Behind the image: Poverty and 'development pornography'
By Rotimi Sankore
In a world where graphic pictures of starving children are used by development agencies to raise funds from the public in the rich world, ROTIMI SANKORE critiques the phenomenon of ‘development pornograpy’ and argues that it has contributed towards deeper prejudice. New ways must be found to reach the public and more clearly explain the real reasons behind poverty in Africa, he states.
For decades, development and aid charities in the western world have believed the best way to raise funds from the public for their work is to shock people with astonishing pictures of poverty from the 'developing' world. An iconic poster example of these pictures is one of a skeletal looking 2 or 3 year old brown-skinned girl in a dirty torn dress, too weak to chase off dozens of flies settling on her wasted and diseased body and her big round eyes pleading for help. 'A pound means a lot to her'; 'a dollar can mean the difference between life and death'; 'Give something today' are generic riders.
This approach is partly based on the philosophy that 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. Since the development of photography and the mass media, this has been the mantra of any remotely competent photo editor and in modern times campaign and advertising executives.
The Make Poverty History Campaign, Millennium Development Goals and the Commission for Africa have again focused attention on existing poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America. New targets have been set just as in the 70's and 80's when the target to end world poverty was the year 2000. New targets mean new campaigns and the type of images used to draw attention to the famine in Ethiopia in 1984 and 1985 will need to be updated. Unlike previously however, there are now even more development charities competing for a limited 'market' of givers. The implications are clear. Each image depicting poverty needs to be more graphic than the next to elicit more responses.
As some psychologists have argued, increasing levels of violence on television normalises violence. Subsequent images of violence then need to be more graphic to make an impact. Likewise an addiction to pornography demands increasingly graphic images to provoke even minimum arousal - in this case, a sense of outrage necessary to sustain similar levels of giving. But despite the number of lives saved or enhanced by aid, the most horrendous pictures do not and are incapable of telling the whole story; neither will development charities conclusively solve the problem of poverty that exists worldwide.
Increasingly graphic depictions of poverty projected on a mass scale by an increasing number of organisations over a long period cannot but have an impact on the consciousness of the target audience. That is the desired objective. But there can also be unintended consequences. In this case, the subliminal message unintended or not, is that people in the developing world require indefinite and increasing amounts of help and that without aid charities and donor support, these poor incapable people in Africa or Asia will soon be extinct through disease and starvation. Such simplistic messages foster racist stereotypes, strip entire peoples of their dignity and encourage prejudice.
Some may genuinely think that this is mere exaggeration. But when a leader of the Conservative opposition announces bombastically that under his government, all immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers would be subjected to tests for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in order to save the National Health Service millions of pounds, you can tell he thinks he is on to a vote winner. He either sincerely believes most people from those places carry dangerous diseases, or his strategists believe this will tap into the fears and prejudices of millions of voters. Either option is offensive and no amount of denials will avoid the fact that such prejudice is based on negative stereotypes. And where have most of the negative stereotypes come from? Your guess is as good as mine. Periodic appeals for donations using graphic and stereotypical images of poverty reach millions every year. The intentions may be good, but some of the consequences are not. Additionally many Africans and Asians resent negative stereotypes of their continents as anybody would, and find them offensive no matter what cause they are employed for.
Over time, there has been gradual but increasing awareness that pictures can lie even when they are a 'true' likeness of an instant in time. In the former Eastern bloc, images of poverty stricken homeless people in the 'West' were the only picture many had of capitalism. In today's world of digital media and convergence there is a clear understanding by media experts that often-repeated images can and do create a false consciousness of what is real.
While the poverty is real, the subliminal message development 'pornography' conveys is unreal. There has been some development alongside the poverty and the causes of poverty are far more complicated than single pictures can ever convey. In Africa for instance, previous undemocratic rule facilitated or conveniently accepted by many western governments - to fight off the threat of 'communism' - has ensured institutional imbalances in the development of the political and democratic process. As a result former dictators and their cronies have exclusively accumulated fabulous wealth necessary to meet absurd financial conditions set by biased electoral bodies in many countries. Actual electoral expenses that are unregulated run into hundreds of thousands of dollars and in huge countries such as Nigeria (population 130 million) even millions. And then there is the pre and actual ballot rigging using the mass media and state apparatus. Add to this layers of repressive laws - originally introduced by colonial governments to suppress restless natives - that have led to the death, imprisonment, intimidation and exile of tens of thousands of intellectuals, activists, lawyers, journalists, trade unionists, students and scientists and it is clear that most of those managing these economies and societies are not the best qualified to do so.
One dares not even go back to the consequences of 400 years of slavery that directly or indirectly killed and took away over a hundred million Africans and in the process disrupted all social and political development for four centuries, or subsequent colonial repression that in some places lasted over a 100 years. Most of Africa has been independent for only between 10 and 46 years and for most of that period many countries were ruled by left and right wing or simply mad dictators supported by cold war enemies jostling for strategic influence.
With all the slavery, colonialism, mass murder, repression, looting, corruption, trade imbalances, an doutrageous interests on dubious loans that have gone on for 500 years it is no wonder the continent is bruised and battered. No continent subjected to the same conditions would have fared better.
No pictures can explain this. What development 'pornography' shows is the result, not the cause of five centuries of aggressive exploitation of a continent. The relatively smoother development in parts of Asia exists because no industrial scale slavery and destruction of society was imposed there for four centuries. Unlike in Africa, the foundation of most Asian civilisation and culture remained largely intact. Colonialism suspended the natural trajectory of development in Asia that then continued once its yoke was lifted. Were it not for the immortality of the pyramids and scattered records of past African civilisations, the entire continent might have well been declared a historical wasteland.
Without clear explanations of why poverty persists in the developing world, the western public will tire of giving and sooner or later there will be a backlash; some argue that such fatigue has already begun to set in. For now negative stereotypes may already have been so ingrained that the level of ignorant prejudice that facilitated the transatlantic slave trade, the holocaust against European Jews, Apartheid and genocides from the Balkans and Cambodia to Rwanda may have already taken root.
This is no exaggeration. The first step towards institutionalised prejudice, exploitation and violence has always been a false mass belief that other peoples or sections of society are unequal, sub-human, vermin, dangerous, treacherous or whatever is propagated until it becomes an 'accepted truth'. The most universal example of consequences of such false beliefs is the exploitation of and violence perpetuated against women in all societies. Development 'pornography' has unwittingly contributed towards prejudice and must find new ways to reach the public before its good intentions irreversibly facilitate bad ones. Most importantly, what the developing world needs is a reversal of the institutional imbalances that have facilitated repression, exploitation, incompetence and corruption and a pledge from western interests to allow their people to freely define their future.
African British perspective on the politics of Live 8, G8 and the UK media
In the focus on Africa in 2005, it has often been hard to find African voices as opposed to European “experts”, while self-proclaimed saviours like Bob Geldof have been all to quick to declare, for example, that ‘a great justice has been done’ by the G8 meetings. A recent report by Ligali, an organisation that campaigns for social, economic and cultural equality on behalf of the African community in Britain, highlights these contradictions and concludes that the solutions to Africa’s problems do not reside in the corridors of Westminster or the White House but will come from African people themselves.
Africa is helpless. Africa is poor. Africa is, according to the song, a ‘world of dread and fear’ (Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Feed the World) written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure)
These myths have pervaded the British psyche and its media for decades. The ignorance, racism and misinformation that inform these culturally and politically constructed illusions were particularly prevalent earlier this year preceding the G8 Summit at Gleneagles. The Summit and the subsequent rowdiness stirred by its supporters - the most boisterous and arrogant of who was the musician, Bob Geldof – ensured that people throughout the British Isles were forced to confront one of the greatest injustices perpetrated by humankind on their fellow human; the reality of how centuries of economic and human exploitation that has resulted in the people of the Continent of Africa facing poverty, malnutrition, disease and ultimately, cultural disempowerment.
Unfortunately, the opportunity to seriously and intelligently discuss the issues and solutions that relate to Africa’s development and empowerment was lost as an overtly racist motivation informed the media agenda and ensured that not only were the same old myths propagated about Africa but that new ones were added to the mix. In addition, the guilt complex that inhabits the British psyche was easily pacified by white wrist bands or, as in the case of many a right-wing newspaper editor, by attempting to dissolve any sense of responsibility that people in the West might feel for repairing the damage their politics and economies have inflicted on African countries.
As an organisation whose primary work currently involves monitoring the media for offensive representation and actively challenging the inaccuracies and inequality inherent in that representation, we have noted the flourishing trend of myth making and the equally prevalent tendency to actively silence informed African voices who talk about African affairs in favour of European experts who talk from a eurocentric perspective about African affairs, ultimately to the benefit of their respective nations. This becomes increasingly problematic when the solutions that the so-called European experts want to instigate are in direct contradiction with what African people themselves want and need.
Even as a media organisation, we have found it challenging to say the least, to find African voices in the mainstream media talking about African affairs. And so, the Making of an Impoverished History was written. Initially, it was to be a brief article summarising the media’s approach to Africa but we soon realised that ‘brief’ was perhaps not the way to go about this. We had to contextualise the matter, historically and globally, and so embarked on making this a more comprehensive but accessible report that provides a more joined up picture of the politics behind the G8 Summit, the Live 8 event and its figure head, Bob Geldof, and the British media debate about Africa.
In highlighting these issues, came the inevitability of dealing with the notion of giving charity versus the responsibility of encouraging justice and how the British media have fought against the latter with strategies of defence and denial. This gave rise to headlines including ‘Why I wont be squandering any more money on Africa' and documentaries such as Channel 4’s ‘Living with Aids’ which, along with a barrage of other media outputs reinforced the notion that Africa’s current situation is the fault of African people and therefore people of the West need not feel a sense of responsibility about African issues. Of course, when you look into the instances of corruption, fraud and commercial exploitation that occur on the Continent, a European, American and most recently Asian corporate or indeed governmental influence is not far behind. From the rampant practice of selling cheap and second-hand rifles to just about anyone who will pay the right price, to the contemptuous reluctance of Western banking institutions to relinquish the financial benefits they get from holding the accounts of a small number of corrupt African leaders, corruption and exploitative profit making has proved to be a very Western affair.
The Make Poverty History campaign, the Live 8 concert and the Geldof agenda also pervaded the media reporting. Here, the media found an apparently liberal guise behind which they could conceal their prejudices and racist presumptions. Bob Geldof, far from being the liberal saviour of Africa as many referred to him as, displayed his utter contempt for African opinion in the way he actively ignored it and ensured that his voice, his agenda and his vision of Africa was viewed as the definitive stopping point. At the time, this was hard enough for African people to bare but following the redundant exercise that was the G8 Summit and the way in which its seemingly laudable objectives have subsequently fallen, and some would say been pulled apart, Sir Bob’s announcement that ‘a great justice has been done’ is not only arrogant but disenfranchising and frustrating for the African people who know that his ridiculous assertion could not be further from the truth. Of course, now the media are suffering from Africa fatigue and therein sets the apathy.
In researching this report, it became obvious that for African people, the solutions to Africa’s issues are multifaceted and originate not in the corridors of Westminster or the White House but from African people themselves. The stories that we will rarely if ever hear about in the media are some of the success stories of African development, the workable solutions designed for and by us, examples of good governance and the revolution needed to overturn trading injustice. Some of these are addressed in our report but in truth, because of its specific remit, it is something that will have to be covered in depth at a later date. However, we have always been a solutions orientated organisation and therefore ended the report with ways in which we can continue to aid our own progress and the rebuilding of our great Continent. The British government clearly have responsibilities including the enforcing of anti-corruption legislation and stemming its drain of skilled African people from the Continent. However, we also focused on some of the ways in which the African Union, African governments and African people in Diaspora can develop Africa through self-determinate means.
* This is a summarised version of a report produced by Ligali (pronounced lee-ga-lee), entitled “The Making of an Impoverished History”. Ligali is the African British Equality Authority. African British is the term now used to describe the community previously mislabelled as Afro Caribbean, Black British, UK Black, Coloured and Black. It embraces all British nationals with antecedents originating directly from Africa or indirectly via African diasporic communities, such as those in the Caribbean and South America. Ligali actively campaigns for social, economic and cultural equality on behalf of the African community. Ligali is a non profit voluntary organisation. Through investigation and monitoring, we aim to challenge, identify and recommend workable solutions to current social issues that refuse to recognise the equal and inalienable rights of African people in the UK. Our main objectives are to turn talk into action and apathy into productivity.
Band Aid and 'self-obsessed, angst-driven Western do-gooders'
By Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem
The Band Aid Album, ‘Do they know its Christmas time’, which sold millions of copies and directly raised even more millions of dollars for the relief of famine in Ethiopia 20 years ago is again being released in time for this Christmas. As in 1984 it is widely expected that the album will be a runaway success.
Apart from the millions of dollars raised then and to be raised now, what both the album and the Live Aid concert it inspired in July 1985 (which was watched reportedly by over 1.5 billion people across the world) achieved was to raise awareness about hunger, starvation and famine in Africa. The bloated tummies of underfed babies clutching at emaciated breasts of a hunger-ravished mother or the multitudes of flies and army of other insects holidaying on the mouths and bodies of desperate children, women and men in refugee camps became the dominant image of Africa in the global media. What we saw with our eyes on televisions became engraved permanently on our minds. It was successful in causing almost a stampede of humanitarian concern and focus on Africa.
However it had its own unintended consequences then and twenty years on these negative consequences have a greater impact in that they perpetuate the popular perception that Africa is a basket case continent and Africans are a hopeless and helpless people.
The fact that the same song could be re released without altering the lyrics and with similar accompanying horrible pictures on televisions, in newspapers and other more widely accessible multi media today than then speaks volumes. It is either an admission of failure of previous efforts or a confirmation that Africa is indeed a basket .
I am particularly irked about that dubious line: ‘Thank God tonight its them instead of you’! The only variation on the theme is that instead of targeting Ethiopia last time around it is Sudan that is competing for the sympathy of the West as Africa's most hellish of hells!
It is an indictment of Africa's leaders and also the powerful countries, individuals and institutions within the international community that despite all the awareness and pangs of conscience in the last 20 years, fellow human beings can still be facing such penury, humiliation and starvation in a world with ‘enough for our needs but not enough for our greed’ as Mahatma Ghandi once put it.
However as Africans we can be disgusted, ashamed and rightly critical of the deliberate use/abuse of those horrible images that strip us of our dignity and humanity, but we should be more outraged that Africans (through acts of both omission and commission) have been largely responsible for such continuous misery inflicted on our own peoples. Band Aid, Live Aid or any of the busy body Western NGOs raising huge sums of money on these images did not create them, they are merely exploiting them for their multi-million dollar humanitarian mega business. Therefore the first responsibility and admission of guilt is ours and ours alone. It is up to us to put an end to the brutalisation and extreme pauperisation of our own peoples.
But the Humanitarian agencies also have to ask themselves whether their chosen methods have worked or are working. Or if the end now justifies the means and that end is about their unaccountable power to play god with the destiny of poor people by merchandising our people’s suffering. They often defend the use of the bad images as necessary to raise awareness and prick the conscience of the world (most of the time they mean, Europeans and Americans!). One is bound to ask of Live Aid and Band Aid that after 20 years what the harvest of this conscience safari has been if they have to use the same images and record two decades later.
It has always intrigued me why the conscience of the West can only be pricked by degradation of other peoples. The process of getting westerners to part with their donations end up dehumanizing and degrading Africa. Instead of creating the much needed understanding and solidarity it creates an unequal power relation with psychological hang-ups about superior and inferior peoples; one is a permanent donor and the other is a permanent supplicant. That one-way street does not lead to understanding, rather it institutionalizes a ‘we know best’ attitude on the part of the humanitarian industry. It also makes the humanitarian agencies married to bad news from Africa, thereby becoming professional merchants of our misery. It will seem that the worse the situation is the better for their fund raising drives! Needless to say that this breeds cynicism among those who are supposed to be grateful for the kind help they are receiving.
The more important lesson of the 20 years of Band Aid must surely be bringing into sharp relief the naiveté of those years that symbolic acts of genuine human solidarity will somehow change the hearts and minds of the powerful both in Africa and internationally. They can throw a few coins at the problem to appease immediate pressure and gain public mileage but the real change will only come from raising the power questions that turn drought into famine. It is politics and power that makes Africans seemingly more vulnerable to hunger and starvation than other peoples. Africa is not a poor continent but our peoples are poor because they are powerless over their resources. People are powerless in their countries and our countries are impotent in global power relations. That is why we get fleeced on all fronts.
