What is The West doing to Africa? (5 Viewers)

[egg_]

Looking for ammunition to use during arguments with "I'm not a racist but ..." types.

So, what are we doing to Africa? Right now, or within the last 5 years as opposed to in the distant past, and actively, as opposed to neglecting to do something

 

[reformer]

the only thing we need to do with africa is begin actively trading with them as opposed to pumping in millions in food aid which rarely finds its way to the people who actually need it.and cut subsidies to european/us farmers.

 

[Squiggle]

We're starving them, according to President George Bush. An old article, but interesting.

Bush said Europeans, by closing their markets to bioengineered foods, have caused African nations to avoid investments in such crops. "European governments should join -- not hinder -- the great cause of ending hunger in Africa," he said. Accusing those who subsidize agricultural exports of preventing poor countries from developing their own crops, he added: "I propose that all developed nations, including our partners in Europe, immediately eliminate subsidies on agricultural exports to developing countries so that they can produce more food to export and more food to feed their own people."

 

[taubstumm]

We're starving them, according to President George Bush. An old article, but interesting.

that seems more like an apologia for genetically modified food than any genuine defence of the interests of people in africa. but that's just a first impression.

apart from that, though, let's start with france:

operation epervier is the code name for the french army using a big chunk of chad as a military testing ground, under the guise of 'protecting' the country from libya. they also encouraged chad to become involved, in the late 1990s, in the second congo war (often referred to as 'africa's world war' - four million dead in the last 10 years) as a means to reestablish influence that was lost as a result of the rwandan genocide. (the first congo war was the war which overthrew mobutu sésé seko and changed 'zaire' back to 'congo' - mobutu had been propped up by the americans since the mid-60s despite being a mass murderer and, apparently, the third-most-corrupt national leader in world history)

france supported zaire during the shaba i and shaba ii invasions, which was one of the incidents that framed the congo wars years later. france deployed troops in cote d'ivoire in 2002 during operation licorne, and numerous other countries in the last few years. the french foreign legion regularly ends up doing the dirty work for france in africa, avoiding the politically unpalatable deployment of actual french people in africa.

french influence in africa is often referred to as the 'françafrique' (a pun on 'france' and 'africa' meaning, roughly, 'france cashing in'), and apart from the more-or-less straightforward french neocolonialism in africa, there is also the fashoda syndrome, through which france (still) seeks to limit british influence in africa.

and then, of course, there's france and algeria...

plenty more on wikipedia...

 

[Squiggle]

that seems more like an apologia for genetically modified food than any genuine defence of the interests of people in africa. but that's just a first impression.

That was my first impression and is my continuing impression, and it was also a finger pointing exercise in search of a scapegoat. If I remember correctly Kenya had turned down an offer of food "aid" from the US not too much before that as they felt that the ultimate cost would be too high.

 

[classic seanc]

Is Europe still dumping all its excess butter etc in Africa? We used to at least. And that's to do with CAP egg_, should be easily understood by the I'm-not-racist-buts in your rural locality.

 

[Froog]

they love bush in africa for his aids policys:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1714383,00.html

 

[Froog]

the only thing we need to do with africa is begin actively trading with them as opposed to pumping in millions in food aid which rarely finds its way to the people who actually need it.and cut subsidies to european/us farmers.

seconded, african nations need to grow and not just survive.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

i presume if europe open its doors to genetically modified food from africa american companies dealing in genetically modified food would do well. big business, much of it american, has a negative impact there through bribing corrupt regimes to allow them to exploit the local people and resources and deterring more positive investment. try name dropping angola and guinea here (its probably safe enough mention any african country...)

 

[broken arm]

big business, much of it american, has a negative impact there through bribing corrupt regimes to allow them to exploit the local people and resources and deterring more positive investment. try name dropping angola and guinea here (its probably safe enough mention any african country...)

you'll find more info on this from these guys - http://www.globalwitness.org/index.php

i remember the UNCTAD least developed country report in 2004 had some interesting views on trade
http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Webflyer.asp?intItemID=1397&docID=4810

 

[potlatch]

Looking for ammunition to use during arguments with "I'm not a racist but ..." types.

