← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Gabrielle
Thread ID: 19056 | Posts: 11 | Started: 2005-07-09
2005-07-09 01:23 | User Profile
THE FUTILITY OF... THROWING MONEY AT AFRICA
By: Samuel L. Blumenfeld
Tony Blairââ¬â¢s new crusade to eliminate poverty in Africa makes as much sense as trying to eliminate poverty in the U.K. Even in America we still have poverty, despite the famous War Against Poverty launched by the Johnson administration and fought by an army of bureaucrats. After throwing billions of dollars at "poverty," the result has been the creation of an entrenched and well-fattened bureaucracy dedicated to the preservation of its own perks and the perpetuity of the war.
Why does poverty exist even in the richest nations? It has something to do with human nature and character. There are those people in all societies who do not have the desire, the capability, or ambition to raise themselves out of poverty. In Africa, despite all of the advances in agricultural technology made in the last two hundred years, you find rural Africans using the most primitive methods of farming used for thousands of years to eke out a subsistence living.
When you look at the refugees in Darfur, you see an entire society that has lived in huts, surviving at the edge of starvation, in which little of the modern world has had much of an influence. The Sudanese government has done nothing to lift its people into the modern age, mainly because of its thirteenth-century Islamic mindset. If it wasnââ¬â¢t for oil, Saudi Arabia would be as poor as Darfur.
And, of course, African leaders blame all of their problems on the West. They were all liberated from their colonial overlords in the 1960s, and forty-five years later they are worse off than they were under colonial rule. If the colonial powers must share the blame, it is because they educated the future African leaders to adopt socialism as their economic system. The London School of Economics taught the Africans the glories of Fabian Socialism. The Fabians used the gradual method to take over England, but the Africans didnââ¬â¢t have to use the gradual method. They could impose socialism immediately. According to Dr. George Ayittey, a native of Ghana, who advocates free markets and the rule of law for Africa:
[The] socialist transformation required the institution of excessive legislative regulations and controls. All unoccupied land was appropriated by the government. Many foreign companies were nationalized, and numerous state-owned enterprises were establishedââ¬Â¦.Bewildering arrays of restrictions were imposed on imports, capital transfers, industry, wages, trade unions, prices, rents, interest rates and the like.
Thus, the mechanisms of wealth-creation were thwarted in favor of governmental and bureaucratic aggrandizement. Thus, if you wanted to get somewhere in that kind of society, you got a job as a bureaucrat so that you could partake of the benevolence of the Western powers. If you wanted to become an entrepreneur, a capitalist, you had to leave the country and go to Europe or America. Thus, the most intelligent, ambitious, and creative Africans have gone West. That represents a brain-drain the continent could hardly afford.
Africa is also plagued by a population of very limited education who have no understanding of the Western concept of individual aspiration. The social norm is the tribe or clan. Individual ambition as we know it cannot grow in that kind of anti-individualist soil. But without it, you cannot create wealth and are condemned to live in a society totally dependent on the largesse of the governing class. The result is that poverty has become the permanent quagmire of human existence in Africa. The only thing that Western charity might do is simply provide the poorest Africans with free meals for a period of time. But it will not give them the mindset that they can create wealth by their own efforts.
One of the reasons why so many immigrants to America became producers of wealth is because they left their clans and tribes behind and came here as individuals eager to seek their fortunes. Americaââ¬â¢s freedom permitted them to exercise their ambitions, their ingenuity, their drive to achieve success. No one goes to Africa to do what immigrants to America do.
Then there is the problem of government corruption, which is endemic to Africa. For example, according to Dr. Ayittey, in Nigeria between 1970 and 2000 more than $35 billion in oil revenues disappeared into the Nigerian governmentââ¬â¢s coffers. Nobody knows what happened to the money. In Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko accumulated a fortune of $10 billion. He could have written a personal check to pay off his countryââ¬â¢s foreign debt of $7 billion.
In Zimbabwe we have the spectacle of Mugabeââ¬â¢s government systematically destroying the homes of the very poor, creating thousands of homeless poor. Whatââ¬â¢s to become of them? Nobody knows. Mugabe also expropriated the farms of his white citizens, which were probably the most productive on the whole continent. Now there is a severe food shortage, which will result in the starvation of thousands of the poorest in Zimbabwe.
Dr. Ayittey contends that African leaders are not interested in reform. "All they are willing to do under international pressure is what I call the ââ¬ËBabangida Boogieââ¬â¢: one step forward, three steps back, a flip and a side kick to land in a fat Swiss bank account."
