A Bed for the Night

Humanitarianism in Crisis

By: David Rieff

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Paperback | 3 January 2003 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
384 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
20.0 x 13.4 x 2.3

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A powerful and engaging book that asks the fundamental question- Is humanitarianism a waste of hope?

Timely and controversial, A Bed for the Night reveals how humanitarian organizations trying to bring relief in an ever more violent and dangerous world are often betrayed and misused, and have increasingly lost sight of their purpose.

Drawing on first-hand reporting from hot war zones around the world - Bosnia, Rwanda, Congo, Kosovo, Sudan and, most recently, Afghanistan - David Rieff shows us what humanitarian aid workers do in the field and the growing gap between their noble ambitions and their actual capabilities for alleviating suffering. Tracing the origins of major humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and CARE, he describes how many of them have moved from their founding principle of neutrality, which gave them access to victims, to encouraging the international community to take action to stop civil wars and ethnic cleansing.

Rieff demonstrates how this advocacy has come at a high price. By overreaching, the humanitarian movement has allowed itself to be hijacked by the major powers, sometimes to become a fig leaf for actions that major powers take in their own national interests, as in Afghanistan, sometimes for their inaction, as in Bosnia and Rwanda. With the exception of cases of genocide, where the moral imperative to act overrides all other considerations, Rieff contends that if humanitarian organisations are to continue doing what they do best - alleviating suffering - they must remain independent.

Industry Reviews

Thoughtful and eminently readable * Washington Post *
An achievement of profound intelligence and courage of conviction -- Nadine Gordimer
A Bed for the Night provides an excellent antidote to the hollow cliches and generalizations that often blur and distort the horribly real problems of helping the world's most afflicted people -- Brian Urquhart, former Undersecretary General of the United Nations
An absorbing and thoughtful book. David Rieff has taken a great subject - exile, in this case the exile of Cubans in Miami - and been fully responsive and responsible to it. Paradise lost is a great theme.and David Rieff has treated it with Miltonic assurance. It is a book to be savoured and reread -- Larry McMurtry

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