Charity may offer an instant fire brigade service but it cannot be a substitute for sustainable long-term solutions. Why is it that Ethiopia that received massive humanitarian support twenty years ago is today one of the least recipients of long-term development aid in Africa? Even if it gets more help in aid, as long as it continues to get bad terms of trade and returns for its coffee and other raw materials, like other African countries, it will continue to run a deficit economy needing aid. Many of our countries especially those beloved by IMF/World Bank and Western Countries as ‘doing well’ have become aid addicts while the humanitarian interventionists and NGOs have become aid pushers. The extreme poverty faced by many Africans in a majority of our countries is structural and unless both the internal and external dimensions of that unequal power relation are transformed I can assure you that in another 20 years, when Bob Geldof and many of his original collaborators would have become Old Age Pensioners (OAPs) they may still be organizing Band Aid 3. I think Saint Bob and Bono in the past few years have come to realize this and that's why they are talking less about charity but more in terms of trade, equity, global justice, debt cancellation, etc. Soon they will have to engage with reparation for Africa for both historical and contemporary depletion and pillage of the continent and her peoples and also the structural linkage between the prosperity of the West and the poverty of global humanity. This shift is necessary in order to build a global alliance (rather than self -obsessed angst -driven Western do-gooders and their selective conscience) that can truly make poverty history in this new millennium.
* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa
Aewa, There is only so much that the west can do for africa. Corrupt Afican governments have been the major problem, as they have been in much of the third world. Lets make one thing clear. Western tax payers and companies do not have a moral responsibility to gibve the third world all of our money. With that in mind lets hear some possible soulutions from your point of view.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Hore, your comment is EXACTLY what this thread is pointing out. First off, after YEARS of colonialist exploitation, Europeans try and act as if they have the MORAL high ground, by acting as if Africans are begging for hand outs. Pictures like those of feed the children and other groups only serve to reinforce this opinion and DONT really present a SOLUTION to the problem. Then, on top of that, act as if the companies in the third world are NOT the reason BEHIND the corruption of the governments. The governments are CORRUPT because this is the ONLY way that western countries can continue to RAPE the country of all its resources without the AFRICANS being able to profit from their OWN resources. This is not an issue of GIVING Africans ANYTHING, it is an issue of EXCLUDING Africans from ANY opportunity to profit off of their own natural wealth. If it wasnt for this form of NEO COLONIALISM, Kwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba would NOT have died, there would be a United States of Africa and there would be AFRICAN owned companies profitting off of the resources of the land and generating wealth for the people of Africa, not the West. The corrupt forms of government in Africa started in the time of Nkrumah and Lumumba, supported by the West, for the sole purpose of PREVENTING Africans from gaining TRUE political and economic control of their lives and destiny. Of course, westerners do not want us to see this TRUTH, they want to live in a fantasy world where European companies are PURELY innocent bystanders in the strife of Africa, where Africans are TOTALLY incapable of doing for themselves without WESTERN hand outs. This has NOTHING to do with what is going on in Africa and a free Africa has NOTHING to do with getting hand outs from the west. A free Africa is an Africa WITHOUT Western meddling in the affairs of sovereign African countries, by providing arms and support for rebels in order to main the free flow of cheap resources to Western manufacturers.
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
quote: Band Aid and 'self-obsessed, angst-driven Western do-gooders'...
are people like Angelina Jolie, Bono of U2, and various others.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
the problem is the african goverments not investing in their countries infrastructure..and not useing their resources wisely.
I don't fault the starveing people in that country as much as I do the people in power in them countries..
Posted by Supercar (Member # 6477) on :
^Africa is not a country.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by mike rozier: the problem is the african goverments not investing in their countries infrastructure..and not useing their resources wisely.
I don't fault the starveing people in that country as much as I do the people in power in them countries..
NO. The problem is the western countries and companies that support these same corrupt officials so that they can RAPE the countries of their mineral wealth. During the cold war Africa was split between the Eastern and Western powers. Corrupt dictators were blindly supported by the West to keep the Russians at bay, similar to the way we supported Saddam in the past. This legacy remains even though the Russians no longer are a threat. Focusing on these governments without those that support them, and the so-called rebel movements, like Executive Outcomes, is another example of Europeans DENYING their role in the situation in Africa and trying to play innocent and self-righteous.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
quote:Originally posted by mike rozier: the problem is the african goverments not investing in their countries infrastructure..and not useing their resources wisely.
I don't fault the starveing people in that country as much as I do the people in power in them countries..
this is not true anymore,africa is changing.there were always states by the way that invested in there infrastucture,some more than others,but today things are happening overall more so.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
quote:Originally posted by mike rozier: the problem is the african goverments not investing in their countries infrastructure..and not useing their resources wisely.
I don't fault the starveing people in that country as much as I do the people in power in them countries..
this is not true anymore,africa is changing.there were always states by the way that invested in there infrastucture,some more than others,but today things are happening overall more so.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
MANY AFRICAN STATES do have a certain amount of control of the resources,some more than others.
let's not by into the western media hype that africa is helpless because it is not. that is the purpose of the post in ther first place.
read the more postive news about africa below. many african states now are and heading in the right direction.
growth is strong .
come on guys let's not fall in to horemheb trap.i hope i did not waste my time showing african cities,roads,schools and other things are being built and rebuilt. I HAD ENOUGH of this negative news,and when there is bad news or bad news told by the racist or misinformed,it is not even the whole truth,and some cases just flat out lies. here is some info first posted by ausar.
In the waiting area of a large office complex in Accra, Ghana, it's standing room only as citizens with bundles of cash line up to buy shares of a mutual fund that has yielded an average 60 percent annually for the past seven years. They're entrusting their hard-earned cash to a local company called Databank, which invests in stock markets in Ghana, Nigeria, Botswana and Kenya that consistently rank among the world's top growth markets.
Chances are you haven't read or heard anything about Databank in your daily newspaper or on the evening news, where the little coverage of Africa that's offered focuses almost exclusively on the negative -- the virulent spread of HIV/AIDS, genocide in Darfur and the chaos of Zimbabwe.
Yes, Africa is a land of wars, poverty and corruption. The situation in places like Darfur, Sudan, desperately cries out for more media attention and international action. But Africa is also a land of stock markets, high rises, Internet cafes and a growing middle class. This is the part of Africa that functions. And this Africa also needs media attention, if it's to have any chance of fully joining the global economy.
Africa's media image comes at a high cost, even, at the extreme, the cost of lives. Stories about hardship and tragedy aim to tug at our heartstrings, getting us to dig into our pockets or urge Congress to send more aid. But no country or region ever developed thanks to aid alone. Investment, and the job and wealth creation it generates, is the only road to lasting development. That's how China, India and the Asian Tigers did it.
Yet while Africa, according to the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corp., offers the highest return in the world on direct foreign investment, it attracts the least. Unless investors see the Africa that's worthy of investment, they won't put their money into it. And that lack of investment translates into job stagnation, continued poverty and limited access to education and health care.
Consider a few facts: The Ghana Stock Exchange regularly tops the list of the world's highest-performing stock markets. Botswana, with its A+ credit rating, boasts one of the highest per capita government savings rates in the world, topped only by Singapore and a handful of other fiscally prudent nations. Cell phones are making phenomenal profits on the continent. Brand-name companies like Coca-Cola, GM, Caterpillar and Citibank have invested in Africa for years and are quite bullish on the future.
The failure to show this side of Africa creates a one-dimensional caricature of a complex continent. Imagine if 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing and school shootings were all that the rest of the world knew about America.
I recently produced a documentary on entrepreneurship and private enterprise in Africa. Throughout the year-long process, I came to realize how all of us in the media -- even those with a true love of the continent -- portray it in a way that's truly to its detriment.
The first cameraman I called to film the documentary laughed and said, "Business and Africa, aren't those contradictory terms?" The second got excited imagining heart-warming images of women's co-ops and market stalls brimming with rustic crafts. Several friends simply assumed I was doing a documentary on AIDS. After all, what else does one film in Africa?
The little-known fact is that businesses are thriving throughout Africa. With good governance and sound fiscal policies, countries like Botswana, Ghana, Uganda, Senegal and many more are bustling, their economies growing at surprisingly robust rates.
Private enterprise is not just limited to the well-behaved nations. You can't find a more war-ravaged land than Somalia, which has been without a central government for more than a decade. The big surprise? Private enterprise is flourishing. Mogadishu has the cheapest cell phone rates on the continent, mostly due to no government intervention. In the northern city of Hargeysa, the markets sell the latest satellite phone technology. The electricity works. When the state collapsed in 1991, the national airline went out of business. Today, there are five private carriers and price wars keep the cost of tickets down. This is not the Somalia you see in the media.
Obviously life there would be dramatically improved by good governance -- or even just some governance -- but it's also true that, through resilience and resourcefulness, Somalis have been able to create a functioning society.
Most African businesses suffer from an extreme lack of infrastructure, but the people I met were too determined to let this stop them. It just costs them more. Without reliable electricity, most businesses have to use generators. They have to dig bore-holes for a dependable water source. Telephone lines are notoriously out of service, but cell phones are filling the gap.
Throughout Africa, what I found was a private sector working hard to find African solutions to African problems. One example that will always stick in my mind is the CEO of Vodacom Congo, the largest cell phone company in that country. Alieu Conteh started his business while the civil war was still raging. With rebel troops closing in on the airport in Kinshasa, no foreign manufacturer would send in a cell phone tower, so Conteh got locals to collect scrap metal, which they welded together to build one. That tower still stands today.
As I interviewed successful entrepreneurs, I was continually astounded by their ingenuity, creativity and steadfastness. These people are the future of the continent. They are the ones we should be talking to about how to move Africa forward. Instead, the media concentrates on victims or government officials, and as anyone who has worked in Africa knows, government is more often a part of the problem than of the solution.
When the foreign media descend on the latest crisis, the person they look to interview is invariably the foreign savior, an aid worker from the United States or Europe. African saviors are everywhere, delivering aid on the ground. But they don't seem to be in our cultural belief system. It's not just the media, either. Look at the literature put out by almost any nongovernmental organization. The better ones show images of smiling African children -- smiling because they have been helped by the NGO. The worst promote the extended-belly, flies-on-the-face cliche of Africa, hoping that the pain of seeing those images will fill their coffers. "We hawk poverty," one NGO worker admitted to me.
Last November, ABC's "Primetime Live" aired a special on Britain's Prince Harry and his work with AIDS children in Lesotho. The segment, titled "The Forgotten Kingdom: Prince Harry in Lesotho," painted the tiny nation as a desperate, desolate place. The program's message was clear: This helpless nation at last had a knight -- or prince -- in shining armor.
By the time the charity addresses came up at the end, you were ready to give, and that's good. Lesotho needs help with its AIDS problem. But would it really have hurt the story to add that this land-locked nation with few natural resources has jump-started its economy by aggressively courting foreign investment? The reality is that it's anything but a "forgotten kingdom," as a dramatic increase in exports has made it the top beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a duty-free, quota-free U.S.-Africa trade agreement. More than 50,000 people have gotten jobs through the country's initiatives. Couldn't the program have portrayed an African country that was in need of assistance, but was neither helpless nor a victim?
Still the simplistic portrayals come. A recent episode of the popular NBC drama "Medical Investigation" was about an anthrax scare in Philadelphia. The source of the deadly spores? Some illegal immigrants from Africa playing their drums in a local market, unknowingly infecting innocent passersby. Typical: If it's a deadly disease, the scriptwriters make it come from Africa.
Most of the time, Africa is simply not on the map. The continent's booming stock markets are almost never mentioned in newspaper financial pages. How often is an African country -- apart, perhaps, from South Africa or Egypt or Morocco -- featured in a newspaper travel section? Even the listing of worldwide weather includes only a few African cities.
The result of this portrait is an Africa we can't relate to. It seems so foreign to us, so different and incomprehensible. Since we can't relate to it, we ignore it.
There are lots of reasons for the media's neglect of Africa: bean counters in the newsroom and the high cost of international coverage, the belief that American viewers aren't interested in international stories, and the infotainment of news. There's also journalists' reluctance to pursue so-called "positive stories." We all know that such stories don't win awards or get front-page, above-the-fold placement. But what's happening in Africa doesn't need to be cast in any special light. The Ghana Stock Exchange was the fastest-growing exchange in the world in 2003. That's not a "positive" story, that's news, just like reports on the London Stock Exchange. I imagine a lot of consumers would have found it newsworthy to learn where they could have made a 144 percent return on their money.
My independent film was made possible by funding from the World Bank, for which I am extremely grateful. But the bank wouldn't have had to step in if the media had been doing their job -- showing all Africans in all facets of their lives. In a business that's supposed to cover man-bites-dog stories, the idea that Africa doesn't work is a dog-bites-man story. If the media are really looking for news, they'd look at the ways that Africa, despite all the odds, does work.
Carol Pineau, a journalist with more than 10 years of experience reporting on Africa, is the producer and director of the film "Africa: Open for Business," which premiered last week at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
[/QUOTE]
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: great post ausar,put more up like this in the future because this is the type of talk i like,but one thing ,india and china have not made it all the way yet, but they are getting there fast.
