I'm having a little trouble with my defining progress blog, so I thought to myself, why not talk about an entire continent that is seemingly devoid of progress? Africa seems pretty stagnant!
And Africa is pretty stagnant in a general sense. There is very little investment going into Africa, even though there's a lot of potential there. According to an article by the Washington Post, the Ghana Stock Exchange was the fastest-growing exchange in the world in 2003, but still investors aren't exactly flocking to the dark continent. How is Africa supposed to grow and prosper without investment? Beats me. I do know that China and India would not be where they are today without vigorous foreign investment. With the proper investment, China has developed into a major power with a lot of economical power. Maybe you're familiar with the UN's attempts to convince China to stop it's comsumption of oil in Sudan in order to help end the Darfurian genocide. China has a lot of international power and status at the moment, thanks in part to foreign investment.
It is true that Africa recieves millions of dollars in foreign aid. But aid does not create jobs or stable economies. It's the equivalent of giving a man a fish, instead of going the extra mile to teach him how to catch his own. And with the rampant corruption and terrible infrastructure there, who's to say that all of this money trickles down to the African masses?
And then, instead of a "Circle of Life", there's a circle of dictators. It's a recurring problem in Africa, and I can't say that America's doing much to help, as much pride as we may take in deposing Saddam Hussein. The former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, once said "Across Africa, undemocratic and oppressive regimes were supported and sustained by competing super-powers." Maybe we don't help out because of the awesome money that we make off of dictator-centric films, like The Last King of Scotland (WHICH WAS AWESOME!!!). Maybe we're just tired of intervention backfiring on us because of our nation's greed.
Maybe most important is the effect of European colonization. Africa was once made up of several different ethnic groups- not tribes (the term is a bit insulting and does not give insight to the thousands of people that each ethnic group included and still includes todya). These groups were governed with elders or leaders or kings that formed the heads of the individual systems. Each ethnic group had their own different ways of living, their own distinct customs, and fierce loyalties to their own ethnic groups. So when the European states decided to divide Africa up into states without regard for ethnic affiliations or rivalries, it created governmental problems for each of the countries. In the United States, we generally see the government as a higher power than our own party affiliation or political alliances. If Congress increases taxes, we may grumble, but we pay those taxes to the government, and not to our respective parties. In several African states, this was not the case. National law, for them, was secondary to the rules and regulations set down within their own ethnic groups. Think American Civil War. When the Southerners were more loyal to the South than America as a whole, they began to fight to be independent from the North. Now, consider this: Some African countries have over 20 ethnic groups. I'll just say it for kicks: Houston, we have a problem. You may wonder why so many genocides occur in Africa, and this is part of the problem.
Oh, and one more word. CORRUPTION. Not everyone in Africa is poor. There are some who are very, very rich. The very, very rich keep the money, and the very, very poor stay without. The systems of several African countries are corrupt, illegitimate in the eyes of their people, and failed.
So, in conclusion, Africa needs a hand up, not a hand out. Except that seems to be all we're willing to give. Just some food for thought.
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