www.fastcompany.com/magazine/126/special-report-china-in-africa.html
It was discovered in 1873, the year it took the life of missionary-explorer David Livingstone, that great champion of British imperialism on what his countrymen called the Dark Continent. I know this because, when I returned home from reporting in the sub-Sahara, the same pathogen was drilling through the walls of my gut. It would colonize there for months, unbeknownst to me, absorbing my nutrients and spewing its toxins, as I grew weak and emaciated. A skillful intruder, Eh can produce a population explosion in a very short time. While its plan of attack is complex and still not entirely understood, it seems to trick human defense mechanisms into thinking all is well in the homeland. It's a shame we couldn't just get along, that my ecosystem couldn't sustain us both. I likely picked up my dose of Eh in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an epicenter of virulent disease, from flies that transported it from infected human feces to food. "If you were a malnourished kid in a refugee camp in Congo," remarked my doctor, a tropical-disease expert who has labored in dozens of such camps, "you would probably die from this infection." As it happened, I had just made it to age 47, the statistical end of the line for the 770 million people who live in sub-Saharan Africa. An unfathomably vast terrain comprising 49 nations, the sub-Sahara represents nearly one-fifth of the earth's landmass. Until they don't: It is the planet's biggest tomb, where compared to the 1960s, twice as many children under the age of 5 are now dying each day from disease; a bottomless badland where $500 billion of Western aid since World War II (more than four Marshall Plans) has barely made a dent in the poverty; a region whose market share of world trade is shrinking by the hour as it gets left behind, perhaps permanently, in the dust of globalization; a place so desperate for everything -- cash, trade, investment, infrastructure -- and so powerless to negotiate strategically, that it's pretty much up for sale to the highest bidder. During my recovery, I had time to dwell on parasites, how they invade and deplete their hosts, much as successive colonial powers have done over the centuries in places such as Africa. Anyone who thinks that kind of ravenous acquisition of resources is a thing of the past should take a close look at the suction China is applying in the sub-Sahara. The region is now the scene of one of the most sweeping, bare-knuckled, and ingenious resource grabs the world has ever seen. The sub-Sahara is now the scene of one of the most bare-knuckled resource grabs the world has ever seen.
iew gnem Let's look at reality here: what's the point of "human rights" if everyone's dead? The restriction on trade with African countries under the excuse of "good governance" has caused hundreds of millions to die of poverty in the past 50 years, what China's argument is, lets make sure they are alive before worry about how much of the money ends up where. the US ultimately cares about its own national interest, but its rethoric of "human rights" has been going on so long people can't help but to rationalize the various economic sanctions on Africa as being good for them. Theres a fundemental problem with US, and indeed western approach to Africa, they can't get out of the mindset of exploitation, Africa is and will always be that poor pathetic kid on the block that we, the morally superior, have the right to push around and tell them what to and not to do. Reality is the only way to judge an idelogy, the western ideology in Africa has done NOTHING to improve African's lives for as long as anyone can remember, the same donnation advertisement on TV you see 10 years ago are still playing. The reality is the US does not care for Africa's development, and when it dosn't, there's no harm in starting a few rethoric and slashing sanctions left and right on coutries already in poverty. What China is doing is to tell them, you have natural resources we need, they are worth nothing without buyers, so we are going to build an industry in your country for you so you can sell them to us, we are going to build roads, bridges, infrasture for you, so you can use them to trade with us. nobody knows since nobody tried this before, but seeing Africa is growing at the fastest pace in history, it looks promising. On the other hand, we are pretty sure what dosn't work: sticking to the rethoric of "human rights" and "good governance" at the cost of hundreds of millions of dead, that is what I call genocide.
No doubt the best article in the past 12 months about the Chinese influence in Africa. As we move into the 21st century, we need to think about policies that can counter balance the Chinese influence and its consequencies. What is happening in Africa is just snapshot of the Chinese expansion worldwide. An expansion that unfortunately has been made possible by western countries consumption.
Bob Hurd Africa's current condition is the result of neo-colonialism. Africa is being "sharecropped" for its non-renewable resources by the industrialized nations and aspiring industrialized nations (such as China). In the past, Europe and America (also Japan and South Korea) have used the IMF and the World Bank as their agents to extend loans to African countries which for the most part were headed by despot leaders who lined their own pockets and thus, they had little regard for human rights/civil rights and the economic wellbeing of its people. Metals and minerals originating from Africa such as platinum, palladium, coltan and a host of other exotic materials are classified by the US as strategic minerals because they are vital to our national security. We must obtain these minerals irrespective of the cost and by any means necessary! Western countries include a human rights component in government-to-government agreements with African countries. That's why they are rapidly expanding their influence throughout the African continent. The Western countries and the Chinese will continue to exploit Africa for its non-renewable resources through the use of tried and true neo-colonial methodologies including fomenting tribal differences and encouraging the formation and continuation of an elite upper class of Africans and autocratic African leaders.
Yele Odofin I would like to commend the journalistic efforts of this writer, whom I first saw on Lou Dobbs show. however, these positions were understandably based on North American perception of Africa, as a homogeneous continent of beggars and "Have Nots". Having worked on development policy issues in Nigeria, as well as reviewed a significant number of other African nations' foreign policies. I would like to stress some points Richard omitted in his piece. Firstly, African countries have strategic needs and these needs vary quite significantly. There is a growing fear among most African political and academic elites that a strong economic ties with the West would come with a lot of unrealistic strings such as the imposition of liberal social issues all in the name of 'Human Rights', there is also a need to diversify economic, diplomatic and military interests. It's a no brainier that make these countries less vulnerable to external influence and western sanctions most of these countries have learned from the Zimbabwe experience. Most African countries have actively pursued the so called "South- South" development partnership. Nigeria and other African states, in the last decade have seen a huge bi lateral trade boost with countries like Brazil, Russia, India, and countries in the Middle East. The reason for the Chinese acceptance by African leaders has little to do with corruption as there are many havens in the Caribbean, some European Territories, South America and Middle East to launder such funds. Finally, contrary to North American media and Hollywood's exaggerated depiction of desperate living conditions in places like Western Sudan, Somalia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and some parts of Congo. I wish to state that as a result of institutional reforms in financial sector, communication and industries, Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana, Ethiopia and many more Afri...
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