The ads are all over some magazines... Celebs like Gwenyth Paltrow, or David Bowie with what look like African tribal markings painted on them, and in big bold letters, "I AM AFRICAN" printed below the photo. Bono and Brangelina tell us to help them "save" Africa from disease, poverty, corruption. But, does Africa really need our saving? Uzodinma Iweala wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post yesterday arguing that not only does Africa not want to be saved, but the Africans working on the ground to make a real difference are being totally ignored. You can read his op-ed here. And, do you think appeals like the campaigns to help Africa can be disrespectful? Let us know.
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The op-ed reminds me of the Africa's a Continent, Not a Crisis meme that took place about a year ago online after the Live8 concerts. Ethan Zuckerman, who's blogged about African development for many years, wrote his blog post in response to another blogger named Brian, who was hopeful that the Live8 concerts would somehow lead to tangible benefits for the continent. Ethan writes:
Africa's not an issue. It's not a cause or a problem. It's a continent - a complicated, confusing, beautiful continent, with wealth and poverty, peace and strife, success and tragedy. When Africa becomes a cause, we tend to see only one side of the continent - a helpless, dependent, starving side that needs our help.To actually accomplish the goal of Live 8 - the elimination of poverty in Africa - Americans and Europeans have to get a great deal smarter about this other Africa. This Africa needs investment and trade, rather than just aid and debt forgiveness This Africa is open for business. This Africa is as important and as real as the Africa that needs help.
Aid dollars don't eliminate poverty - integration into a global economy does. (South Korea and Ghana had approximately the same per capita income when Ghana gained independence in 1957. South Korea's income per capita has increased roughly fifteen times in constant dollar terms, while Ghana's has fallen slightly. You may notice that we buy a great deal more from South Korea than we do from Ghana.) If the goal of Live 8 were to help people see the African continent as a place they want to visit, a place they want to open businesses in, a place they want to engage with, as opposed to a place they want to save, I'd be more likely to share Brian's hopes.
I've never heard the phrase "save Africa." Never. I hope no one turns their back on helping Africa because someone's feelings are hurt that Bono and Oprah get more ink than unsung workers in Africa. If any individual is offended by offers of help, in Africa or elsewhere, he should reject it.
As a parent to an Ethiopian child my wife and I adopted this year, I feel compelled to share our experience and thoughts upon reading Uzodinma Iweala's article ???Stop Trying to 'Save' Africa??? published Sunday July 15. While I agree that an inequitable amount of attention is being paid to the Hollywood trends and action, I believe that there is a healthier movement being actuated internationally. We the human race must help each other. Perhaps the parents that ???pick out children to adopt in much the same way my friends and I in New York take the subway to the pound to adopt stray dogs??? are excited about incorporating their child's African culture into their own; prepared to exposed their child to the richness and glory of their heritage, returning to the child's homeland to ensure his culture is infused into his as well as our own development. Perhaps some of us can see beyond international boarders that inspire differences and an ???it not my problem mentality.??? Perhaps not only can Africa benefit from saving, but raising a global view of this world can assist this world plagued by unjust wars, inequitable distribution of medical care, racism, xenophobia. The great Malcolm X understood during his pilgrimage to Mecca that it takes a global view of tolerance to truly fight the battle against racism. I can assure you Ato Iweala that my wife and I did not adopt to offer help ???in the spirit of affirming one's cultural superiority???. Considering Americans have all but destroyed their culture by forcing assimilation of immigrants, as well as being misrepresented to the world through a horribly misguided Bush administration, one might consider the African culturally superior in many ways. In a nation that by the year 2010 will have between 25 million and 50 million children orphaned due to the HIV/AIDS virus alone according to UNAIDS, no one can do any saving, it is past that point. All a music teacher like me can do is offer help, peace and love. Never be afraid to accept compassion.
I suggest that you interview Robert Calderisi about book The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn't Working. He worked in Africa with the World Bank for many years. He has some intersting suggestions for helping Africa help itself. If you have already interviewed him, my apologies. I am unable to listen all of the time.
In his interview he was offended that a woman with a charitable organization in Rwanda was keeping all receipts to prevent corruption. He said something to the extent of the act assuming that they are backwards people with low moral values, etc. The truth is there is corruption everywhere, in this country, in Europe, even in the U.N., so yes, in a poor developing country still picking up it's pieces after a terrible genocide, there is going to be a lot of corruption, and perhaps there it might be much easier to get away with it than in well developed countries with it. Then he turns around and talks about infrastructure. Isn't the decrease of corruption one of the biggest building blocks of a healthy organically developed state?
The point Mr Iweala he is missing is the fact that most of Africa IS poor, undeveloped, chronically corrupt and seemingly unable to address any of these problems on its own. Instead of complaining on one hand about the lack of aid, and simultaneously on the other hand complaining about the style in which aid is given, perhaps Mr. Iweala should focus his energies on coming up with solutions to the real problems that exist. Only when we Africans face up to our own failures and stop blaming others, can we begin to improve our condidtion.
We Africa do not need to be saved. All we need is fair, equal and just competition on the global market economy. This is near impossible to reach, because we do not have representatives on the board that governs the market globally (the WORLDBANK, IMF, EUROPEAN UNION, ETC). How can we trust the nations that colonised us all of a sudden want to save us and to be our friends and helpers? No human being should be that dumb.
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