A short follow-up on my last post. Among the fuss created by the recent Compartamos listing, Muhammad Yunus was interviewed by Business Week. Sadly, his comments were typical of the way that debates within the development world too often become personalised.
“When you discuss microcredit, don’t bring Compartamos into it” he fulminated. “Microcredit was created to fight the money lender, not become the money lender… their priorities are completely screwed up.”
Of course, such passion on behalf of the poor is often a virtue. But in this case, from a Nobel Prize winner and unofficial head of the microfinance industry - a deeply influential thought-leader, in other words - it is unwise and deeply unhelpful. There are two sides to the Compartamos debate, as many, many people have pointed out. Yunus may fervently believe one of them is wrong. You may agree with him. But for Yunus to do nothing but insult the other side - not even to acknowledge nor respond to its arguments constructively, does not help his cause, or your cause, or that of the people we are all trying to defend. It simply adds to this depressing, angry, destructive polarisation of opinion among people who share the same goal.
One might suggest that his priorities are screwed up.
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