BELOW: Two articles about a huge fund-raiser in Toronto to support former President Bill Clinton’s “philanthropy” work helping poor, mining affected communities.
The work of the “Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative” distorts the meaning of philanthropy work and entrenches an unjust global economic model that has enriched many of the people in the crowd, while creating some of the very poverty, environmental destruction and health harms that these millionaire philanthropists claim they will help.
These articles portray the classic economic scenario of: flow-up wealth, trickle down “charity”, along with environmental harm, health devastation and human rights violations.
Much of the money being raised at events like Clinton’s Toronto fund-raiser comes from mining industry multi-millionaires who have made their “fortunes” exploiting mineral resources across the planet, contributing to environmental destruction, to wide spread human rights violations (including lethal health harms and repression) and impoverishing the mining affected communities.
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IT PAYS TO BE A FRIEND OF BILL
By Margaret Wente, Globe and Mail, March 4, 2008
How much would you pay to spend an evening with Bill Clinton? For some folks, money is no object. On Saturday, some of Canada's well-heeled mining firms forked over as much as $300,000 a table to attend Toronto's most spectacular fundraiser of the year.
Bill was in great form. The event was so important that he abandoned his wife's campaign trail to be there. As the crowd chowed down on organic beef, they were entertained by the likes of Elton John, Norah Jones, Robin Williams and John Travolta. The stretch limos and private jets were stacked three deep.
The evening was a classic mix of business, philanthropy, power and influence. The man behind it was Vancouver mining financier Frank Giustra, who's made a fortune cutting deals in some of the wilder corners of the world. He is also one of the more controversial Friends of Bill. The money raised Saturday -- about $16-million -- will go to the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, whose goal is to help people in developing countries affected by mining.
The two struck up a friendship in 2005, when Mr. Clinton hitched a ride to Mexico on part to his extraordinarily generous donations -- more than $130-million -- to Mr. Clinton's own charitable foundation.
Normally, nobody would care whom Mr. Clinton hangs around with. Nobody would care how rich he's become since he and Hillary left the White House (very), or how he made his money, or who his benefactors are. But he happens to be married to a potential president of the United States.
And he has come under heavy fire lately for his cozy dealings with distasteful regimes and self-interested businessmen, such as Mr. Giustra.
In a front-page story a few weeks ago, The New York Times described a hastily arranged trip the two men took to Kazakhstan back in 2005. They shared a midnight feast with the local tyrant, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Mr. Clinton heaped praise on his host in public, undermining the official U.S. position and handing Mr. Nazarbayev a considerable PR coup. And Mr. Giustra quickly struck a uranium deal that reaped handsome profits and beat out much larger, more established players.
Then, The Wall Street Journal ran another story, claiming Mr. Clinton had opened the door for another lucrative mining deal in Colombia.
Both men deny that these deals were anything more than coincidental. The purpose of the Kazakhstan trip, they explain, was to inspect a new AIDS initiative. "Allegations that certain of my recent business deals were successful because of his influence are untrue and malicious," Mr. Giustra insisted in a letter to the Journal. His relationship with Mr. Clinton, he said, is "never about my business."
But other businessmen say it pays to be a Friend of Bill. "He helps us meet some of the right people," said Vinod Gupta, a long-time financial backer of Bill and Hillary.
When you're chasing big contracts, friends like Bill can come in handy. They can use their influence to introduce you to the right people. They do favours, and they get favours back. Sometimes they collect millions in consulting fees, sometimes they collect millions for their philanthropic interests, and sometimes both. Children in Peru will get better health care and education thanks to Bill's rich friends and Mr. Giustra's influence in the mining world, and what could possibly be wrong with that?
Of course, Bill's rich friends get something too. They get to name-drop, network and laugh at Robin Williams, and they get to feel good. In keeping with the Sustainable Growth Initiative, the Westin gala was even super-eco-friendly. It had organic local food and used electricity that was partly generated by wind. Guests were urged to take home and plant their table's floral centrepiece. It's unknown how many of them went home by corporate jet.
