The Organization Taking Kids Off The Streets, The Golden Billion, & The Plot to Destroy Financial Privacy.
Behind every narrative is a hidden secret.
Happy Sunday friends,
What a week it’s been!
Among the many exciting things I’m working on, I was contracted to write a piece about a topic close to my heart and I get paid in bitcoin! It doesn’t get better than that for me.
I also spent five blissful days kayaking around the Broken Group Islands (Canada) with some dear friends. The fresh air, calm waters, and majestic animal life cleared my mental vices and regenerated my mind.
As you can imagine, I thought a lot. About random things. Like how a stone seems permanent, immovable, lifeless, and hard, but is surprisingly malleable under the steady pressure of water. Water, on the other hand, is chaotic, fluid, and restorative. It is life-giving.
If you have to be one thing, be like water.
Now, onto today’s three highlights.
3 Highlights Worth Sharing.
The Organization Taking Kids Off The Streets In An Impoverished South African Township.
In an effort to help take children off the streets of an impoverished South African township (where they would likely end up on drugs or “end up being gangsters”), Bitcoin Ekasi — an education center — is teaching children about Bitcoin, how to use it, and self-custody it.
*Ekasi is a slang word for township.
Located in Mossel Bay, South Africa, Bitcoin Ekasi has partnered with a surf community called “The Surfer Kids.” Together they teach kids how to surf, build their discipline and confidence, make their own financial decisions, and see their potential beyond the township.
They’re also creating a Bitcoin circular economy by onboarding local merchants to receive payments in bitcoin, pay surf instructors their salaries in bitcoin, and give children from the township bitcoin as an allowance.
Although their work is grand, Bitcoin Ekasi’s facility is small. As you can see from the photo below, 40 students must squeeze into a small, blue room to learn.
That’s why they’re raising bitcoin donations to expand their facility. And thanks to a short documentary released about 10 days ago, Bitcoin Ekasi received two bitcoin to grow the facility (more than doubling their goal). They’ve already started their renovation work too!
The beauty of raising bitcoin donations is that you get the bitcoin instantly, from across the world, and without anyone taking a cut from your donations. So, if you’d like to support/help Bitcoin Ekasi grow, you can do so by donating to the QR codes below.
Now, you might be thinking bitcoin’s volatility is not a good idea for children already struggling in poverty. The reality is that they don’t have an alternative option.
“Most people in the townships are holding their money in paper envelopes [where robberies and crime are rampant] and many have issues getting ID’s, which means they have problems with getting a bank account. Bitcoin is the first investment many from this community have ever made.” – Aubrey Strobel, filmmaker
Also, consider that the South African Rand (local currency) has lost 99% of its value since 1958. That’s a 99% loss over 65 years. If you had to choose between volatility or a 99% loss over a few decades, perhaps volatility is not the worse option.
It seems that bitcoin is embraced as money by those living in the margin. And when you realize that the majority of the world lives in the margin, excluded by financial opportunities, this type of bitcoin adoption is a big deal. With big consequences over the long term. Don’t take that lightly.
We Are The Golden Billion.
Out of eight billion people in the world, only about one billion people live in a country that has liberal democracy, property rights, and a somewhat functioning currency.
“As a dollar user, we have what I call ‘financial privilege’.” – Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer at Human Rights Foundation.
You and I (most likely) make up a part of that golden billion that has full economic and political freedoms. And we have these freedoms because of our hard work, advancements in technology, free speech, property rights, and democracy. But, also because we benefit from poor countries.
How? By lending them money.
According to Alex Gladstein, the United States goes to poor countries, many of which are governed by dictators, and lends them money at high-interest rates.
Why dictators? Because lending money to dictators can be profitable and a good deal.
The U.S. gets to set the terms for the loans — like getting rice or energy at cheap prices. And the dictator gets loans to fund their operations and strengthen their military.
A dictator’s absolute control can quickly mobilize an entire economy. Their iron hand can swiftly extract resources and funnel them to the U.S. without pushback from the media, civilians, or activists as otherwise, they face punishment. All this while continuing to cement their control.
Then, you and I (in the Western world) can enjoy these resources at low costs while those in poor countries go hungrier, grow poorer with fewer resources, and live in a deeper dictatorship.
That’s why IMF loans will be given to poorer countries, oftentimes with dictatorships, according to Alex.
“Whenever the IMF or World Bank makes a grant to Bangladesh or Argentina or Nigeria, they have to agree to shrink their economy to do things that we would never do [in the West]. For example, get rid of subsidies on food and energy to increase taxes to devalue the currency.
Back in the day, Sri Lanka gave free rice to its people. I don't know if that's the greatest idea from an economic point of view. But it was unfair because Britain gave all kinds of free stuff to its people including health care. And [Britain] would go to Sri Lanka and say ‘You can't give free rice to your people anymore if you want to take this loan.’
