more. Martin LutherKingsaid,“Ihaveadream”.Hedidnot say, “I have a plan”. The goodnews is that freedom is advancingin Africa despite western supportfor oppressors. The desire forfreedom around the world is sostrong as tomakeprogress despitethe technocratic illusion ofwestern poverty experts thatmakes them blind to freedom fortheworld’s poor.In 1988 there were only two

African countries classified aspolitically free by the advocacyorganisation Freedom House. In2012therewere11.FreedomHousedivides the rest between “partlyfree” and, for the most ruthlessdictatorships, “not free”. In 1988there were 31 “not free”; in 2012the number had reduced to 18.In Africa increased economic

freedom has allowed strong eco-nomic growth since the mid-1990s.Onepositivesignisaprivatesector explosion ofmobile phones—Africanowhasmore than twiceasmany subscribers as America.Letmegoback to thatunavoid-

able question “What should wedo to end poverty?”. If you reallyinsist on an answer to what “we”should do, I will give you a con-structive answer: we should dis-miss the technocratic illusion, andopenly join the battle of valueson the side of freedom againstdictatorships.This includes convincingvoters

in Britain and America not to tol-erate violations of the freedom ofthe world’s poor by our own for-eign policy, by our own military,by our own immigration policiesand by our own aid agencies.Freedom is winning, but the

battle is far from over. We mustconvince many more that allpeople everywhere—women andmen, black and white, rich andpoor— deserve to be free at last.

The author is a professor ofeconomics at NewYork University.This article is based on his HayekMemorial Lecture, to be delivered

at the Institute of Economic AffairsonWednesday

Celebritiessuch as

AngelinaJolie, who try

to helpdevelopingcountries,

would do wellto highlightstates thatviolate theliberty of

their people

The West’s aid illusion isbetraying the world’s poor

As UK foreign aid increases to £16bn,William Easterly argues that promotingfreedom is a surer way to end poverty

than providing vitamins and cleanwater

JASON TANNER

Poet’s corner

This darksome burn, horseback brown,His rollrock highroad roaring down,In coop and in comb the fleece of his foamFlutes and low to the lake falls home.

Awindpuff-bonnet of fawn-frothTurns and twindles over the brothOf a pool so pitchblack, fell-frowning,It rounds and rounds despair to drowning.

Deggedwith dew, dappledwith dewAre the groins of the braes that the brook treads through,Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern,And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn.

What would theworld be, once bereftOf wet and of wildness? Let them be left,O let them be left, wildness andwet;Long live theweeds and thewilderness yet.

A Highland stream passes over a waterfall into a lake. Theend is a plea to preserve such a wilderness. Hopkins usesScottish dialect (“degged” is sprinkled; “braes” a steepbank) and coins his own words. “Coop” is an enclosedhollow, “comb” awave crest, “twindles” twists and dwin-dles, “groins” curves, “heathpacks” clumps of heather,“flitches” usually the side of an animal, but here flicks, and“beadbonny” beautifully beaded. “Bonnet” is a sail as wellas a hat. This contorted, obscure languagemakes the poema challenge, but it is also where its compelling power lies.poetry@sunday-times.co.uk DavidMills

Inversnaid by Gerard ManleyHopkins (1844-89)

QUOTES OF THEWEEK

I bet you didn’t think thingswould get worse

The former Labour leader EdMiliband deliversan unhelpful verdict on his successor

Please, can parents realise thatchildren don’t rule the worldLet’s ban youngsters from cafes and restaurants,

says the broadcaster Janet Street-Porter

If you don’t show yourunderwear, you’re just not coolThe designer TommyHilfiger (who has a range of undies)

urges men to flaunt their boxers

Any imbecile who has learntto type thinks he can write

Computers seem to be destroying literacy,complains the author Raymond Briggs