We would hope that Tony Blair, George Bush, and all of those anxious to throw huge amounts of taxpayer cash at Africa would sit down with Dr. Avittey and seek his counsel. He is Distinguished Economist at American University in Washington, not far from the White House, and President of the Free Africa Foundation. Hopefully, those politicians who really want to achieve some permanent good in Africa will listen to what he has to say and advise.
[url]http://www.etherzone.com/2005/blum070505.shtml[/url]
2005-07-09 01:58 | User Profile
If you wanted to become an entrepreneur, a capitalist, you had to leave the country and go to Europe or America.>\
Yes, and some in Nigeria keep emailing people over here, offering to split their windfall by depositing it in a bank until they can get over here. (Just have to provide them with your account number and password.)
2005-07-09 02:18 | User Profile
On the bright side, maybe if Bush & Co. give the savages the billions of our taxpayer money, those spam emails will actually have real money to back them up. :clap:
Seriously, as the article posted by Gabrielle indicates, the dumping of billions into the black hole of Africa is insane.
2005-07-09 03:51 | User Profile
[QUOTE]Seriously, as the article posted by Gabrielle indicates, the dumping of billions into the black hole of Africa is insane.[/QUOTE]
As even some wise Africans are wise to:
[url]http://www.originaldissent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19032[/url]
2005-07-09 03:51 | User Profile
The solution to hunger in Africa is letting them depopulate to the level that their primitive societies can support (you know, hunter-gatherers lifestyle).
2005-07-10 13:04 | User Profile
SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH AFRICAN ECONOMICS EXPERT [img]http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,488851,00.jpg[/img] Economist James Shikwati: "Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor."
"For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!"
The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.
Horst Friedrichs Economist James Shikwati: "Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor." SPIEGEL: Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about to beef up the development aid for Africa...
Shikwati: ... for God's sake, please just stop.
SPIEGEL: Stop? The industrialized nations of the West want to eliminate hunger and poverty.
Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape. Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor.
SPIEGEL: Do you have an explanation for this paradox?
Shikwati: Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa's problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn't even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.
SPIEGEL: Even in a country like Kenya, people are starving to death each year. Someone has got to help them.
Shikwati: But it has to be the Kenyans themselves who help these people. When there's a drought in a region of Kenya, our corrupt politicians reflexively cry out for more help. This call then reaches the United Nations World Food Program -- which is a massive agency of apparatchiks who are in the absurd situation of, on the one hand, being dedicated to the fight against hunger while, on the other hand, being faced with unemployment were hunger actually eliminated. It's only natural that they willingly accept the plea for more help. And it's not uncommon that they demand a little more money than the respective African government originally requested. They then forward that request to their headquarters, and before long, several thousands tons of corn are shipped to Africa ...
SPIEGEL: ... corn that predominantly comes from highly-subsidized European and American farmers ...
AFP Ruandan President Kagame has over a million deaths on his conscience, says Shikwati. Shikwati: ... and at some point, this corn ends up in the harbor of Mombasa. A portion of the corn often goes directly into the hands of unsrupulous politicians who then pass it on to their own tribe to boost their next election campaign. Another portion of the shipment ends up on the black market where the corn is dumped at extremely low prices. Local farmers may as well put down their hoes right away; no one can compete with the UN's World Food Program. And because the farmers go under in the face of this pressure, Kenya would have no reserves to draw on if there actually were a famine next year. It's a simple but fatal cycle.
SPIEGEL: If the World Food Program didn't do anything, the people would starve.
Shikwati: I don't think so. In such a case, the Kenyans, for a change, would be forced to initiate trade relations with Uganda or Tanzania, and buy their food there. This type of trade is vital for Africa. It would force us to improve our own infrastructure, while making national borders -- drawn by the Europeans by the way -- more permeable. It would also force us to establish laws favoring market economy.
SPIEGEL: Would Africa actually be able to solve these problems on its own?
Shikwati: Of course. Hunger should not be a problem in most of the countries south of the Sahara. In addition, there are vast natural resources: oil, gold, diamonds. Africa is always only portrayed as a continent of suffering, but most figures are vastly exaggerated. In the industrial nations, there's a sense that Africa would go under without development aid. But believe me, Africa existed before you Europeans came along. And we didn't do all that poorly either.
SPIEGEL: But AIDS didn't exist at that time.
Shikwati: If one were to believe all the horrorifying reports, then all Kenyans should actually be dead by now. But now, tests are being carried out everywhere, and it turns out that the figures were vastly exaggerated. It's not three million Kenyans that are infected. All of the sudden, it's only about one million. Malaria is just as much of a problem, but people rarely talk about that.