Countries for which no information is available are not included in this list. Rank Country GDP - per capita (PPP) Date of Information 1 Bermuda $ 69,900 2004 est. 2 Luxembourg $ 55,600 2005 est. 3 Equatorial Guinea $ 50,200 2005 est. 4 United Arab Emirates $ 43,400 2005 est. 5 Norway $ 42,300 2005 est. 6 United States $ 41,800 2005 est. 7 Ireland $ 41,000 2005 est. 8 Guernsey $ 40,000 2003 est. 9 Jersey $ 40,000 2003 est. 10 British Virgin Islands $ 38,500 2004 est. 11 Iceland $ 35,600 2005 est. 12 Denmark $ 34,600 2005 est. 13 San Marino $ 34,600 2001 est. 14 Canada $ 34,000 2005 est. 15 Hong Kong $ 32,900 2005 est. 16 Austria $ 32,700 2005 est. 17 Cayman Islands $ 32,300 2004 est. 18 Switzerland $ 32,300 2005 est. 19 Australia $ 31,900 2005 est. 20 Japan $ 31,500 2005 est. 21 Belgium $ 31,400 2005 est. 22 Finland $ 30,900 2005 est. 23 Netherlands $ 30,500 2005 est. 24 Germany $ 30,400 2005 est. 25 United Kingdom $ 30,300 2005 est. 26 France $ 29,900 2005 est. 27 Sweden $ 29,800 2005 est. 28 Italy $ 29,200 2005 est. 29 Isle of Man $ 28,500 2003 est. 30 European Union $ 28,100 2005 est. 31 Singapore $ 28,100 2005 est. 32 Gibraltar $ 27,900 2000 est. 33 Taiwan $ 27,600 2005 est. 34 Qatar $ 27,400 2005 est. 35 Monaco $ 27,000 2000 est. 36 Spain $ 25,500 2005 est. 37 New Zealand $ 25,200 2005 est. 38 Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) $ 25,000 2002 est. 39 Liechtenstein $ 25,000 1999 est. 40 Israel $ 24,600 2005 est. 41 Andorra $ 24,000 2004 42 Brunei $ 23,600 2003 est. 43 Bahrain $ 23,000 2005 est. 44 Greece $ 22,200 2005 est. 45 Faroe Islands $ 22,000 2001 est. 46 Macau $ 22,000 2004 47 Aruba $ 21,800 2004 est. 48 Cyprus $ 21,600 NA 49 Slovenia $ 21,600 2005 est. 50 Korea, South $ 20,400 2005 est. 51 Bahamas, The $ 20,200 2005 est. 52 Greenland $ 20,000 2001 est. 53 Malta $ 19,900 2005 est. 54 Czech Republic $ 19,500 2005 est. 55 Portugal $ 19,300 2005 est. 56 Kuwait $ 19,200 2005 est. 57 Puerto Rico $ 18,600 2005 est. 58 French Polynesia $ 17,500 2003 est. 59 Barbados $ 17,000 2005 est. 60 Estonia $ 16,700 2005 est. 61 Trinidad and Tobago $ 16,700 2005 est. 62 Hungary $ 16,300 2005 est. 63 Slovakia $ 16,100 2005 est. 64 Netherlands Antilles $ 16,000 2004 est. 65 Guam $ 15,000 2005 est. 66 New Caledonia $ 15,000 2003 est. 67 Virgin Islands $ 14,500 2002 est. 68 Martinique $ 14,400 2003 est. 69 Lithuania $ 13,700 2005 est. 70 Poland $ 13,300 2005 est. 71 Latvia $ 13,200 2005 est. 72 Oman $ 13,200 2005 est. 73 Argentina $ 13,100 2005 est. 74 Mauritius $ 13,100 2005 est. 75 Saudi Arabia $ 12,800 2005 est. 76 Northern Mariana Islands $ 12,500 2000 est. 77 Malaysia $ 12,100 2005 est. 78 South Africa $ 12,000 2005 est. 79 Croatia $ 11,600 2005 est. 80 Turks and Caicos Islands $ 11,500 2002 est. 81 Libya $ 11,400 2005 est. 82 Chile $ 11,300 2005 est. 83 Costa Rica $ 11,100 2005 est. 84 Russia $ 11,100 2005 est. 85 Antigua and Barbuda $ 11,000 2002 est. 86 Botswana $ 10,500 2005 est. 87 Mexico $ 10,000 2005 est. 88 Bulgaria $ 9,600 2005 est. 89 Uruguay $ 9,600 2005 est. 90 World $ 9,500 2005 est. 91 Saint Kitts and Nevis $ 8,800 2002 est. 92 Brazil $ 8,400 2005 est. 93 French Guiana $ 8,300 2003 est. 94 Iran $ 8,300 2005 est. 95 Tunisia $ 8,300 2005 est. 96 Thailand $ 8,300 2005 est. 97 Kazakhstan $ 8,200 2005 est. 98 Turkey $ 8,200 2005 est. 99 Romania $ 8,200 2005 est. 100 Turkmenistan $ 8,000 2005 est. 101 Colombia $ 7,900 2005 est. 102 Guadeloupe $ 7,900 2003 est. 103 Macedonia $ 7,800 2005 est. 104 Seychelles $ 7,800 2002 est. 105 Anguilla $ 7,500 2002 est. 106 Algeria $ 7,200 2005 est. 107 Panama $ 7,200 2005 est. 108 Ukraine $ 7,200 2005 est. 109 Cyprus $ 7,135 NA 110 Dominican Republic $ 7,000 2005 est. 111 Saint Pierre and Miquelon $ 7,000 2001 est. 112 Namibia $ 7,000 2005 est. 113 Belarus $ 6,900 2005 est. 114 Belize $ 6,800 2005 est. 115 Bosnia and Herzegovina $ 6,800 2005 est. 116 Gabon $ 6,800 2005 est. 117 China $ 6,800 2005 est. 118 Cape Verde $ 6,200 2005 est. 119 Reunion $ 6,200 2005 est. 120 Lebanon $ 6,200 2005 est. 121 Venezuela $ 6,100 2005 est. 122 Fiji $ 6,000 2005 est. 123 Peru $ 5,900 2005 est. 124 American Samoa $ 5,800 2000 est. 125 Palau $ 5,800 2001 est. 126 Samoa $ 5,600 2002 est. 127 Dominica $ 5,500 2003 est. 128 Saint Lucia $ 5,400 2002 est. 129 Philippines $ 5,100 2005 est. 130 Cook Islands $ 5,000 2001 est. 131 Grenada $ 5,000 2002 est. 132 Nauru $ 5,000 2005 est. 133 Serbia and Montenegro $ 5,000 2005 est. 134 Swaziland $ 5,000 2005 est. 135 Albania $ 4,900 2005 est. 136 Paraguay $ 4,900 2005 est. 137 Azerbaijan $ 4,800 2005 est. 138 El Salvador $ 4,700 2005 est. 139 Jordan $ 4,700 2005 est. 140 Guatemala $ 4,700 2005 est. 141 Guyana $ 4,600 2005 est. 142 Armenia $ 4,500 2005 est. 143 Jamaica $ 4,400 2005 est. 144 Sri Lanka $ 4,300 2005 est. 145 Ecuador $ 4,300 2005 est. 146 Morocco $ 4,200 2005 est. 147 Suriname $ 4,100 2005 est. 148 Egypt $ 3,900 2005 est. 149 Maldives $ 3,900 2002 est. 150 Syria $ 3,900 2005 est. 151 Micronesia, Federated States of $ 3,900 2002 est. 152 Wallis and Futuna $ 3,800 2004 est. 153 Indonesia $ 3,600 2005 est. 154 Niue $ 3,600 2000 est. 155 Cuba $ 3,500 2005 est. 156 Iraq $ 3,400 2005 est. 157 Montserrat $ 3,400 2002 est. 158 Georgia $ 3,300 2005 est. 159 India $ 3,300 2005 est. 160 Angola $ 3,200 2005 est. 161 Bolivia $ 2,900 2005 est. 162 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines $ 2,900 2002 est. 163 Nicaragua $ 2,900 2005 est. 164 Vanuatu $ 2,900 2003 est. 165 Honduras $ 2,900 2005 est. 166 Vietnam $ 2,800 2005 est. 167 Mayotte $ 2,600 2003 est. 168 Papua New Guinea $ 2,600 2005 est. 169 Ghana $ 2,500 2005 est. 170 Saint Helena $ 2,500 1998 est. 171 Lesotho $ 2,500 2005 est. 172 Cameroon $ 2,400 2005 est. 173 Pakistan $ 2,400 2005 est. 174 Marshall Islands $ 2,300 2001 est. 175 Zimbabwe $ 2,300 2005 est. 176 Tonga $ 2,300 2002 est. 177 Cambodia $ 2,200 2005 est. 178 Mauritania $ 2,200 2005 est. 179 Bangladesh $ 2,100 2005 est. 180 Sudan $ 2,100 2005 est. 181 Kyrgyzstan $ 2,100 2005 est. 182 Guinea $ 2,000 2005 est. 183 Gambia, The $ 1,900 2005 est. 184 Laos $ 1,900 2005 est. 185 Mongolia $ 1,900 2005 est. 186 Moldova $ 1,800 2005 est. 187 Senegal $ 1,800 2005 est. 188 Uzbekistan $ 1,800 2005 est. 189 Uganda $ 1,800 2005 est. 190 Burma $ 1,700 2005 est. 191 Solomon Islands $ 1,700 2002 est. 192 Togo $ 1,700 2005 est. 193 Korea, North $ 1,700 2005 est. 194 Haiti $ 1,700 2005 est. 195 Cote d'Ivoire $ 1,600 2005 est. 196 Chad $ 1,500 2005 est. 197 Rwanda $ 1,500 2005 est. 198 Bhutan $ 1,400 2003 est. 199 Nepal $ 1,400 2005 est. 200 Nigeria $ 1,400 2005 est. 201 Congo, Republic of the $ 1,300 2005 est. 202 Djibouti $ 1,300 2002 est. 203 Mozambique $ 1,300 2005 est. 204 Burkina Faso $ 1,300 2005 est. 205 Mali $ 1,200 2005 est. 206 Sao Tome and Principe $ 1,200 2003 est. 207 Tajikistan $ 1,200 2005 est. 208 Benin $ 1,100 2005 est. 209 West Bank $ 1,100 2003 est. 210 Tuvalu $ 1,100 2000 est. 211 Kenya $ 1,100 2005 est. 212 Central African Republic $ 1,100 2005 est. 213 Eritrea $ 1,000 2005 est. 214 Tokelau $ 1,000 1993 est. 215 Liberia $ 1,000 2005 est. 216 Ethiopia $ 900 2005 est. 217 Niger $ 900 2005 est. 218 Zambia $ 900 2005 est. 219 Yemen $ 900 2005 est. 220 Madagascar $ 900 2005 est. 221 Afghanistan $ 800 2004 est. 222 Kiribati $ 800 2001 est. 223 Guinea-Bissau $ 800 2005 est. 224 Sierra Leone $ 800 2005 est. 225 Burundi $ 700 2005 est. 226 Tanzania $ 700 2005 est. 227 Congo, Democratic Republic of the $ 700 2005 est. 228 Comoros $ 600 2005 est. 229 Somalia $ 600 2005 est. 230 Malawi $ 600 2005 est. 231 Gaza Strip $ 600 2003 est. 232 East Timor $ 400 2004 est.
This page was last updated on 13 June, 2006
Rank Order - GDP - real growth rate
Home Reference Maps Appendixes Download Datafile
Countries for which no information is available are not included in this list. Rank Country GDP - real growth rate (%) Date of Information 1 Azerbaijan 26.40 2005 est. 2 Angola 19.10 2005 est. 3 Equatorial Guinea 18.60 2005 est. 4 Armenia 13.90 2005 est. 5 Liechtenstein 11.00 1999 est. 6 Cyprus 10.60 2005 est. 7 Latvia 10.20 2005 est. 8 Faroe Islands 10.00 2001 est. 9 China 9.90 2005 est. 10 Estonia 9.60 2005 est. 11 Dominican Republic 9.30 2005 est. 12 Venezuela 9.30 2005 est. 13 Kazakhstan 9.20 2005 est. 14 Ethiopia 8.90 2005 est. 15 Qatar 8.80 2005 est. 16 Argentina 8.70 2005 est. 17 Libya 8.50 2005 est. 18 Vietnam 8.40 2005 est. 19 Afghanistan 8.00 2005 est. 20 Tajikistan 8.00 2005 est. 21 Belarus 8.00 2005 est. 22 Liberia 8.00 2005 est. 23 Congo, Republic of the 8.00 2005 est. 24 Cuba 8.00 2005 est. 25 India 7.60 2005 est. 26 Lithuania 7.50 2005 est. 27 San Marino 7.50 2001 est. 28 Hong Kong 7.30 2005 est. 29 Laos 7.20 2005 est. 30 Uzbekistan 7.20 2005 est. 31 Cook Islands 7.10 2001 est. 32 Moldova 7.10 2005 est. 33 Georgia 7.00 2005 est. 34 Mozambique 7.00 2005 est. 35 Trinidad and Tobago 7.00 2005 est. 36 Sudan 7.00 2005 est. 37 Pakistan 6.90 2005 est. 38 United Arab Emirates 6.70 2005 est. 39 Peru 6.70 2005 est. 40 Congo, Democratic Republic of the 6.50 2005 est. 41 Uruguay 6.50 2005 est. 42 Panama 6.40 2005 est. 43 Singapore 6.40 2005 est. 44 Russia 6.40 2005 est. 45 Sierra Leone 6.30 2005 est. 46 Mongolia 6.20 2005 est. 47 West Bank 6.20 2004 est. 48 Nigeria 6.20 2005 est. 49 Iran 6.10 2005 est. 50 Saudi Arabia 6.10 2005 est. 51 Senegal 6.10 2005 est. 52 Jordan 6.10 2005 est. 53 Algeria 6.00 2005 est. 54 Cambodia 6.00 2005 est. 55 Chile 6.00 2005 est. 56 Chad 6.00 2005 est. 57 Mali 6.00 2005 est. 58 Sao Tome and Principe 6.00 2004 est. 59 Czech Republic 6.00 2005 est. 60 Bahrain 5.90 2005 est. 61 Solomon Islands 5.80 2003 est. 62 Bangladesh 5.70 2005 est. 63 Iceland 5.70 2005 est. 64 Sri Lanka 5.60 2005 est. 65 Turkey 5.60 2005 est. 66 Indonesia 5.60 2005 est. 67 Albania 5.50 2005 est. 68 Serbia and Montenegro 5.50 2005 est. 69 Mauritania 5.50 2005 est. 70 Slovakia 5.50 2005 est. 71 Gambia, The 5.50 2005 est. 72 Cape Verde 5.50 2005 est. 73 Bulgaria 5.50 2005 est. 74 Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.30 2005 est. 75 Malaysia 5.30 2005 est. 76 Bhutan 5.30 2003 est. 77 Israel 5.20 2005 est. 78 Rwanda 5.20 2005 est. 79 Kenya 5.20 2005 est. 80 Colombia 5.10 2005 est. 81 Zambia 5.10 2005 est. 82 Philippines 5.10 2005 est. 83 Madagascar 5.10 2005 est. 84 Samoa 5.00 2002 est. 85 Egypt 4.90 2005 est. 86 South Africa 4.90 2005 est. 87 Turks and Caicos Islands 4.90 2000 est. 88 Kuwait 4.80 2005 est. 89 Ireland 4.70 2005 est. 90 World 4.70 2005 est. 91 Bermuda 4.60 2004 est. 92 Botswana 4.50 2005 est. 93 Burkina Faso 4.50 2005 est. 94 Thailand 4.50 2005 est. 95 Syria 4.50 2005 est. 96 Romania 4.50 2005 est. 97 Niger 4.50 2005 est. 98 Gaza Strip 4.50 2003 est. 99 Ghana 4.30 2005 est. 100 Tunisia 4.30 2005 est. 101 Oman 4.30 2005 est. 102 Honduras 4.20 2005 est. 103 Barbados 4.10 2005 est. 104 Hungary 4.10 2005 est. 105 Andorra 4.00 2004 est. 106 Costa Rica 4.00 2005 est. 107 Croatia 4.00 2005 est. 108 Uganda 4.00 2005 est. 109 Turkmenistan 4.00 2005 est. 110 Nicaragua 4.00 2005 est. 111 Bolivia 4.00 2005 est. 112 Ecuador 3.90 2005 est. 113 Norway 3.90 2005 est. 114 Korea, South 3.90 2005 est. 115 Slovenia 3.90 2005 est. 116 Belize 3.80 2005 est. 117 Taiwan 3.80 2005 est. 118 Cyprus 3.70 2005 est. 119 Luxembourg 3.70 2005 est. 120 Macedonia 3.70 2005 est. 121 Greece 3.70 2005 est. 122 Aruba 3.50 2004 est. 123 Namibia 3.50 2005 est. 124 United States 3.50 2005 est. 125 Djibouti 3.50 2002 est. 126 Benin 3.50 2005 est. 127 Bahamas, The 3.50 2005 est. 128 Denmark 3.40 2005 est. 129 Spain 3.40 2005 est. 130 Saint Lucia 3.30 2002 est. 131 Guatemala 3.20 2005 est. 132 Poland 3.20 2005 est. 133 Antigua and Barbuda 3.00 2002 est. 134 Mexico 3.00 2005 est. 135 Tuvalu 3.00 2000 est. 136 Mauritius 3.00 2005 est. 137 Guernsey 3.00 2003 est. 138 Comoros 3.00 2005 est. 139 Burma 2.90 2005 est. 140 Canada 2.90 2005 est. 141 Papua New Guinea 2.90 2005 est. 142 Anguilla 2.80 2001 est. 143 Cameroon 2.80 2005 est. 144 Macau 2.80 3rd Quarter 2005 145 El Salvador 2.80 2005 est. 146 Japan 2.70 2005 est. 147 Sweden 2.70 2005 est. 148 Nepal 2.70 2005 est. 149 Paraguay 2.70 2005 est. 150 Australia 2.50 2005 est. 151 Puerto Rico 2.50 2005 est. 152 Grenada 2.50 2002 est. 153 Reunion 2.50 2005 est. 154 Brazil 2.40 2005 est. 155 Ukraine 2.40 2005 est. 156 Yemen 2.40 2005 est. 157 Somalia 2.40 2005 est. 158 Guinea-Bissau 2.30 2005 est. 159 Central African Republic 2.20 2005 est. 160 Finland 2.20 2005 est. 161 New Zealand 2.20 2005 est. 162 Gabon 2.10 2005 est. 163 Eritrea 2.00 2005 est. 164 Guinea 2.00 2005 est. 165 Haiti 2.00 2005 est. 166 Suriname 2.00 2005 est. 167 Virgin Islands 2.00 2002 est. 168 Kyrgyzstan 2.00 2005 est. 169 Austria 1.90 2005 est. 170 Greenland 1.80 2001 est. 171 United Kingdom 1.80 2005 est. 172 Swaziland 1.80 2005 est. 173 Morocco 1.80 2005 est. 174 Switzerland 1.80 2005 est. 175 Brunei 1.70 2004 est. 176 European Union 1.70 2005 est. 177 Fiji 1.70 2005 est. 178 Cayman Islands 1.70 2002 est. 179 Belgium 1.50 2005 est. 180 Kiribati 1.50 2001 est. 181 Jamaica 1.50 2005 est. 182 France 1.40 2005 est. 183 Tonga 1.40 FY03/04 est. 184 Burundi 1.10 2005 est. 185 Netherlands 1.10 2005 est. 186 Vanuatu 1.10 2003 est. 187 Micronesia, Federated States of 1.00 2002 est. 188 British Virgin Islands 1.00 2002 est. 189 East Timor 1.00 2004 est. 190 Togo 1.00 2005 est. 191 Marshall Islands 1.00 2001 est. 192 Palau 1.00 2001 est. 193 Netherlands Antilles 1.00 2004 est. 194 Malta 1.00 2005 est. 195 Cote d'Ivoire 1.00 2005 est. 196 Korea, North 1.00 2005 est. 197 Germany 0.90 2005 est. 198 Monaco 0.90 2000 est. 199 Lesotho 0.80 2005 est. 200 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 0.70 2002 est. 201 Lebanon 0.50 2005 est. 202 Portugal 0.30 2005 est. 203 Italy 0.10 2005 est. 204 Tanzania 0.00 2005 est. 205 Niue -0.30 2000 est. 206 Dominica -1.00 2003 est. 207 Montserrat -1.00 2002 est. 208 Saint Kitts and Nevis -1.90 2002 est. 209 Guyana -2.50 2005 est. 210 Iraq -3.00 2005 est. 211 Malawi -3.00 2005 est. 212 Seychelles -3.00 2005 est. 213 Maldives -5.50 2005 est. 214 Zimbabwe -7.00 2005 est.