The whole system is predicated on basically making poor countries have lower wages so that we [in the West] can get their stuff for cheaper. And this is globalization. And this is what the IMF and World Bank have done.” – Alex Gladstein
When I hear about a country taking an IMF loan – like Egypt recently did – I get sad. I understand that it means there are hidden strings attached that will channel resources and money away from the poor country to the rich. I understand that the poor country will descend into greater poverty over the long run.
It’s for this reason El Salvador courageously opted out of the IMF’s predatory system and adopted bitcoin as legal tender. They wanted to stop paying these unending loans and stop sinking further into poverty. They wanted to adopt sound money and rebuild their broken country.
When they did that, the IMF, along with the mainstream media, publicly crushed El Salvador for being “reckless” when in fact El Salvador was attempting to liberate itself from a cycle of poverty caused by lending practices.
The reality is most aid in the world is loans and as you can see loans are not charitable. They can be a mechanism for poor countries to enrichen wealthier countries with a high price tag. And, sadly, each of us benefits from that.
Bitcoin And The Plot To Destroy Financial Privacy.
Ok. Whoa. This talk by Whitney Webb was explosive and if you’re a brave soul that likes to reveal the dark layers of truth, go ahead and watch this.
Whitney Webb is an investigative journalist who talks about the effort to criminalize Bitcoin and financial privacy and how that coincides with efforts to undermine free speech and the right to privacy in general.
“For instance, one recent study, ironically produced by Westpac member, Chain Analysis, found that only 0.34% of cryptocurrency transactions in 2020 were tied to criminal activity down from 2% the year prior. Though the decrease may be due to a jump in cryptocurrency adoption, the overall percentage of crime-linked cryptocurrency transactions is incredibly low.” – Whitney Webb
While the majority of people are quick to believe the popular narrative of “bitcoin as money for criminals”, they don’t often stop to wonder if (and how) the current financial system is also associated with crime.
“Yet time and again, the American people have been fleeced and looted by many of these same agencies and many of the same commercial and central banks.
The big banks, like HSBC, can launder millions of dollars for drug cartels. Nothing happens to them. No one goes to jail.
The CIA has laundered untold millions through criminal banks, like BCCI, a bank which ran its own sex trafficking operation involving prepubescent kids. And again, nothing was done. No one went to jail.
FTX can launder aid money supposedly destined for Ukraine, funnel it back as campaign contributions to the same political party developing crypto regulations, while painting Bitcoin as a national security threat. Sam Bankman-Fried was the only person arrested and right now he's not in prison. He's in a multimillion dollar mansion in California about to get 10 of the 13 federal charges against him dismissed.
The current President’s son can launder as much money as he wants after leaving the evidence on a laptop he abandoned. And the Intelligence community comes to his defense falsely claiming that the data on his laptop – now admitted to be his – was a Russian hoax.
These guys are the real criminals. And if you think they care about stopping money laundering or cybercrime in any meaningful way you have been had.” – Whitney Webb
What Whitney is highlighting here is the fact there is a double standard that deserves more attention and exploration. I can’t possibly do it justice. So to learn more about this, check out her 26-minute talk below.
In Other News.
Human Rights Foundation announces the Bitcoin Bounty Challenge. They’re giving away 20 bitcoin for 11 UX (user experience) improvements to Bitcoin, particularly ones that focus on mobile wallets, as requested by dissidents and human rights groups worldwide. Here is the set of bounty challenges.
Generation Bitcoin is a community built to support, encourage, and inspire teens to jump into the world of Bitcoin. They just launched The Bitcoin Summer Bootcamp which consists of workshop-style virtual seminars that allow high school and university students to learn more about a wide variety of topics. If you’re a student (or know of any), these workshops are for you. Register here.
The latest piece on The Misfit, Nostr and Bitcoin – The New Freedom Toolkit, was featured in the weekly Nostr Report. Super cool! Here’s the special shoutout.
Quick Updates from People Featured in The Misfit.
Marce Romero, who wrote this week’s piece “Nostr and Bitcoin – The New Freedom Toolkit” was featured in The Progressive Bitcoiner podcast here. One of the riveting comments she made was that Venezuelans escaping the country will make the arduous trek through Central America to the United States in search of freedom. Along the way, they must convert their already devalued bolívares (Venezuelan currency) multiple times, lose money to conversion fees, and figure out ways to keep the money safe. Once they arrive in the United States they face a high chance of deportation. This is a must-listen conversation. Check out the episode here.
That’s it for today, friends!
Remember, behind every narrative is a hidden secret. One that benefits the storyteller. Be cautious about believing everything you hear. Ask yourself: “Who does this benefit and why?”
Thank you for joining me today. I hope each of you has a wonderful rest of your Sunday!
— Ayelen x
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Such an eye-opening piece. I am appalled by the motives from these organizations. It is the opposite of what I thought they were doing and so so damaging.