SPIEGEL: And why's that?
Shikwati: AIDS is big business, maybe Africa's biggest business. There's nothing else that can generate as much aid money as shocking figures on AIDS. AIDS is a political disease here, and we should be very skeptical.
SPIEGEL: The Americans and Europeans have frozen funds previously pledged to Kenya. The country is too corrupt, they say.
Shikwati: I am afraid, though, that the money will still be transfered before long. After all, it has to go somewhere. Unfortunately, the Europeans' devastating urge to do good can no longer be countered with reason. It makes no sense whatsoever that directly after the new Kenyan government was elected -- a leadership change that ended the dictatorship of Daniel arap Mois -- the faucets were suddenly opened and streams of money poured into the country.
SPIEGEL: Such aid is usually earmarked for a specific objective, though.
Shikwati: That doesn't change anything. Millions of dollars earmarked for the fight against AIDS are still stashed away in Kenyan bank accounts and have not been spent. Our politicians were overwhelmed with money, and they try to siphon off as much as possible. The late tyrant of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa, cynically summed it up by saying: "The French government pays for everything in our country. We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it."
DPA Former Central African Republic leader Jean-Bedel Bokassa: "We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it." SPIEGEL: In the West, there are many compassionate citizens wanting to help Africa. Each year, they donate money and pack their old clothes into collection bags ...
Shikwati: ... and they flood our markets with that stuff. We can buy these donated clothes cheaply at our so-called Mitumba markets. There are Germans who spend a few dollars to get used Bayern Munich or Werder Bremen jerseys, in other words, clothes that that some German kids sent to Africa for a good cause. After buying these jerseys, they auction them off at Ebay and send them back to Germany -- for three times the price. That's insanity ...
SPIEGEL: ... and hopefully an exception.
Shikwati: Why do we get these mountains of clothes? No one is freezing here. Instead, our tailors lose their livlihoods. They're in the same position as our farmers. No one in the low-wage world of Africa can be cost-efficient enough to keep pace with donated products. In 1997, 137,000 workers were employed in Nigeria's textile industry. By 2003, the figure had dropped to 57,000. The results are the same in all other areas where overwhelming helpfulness and fragile African markets collide.
SPIEGEL: Following World War II, Germany only managed to get back on its feet because the Americans poured money into the country through the Marshall Plan. Wouldn't that qualify as successful development aid?
Shikwati: In Germany's case, only the destroyed infrastructure had to be repaired. Despite the economic crisis of the Weimar Republic, Germany was a highly- industrialized country before the war. The damages created by the tsunami in Thailand can also be fixed with a little money and some reconstruction aid. Africa, however, must take the first steps into modernity on its own. There must be a change in mentality. We have to stop perceiving ourselves as beggars. These days, Africans only perceive themselves as victims. On the other hand, no one can really picture an African as a businessman. In order to change the current situation, it would be helpful if the aid organizations were to pull out.
SPIEGEL: If they did that, many jobs would be immediately lost ...
AFP Congolese line up for a United Nations food delivery in 2002. Shikwati: ... jobs that were created artificially in the first place and that distort reality. Jobs with foreign aid organizations are, of course, quite popular, and they can be very selective in choosing the best people. When an aid organization needs a driver, dozens apply for the job. And because it's unacceptable that the aid worker's chauffeur only speaks his own tribal language, an applicant is needed who also speaks English fluently -- and, ideally, one who is also well mannered. So you end up with some African biochemist driving an aid worker around, distributing European food, and forcing local farmers out of their jobs. That's just crazy!
SPIEGEL: The German government takes pride in precisely monitoring the recipients of its funds.
Shikwati: And what's the result? A disaster. The German government threw money right at Rwanda's president Paul Kagame. This is a man who has the deaths of a million people on his conscience -- people that his army killed in the neighboring country of Congo.
SPIEGEL: What are the Germans supposed to do?
Shikwati: If they really want to fight poverty, they should completely halt development aid and give Africa the opportunity to ensure its own survival. Currently, Africa is like a child that immediately cries for its babysitter when something goes wrong. Africa should stand on its own two feet.
[url]http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,363663,00.html[/url]
2005-07-10 22:44 | User Profile
Sure. They're sub-IQ stone-age people. It's not money they need, it's 100,000 years of evolution and selection in a northern locale!
But the J. Philippe insight aside, you'd think mainstream conners would at least pick up on the African economist's argument. Bushy and Blair, of course, are not even mainstream conners. Remember when white people hesitated to give their own handouts?