This page was last updated on 13 June, 2006
Rank Order - GDP (purchasing power parity)
Home Reference Maps Appendixes Download Datafile
Countries for which no information is available are not included in this list. Rank Country GDP (purchasing power parity) Date of Information 1 World $ 60,710,000,000,000 2005 est. 2 United States $ 12,360,000,000,000 2005 est. 3 European Union $ 12,180,000,000,000 2005 est. 4 China $ 8,859,000,000,000 2005 est. 5 Japan $ 4,018,000,000,000 2005 est. 6 India $ 3,611,000,000,000 2005 est. 7 Germany $ 2,504,000,000,000 2005 est. 8 United Kingdom $ 1,830,000,000,000 2005 est. 9 France $ 1,816,000,000,000 2005 est. 10 Italy $ 1,698,000,000,000 2005 est. 11 Russia $ 1,589,000,000,000 2005 est. 12 Brazil $ 1,556,000,000,000 2005 est. 13 Canada $ 1,114,000,000,000 2005 est. 14 Mexico $ 1,067,000,000,000 2005 est. 15 Spain $ 1,029,000,000,000 2005 est. 16 Korea, South $ 965,300,000,000 2005 est. 17 Indonesia $ 865,600,000,000 2005 est. 18 Australia $ 640,100,000,000 2005 est. 19 Taiwan $ 631,200,000,000 2005 est. 20 Turkey $ 572,000,000,000 2005 est. 21 Iran $ 561,600,000,000 2005 est. 22 Thailand $ 560,700,000,000 2005 est. 23 South Africa $ 533,200,000,000 2005 est. 24 Argentina $ 518,100,000,000 2005 est. 25 Poland $ 514,000,000,000 2005 est. 26 Netherlands $ 499,800,000,000 2005 est. 27 Philippines $ 451,300,000,000 2005 est. 28 Pakistan $ 393,400,000,000 2005 est. 29 Ukraine $ 340,400,000,000 2005 est. 30 Saudi Arabia $ 338,000,000,000 2005 est. 31 Colombia $ 337,500,000,000 2005 est. 32 Belgium $ 325,000,000,000 2005 est. 33 Bangladesh $ 304,300,000,000 2005 est. 34 Egypt $ 303,500,000,000 2005 est. 35 Malaysia $ 290,200,000,000 2005 est. 36 Sweden $ 268,000,000,000 2005 est. 37 Austria $ 267,600,000,000 2005 est. 38 Switzerland $ 241,800,000,000 2005 est. 39 Greece $ 236,800,000,000 2005 est. 40 Algeria $ 233,200,000,000 2005 est. 41 Vietnam $ 232,200,000,000 2005 est. 42 Hong Kong $ 227,300,000,000 2005 est. 43 Portugal $ 204,400,000,000 2005 est. 44 Czech Republic $ 199,400,000,000 2005 est. 45 Norway $ 194,100,000,000 2005 est. 46 Denmark $ 188,100,000,000 2005 est. 47 Chile $ 187,100,000,000 2005 est. 48 Romania $ 183,600,000,000 2005 est. 49 Nigeria $ 174,100,000,000 2005 est. 50 Ireland $ 164,600,000,000 2005 est. 51 Peru $ 164,500,000,000 2005 est. 52 Hungary $ 162,600,000,000 2005 est. 53 Finland $ 161,500,000,000 2005 est. 54 Israel $ 154,500,000,000 2005 est. 55 Venezuela $ 153,700,000,000 2005 est. 56 Morocco $ 138,300,000,000 2005 est. 57 Kazakhstan $ 124,300,000,000 2005 est. 58 Singapore $ 124,300,000,000 2005 est. 59 United Arab Emirates $ 111,300,000,000 2005 est. 60 New Zealand $ 101,800,000,000 2005 est. 61 Iraq $ 94,100,000,000 2005 est. 62 Slovakia $ 87,320,000,000 2005 est. 63 Sudan $ 85,650,000,000 2005 est. 64 Sri Lanka $ 85,340,000,000 2005 est. 65 Tunisia $ 83,540,000,000 2005 est. 66 Burma $ 78,740,000,000 2005 est. 67 Puerto Rico $ 72,700,000,000 2005 est. 68 Syria $ 72,330,000,000 2005 est. 69 Bulgaria $ 71,540,000,000 2005 est. 70 Belarus $ 70,680,000,000 2005 est. 71 Libya $ 65,790,000,000 2005 est. 72 Dominican Republic $ 63,730,000,000 2005 est. 73 Ethiopia $ 62,880,000,000 2005 est. 74 Ecuador $ 56,900,000,000 2005 est. 75 Guatemala $ 56,860,000,000 2005 est. 76 Croatia $ 55,760,000,000 2005 est. 77 Ghana $ 54,450,000,000 2005 est. 78 Lithuania $ 49,210,000,000 2005 est. 79 Uganda $ 48,730,000,000 2005 est. 80 Uzbekistan $ 48,240,000,000 2005 est. 81 Angola $ 45,930,000,000 2005 est. 82 Kuwait $ 44,770,000,000 2005 est. 83 Costa Rica $ 44,680,000,000 2005 est. 84 Serbia and Montenegro $ 43,560,000,000 2005 est. 85 Slovenia $ 43,360,000,000 2005 est. 86 Cameroon $ 40,830,000,000 2005 est. 87 Congo, Democratic Republic of the $ 40,670,000,000 2005 est. 88 Korea, North $ 40,000,000,000 2005 est. 89 Nepal $ 39,900,000,000 2005 est. 90 Oman $ 39,650,000,000 2005 est. 91 Turkmenistan $ 39,540,000,000 2005 est. 92 Cuba $ 39,170,000,000 2005 est. 93 Azerbaijan $ 37,920,000,000 2005 est. 94 Kenya $ 37,150,000,000 2005 est. 95 Uruguay $ 32,960,000,000 2005 est. 96 El Salvador $ 31,240,000,000 2005 est. 97 Luxembourg $ 30,740,000,000 2005 est. 98 Cambodia $ 30,650,000,000 2005 est. 99 Latvia $ 30,290,000,000 2005 est. 100 Paraguay $ 29,080,000,000 2005 est. 101 Cote d'Ivoire $ 28,520,000,000 2005 est. 102 Zimbabwe $ 28,370,000,000 2005 est. 103 Tanzania $ 27,070,000,000 2005 est. 104 Jordan $ 26,800,000,000 2005 est. 105 Mozambique $ 26,030,000,000 2005 est. 106 Bolivia $ 25,950,000,000 2005 est. 107 Equatorial Guinea $ 25,690,000,000 2005 est. 108 Lebanon $ 23,690,000,000 2005 est. 109 Qatar $ 23,640,000,000 2005 est. 110 Bosnia and Herzegovina $ 22,890,000,000 2005 est. 111 Panama $ 22,760,000,000 2005 est. 112 Estonia $ 22,290,000,000 2005 est. 113 Afghanistan $ 21,500,000,000 2004 est. 114 Honduras $ 20,590,000,000 2005 est. 115 Senegal $ 20,530,000,000 2005 est. 116 Yemen $ 19,370,000,000 2005 est. 117 Guinea $ 18,990,000,000 2005 est. 118 Albania $ 18,970,000,000 2005 est. 119 Trinidad and Tobago $ 18,010,000,000 2005 est. 120 Botswana $ 17,240,000,000 2005 est. 121 Burkina Faso $ 16,950,000,000 2005 est. 122 Cyprus $ 16,850,000,000 2005 est. 123 Madagascar $ 16,360,000,000 2005 est. 124 Mauritius $ 16,090,000,000 2005 est. 125 Nicaragua $ 16,090,000,000 2005 est. 126 Macedonia $ 16,030,000,000 2005 est. 127 Bahrain $ 15,830,000,000 2005 est. 128 Georgia $ 15,560,000,000 2005 est. 129 Chad $ 14,790,000,000 2005 est. 130 Papua New Guinea $ 14,370,000,000 2005 est. 131 Namibia $ 14,230,000,000 2005 est. 132 Haiti $ 14,150,000,000 2005 est. 133 Mali $ 13,560,000,000 2005 est. 134 Armenia $ 13,460,000,000 2005 est. 135 Rwanda $ 12,650,000,000 2005 est. 136 Jamaica $ 12,170,000,000 2005 est. 137 Laos $ 12,130,000,000 2005 est. 138 Niger $ 11,280,000,000 2005 est. 139 Kyrgyzstan $ 10,650,000,000 2005 est. 140 Zambia $ 10,590,000,000 2005 est. 141 Iceland $ 10,570,000,000 2005 est. 142 Macau $ 10,000,000,000 2004 est. 143 Gabon $ 9,535,000,000 2005 est. 144 Togo $ 8,965,000,000 2005 est. 145 Tajikistan $ 8,730,000,000 2005 est. 146 Benin $ 8,553,000,000 2005 est. 147 Moldova $ 8,175,000,000 2005 est. 148 Malta $ 7,926,000,000 2005 est. 149 Malawi $ 7,524,000,000 2005 est. 150 Mauritania $ 6,891,000,000 2005 est. 151 Brunei $ 6,842,000,000 2003 est. 152 Martinique $ 6,117,000,000 2003 est. 153 Bahamas, The $ 6,098,000,000 2005 est. 154 Swaziland $ 5,658,000,000 2005 est. 155 Burundi $ 5,654,000,000 2005 est. 156 Fiji $ 5,380,000,000 2005 est. 157 Mongolia $ 5,242,000,000 2005 est. 158 Lesotho $ 5,124,000,000 2005 est. 159 Sierra Leone $ 4,921,000,000 2005 est. 160 Somalia $ 4,809,000,000 2005 est. 161 Reunion $ 4,790,000,000 2005 est. 162 Central African Republic $ 4,784,000,000 2005 est. 163 Barbados $ 4,745,000,000 2005 est. 164 Congo, Republic of the $ 4,631,000,000 2005 est. 165 French Polynesia $ 4,580,000,000 2003 est. 166 Cyprus $ 4,540,000,000 2005 est. 167 Bermuda $ 4,500,000,000 2004 est. 168 Eritrea $ 4,471,000,000 2005 est. 169 Jersey $ 3,600,000,000 2003 est. 170 Guyana $ 3,549,000,000 2005 est. 171 Guadeloupe $ 3,513,000,000 2003 est. 172 New Caledonia $ 3,158,000,000 2003 est. 173 Gambia, The $ 3,024,000,000 2005 est. 174 Cape Verde $ 2,990,000,000 2005 est. 175 Bhutan $ 2,900,000,000 2003 est. 176 Suriname $ 2,818,000,000 2005 est. 177 Netherlands Antilles $ 2,800,000,000 2004 est. 178 Liberia $ 2,755,000,000 2005 est. 179 Guernsey $ 2,590,000,000 2003 est. 180 Guam $ 2,500,000,000 2005 est. 181 Aruba $ 2,130,000,000 2004 est. 182 Isle of Man $ 2,113,000,000 2003 est. 183 Andorra $ 1,840,000,000 2004 184 West Bank $ 1,800,000,000 2003 est. 185 Liechtenstein $ 1,786,000,000 1999 est. 186 Belize $ 1,778,000,000 2004 est. 187 Virgin Islands $ 1,577,000,000 2002 est. 188 French Guiana $ 1,551,000,000 2003 est. 189 Cayman Islands $ 1,391,000,000 2004 est. 190 Maldives $ 1,250,000,000 2002 est. 191 Guinea-Bissau $ 1,185,000,000 2005 est. 192 Greenland $ 1,100,000,000 2001 est. 193 Faroe Islands $ 1,000,000,000 2001 est. 194 Samoa $ 1,000,000,000 2002 est. 195 San Marino $ 940,000,000 2001 est. 196 Northern Mariana Islands $ 900,000,000 2000 est. 197 Monaco $ 870,000,000 2000 est. 198 Saint Lucia $ 866,000,000 2002 est. 199 British Virgin Islands $ 853,400,000 2004 est. 200 Solomon Islands $ 800,000,000 2002 est. 201 Gibraltar $ 769,000,000 2000 est. 202 Gaza Strip $ 768,000,000 2003 est. 203 Antigua and Barbuda $ 750,000,000 2002 est. 204 Seychelles $ 626,000,000 2002 est. 205 Djibouti $ 619,000,000 2002 est. 206 Vanuatu $ 580,000,000 2003 est. 207 American Samoa $ 500,000,000 2000 est. 208 Mayotte $ 466,800,000 2003 est. 209 Comoros $ 441,000,000 2002 est. 210 Grenada $ 440,000,000 2002 est. 211 Dominica $ 384,000,000 2003 est. 212 East Timor $ 370,000,000 2004 est. 213 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines $ 342,000,000 2002 est. 214 Saint Kitts and Nevis $ 339,000,000 2002 est. 215 Micronesia, Federated States of $ 277,000,000 2002 est. 216 Tonga $ 244,000,000 2002 est. 217 Turks and Caicos Islands $ 216,000,000 2002 est. 218 Sao Tome and Principe $ 214,000,000 2003 est. 219 Palau $ 174,000,000 2001 est. 220 Marshall Islands $ 115,000,000 2001 est. 221 Anguilla $ 112,000,000 2002 est. 222 Cook Islands $ 105,000,000 2001 est. 223 Kiribati $ 79,000,000 2001 est. 224 Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) $ 75,000,000 2002 est. 225 Nauru $ 60,000,000 2005 est. 226 Wallis and Futuna $ 60,000,000 2004 est. 227 Saint Pierre and Miquelon $ 48,300,000 2003 est. 228 Montserrat $ 29,000,000 2002 est. 229 Saint Helena $ 18,000,000 1998 est. 230 Tuvalu $ 12,200,000 2000 est. 231 Niue $ 7,600,000 2000 est. 232 Tokelau $ 1,500,000 1993 est.
This page was last updated on 13 June, 2006
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Yes, Africa does have its success stories. However, you cannot try and escape the fact that RACISM and economic exploitation that were JUSTIFIED and THRIVED due to racism, have as much a role in Africa NOW as ever. Overt racist colonial governments may have been overthrown, but in their place, neocolonial governments and rebel groups backed by foreign money and arms, still ravage the country. The ENEMY of Africa in the 21st century is STILL racist policies designed to exploit Africa and its resources, while the people are left to die and rot in the sun. Aids, wars, corrupt governments, malnutrition, hunger and disease are all part of the "plan" to keep Africa destabilized, so that the West can always come in and TAKE the resources they want, with little or no competition or resistence. This also allows the West to act as a savior of Africa, while looting the resources and giving African people little in return. So these success stories must be seen in the light of the struggle AGAINST the forces put into play by the neocolonial foreign policies of the oppressive western economic and political powers. Of course this gets no coverage because Africa must stay a third world country, which only really means subservient resource and cheap labor producing nation to 1st world countries.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
I thought supercar just said africa is not a country.you do not listen man.
some states in africa are really second world in terms of development,a few for the moment are first WORLD IF look at gnp ppp and when the gnp ppp rises in years to come this would change again. THINGS ARE ON THE MOVE IN AFRICA and africans are not waiting for a handout like some would like to believe.african states like european states have different rates of development.
I could do what most of the western media does and show a poor run down street in a country in europe ,or show some homeless person and say look at those poor europeans,europe is so poor.that is the same kind of crap they do when it come to blacks and africa alot of times.There is postive as well as negative,but most times the negative is distorted or most of it not true.most africans are living postive lifes despite the problems,but you would not get that type of info on average from the drive by media in the west most of the time.
I AM not here to debate this time,just giving out some facts,just have to look for it because the media in the west on average in not going to give it to you.
The bbc does a better job however,but they still have their bias and at times incorrect info. that is the news business,their job is to give mostly bad news.news sources even admit that bad news sells.
Most things that are happening is good news in africa. one man,a cop even told me he is from ghana,and when he went back,many things have change.
Ghana he told me was advancing and doing good.this is an example of just one african state,but he did not need to tell me because i read about it and see new pictures of new buildings, schools,road,factories etc etc and this is happening in africa more so today than EVER before.
EVEN ivory coast before the civil war had a highly developed infrastructure,roads,etc and it is still there.things seem to be calming down thanks to the west african forces.
The term third world was just a word that got stuck to countries outside of western europe,america and japan.it really meant not to be allies with the west or eastern part of europe.
For goodness sake some news reporters even call south korea third world but we know that is not true.one bbc reporter said libya was a poor country and that is a flat out lie.
At the time libya was a upper middle income country but now it is a rich state because it's gnp ppp is over 10,060 dollars. you could look at the post above for info on gnp ppp .
See the trap,for some folks it does not matter how advanced africa was in the past or how FURTHER advanced it is is becoming,africa/BLACKS PERIOD will never catch up to a racist in his/her mind,so forget them as long has they do not hurt or kill.
YOU CAN'T let them set the rules. To a racist if all of africa caught up to europe tomorrow in terms of technology and living standards that is to them still not enough.THEY do not even admit that africa in terms of technology and standards of living was more advanced than europe as awhole.some nations today in africa in terms of technology as whole is first world.some on average is really second world with some first world technology in there.these nations are closer than ever getting to first world status.so to a certain extent forget the racist as long has they don't hurt, kill,teach kids in schools, etc etc .
Africa is catching up in the tech. field,some states more than others and south africa being one of the most advanced nations on earth,africa aswhole is feeling that impact.that is why i post this info for those who want to know what is truly going on.
A RACIST knows the real truth but never would admit it but some do not know or care to know because thier mind is made up,so i say forget them and live you life,as long as they don't get in the way.
this info is for those who are sick of negative news and often incorrect info on africa.
let's not forget what nigeria has done to bring as much peace in west africa as possible,or south africa helping in central africa to bring peace. many of those old african corrupt leaders are dead or gone.afica has a new leadership and africa's future is in the hands of africans, nobody else.africans are in control of their future just like asia,latin america or europe,and all nations today are not as independent as the west would like you to believe.in fact the west is more dependent than most areas of the world.
folks wonder if britain , japan, and many others control america. if they pull thier investments out america would fold like a cheap camera.