So, what are we doing to Africa? Right now, or within the last 5 years as opposed to in the distant past, and actively, as opposed to neglecting to do something

• The EU is pursuing Economic Partnership Agreements with developing countries which, in return for aid, they're being strong-armed into opening up their economies further. Particularly selling off public services (water, electricity, telephones) to the 'open market' (i.e. European firms) after which they'll charge the poorest of the poor to pay for basic things they can't afford. The EU will also continue to dump cheap produce like chicken bits etc. in Ghana, destroying indigenous commerce. In the meantime, the EU erects invisible trade barriers; the EU says it'll make 'adjustment' grants available to help African business meet these new import requirements, but it's nowhere near enough.
• America is investing heavily in West Africa to secure its oil fields; military and commercial agreements are being signed with dictators in Equatorial Guinea, and corrupt bastards in Nigeria; these are established under various 'aid' agreements, some of which amount to arming and training the police that serve the dictators
• America diverting most of its USAID to the Egyptian and Israeli military;
• Western firms engaging in grand corruption; Western financial institutions (possibly even Irish ones) laundering billions of ill-gotten loot;
• I think Mitterrands nephew or some or something made some profit importing all the machetes the Hutus used to murder the Tutsis in Rwanda;
• AfrI reckons the UN peacekeeping force in Chad is propping up the dictatorial regime;
• The USA objected some years ago to the UNFPA distributing condoms to control AIDS and population growth; as a result the UNFPA stopped its policy fearing withdrawl of US funds which it's dependent on;
• The Pope (and the other guy) by virtue of their anti-contraception policy is contributing to the AIDS pandemic;
• The IMF's Structural Adjustment Policies fucking up most of Africa (and quietly admitting that their policies were complete toss years later)

If I wasn't so tired, I could think of actual examples.

 

[reformer]

its not all bad news though,the average income in africa has risen in the last 2 decades and there are now less people living in absolute poverty than before even though the population has increased greatly in that period.

 

[potlatch]

its not all bad news though,the average income in africa has risen in the last 2 decades and there are now less people living in absolute poverty than before even though the population has increased greatly in that period.

I don't think so.

 

[reformer]

not to be pedantic but the very name of the publication suggests which side of the spectrum they're gonna be coming from,i cant remember exactly where i got the above figures but to the best of my knowledge it was a u.n. sponsored initiative.

 

[ITalkShite]

not to be pedantic but the very name of the publication suggests which side of the spectrum they're gonna be coming from,i cant remember exactly where i got the above figures but to the best of my knowledge it was a u.n. sponsored initiative.

Well, I'm convinced

 

[reformer]

sorry but i just didnt have the exact info to hand so thought that would be better than quoting someone in error.

 

[reformer]

see here
-http://books.google.ie/books?id=6pypmvICANIC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=rise+in+african+gdp&source=web&ots=zu30BnDqxo&sig=M4g3KcSQagrXpb6IrkygTax0qBw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA210,M1


oecd report on the worlds economy,pages 210-224,shows near universal gdp rises between 92 and 01 in africa (exceptions are burundi,dijibouti,sierra leone and zaire) and while gdp per capita rises are not so big and widespread the ever growing population would account for that.
hope thats convincing enough

and apologies on the huge link,first one i came across.

 

[Luther Blissett]

Looking for ammunition to use during arguments with "I'm not a racist but ..." types.

So, what are we doing to Africa? Right now, or within the last 5 years as opposed to in the distant past, and actively, as opposed to neglecting to do something

We're dumping toxic e-waste in West Africa.

 

[potlatch]

see here
-http://books.google.ie/books?id=6pypmvICANIC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=rise+in+african+gdp&source=web&ots=zu30BnDqxo&sig=M4g3KcSQagrXpb6IrkygTax0qBw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA210,M1


oecd report on the worlds economy,pages 210-224,shows near universal gdp rises between 92 and 01 in africa (exceptions are burundi,dijibouti,sierra leone and zaire) and while gdp per capita rises are not so big and widespread the ever growing population would account for that.
hope thats convincing enough

and apologies on the huge link,first one i came across.

Yeah, but GDP is one thing, GNP is another. And neither say anything about the distribution of wealth within and among African countries.

Africa's very resource-rich, but little of the wealth stays in the continent.

That article sets all those figures in a bigger context, which I think is farly convincing if you accept the level of analysis it's taking place at.

Saying growth is blah or blah means nothing if you don't set it in a context. The general context, confirmed by Maddison's pioneering work, is rising inequality. Bob Sutcliffe is a bit of a head on this. Here's his page: http://www.geocities.com/bobsutcl/Articles.html

 

[Froog]

anyone ever watch those nigerian soap operas on satellite?
they're well weird.