2005-07-11 00:48 | User Profile
"Where they are we will be and where we are they will be".....Ponce
When the so called white race were living in caves and hunting with rocks those who you are talking about knew how to do brain surgery and how to operate in the eye in order to take out the catarat and in some cases even heart operations.
I for one accept people as they are for what they are but only for as long as they don't hurt others (like the Jews, Zionists), many of you don't own your houses, are in debt, don't have jobs, have kids sucking out your life line but to me we are all the same.
You bich and complain and talk about the Africans because we are giving them a billion and yet say nothing about the Zionist leaching blood suckers of the state of Isral to whom we give FOUR TO SEVEN BILLIONS dollars each and every year.
I challenge any Jew reading this that you prove to me that your people has ever PAID any of the loans made to them, the only thing that we get from the back stabbing Zionist are spys and double crossing acts of treason.
"When the truth comes into the light all the lies will hide in the dark"... Ponce
PS: three more Palestinians boys killed in Palestine today, ages 9,12 and 14
2005-07-11 01:30 | User Profile
[QUOTE]
I for one accept people as they are for what they are but only for as long as they don't hurt others (like the Jews, Zionists), many of you don't own your houses, are in debt, don't have jobs, have kids sucking out your life line but to me we are all the same.
[/QUOTE]"we are all the same" Isn't that nice. If this is true, why are these Africans, with their average IQ slighly above the retard level living in the conditions they live in? Why is it that always need huge handouts to keep from starving among so many other things? And then you start with the usual lines about when the white man was living in caves,etc(lol) the great African was, just so advanced,.(obviously you got that from some afro-centric website, or you are listening to Minister Farrakhan too much,etc) But to put it very simply, Ponce, if this is true, what the hell happnened that would cause them to go from being such a glorious and advanced people(just the thought of that is funny.lol) to living in filth, dying of AIDS, having some of the highest murder rates in the world and starving to death. Is it somehow because of the white man? In the very amusing words of a poster some time ago on VNNf, did the evil white man steal the black man's brain?:lol:
It is also amusing that you say "we are all the same" and then you say what you do about the Jews. Often times people who will repeat the "we are all the same" nonsense will go on to exclude somebody from that idea, in your case it is the Jews, for others it will be Muslims,fat people,retards,religious or non-religious people,etc. It shows how much people truly believe that idea when it gets right down to it. The difference being that it is not socially acceptable, today, to believe there are racial differences.
2005-07-11 01:31 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Ponce]"Where they are we will be and where we are they will be".....Ponce
When the so called white race were living in caves and hunting with rocks those who you are talking about knew how to do brain surgery and how to operate in the eye in order to take out the catarat and in some cases even heart operations.
I for one accept people as they are for what they are but only for as long as they don't hurt others (like the Jews, Zionists), many of you don't own your houses, are in debt, don't have jobs, have kids sucking out your life line but to me we are all the same.
You bich and complain and talk about the Africans because we are giving them a billion and yet say nothing about the Zionist leaching blood suckers of the state of Isral to whom we give FOUR TO SEVEN BILLIONS dollars each and every year.
I challenge any Jew reading this that you prove to me that your people has ever PAID any of the loans made to them, the only thing that we get from the back stabbing Zionist are spys and double crossing acts of treason.
"When the truth comes into the light all the lies will hide in the dark"... Ponce
PS: three more Palestinians boys killed in Palestine today, ages 9,12 and 14[/QUOTE]
Good post, Ponce. :)
2005-07-11 01:35 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Ponce]"Where they are we will be and where we are they will be".....Ponce
When the so called white race were living in caves and hunting with rocks those who you are talking about knew how to do brain surgery and how to operate in the eye in order to take out the catarat and in some cases even heart operations.
I for one accept people as they are for what they are but only for as long as they don't hurt others (like the Jews, Zionists), many of you don't own your houses, are in debt, don't have jobs, have kids sucking out your life line but to me we are all the same.
You bich and complain and talk about the Africans because we are giving them a billion and yet say nothing about the Zionist leaching blood suckers of the state of Isral to whom we give FOUR TO SEVEN BILLIONS dollars each and every year.
I challenge any Jew reading this that you prove to me that your people has ever PAID any of the loans made to them, the only thing that we get from the back stabbing Zionist are spys and double crossing acts of treason.
"When the truth comes into the light all the lies will hide in the dark"... Ponce
PS: three more Palestinians boys killed in Palestine today, ages 9,12 and 14[/QUOTE]
Good post, Ponce, except for the living in caves bull, and we are all the same bull. :)