THE LEADERS that really need to be kick out,is in sudan,zimbabwe now,mauritania,all of north africa and just a few other places.as a awhole now africa is stable and growing but the media loves to show the countries that have civil war(or the usual suspects,but most of africa is at peace.OF course ivory coast was abit of a surprise,but at the same time not really a surprise if you know that nation history,but things are stablizing there and let's hope soon the nation is one again.oh i forgot to say ivory coast has a electronics industry.
Even in the countries that have civil war progess in certain areas is happening. sudan grows and builds,but i would still like those leaders to be kick out because they are anti-african. nigeria's leader has been doing good,but he wanted a another term,but the senate said no.
this is good news the system work.nambia,botswana. mozambique,angola,kenya,ghana,senegal,mali,etc etc,have good enough leaders and calling them corrupt is not true and not fair.bush and his crew these days are more corrupt.
these leaders have been fairly elected in free,democratic countries ,i can't say the same for america.every country have some form of corruption,but for africa things for the most part is changing and things are moving.most countries in africa are democratic.THE LEADERS of south africa,angola,nambia,mali etc etc are not dictators.only the misinform and those who do not kept up with currect info kept saying that.nigeria for an example has a free press.
no white man is controlling,zimbabwe for a example,in fact the leader of that state control awhole country with a iron fist,and nobody is going to tell me britian is pulling the strings.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
we know the bad news,but tell you the truth,alot of it is made up or the news many times is not telling the whole true story and to me a half lie is a whole lie.
MANY AFRICAN STATES do have a certain amount of control of the resources,some more than others.
let's not by into the western media hype that africa is helpless because it is not. that is the purpose of the post in ther first place.
read the more postive news about africa below. many african states now are and heading in the right direction.
growth is strong .
come on guys let's not fall in to horemheb trap.i hope i did not waste my time showing african cities,roads,schools and other things that are being built and rebuilt. I HAD ENOUGH of this negative news,and when there is bad news or bad news told by the racist or misformed,it is not even the whole truth,and some cases just flat out lies. here is some info first posted by ausar.
In the waiting area of a large office complex in Accra, Ghana, it's standing room only as citizens with bundles of cash line up to buy shares of a mutual fund that has yielded an average 60 percent annually for the past seven years. They're entrusting their hard-earned cash to a local company called Databank, which invests in stock markets in Ghana, Nigeria, Botswana and Kenya that consistently rank among the world's top growth markets.
Chances are you haven't read or heard anything about Databank in your daily newspaper or on the evening news, where the little coverage of Africa that's offered focuses almost exclusively on the negative -- the virulent spread of HIV/AIDS, genocide in Darfur and the chaos of Zimbabwe.
Yes, Africa is a land of wars, poverty and corruption. The situation in places like Darfur, Sudan, desperately cries out for more media attention and international action. But Africa is also a land of stock markets, high rises, Internet cafes and a growing middle class. This is the part of Africa that functions. And this Africa also needs media attention, if it's to have any chance of fully joining the global economy.
Africa's media image comes at a high cost, even, at the extreme, the cost of lives. Stories about hardship and tragedy aim to tug at our heartstrings, getting us to dig into our pockets or urge Congress to send more aid. But no country or region ever developed thanks to aid alone. Investment, and the job and wealth creation it generates, is the only road to lasting development. That's how China, India and the Asian Tigers did it.
Yet while Africa, according to the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corp., offers the highest return in the world on direct foreign investment, it attracts the least. Unless investors see the Africa that's worthy of investment, they won't put their money into it. And that lack of investment translates into job stagnation, continued poverty and limited access to education and health care.
Consider a few facts: The Ghana Stock Exchange regularly tops the list of the world's highest-performing stock markets. Botswana, with its A+ credit rating, boasts one of the highest per capita government savings rates in the world, topped only by Singapore and a handful of other fiscally prudent nations. Cell phones are making phenomenal profits on the continent. Brand-name companies like Coca-Cola, GM, Caterpillar and Citibank have invested in Africa for years and are quite bullish on the future.
The failure to show this side of Africa creates a one-dimensional caricature of a complex continent. Imagine if 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing and school shootings were all that the rest of the world knew about America.
I recently produced a documentary on entrepreneurship and private enterprise in Africa. Throughout the year-long process, I came to realize how all of us in the media -- even those with a true love of the continent -- portray it in a way that's truly to its detriment.
The first cameraman I called to film the documentary laughed and said, "Business and Africa, aren't those contradictory terms?" The second got excited imagining heart-warming images of women's co-ops and market stalls brimming with rustic crafts. Several friends simply assumed I was doing a documentary on AIDS. After all, what else does one film in Africa?
The little-known fact is that businesses are thriving throughout Africa. With good governance and sound fiscal policies, countries like Botswana, Ghana, Uganda, Senegal and many more are bustling, their economies growing at surprisingly robust rates.
Private enterprise is not just limited to the well-behaved nations. You can't find a more war-ravaged land than Somalia, which has been without a central government for more than a decade. The big surprise? Private enterprise is flourishing. Mogadishu has the cheapest cell phone rates on the continent, mostly due to no government intervention. In the northern city of Hargeysa, the markets sell the latest satellite phone technology. The electricity works. When the state collapsed in 1991, the national airline went out of business. Today, there are five private carriers and price wars keep the cost of tickets down. This is not the Somalia you see in the media.
Obviously life there would be dramatically improved by good governance -- or even just some governance -- but it's also true that, through resilience and resourcefulness, Somalis have been able to create a functioning society.
Most African businesses suffer from an extreme lack of infrastructure, but the people I met were too determined to let this stop them. It just costs them more. Without reliable electricity, most businesses have to use generators. They have to dig bore-holes for a dependable water source. Telephone lines are notoriously out of service, but cell phones are filling the gap.
Throughout Africa, what I found was a private sector working hard to find African solutions to African problems. One example that will always stick in my mind is the CEO of Vodacom Congo, the largest cell phone company in that country. Alieu Conteh started his business while the civil war was still raging. With rebel troops closing in on the airport in Kinshasa, no foreign manufacturer would send in a cell phone tower, so Conteh got locals to collect scrap metal, which they welded together to build one. That tower still stands today.
As I interviewed successful entrepreneurs, I was continually astounded by their ingenuity, creativity and steadfastness. These people are the future of the continent. They are the ones we should be talking to about how to move Africa forward. Instead, the media concentrates on victims or government officials, and as anyone who has worked in Africa knows, government is more often a part of the problem than of the solution.
When the foreign media descend on the latest crisis, the person they look to interview is invariably the foreign savior, an aid worker from the United States or Europe. African saviors are everywhere, delivering aid on the ground. But they don't seem to be in our cultural belief system. It's not just the media, either. Look at the literature put out by almost any nongovernmental organization. The better ones show images of smiling African children -- smiling because they have been helped by the NGO. The worst promote the extended-belly, flies-on-the-face cliche of Africa, hoping that the pain of seeing those images will fill their coffers. "We hawk poverty," one NGO worker admitted to me.
Last November, ABC's "Primetime Live" aired a special on Britain's Prince Harry and his work with AIDS children in Lesotho. The segment, titled "The Forgotten Kingdom: Prince Harry in Lesotho," painted the tiny nation as a desperate, desolate place. The program's message was clear: This helpless nation at last had a knight -- or prince -- in shining armor.
By the time the charity addresses came up at the end, you were ready to give, and that's good. Lesotho needs help with its AIDS problem. But would it really have hurt the story to add that this land-locked nation with few natural resources has jump-started its economy by aggressively courting foreign investment? The reality is that it's anything but a "forgotten kingdom," as a dramatic increase in exports has made it the top beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a duty-free, quota-free U.S.-Africa trade agreement. More than 50,000 people have gotten jobs through the country's initiatives. Couldn't the program have portrayed an African country that was in need of assistance, but was neither helpless nor a victim?
Still the simplistic portrayals come. A recent episode of the popular NBC drama "Medical Investigation" was about an anthrax scare in Philadelphia. The source of the deadly spores? Some illegal immigrants from Africa playing their drums in a local market, unknowingly infecting innocent passersby. Typical: If it's a deadly disease, the scriptwriters make it come from Africa.
Most of the time, Africa is simply not on the map. The continent's booming stock markets are almost never mentioned in newspaper financial pages. How often is an African country -- apart, perhaps, from South Africa or Egypt or Morocco -- featured in a newspaper travel section? Even the listing of worldwide weather includes only a few African cities.
The result of this portrait is an Africa we can't relate to. It seems so foreign to us, so different and incomprehensible. Since we can't relate to it, we ignore it.
There are lots of reasons for the media's neglect of Africa: bean counters in the newsroom and the high cost of international coverage, the belief that American viewers aren't interested in international stories, and the infotainment of news. There's also journalists' reluctance to pursue so-called "positive stories." We all know that such stories don't win awards or get front-page, above-the-fold placement. But what's happening in Africa doesn't need to be cast in any special light. The Ghana Stock Exchange was the fastest-growing exchange in the world in 2003. That's not a "positive" story, that's news, just like reports on the London Stock Exchange. I imagine a lot of consumers would have found it newsworthy to learn where they could have made a 144 percent return on their money.
My independent film was made possible by funding from the World Bank, for which I am extremely grateful. But the bank wouldn't have had to step in if the media had been doing their job -- showing all Africans in all facets of their lives. In a business that's supposed to cover man-bites-dog stories, the idea that Africa doesn't work is a dog-bites-man story. If the media are really looking for news, they'd look at the ways that Africa, despite all the odds, does work.
Author's e-mail: capineau@aol.com
Carol Pineau, a journalist with more than 10 years of experience reporting on Africa, is the producer and director of the film "Africa: Open for Business," which premiered last week at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
[/QUOTE]
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
quote:Originally posted by kenndo:
quote:Originally posted by mike rozier: the problem is the african goverments not investing in their countries infrastructure..and not useing their resources wisely.
I don't fault the starveing people in that country as much as I do the people in power in them countries..
this is not true anymore,africa is changing.there were always states by the way that invested in there infrastucture,some more than others,but today things are happening overall more so.
thats good to hear.between africas wildlife tourisum, and it's nateral resorces...I figure they should have a decent chance at developeing into decent nations.the problem like anywhere in the world, with any goverment, is controlling coruption in the goverment..some may disagree with me, but I feel the US consitution, does the best job in the world at that..even though it's far from perfect....if african countries can controll their leaders.....and put in checks and balences...I feel many of them with time can thrive..
take eygpt for example....my tour guide there told me he had to come up with 300 thousand dollars to give to the goverment to start his own tourist company...in the US it costs 500 dollars....
the key is the US doesn't constrict its people's opportunity to make buissness..in doing so ,people can be successful, and the goverment gets it's cut in taxes...this way everyone wins, for the most part...
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: we know the bad news,but tell you the truth,alot of it is made up or the news many times is not telling the whole true story and to me a half lie is a whole lie.
MANY AFRICAN STATES do have a certain amount of control of the resources,some more than others.
let's not by into the western media hype that africa is helpless because it is not. that is the purpose of the post in ther first place.
read the more postive news about africa below. many african states now are and heading in the right direction.
growth is strong .
come on guys let's not fall in to horemheb trap.i hope i did not waste my time showing african cities,roads,schools and other things that are being built and rebuilt. I HAD ENOUGH of this negative news,and when there is bad news or bad news told by the racist or misformed,it is not even the whole truth,and some cases just flat out lies. here is some info first posted by ausar.
In the waiting area of a large office complex in Accra, Ghana, it's standing room only as citizens with bundles of cash line up to buy shares of a mutual fund that has yielded an average 60 percent annually for the past seven years. They're entrusting their hard-earned cash to a local company called Databank, which invests in stock markets in Ghana, Nigeria, Botswana and Kenya that consistently rank among the world's top growth markets.
Chances are you haven't read or heard anything about Databank in your daily newspaper or on the evening news, where the little coverage of Africa that's offered focuses almost exclusively on the negative -- the virulent spread of HIV/AIDS, genocide in Darfur and the chaos of Zimbabwe.
Yes, Africa is a land of wars, poverty and corruption. The situation in places like Darfur, Sudan, desperately cries out for more media attention and international action. But Africa is also a land of stock markets, high rises, Internet cafes and a growing middle class. This is the part of Africa that functions. And this Africa also needs media attention, if it's to have any chance of fully joining the global economy.
Africa's media image comes at a high cost, even, at the extreme, the cost of lives. Stories about hardship and tragedy aim to tug at our heartstrings, getting us to dig into our pockets or urge Congress to send more aid. But no country or region ever developed thanks to aid alone. Investment, and the job and wealth creation it generates, is the only road to lasting development. That's how China, India and the Asian Tigers did it.
Yet while Africa, according to the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corp., offers the highest return in the world on direct foreign investment, it attracts the least. Unless investors see the Africa that's worthy of investment, they won't put their money into it. And that lack of investment translates into job stagnation, continued poverty and limited access to education and health care.
Consider a few facts: The Ghana Stock Exchange regularly tops the list of the world's highest-performing stock markets. Botswana, with its A+ credit rating, boasts one of the highest per capita government savings rates in the world, topped only by Singapore and a handful of other fiscally prudent nations. Cell phones are making phenomenal profits on the continent. Brand-name companies like Coca-Cola, GM, Caterpillar and Citibank have invested in Africa for years and are quite bullish on the future.
The failure to show this side of Africa creates a one-dimensional caricature of a complex continent. Imagine if 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing and school shootings were all that the rest of the world knew about America.
I recently produced a documentary on entrepreneurship and private enterprise in Africa. Throughout the year-long process, I came to realize how all of us in the media -- even those with a true love of the continent -- portray it in a way that's truly to its detriment.
The first cameraman I called to film the documentary laughed and said, "Business and Africa, aren't those contradictory terms?" The second got excited imagining heart-warming images of women's co-ops and market stalls brimming with rustic crafts. Several friends simply assumed I was doing a documentary on AIDS. After all, what else does one film in Africa?
The little-known fact is that businesses are thriving throughout Africa. With good governance and sound fiscal policies, countries like Botswana, Ghana, Uganda, Senegal and many more are bustling, their economies growing at surprisingly robust rates.
Private enterprise is not just limited to the well-behaved nations. You can't find a more war-ravaged land than Somalia, which has been without a central government for more than a decade. The big surprise? Private enterprise is flourishing. Mogadishu has the cheapest cell phone rates on the continent, mostly due to no government intervention. In the northern city of Hargeysa, the markets sell the latest satellite phone technology. The electricity works. When the state collapsed in 1991, the national airline went out of business. Today, there are five private carriers and price wars keep the cost of tickets down. This is not the Somalia you see in the media.
Obviously life there would be dramatically improved by good governance -- or even just some governance -- but it's also true that, through resilience and resourcefulness, Somalis have been able to create a functioning society.
Most African businesses suffer from an extreme lack of infrastructure, but the people I met were too determined to let this stop them. It just costs them more. Without reliable electricity, most businesses have to use generators. They have to dig bore-holes for a dependable water source. Telephone lines are notoriously out of service, but cell phones are filling the gap.
Throughout Africa, what I found was a private sector working hard to find African solutions to African problems. One example that will always stick in my mind is the CEO of Vodacom Congo, the largest cell phone company in that country. Alieu Conteh started his business while the civil war was still raging. With rebel troops closing in on the airport in Kinshasa, no foreign manufacturer would send in a cell phone tower, so Conteh got locals to collect scrap metal, which they welded together to build one. That tower still stands today.
As I interviewed successful entrepreneurs, I was continually astounded by their ingenuity, creativity and steadfastness. These people are the future of the continent. They are the ones we should be talking to about how to move Africa forward. Instead, the media concentrates on victims or government officials, and as anyone who has worked in Africa knows, government is more often a part of the problem than of the solution.
When the foreign media descend on the latest crisis, the person they look to interview is invariably the foreign savior, an aid worker from the United States or Europe. African saviors are everywhere, delivering aid on the ground. But they don't seem to be in our cultural belief system. It's not just the media, either. Look at the literature put out by almost any nongovernmental organization. The better ones show images of smiling African children -- smiling because they have been helped by the NGO. The worst promote the extended-belly, flies-on-the-face cliche of Africa, hoping that the pain of seeing those images will fill their coffers. "We hawk poverty," one NGO worker admitted to me.
Last November, ABC's "Primetime Live" aired a special on Britain's Prince Harry and his work with AIDS children in Lesotho. The segment, titled "The Forgotten Kingdom: Prince Harry in Lesotho," painted the tiny nation as a desperate, desolate place. The program's message was clear: This helpless nation at last had a knight -- or prince -- in shining armor.
By the time the charity addresses came up at the end, you were ready to give, and that's good. Lesotho needs help with its AIDS problem. But would it really have hurt the story to add that this land-locked nation with few natural resources has jump-started its economy by aggressively courting foreign investment? The reality is that it's anything but a "forgotten kingdom," as a dramatic increase in exports has made it the top beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a duty-free, quota-free U.S.-Africa trade agreement. More than 50,000 people have gotten jobs through the country's initiatives. Couldn't the program have portrayed an African country that was in need of assistance, but was neither helpless nor a victim?
