The “strange disconnect” between volunteers and the governments that represent them is not lost on Amed Khan, a long-time associate of the former US president Bill Clinton, who has also spent time on Lesbos. The investor, who bought Andy Warhol’s Mao in 2011 but has since rejected consumerism for the world of philanthropy, has also been motivated by rage. “I’m just furious about the callous indifference of the rich and gross incompetence of the powerful,” says the 44-year-old, who has funded a transit centre and search and rescue operations on the island.

“The whole thing is a disgrace, a self-induced faux crisis. Citizens’ movements are good but where are the rich? In Rwanda we saw the same thing, people of limited means taking time out of their schedule to help. Here I hear of yachts being chartered for a million dollars a week; just the gas they use would be enough to educate refugee children for a year.”

Source: The Guardian