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WHO'S WHO OF HOLLYWOOD GLITTERATI HITS TOWN
SIR ELTON, CRUISE, TRAVOLTA AND ROBIN WILLIAMS AMONG ATTENDEES AT CLINTON-GIUSTRA FUNDRAISER
By Lisa Wright, Toronto Star, March 3, 2008
It's not every day that Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Elton John breeze into Toronto in the dead of winter, or that you're serenaded by Norah Jones over a dinner of Arctic char, Lac Brome duck and organic beef tenderloin, followed by a hilarious stand-up routine by funny man Robin Williams.
And all in the name of the grubby mining game.
The wine was flowing while a convoy of stretch limos arrived at the Harbour Castle Westin Saturday night as Hollywood's A-list and a select crowd of 1,200 mining industry types and Bay St. bigwigs attended a splashy fundraising gala at the invitation of former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his pal, Vancouver mining mogul Frank Giustra.
The duo is raising big bucks for the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, whose mission is to provide foreign aid to developing countries, particularly in Latin America, affected by mining.
"I don't know the mining business so I did my own research and rented Coal Miner's Daughter," quipped Canadian comedian Eugene Levy, the evening's emcee. "There's a lot of money in this room. I'm thinking of getting into the mining business," hip hop recording artist Wyclef Jean told the audience after singing "Wyclef for President."
Amazingly the raft of entertainers donated their time for the schmooze fest, which also featured Elton John singing "Rocket Man," "Tiny Dancer" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me," and Colombian pop star Shakira shaking her assets to her hit "Hips Don't Lie" as the business crowd cheered and waved their hands in the air to the music.
At one point, the navel-baring Latina songstress shared the stage with Clinton as he announced $5 million in aid toward impoverished regions of her country.
The former president also shook hands with Greg Wilkins, chief executive of Toronto miner Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp. vice president Carlos Santa Cruz as he announced joint spending of $6 million toward child nutrition programs in Peru, where both gold giants have operations.
Burton Cummings added some Canadian content to the proceedings, singing the old Guess Who pop anthems "Undun" and "Share the Land" while Robin Williams poked fun at U.S. President George Bush and referred fondly to Canada as "the apartment over a crazy tenant."
Among those in attendance were Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, MP Belinda Stronach, former Newfoundland premier Brian Tobin, David Letterman's Canadian musical sidekick Paul Shaffer and Argos QB Damon Allen. Actor Mark Wahlberg was seen chilling at the bar during the cocktail reception before dinner with retired Toronto Maple Leaf tough guy Tie Domi.
Cruise and scientologist pal Travolta, who brought wife Kelly Preston, implored the audience to dig deep into their hearts and wallets for the Clinton Giustra initiative. "Simply put, this is not your father's charity. Instead of helping one person, this helps millions," said Travolta, reading off the teleprompter, mispronouncing Giustra's name a couple times.
Clinton took time away from wife Hillary's campaign in order to rub shoulders with the mining finance crowd, who, after being well fed and thoroughly entertained, were coaxed into donating another $16 million in total that night on top of the $2,500 to $30,000-a plate dinner.
"I want to thank Canada, and all of you people from Canada who help me do the work I like to do around the world," Clinton told the audience.
He said a special thanks to Sudbury-born billionaire Giustra, who donated $100 million of his fortune and half his future earnings toward the cause, and who loans Clinton his private jet for philanthropic work around the globe.
"I love this guy. You should too," said the ex-president, who also pointed out that Giustra has had to have "rhinoceros skin" lately after stories in the U.S. press that have suggested he has benefited in his business dealings through his friendship with Clinton.
Tiffany gift bags awaited guests at their dinner tables and security surrounded the ballroom, although the invited attendees – mostly decked out in tuxedos and gowns – weren't searched on the way in. The event was eco-friendly on every level, from the menu – which boasted that it was organic, locally grown and traditional Canadian produce when possible – to the "green" electricity provided by Bullfrog Power using wind power and low-impact hydroelectricity generated in Ontario. Guests were urged to take home the table's floral centrepiece "and plant it."
"Having just come back from a mine in the Amazon, this is all very surreal," said attendee Rex Berthelsen, a geologist for Vancouver miner Peak Gold Ltd. "This is a long way from the villages of Indonesia, a place where some of the money raised here could end up," said Peak's chief executive Bob Gallagher. "It just shows the mining industry is going places and it's raising awareness that we're not the bad guys anymore,"
The event was timed for the weekend leading into the major annual convention of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, which officially kicks off today at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
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