Still the simplistic portrayals come. A recent episode of the popular NBC drama "Medical Investigation" was about an anthrax scare in Philadelphia. The source of the deadly spores? Some illegal immigrants from Africa playing their drums in a local market, unknowingly infecting innocent passersby. Typical: If it's a deadly disease, the scriptwriters make it come from Africa.
Most of the time, Africa is simply not on the map. The continent's booming stock markets are almost never mentioned in newspaper financial pages. How often is an African country -- apart, perhaps, from South Africa or Egypt or Morocco -- featured in a newspaper travel section? Even the listing of worldwide weather includes only a few African cities.
The result of this portrait is an Africa we can't relate to. It seems so foreign to us, so different and incomprehensible. Since we can't relate to it, we ignore it.
There are lots of reasons for the media's neglect of Africa: bean counters in the newsroom and the high cost of international coverage, the belief that American viewers aren't interested in international stories, and the infotainment of news. There's also journalists' reluctance to pursue so-called "positive stories." We all know that such stories don't win awards or get front-page, above-the-fold placement. But what's happening in Africa doesn't need to be cast in any special light. The Ghana Stock Exchange was the fastest-growing exchange in the world in 2003. That's not a "positive" story, that's news, just like reports on the London Stock Exchange. I imagine a lot of consumers would have found it newsworthy to learn where they could have made a 144 percent return on their money.
My independent film was made possible by funding from the World Bank, for which I am extremely grateful. But the bank wouldn't have had to step in if the media had been doing their job -- showing all Africans in all facets of their lives. In a business that's supposed to cover man-bites-dog stories, the idea that Africa doesn't work is a dog-bites-man story. If the media are really looking for news, they'd look at the ways that Africa, despite all the odds, does work.
Author's e-mail: capineau@aol.com
Carol Pineau, a journalist with more than 10 years of experience reporting on Africa, is the producer and director of the film "Africa: Open for Business," which premiered last week at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
[/QUOTE]
I think it's good you stay positive, and I might add, that into todays global ecomony, africa has just as much chance at success, long term, than anyone else..
the key is the people controlling the goverment. if you don't have that...nothing will work...the goverment has to be keeped in controll by the people..and Im not talking about communisum....because we all have seen that is a road to nowhere..
I think Christanity, has alot to do with it too...not goverment controlled roman catholic pope stlye Christanity...but protestant Christanity..
in fact you could call protestant Christanity the founder of America..
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
SOUTH AFRICA HAS A MORE ADVANCED CONSTITUTION THAN AMERICA.In fact it has the most advanced one in the world if you see what's in it. america does have some good points and some bad points.
Posted by Arwa (Member # 11172) on :
Horemheb,
If China was capable of bringing 400mio. of its citizens out of poverty in 20 years--whitout help from rich countries, then tell why can't African countries do the same? What is it that holds back?
Sure, colonialism is over, then tell me why the westerner forces, the same people we kicked out, keep returning- but now they call them self " peacekeepers, NGOs"
quote:What are the NGOs doing?
In the days of old-fashioned colonialism, the metropolitan powers sent their officials to live in Africa and directly run the colonies. Today they do so indirectly through NGOs. This month, we take an indepth look at the activities of the thousands of foreign NGOs and their local spinoffs who now hold the continent in thrall, and ask whether they are Africa's new colonisers. This analysis is by Rotimi Sankore.
At the beginning of last month, the Nigerian and international media were full of news that Nigeria had been granted debt relief to the tune of $31bn by the Paris Club of “rich Western nations”. Nigerian government officials were ecstatic. Towards the end of the news reports, it was mentioned matter-of-factly that a millennium development committee had been set up which will be chaired by Nigeria’s president, Olusegun Obasanjo, “to monitor what happens to the debt relief”.
The committee would include representatives of Oxfam and ActionAid, two international development charities or NGOs. The committee, inaugurated on the eve of the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, is also monitoring the UN Millennium Development Goals. Anyone remotely familiar with the nature of executive presidencies, and in particular Obasanjo’s presidency, will know that monitoring by the president means nothing will happen to the money without his and the committee’s approval.
In effect, two international development charities will be helping “monitor” and implement budgetary policy to the tune of $31bn in Africa’s most populous country of an estimated 130 million people – without an electoral or democratic mandate to do so.
quote:The scramble for African oil Daniel Volman, director of the African Security Research Project in Washington DC, on how oil is leading to another scramble for Africa, this time not by the usual suspects who met in Berlin in 1884-86, but by the oil guzzlers from across the Atlantic. “Whether all this will lead to something greater – and potentially far more perilous – cannot be foreseen at this point, but it is certainly something that bears close watching, given the dangers this could pose for Africa and its people,” he warns.
After decades of Cold War, when Africa was simply viewed as a convenient pawn on the global chessboard, and a further decade of benign neglect in the 1990s, the African continent has now become a vital arena of strategic and geopolitical competition for not only the US, but also for China, India, and other new emerging powers. The main reason for this is quite simple: Africa is the final frontier as far as the world’s supplies of energy (both oil and natural gas) are concerned.
World oil production is only just meeting demand and old fields are being drained faster than new production can be brought on line. Supplies will be tight for the foreseeable future, so any new source of supply is significant. Most importers are also trying to reduce their dependence on Middle Eastern oil. In the next 10 to 15 years, most of the new oil entering the world market will come from African fields because it is only in Africa – and to a lesser extent in the volatile Central Asia region – that substantial new fields have been found and brought into production.
Therefore, as in the Middle East and the Caspian Sea region before it, Africa is now a target for military intervention by the US, France, China and other powers competing to gain control over energy supplies. The most public expressions of this linkage have come from American officials.
nigeria's population is over 140 million now.
Posted by multisphinx (Member # 3595) on :
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: nigeria's population is over 140 million now.
nigeria population is about 200 million. The census was not able to account for everyone in that country.
Posted by Horemheb (Member # 3361) on :
Every person in Nigeria should be wealthy. The place is flooded with oil and should be a paradise. the fact that it is not defines the problem. We can only do so much to help there problems.
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
Again, Africa is one of the wealthiest continents in the world as far as natural resources. Before European conquest and colonialism Africans had their own industries that processed and refined raw materials into the goods that were in demand at the time and sell them to foreign markets.
It was only during European colonialism that native industries were destroyed and replaced with those run by European companies. Now that the Europeans are gone (with exception of South Africa), Africans are forced to sell their raw material for cheap prices while foreign companies still process the materials and sell them get paid at much higher prices.
Not all but many nations in Africa in the global market are nothing but giant sweatshops to say the least.
The old ludicrous white fantasies of black racial inferiority are no good because many of these Africans are intelligent and educated enough to be accepted in the most prestigious and elite colleges in the West! Many of them come to the West because they have better jobs and thus economic resources.
It's true that some African nations are beginning to catch up with the West, but how long with Africa as a continent be able to recover completely from its bankruptcy and become a major player in the economy that it was centuries ago?
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
Again, Africa is one of the wealthiest continents in the world as far as natural resources. Before European conquest and colonialism Africans had their own industries that processed and refined raw materials into the goods that were in demand at the time and sell them to foreign markets.
It was only during European colonialism that native industries were destroyed and replaced with those run by European companies. Now that the Europeans are gone (with exception of South Africa), Africans are forced to sell their raw material for cheap prices while foreign companies still process the materials and sell them get paid at much higher prices.
Besides that, fact is, many African, if not most of them, are net exporters of capital; the never-ending and increasing debts have a considerable impact on this.
quote:Djehuti: Not all but many nations in Africa in the global market are nothing but giant sweatshops to say the least.
No different from any other regions, where "globalized" corporations are taking advantage of "cheap" labor, under oppressive conditions. Parent companies often make the excuse that, for the currency of host nations of these foreign corporations, the subjects of that "cheap" labor are fairly paid. For instance, people in the U.S. complain about high-tech companies moving jobs to India. Well, the Indians are on the lower receiving end, for providing at least equal if not superior productivity but getting paid less than their American counterparts for doing the very same tasks.
quote:Djehuti:
It's true that some African nations are beginning to catch up with the West, but how long with Africa as a continent be able to recover completely from its bankruptcy and become a major player in the economy that it was centuries ago?
...when colonial-incurred debts have been 'unconditionally" withdrawn, fair trade policies in the likes of WTO, e.g. allowing for subsidies or protection of local or home grown industries in "developing" countries until the said developing nations are able to attain a widened market enough to compete with other Nations with established larger markets, and only thereafter, should any application of restrictions on 'protection' of home markets be applied; this in addition to not leaving out the overhaul of institutions like UN, to be democratic in "actuality" than only in principle...i.e. on paper but not in practice.
Ps - Kenndo is right to reiterate the point that Africa is a continent, with nations with varying levels of successes, as well as problems. For instance, it is outright ridiculous and apparently ignorant to just assume that in every African nation people are starving, suffering from AIDS, living in huts or rural environments, don't vote in presidential or state official elections or have no such systems in place, fighting one another based on "tribal" affiliations or live in an unstable polity, and so forth. Sure these problems exist in certain locations on the continent, but not everywhere; there are places in Africa, people outside, and perhaps even on the continent don't realize exist, simply because the polity is peaceful, stable and not making news outside Africa, which is almost always only the case, when it is negative, rather than talk of success stories. This is not do deny ongoing "neo-colonial" tactics being used to keep African nations in "check," which notwithstanding some nations best efforts or successes, largely remain in place.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
African governments are poorly run because of tribalism that is openly practised by the elected presidents. Because our leaders openly abuse resources in favour of their tribesmen, I cannot trust any of the governments except for Botswana and South Africa. No public system works well in Kenya except for the foreign missions based in the country and continue to assist the poor in vast parts of the country. Duncan Mboyah, Nairobi, Kenya.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Africa has always been a continent with many ethnic groups and identities. Europe has ALWAYS used tactics to divide and conquer Africa by fomenting struggle between ethnic groups and USING these conflicts to conquer Africans for their natural wealth and FORCED cheap labor. What is happening now is no different than before, except the West denies their involvement in PROPPING UP these oppressive goverments and maintaining ethnic conflict in the name of destabilization. Destabilized African countries are easily preyed upon, since the people will have no infrastructure or modern amenities and therefore will DEPEND on the West to help them get back on top. But the West WONT help them get back on top, since they WANT Africa to stay destabilized, since a stable Africa with strong independent NATIONALIST Governments would be a THREAT to the economic WELFARE system, where Europe gets RICH for very little investment off African resources. That is why it is in the West's BEST interest to KEEP African countries destabilized.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
so your not parinoid doug..the world really is against you?
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
quote:Originally posted by Horemheb: Every person in Nigeria should be wealthy. The place is flooded with oil and should be a paradise. the fact that it is not defines the problem. We can only do so much to help there problems.
double standard. everyone should be wealthy in america because of it's gnp . everyone should be wealthy in western europe because of of conquring most of the world for a short time in history in the late 1800's
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
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World Bank Chief Sees Africa as Continent of Hope
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allAfrica.com
June 24, 2005 Posted to the web June 25, 2005
Tamela Hultman Baltimore
Saying that Africa must be sold on the merits of its potential and not just on the basis of its needs, the World Bank's new president told an international group of business leaders meeting in the United States that reducing poverty and supporting economic development in Africa will be his top priority.
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking June 23 at the U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Baltimore, Maryland, said his recent week-long trip to Nigeria, Burkina Faso, South Africa and Rwanda had convinced him that despite heart-rending poverty, which must be addressed, Africa is a good bet for foreign investors.
"There is no question that there is an enormous, compelling moral urgency to the conditions of Africa and there is no question that there are needs," said Wolfowitz, who took office June 1. "But there is a lot more going on than just need," he said. "Africa may be on the verge of being a continent of hope."
Frank Fountain, DaimlerChrysler senior vice president and chair of the Corporate Council on Africa, which organized the summit, pointed out that Wolfowitz's first meeting outside the Bank was with a group of organizations working on African issues, that his first trip was to Africa and that his first public speech outside Washington was to the African business conference. He is giving substance, Fountain said, to his statement that African development will be his top priority as World Bank president.
Wolfowitz said his trip to Africa had exposed him to the growing economic opportunities in the region. He said progress towards good governance and against corruption were signs of a new spirit, and he urged both American and African business leaders to pour money into private sector development. Aid is important, he said, and can contribute to funding the necessary infrastructure, such as roads to bring goods to market, but he said the growth of businesses is needed to put Africans to work and to guarantee prosperity.
"The real goal is not just foreign investment in Africa," he said, "it's domestic investment in Africa. The real goal is not just foreign corporations operating in Africa. It's African companies growing from small businesses to medium-size businesses to big businesses."
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african schools. infrastructure is being build and expanding. Use our pull-down menus to find more stories
Nigeria: FG Signs MoU On HP/Nepad E-Schools
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April 5, 2006 Posted to the web April 6, 2006
Onyebuchi Ezigbo Abuja
The Federal Government has entered into a memorandum of understanding with NEPAD e-Africa Commission and Hewlett-Packard (HP) consortium to provide information and communication technology infrastructure and training to some selected educational institutions in the country under the NEPAD e-school initiative.
Six secondary Schools have been chosen to benefit from the pilot phase of the project which will be implemented by a consortium of HP and Microsoft along with 12 other notable names in IT industry such as Cisco System, Oracle and Advance Micro Devices (AMD).
The Schools are Federal Government Academy, Suleja, Niger State, Federal Government Girls College, Odogbolu, Ogun State, Federal Government Girls College, Bakolori, Kastina State, Federal Government Girls, Owerri, Federal Government Science and Technical College, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State and Federal Government Science and Technical College Lassa.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun said the ICT revolution currently sweeping through the continent is an evidence that Africa is now ready to re-invent itself and to drive its developmental goals to greater heights.
He said vital role of ICT in modern economic development has underpinned the need to invest in young people by impacting appropriate skills and scientific knowledge to students that would equip them adequately for future challenges.
The Programme Commissioner/Co-ordinator of Human Development of NEPAD, Prof. Peter E. Kinyanjui said the project would not only be for the benefit of the students but also the communities harbouring these schools who would gain from the spiral effect.
He said for any School to qualify as NEPAD school it must be connected to Internet facilities.
Kinyanjui said NEPAD is developing a symbolic partnership known as Information Society Partnership for African Development (ISPAD) where the private sector was being invited "to join hands with the government to really move Africa forward".
The NEPAD scribe said about 600,000 schools in Africa are expected to benefit from the E-school programme on the long run.
He described the approach being adopted for the crystallization of ICT development in the continent as 'end to end solution' strategy that would combine provision of necessary ICT infrastructure as well as the training needed to consolidate on the IT revolution.
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West Africa Nigeria NEPAD ICT and Telecom Education
Managing Director of HP, Dr. Lloyd Atabansi said the event signifies the commencement of a major paradigm shift in the way the country's reform has been pursued as regards the education of both the present and future generations of economic, social political and technology drivers.
He said with the signing of the MOU, the NEPAD e-school initiative, which is a major priority will begin to take form, adding that the project centres on
equipping the schools in Africa with the appropriate technology that will assist teachers to deliver lessons to students using ICT.
---------------------------------------------------------------- south africa
quote-u.n. A recent government discussion paper on social trends, 'A nation in the making', noted that expenditure on social grants may have helped reduce the number of poor people from 18.5 million in 2000 to 15.4 million in 2004.
my comment-about 3 million folks out of poverty by 2004.sounds like great progress to me.15.4 million folks are poor,the rest belongs to the middle and rich classes.heck i didn't even know that the poor was smaller than that. sounds like out of the 46 million folks in 2004 15.4 million were poor.
It seems that most folks are not poor and the poor in the years to come will decrease because gnp is growing.let us not forget besides gnp,their is the private economy.
about 300 billion dollars OR MORE is in this private economy and south africa has been investing from within for along time.outside investments have grown as well over the years.
there is alot more good news than bad.most africans are not waiting for handouts like some folks like to believe.they are on the move and making progress with or without anybodies help.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
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PanAfrica: Promising Economic Outlook and Democratic Strides Seen for 30 African Countries
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May 26, 2006 Posted to the web May 26, 2006
Cece Modupe Fadope Washington, DC
In a promising assessment of Africa's economic health, a new report says economic activity rose five percent during 2005 and is projected to reach 6 percent in 2006 and 2007. The report was issued this week by the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
"Africa has recorded good economic performance overall," said Celine Kauffmann, OECD economist and a team leader on the preparation of the study, which is titled "The 2005/06 African Economic Outlook" and profiles 30 countries. ADB membership includes 53 countries in Africa and 25 countries from Asia, Europe and North and South America. The OECD includes 30 developed democracies, including the United States and all members of the European Union.
Kauffman noted that the continent has also made significant strides in democratic gains with the "decline of political instability." She said some countries that were fragile are strengthening, and that peaceful political transitions are holding sway, though tensions still tend to flare around election time.
Among signs that the continent is stirring, the report noted "the combination of better fiscal discipline, rising commodity prices, debt reduction and low inflation has led to a more favorable outlook than it has been for many years."
Natural resource and raw material exports are still the mainstay of Africa’s contribution to the global economy. Not surprising, oil is leading the growth. Oil exporting countries including Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria edged out the others, "though trends for oil importers also looked good." Higher coffee prices helped both Ethiopia and Uganda.
Many countries are making concerted efforts to diversify and add value to their commodities, especially in food processing. There is also a rising output of metals and minerals for export as more countries de-emphasize aid in favor of trade and investment. And with the boom in commodities, investments are on the rise, said Antoine van Agtmael, President and CEO of Emerging Market Investors Corporation, who participated in a breakfast presentation of the report in Washington, DC.
The emphasis on trade and investment appears to present OECD countries with more competition for Africa’s resources unlike what happened in the past. New players including China and India along with some Islamic countries are finding their feet and driving a south-south flow in investment and trade. Van Agtmael envisions a not so distant future where OECD countries’ role in the continent will be trumped by emerging countries.
The Outlook highlights internal and external reasons for setbacks in development and poverty eradication. There’s the adverse consequence of the recent spikes in global oil prices. Oil importing countries are expected to have deficits that will squeeze resources from sustainable development and anti-poverty programs. Furthermore, the lack of transportation infrastructure remains a serious barrier to social progress.
Many Africans are still stranded without options for moving around. The result of limited road access means that "the rural poor spend quite considerable and wholly unproductive time." The consequence on personal time used in running daily errands like "collecting water, obtaining fuel, getting to school, clinic, or the market" leave people with little time for other necessary social engagements. And where there is transportation, safety is a big concern.
Then there’s the shortfall in donor commitments, which will retard continental efforts towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Donors fell 50 percent short of commitments on development aid in 2005, though debt cancellations helped in some countries.
The report notes a renewed donor interest in financing infrastructure projects, especially in the transportation sector and says this could benefit countries that have a transportation development plan.
For all its upbeat projections, the Africa Economic Outlook offers only a broad view of economic prospects on the continent. It does not predict the possibility of broad-based growth or how individual African lives will benefit.
note-mycomments-some african states do have developed or highly developed infrastructure like namiba,south africa and some others and infrastructure is developing in other states,some faster than others of course. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Promising Economic Outlook and Democratic Strides Seen for 30 African Countries Economy Booms As Growth Sets 10-Year Record Police Summon Web Site Contributors Toll Rises to 54 in Petrol Tanker Explosion Former Fighters Ordered Off Rubber Plantations
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Kenya: Economy Booms As Growth Sets 10-Year Record
(Page 2 of 2) The study is normally released ahead of the annual Budget and summarises economic activity in the country. It is supposed to form the basis for cash allocation and economic policy. The launch was at Kenyatta International Conference Centre when the report was formally handed to Finance minister Amos Kimunya, who reads his first Budget in Parliament in the middle of next month.
Tourism was the star performer with 13.3 per cent growth. Its earnings grew from Sh38.5 billion to Sh48.9 billion. Others were transport and communications, which includes mobile telephony and road transport, with 8.3 per cent; building and construction at 7.2; agriculture and forestry with 6.7; wholesale and retail trade 6.4; and, manufacturing with five per cent.
As a result of the reported accelerated growth, Kenya managed to get 44,500 people employed in the so-called modern economy with the balance of jobs arising in the Jua Kali sector.
"Total employment in the modern and informal sectors increased by 5.9 per cent from 7.8 million in 2004 to 8.3 million in 2005," said Mr Obwocha.
Increased jobs in the private sector were mainly in agriculture and services. The public sector reduced employment by 0.6 per cent.
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East Africa Sustainable Development Economy, Business and Finance Kenya
Numbers showed that Kenyan employees were theoretically laughing all the way to the bank with total wage bill up 17.8 per cent, from Sh506.5 billion to Sh596.9 billion. This was nevertheless cancelled out to a large extent by a rise in the price of goods and services of 10.3 per cent - that inflation level was nevertheless lower than the previous year's 11.6 per cent.
Of the total amount paid, the private sector wrote cheques worth Sh397.5 billion, which was 23.3 per cent up on 2004 levels.
Spending on health went up from Sh17.6 billion to Sh19 billion with the number of clinics up three per cent from 4,767 to 4,912. Immunisation coverage rose from 59 to 63 per cent.
Sustainable Development Economy, Business and Finance Kenya
Economy Booms As Growth Sets 10-Year Record Former Fighters Ordered Off Rubber Plantations Government Plan to Fight HIV/Aids Is Working, Deserves Donor Support Sudanese Rebel Infiltration of Refugee Camps Could Lead to Suspension of Aid - UN 50,000 Suffer in 'Forgotten Crisis' - UN Food Agency
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PanAfrica: Promising Economic Outlook and Democratic Strides Seen for 30 African Countries
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May 26, 2006 Posted to the web May 26, 2006
Cece Modupe Fadope Washington, DC
In a promising assessment of Africa's economic health, a new report says economic activity rose five percent during 2005 and is projected to reach 6 percent in 2006 and 2007. The report was issued this week by the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
"Africa has recorded good economic performance overall," said Celine Kauffmann, OECD economist and a team leader on the preparation of the study, which is titled "The 2005/06 African Economic Outlook" and profiles 30 countries. ADB membership includes 53 countries in Africa and 25 countries from Asia, Europe and North and South America. The OECD includes 30 developed democracies, including the United States and all members of the European Union.
Kauffman noted that the continent has also made significant strides in democratic gains with the "decline of political instability." She said some countries that were fragile are strengthening, and that peaceful political transitions are holding sway, though tensions still tend to flare around election time.
Among signs that the continent is stirring, the report noted "the combination of better fiscal discipline, rising commodity prices, debt reduction and low inflation has led to a more favorable outlook than it has been for many years."
Natural resource and raw material exports are still the mainstay of Africa’s contribution to the global economy. Not surprising, oil is leading the growth. Oil exporting countries including Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria edged out the others, "though trends for oil importers also looked good." Higher coffee prices helped both Ethiopia and Uganda.
Many countries are making concerted efforts to diversify and add value to their commodities, especially in food processing. There is also a rising output of metals and minerals for export as more countries de-emphasize aid in favor of trade and investment. And with the boom in commodities, investments are on the rise, said Antoine van Agtmael, President and CEO of Emerging Market Investors Corporation, who participated in a breakfast presentation of the report in Washington, DC.
The emphasis on trade and investment appears to present OECD countries with more competition for Africa’s resources unlike what happened in the past. New players including China and India along with some Islamic countries are finding their feet and driving a south-south flow in investment and trade. Van Agtmael envisions a not so distant future where OECD countries’ role in the continent will be trumped by emerging countries.
The Outlook highlights internal and external reasons for setbacks in development and poverty eradication. There’s the adverse consequence of the recent spikes in global oil prices. Oil importing countries are expected to have deficits that will squeeze resources from sustainable development and anti-poverty programs. Furthermore, the lack of transportation infrastructure remains a serious barrier to social progress.
Many Africans are still stranded without options for moving around. The result of limited road access means that "the rural poor spend quite considerable and wholly unproductive time." The consequence on personal time used in running daily errands like "collecting water, obtaining fuel, getting to school, clinic, or the market" leave people with little time for other necessary social engagements. And where there is transportation, safety is a big concern.
Then there’s the shortfall in donor commitments, which will retard continental efforts towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Donors fell 50 percent short of commitments on development aid in 2005, though debt cancellations helped in some countries.
The report notes a renewed donor interest in financing infrastructure projects, especially in the transportation sector and says this could benefit countries that have a transportation development plan.
For all its upbeat projections, the Africa Economic Outlook offers only a broad view of economic prospects on the continent. It does not predict the possibility of broad-based growth or how individual African lives will benefit.
Promising Economic Outlook and Democratic Strides Seen for 30 African Countries Economy Booms As Growth Sets 10-Year Record Police Summon Web Site Contributors Toll Rises to 54 in Petrol Tanker Explosion Former Fighters Ordered Off Rubber Plantations
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AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Kenya: Economy Booms As Growth Sets 10-Year Record
(Page 2 of 2) The study is normally released ahead of the annual Budget and summarises economic activity in the country. It is supposed to form the basis for cash allocation and economic policy. The launch was at Kenyatta International Conference Centre when the report was formally handed to Finance minister Amos Kimunya, who reads his first Budget in Parliament in the middle of next month.
Tourism was the star performer with 13.3 per cent growth. Its earnings grew from Sh38.5 billion to Sh48.9 billion. Others were transport and communications, which includes mobile telephony and road transport, with 8.3 per cent; building and construction at 7.2; agriculture and forestry with 6.7; wholesale and retail trade 6.4; and, manufacturing with five per cent.
As a result of the reported accelerated growth, Kenya managed to get 44,500 people employed in the so-called modern economy with the balance of jobs arising in the Jua Kali sector.
"Total employment in the modern and informal sectors increased by 5.9 per cent from 7.8 million in 2004 to 8.3 million in 2005," said Mr Obwocha.
Increased jobs in the private sector were mainly in agriculture and services. The public sector reduced employment by 0.6 per cent.
Relevant Links
East Africa Sustainable Development Economy, Business and Finance Kenya
Numbers showed that Kenyan employees were theoretically laughing all the way to the bank with total wage bill up 17.8 per cent, from Sh506.5 billion to Sh596.9 billion. This was nevertheless cancelled out to a large extent by a rise in the price of goods and services of 10.3 per cent - that inflation level was nevertheless lower than the previous year's 11.6 per cent.
Of the total amount paid, the private sector wrote cheques worth Sh397.5 billion, which was 23.3 per cent up on 2004 levels.
Spending on health went up from Sh17.6 billion to Sh19 billion with the number of clinics up three per cent from 4,767 to 4,912. Immunisation coverage rose from 59 to 63 per cent.
Sustainable Development Economy, Business and Finance Kenya
Economy Booms As Growth Sets 10-Year Record Former Fighters Ordered Off Rubber Plantations Government Plan to Fight HIV/Aids Is Working, Deserves Donor Support Sudanese Rebel Infiltration of Refugee Camps Could Lead to Suspension of Aid - UN 50,000 Suffer in 'Forgotten Crisis' - UN Food Agency
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Nigeria experienced slowing growth in 2005, but increased oil and gas revenues enabled a current account surplus, and are being used to upgrade infrastructure and aid economic diversification. South African GDP grew by 5 per cent last year, driven by domestic demand as well as export opportunities.
note-nigeria growth rate was revised and it's growth did not slow down,it increased last year.
Nigeria's GDP growth decelerated in 2005, but increased oil and gas export revenues enabled the country to run a current-account surplus. Part of the increase in revenues is being used to upgrade infrastructure in order to lay a solid foundation for future growth. Additionally, agriculture has been the focus of recent policy measures to promote economic diversification and the revitalization of sectors other than the hydrocarbons sector.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by mike rozier: so your not parinoid doug..the world really is against you?
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
You are right and what I said has nothing to do with paranoia it is TRUTH. Funny how some want to deny the actions of the West both historically and currently under the term of "paranoia". Paranoia has NOTHING to do with seeing reality for what it is and dealing with the situation in the best way possible. How many were killed as a result of the oppression of Leopold and the Belgians in Congo? How many were killed as a result of the oppression of the French in Ivory Coast. Many DONT know the history of oppression and outright GENOCIDE that took place during the 1800s in Africa, but MILLIONS is a small number when counting such atrocities.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
quote:Originally posted by Supercar:
Ps - Kenndo is right to reiterate the point that Africa is a continent, with nations with varying levels of successes, as well as problems. For instance, it is outright ridiculous and apparently ignorant to just assume that in every African nation people are starving, suffering from AIDS, living in huts or rural environments, don't vote in presidential or state official elections or have no such systems in place, fighting one another based on "tribal" affiliations or live in an unstable polity, and so forth. Sure these problems exist in certain locations on the continent, but not everywhere; there are places in Africa, people outside, and perhaps even on the continent don't realize exist, simply because the polity is peaceful, stable and not making news outside Africa, which is almost always only the case, when it is negative, rather than talk of success stories. This is not do deny ongoing "neo-colonial" tactics being used to keep African nations in "check," which notwithstanding some nations best efforts or successes, largely remain in place. [/QB]
right most nations are at peace and most are making progress despite some problems.even the nations that had a civil war there is some progress.most of the congo is at peace and most of the congo is not at war today.let's hope thier is more peace.THERE is less corruption there than before but there is always more room for progress.will corruption ever go away in the world?no,but it could be reduced so that greater progress could happen and that is happening.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
note-most of africa's debt has been cancelled this year. nigeria's debt has been cancelled making room for rebuilding.on the bbc world news,zambia is making greater progress because of the cancelled debt.south africa paid it's last debt a few years ago,that is why there is greater progress today.
Posted by Supercar (Member # 6477) on :
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: note-most of africa's debt has been cancelled this year. nigeria's debt has been cancelled making room for rebuilding.on the bbc world news,zambia is making greater progress because of the cancelled debt.south africa paid it's last debt a few years ago,that is why there is greater progress today.
I must have missed it. When were these cancellations realized?
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
after the g8 summit.they were talking about nigeria one night on the bbc a few weeks.the topic comes up time to time on the bbc world news on wnyc new york.
Posted by Supercar (Member # 6477) on :
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: after the g8 summit.they were talking about nigeria one night on the bbc a few weeks.the topic comes up time to time on the bbc world news on wnyc new york.
I am aware there was a talk of possible debt cancellations for several African nations at the said summit last year, but I wasn't aware that it was ever realized. Were these "unconditional" debt cancellations, and do you have a link to the said news?
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
here is a example of one african country that is making progress,but this was before the g8 and now after.nigeria now has the largest foreign exchange reserves in africa,larger now than south africa.progress is happening faster now in nigeria.let's hope they kept it up.we all know that there would always be two steps forward and one step back.this is the nature of advancing,but let's hope there are more steps forward than backward,and as time goes on,less backward steps.
note kenya did not get it's debt cancelled because they said that country could deal with it.that's too bad,but despite that problem kenya is making progress today.let's hope they kept it up.
examples of nigeria/and africa advancing.there are more pictures in my picture thread about nigeria and other african states.
abuja,nigeria
future project central business district abuja
[QUOTE=skipperBill]Wow... I didn't know Abuja was so developed and beautiful. Thank you so much for the pictures guys. Please post more[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=boris89]Nigeria is on the fast past. I love Abidjan n but Abuja just might be the city in africa wih the most cranes. Oil rich Nigeria is showing its Might![/QUOTE]
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
quote:Originally posted by Supercar:
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: after the g8 summit.they were talking about nigeria one night on the bbc a few weeks.the topic comes up time to time on the bbc world news on wnyc new york.
I am aware there was a talk of possible debt cancellations for several African nations at the said summit last year, but I wasn't aware that it was ever realized. Were these "unconditional" debt cancellations, and do you have a link to the said news?
I DO NOT have the link now.oh some of that info is above in arwa post above.for more info on that i will send you a private email first.some of this info is there or you could find the person with this info there.
it is hard to find these links for the moment.i heard it mostly on the radio.but i will try to find some links for you later.
In the meantime open up your private email.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
[QUOTE=ruwaydr]it looks way better than tel aviv[/QUOTE]
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
here is one article i found on the computer.i do not have the direct link,but i found this from the link i sent.this deals with fighting corruption and getting back some money that belongs to nigeria. ----------------------------------------------
September 27, 2005—The Governments of Nigeria and Switzerland, working together with assistance from the World Bank, have taken a significant step toward the return of funds which have been looted from Africa.
The Swiss Government is returning to Nigeria $458 million stolen by the late military dictator General Abacha and deposited in Swiss banks. The Swiss have already transferred $290 million of the money.
“The agreement that has been reached between Nigeria and Switzerland is a landmark agreement,” said World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz at a press conference this morning with Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Swiss Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economic Affairs Jean-Daniel Gerber.
“It sends a signal around the world that there is no safe harbor for stolen funds," he said.
Wolfowitz said it was one of the first cases of stolen funds being repatriated and could set an important precedent. “Corruption is not just the problem of developing countries. The developed countries have a responsibility, too, and part of that responsibility is to make it as hard as possible for corrupt governments to hide the money that they steal and to help in its return.”
The Nigerian government has been very committed to fighting corruption and has made it clear that its focus on transparency, good governance and fighting corruption was real, Okonjo-Iweala said. “We are grateful that the Swiss Government has set an example for others.”
For its part, the Swiss Government had a fundamental interest in ensuring that it did not receive illicitly acquired assets, Gerber said, and the country’s banking secrecy laws did not apply to assets of criminal origin.
“Repatriating illegally acquired funds is an important tool in the fight against corruption…It also is a significant potential source for development financing,” he said.
According to Okonjo-Iweala, the returned funds would be put directly into poverty-reduction programs.
“We want to assure the public that money were are getting back is put to use in poverty reduction and work creation programs, to support health, education, agriculture, roads, water, everything that has to do with improving the lives of the Nigerian people,” she said.
The World Bank is helping the Nigerian Government through a Public Expenditure Management and Financial Accountability Review (PEMFAR) to ensure additional budget resources, including these and other repatriated funds, are channeled to support these key sectors. The Swiss Government is providing support for the review with a grant.
Posted by Arwa (Member # 11172) on :
Sixth, avoid being pictured in the presence of African men, the source of all these troubles and scourges, but include a few white men from any relief agency, and of course lots of listless African women squatting under some leafless tree and staring emptly into the air, or chewing some stick patiently waiting for something to happen. Seventh, choose the landscape carefully, certainly avoid lush vegetation, anything that looks like fresh water; dry, dusty arid and semi-arid areas make the best background for they add ecological drama to Africa´s eternal woes. Eighth, dress modestly, no bling-bling for the rappers among you, preferably in an appropriate safari garb adorned with a hat, it could be a helmet even, especially for those of delicate caucasian skin for protection from the sweltering tropical sun. Ninth, never, ever show the five-star hotel and the city you are actually staying in to which you happily return after the cameras are shut off and before jetting back to the familiar comforts of stardom now immensely enriched by your hard earned humanitarian credentials.
Tenth, when you get back home try to get on Oprah, if that fails one of the TV magazine shows that love stars with a heart will do, or you could go on David Letterman or Jay Leno and show that you still have a sense of humor despite all the agony you have seen; audiences want humanitarian stars with a light touch, not priestly agony and admonition written all over their faces – they want to feel good about themselves, not guilty about the tribulations of tribes and tribal tragedies in far away Africa.
You know you have really arrived as a global African humanitarian when you can talk to President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, the champios of democracy, development and peace (don`t believe those malicious stories about Iraq and Afghanistan and Guantanamo) in the same week or in the same venue, say, the G8 Summit, and if you can call yourself, or better still you can be called by your admiring fans, Mr Africa and Ms Africa without blushing. And yes, the ability to organize a global event, a rock concert is best for the depoliticised youth who love music and to dance, without Africans is the ultimate accolade, it`s godly in its intoxicating possibilities to liberate Africa from itself.
Lol, but so true.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: here is one article i found on the computer.i do not have the direct link,but i found this from the link i sent.this deals with fighting corruption and getting back some money that belongs to nigeria.
It is funny how the West likes to focus SOLELY on corrupt governments as the SOLE reason why Africa is poor and NOT the fact that these SAME countries with corrupt governments have a veritable who's who of international corporations making billions in profits while the people starve. The reason Africa is so poor is NOT just because of corrupt governments. The reason Africa is poor is because of the Western economic powers USING Africa as the source of cheap raw materials that they use to generate HUGE profits for themselves and their economies. Without Africa being destitute and in chaos, these countries would not be able to continue the colonial legacy of extirmination of African peoples in order to exploit the natural resources. So, nothing has changed in Africa in all reality, except that the foreign colonial powers HIDE behind corrupt governments and MANIPULATE the crisis in many parts of Africa for their OWN economic gain. The hypocrisy is trifling when the west, after 400+ years of feeding off the death and destruction of African peoples, acts SHOCKED at how bad off many Africans are, as if they WERENT the primary culprits in the first place. Look at ANY African country and find out how many Africans are making the money out of all the richest people in the country. Sure, the corrupt government official may be rich, but outside of him and his cronies, how many citizens have big money? Not many. Most of the people with big money in Africa are FOREIGNERS, mostly called expats, meaning foreign nationals who stayed in an African nation after its independence, to maintain the land, plantations and mineral deposits that were TAKEN from Africans by the colonial regimes. Through these and other intermediaries and mercenaries, the former colonial governments maintain a stranglehold on Africa's development and keep them from truly being able to prosper from the natural wealth of the country. In fact, almost NEVER is this NET export of money from African countries talked about when discussing poverty in Africa. It is as if the West wants to separate the PROFITS of the big companies like DeBeers and Firestone from ANY relationship to the economic woes of the companies they operate in. Funny how they conveniently forget the history of how they GOT to be so big in Africa in the first place........
So, lets keep in mind that while African countries may have been liberated from OVERT colonial control, they are still very much under control of NEO Colonialist capitalists, who view Africa as nothing more than a INVESTMENT opportunity (money vacuum) for Whites, same as it always was. If you want to REALLY understand the reasons for poverty in Africa, read the histories of the companies ACTIVE in African nations and the RACIST practices and idealogies of those behind those companies. Cecil Rhodes of South Africa, King Leopold of Belgian Congo and many other Western Capitalists are the reason for the suffering in Africa today, because of a LEGACY of European exploitation of Africa for its resources, which is the ONLY reason Europeans went to Africa in the FIRST place. They did NOT just go there because Africans were DIFFERENT. For them Africa was NOTHING more than a pure ECONOMIC exercise, nothing more and nothing less. In fact, Leopold wanted to make Belgium great and spoke at great lengths on WHY Belgium needed to colonize Congo, massacre millions of Congolese and use the rest as slave labor. Europeans have NEVER been fair about wealth distribution and EVERYTHING about their history in Africa is one of OUT AND OUT greed, death and destruction for Africans. So when you see these 6th and 7th generation European capitalists and land owners in their exclusive game parks and reserves, think that this OASIS was built directly on the back of MILLIONS of dead Africans and CONTINUES to be.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
THe only nation that i know of in africa,that has outsiders living in that state and hold alot of land is still south africa.there has been some progress there and soon,there would be more. outsiders do not control africa.north africa is a different case as far as i am concern.
YOU HAVE TO STOP BLAMING NEO-COLONIALISM.IT HAS little to do with problems today.IT WAS THE PAST AFRICAN LEADERS who where doing evil.today many african leaders are doing there best to stamp out corruption,so please stop the whining.congo,kenya,etc,control there own resourses.ALL this helpless sounding talk does nothing to help the problem.certain parts of africa is not poor by the way.many things have change in africa. this is why i stop or slowed down listening to talk radio.the right wing talks about africa not doing better now and the left,say the same thing for different reasons.it seems they have one thing incommon.black folks don't know what they are doing,and that is just non-sense.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
THe only nation that i know of in africa,that has outsiders living in that state and hold alot of land is still south africa.there has been some progress there and soon,there would be more. outsiders do not control africa.north africa is a different case as far as i am concern.
YOU HAVE TO STOP BLAMING NEO-COLONIALISM.IT HAS little to do with problems today.IT WAS THE PAST AFRICAN LEADERS who where doing evil.today many african leaders are doing there best to stamp out corruption,so please stop the whining.congo,kenya,etc,control there own resourses.ALL this helpless sounding talk does nothing to help the problem.certain parts of africa is not poor by the way.many things have change in africa. this is why i stop or slowed down listening to talk radio.many from the right wing talks about africa not doing better now and many on the left,say the same thing for different reasons.It seems they have one thing incommon,black folks don't know what they are doing from their view point,and that is just non-sense.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
I DON'T want to hear constant bad and distorted news that much these days.iahd to say one last thing since i will not be reading anything on that other thread.doug i will send some good news by email and you will be surprise,so really this is my last comment in public on this forum abou this too.I NEED TO HANG WITH POSTIVE THINKERS.NEGATIVE THINKERS WEAR YOU OUT.
Posted by Supercar (Member # 6477) on :
Mike Rozier stated:
the problem is the african goverments not investing in their countries infrastructure..and not useing their resources wisely.
I don't fault the starveing people in that country as much as I do the people in power in them countries..
I replied:
^Africa is not a country.
Now, some more words worth noting from an apparent politically-conscious author, Prof. Zeleza, from Arwa’s aforementioned link:
Only the story about Charles Taylor, the notorious former Liberian president, arriving in Holland, his face downcast with humiliation, represented a fresh script; well, almost, for the commentary soon reverted to style about Africa`s proverbial genius for producing dictators…
I also knew Ms. Jolie had given birth to her daughter with Mr. Pitt in Namibia, or rather Africa as the geographically challenged media kept repeating **as if there are no individual countries** on this vast continent. Individuality, the naming of countries and people, in a country that believes it invented or at least perfected individuality seems strangely absent when it comes to Africa.
Inidividaul nationhood is apparently an attribute reserved for those living in the blessed parts of the world, sometimes referred to, in bigoted company, as the `civilized`countries, or less offensively as `western`, or as the `global North`in the polite bureaucratic language beloved by the United Nations and politically correct cosmopolitans. It is certainly not for the benighted masses of the `Third World´, a word that has seen better days, or the `global South`, or let`s just say Africa, the sorriest places of them all. This is also to digress…
**Tribes**, tribal, tribalism: harsh, contemptuous, condemnatory words that evoke nothing but primitivity, savagery, backwardness, primeval communities and conflicts. Words that are reserved for Africans and those `indigenous` peoples in Asia and South America that are periodically discovered in some remote jungle by National Geographic or featured on Discovery Channel.
But it is modern Africa that has still tribes everywhere, a whole continent that is held to ransom by the primordial pathologies of ancient tribal life. Africans are stamped with tribal marks from birth to death.
Tribes are beyond history, they have always existed in Africa, they explain everything: the poverty, the civil conflicts, the corruption, the dicatorships. European colonialism failed to stamp out the tribe, postcolonial modernization withers in its glare, contemporary democratization has no chance in its suffocating shadows…
Whereas in other parts of the world issues and conflicts may be named as political, economic, social, environmental, class, gender, religious, or cultural, in Africa they are almost invariably about tribes and tribalism.
Nobody of course talks of tribes in Europe, except in reference to the remote past, of contemporary tribal conflicts in the Balkans, in Northern Ireland, in Spain. European groupings are defined as `nations` and their conflicts deemed national or nationalist conflicts and accorded specific characteristics, combatants, causes, closures, and consequences. In Asia people are often divided into ethnic or communal groups and their conflicts termed ethnic or communal. Nations for Europe, ethnicities for Asia, tribes for Africa, a sliding scale of civilizational status and possibilities…
Ms. Jolie was obviouly in good company despite her limited education and obvious ignorance of African histories, cultures, societies, polities, and economies. She was merely repeating received western wisdom on Africa. Tribes may have long been banished from the academic vocabularly in Africanist discourse, but they are alive and well in the mass media. But even in the academy the term sneaks in from time to time as I discovered at a party when I first arrived at Penn State when a head of a certain otherwise progressive department who had done a little comparative research in Africa asked me: What tribe are from? My shocked gasp said it all, but just to make sure that she got the message, I sent her an e-mail explaining the politics of the term `tribe` to which she responded with a groveling apology. But many a western journalist assigned to the hardship African beat defend the use of the term `tribe` on account that Africans themselves use it. One student of mine returned from a four week study abroad in Kenya feeling empowered to use the term and challenged my allegedly western liberal antipathy to it. There was a time when African `groupings` were called `nations` before the rise of colonial racism and academic anthropology, and in my language the term used for African and European groupings is the same, `mtundu`.
`Tribe` is an acquired term of colonial self-denigration, not self-definition, let alone self-empowerment…
Western reporting on Africa rests on four well-tested mantras: selectivity, sensationalism, stereotyping and special vocabularly.
Interesting link. Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: THe only nation that i know of in africa,that has outsiders living in that state and hold alot of land is still south africa.there has been some progress there and soon,there would be more. outsiders do not control africa.north africa is a different case as far as i am concern.
YOU HAVE TO STOP BLAMING NEO-COLONIALISM.IT HAS little to do with problems today.IT WAS THE PAST AFRICAN LEADERS who where doing evil.today many african leaders are doing there best to stamp out corruption,so please stop the whining.congo,kenya,etc,control there own resourses.ALL this helpless sounding talk does nothing to help the problem.certain parts of africa is not poor by the way.many things have change in africa. this is why i stop or slowed down listening to talk radio.the right wing talks about africa not doing better now and the left,say the same thing for different reasons.it seems they have one thing incommon.black folks don't know what they are doing,and that is just non-sense.
Kenndo, I blame neo-colonialism because it DESERVES to be blamed. Trying to act as if there isnt a colonial legacy in African politics is LUDICROUS. Almost EVERY African country has MAJOR fereign "investments" that are producing wealth for foreign entrepeneurs:
Nigeria: Shell, BP and others Congo: various mining and mineral consortiums and Debeers.
Liberia: Firestone tire and rubber and other mineral interests.
quote: Concession Deals. Natural resource and land concession contract deals drew notable attention during the NTGL’s tenure because of their financial significance and potential long-term effects on national development. U.N. experts and donor governments questioned the propriety of a March 2005 monopsony diamond concession deal with a previously unknown firm, which was later cancelled.22 Some observers also questioned the NTGL’s award of offshore oil exploration permits to three relatively obscure firms just prior to elections. The NTGL also signed two major long-term natural resource concession deals. One, with the Firestone group of companies, extends and amends a previous series of concession agreements, first signed in 1926, giving Firestone rights to large plantation areas for the cultivation of rubber.23 The contract was amended, in part, because Firestone contended that it was unable to exploit its holdings due to fighting over the last decade and a half, and in order to boost foreign investment in Liberia. The deal gave the Firestone group surface rental and other rights to nearly 200 square miles of active or proposed rubber plantation land for 36 years in exchange for $.50 per acre per year and various investments, tax payments, social and infrastructure development outputs, and various other commitments. It may be extended for another 50 years after renegotiation. Another deal, with Netherlands-based Mittal Steel Holdings, provides for the rehabilitation or construction of diverse mining, administrative support, processing, and transport infrastructure intended to support the extraction and shipment of iron ore from northern Liberia. It gives Mittal a variety of surface rental, mineral license, iron ore extraction, transport infrastructure construction, and other rights in exchange for diverse capital investments, totaling about $900 million, and royalty, lump sum, tax, and other payments to the government. The initial term of 25 years is extendable for additional 25-year terms, if certain criteria are met. Both deals drew criticism from some civil society groups that contended that the NTGL lacked a legal mandate to negotiate long-term concessions, that such functions could only be carried out by a duly elected government, and that such deals should be negotiated in a manner more favorable to Liberian economic and other national interests.24 The contracts were also politically controversial. The Mittal deal was the subject of rival bids by the large mining firms Global Infrastructural Holdings Limited (GIHL), BHP Billington and Real Tito, and its ratification was contested legally and in parliament. Some civil society critics have alleged that the deals were not undertaken in a transparent manner. Mittal has denied that charge, and maintains that the contract was won in a “transparent and competitive bid process” and will bring significant foreign investment and infrastructure development to Liberia.25 The former U.S. Ambassador to Liberia John Blaney reportedly pushed for requirements that, regardless of what firm was awarded mining rights, a major railroad that would be rehabilitated under such a deal be made a multi-use railroad.26 The Firestone contract drew attention for other reasons. Some Firestone plantation workers have complained about poor working conditions and high production quotas. Some environmental advocacy groups and residents living near Firestone rubber processing facilities have alleged that chemicals used in latex processing are polluting wells, rivers, and water life. The Firestone group also is the subject of a class action suit brought in California by the International Labor Rights Fund, an advocacy organization that says its goal is to counter child, forced, and other abusive labor practices internationally, including through litigation. The suit allegesthat Firestone employs children, practices forced labor, involuntary servitude, and negligent employment practices. Firestone categorically denies these charges, describing the suit as “outrageous” and “completely without merit.” It maintains that its operations comply fully with Liberian laws and asserts that its workers are all adults of legal working age, are union-represented, are paid well above prevailing wages, are provided with social services, and that Firestone is bringing much needed investment to Liberia.
You CANT get ahead by allowing foreigners to OWN ALL of the resources and get 90% of the profits from your natural resources. You CANT get ahead by depending on HANDOUTS from foreign companies. You get ahead by OWNING YOUR OWN and MAKING PROFITS, period.
Note that this is exactly what is happening in ALL of Africa's countries. Foreign companies are making shady deals with various African governments with LITTLE to show for the African people. Yet this is called "development". Development HOW? Stop sitting back and talking nonsense and not UNDERSTANDING the issues. Firestone should not BE in Liberia in the FIRST place. That LAND was SUPPOSED to be for the former slaves from America for them to feed and SUPPORT themselves, yet through some political trickery, Firestone gets ALL of the land in Liberia for pennies on the dollar and uses almost SLAVELIKE labor to produce the rubber. The new president, Miss Shirleaf, is a former member of the WORLD BANK, certainly NOT an institution known for promoting and supporting African economic INDEPENDENCE.
In every area of agriculture and raw materials in Africa FOREIGNERS are the making MOST of the money, whether it be OIL, GAS, DIAMONDS, COBALT, COLTAN, COTTON, RUBBER, SUGAR or anything else. The FIRST problem is the fact that these companies got ACCESS to these resources MAINLY from the old colonial occupiers of Africa. The SECOND problem is that these companies, backed by Western governments, have gotten access to these resources by supporting various neocolonial and NON progressive governments in the region. In fact, it is COMMON practice for the World Bank to FORCE African countries to make deals that GIVE AWAY most of the wealth of their countries to Western companies in return for EXPENSIVE loans from the World Bank and DUBIOUS economic projects. THIS is the neo colonialism I am talking about and this is STILL going on all over Africa to this day. Bottom line, African countries will NOT advance as long as MOST of the money from the natural resources in the country is going OUT of the country. In America and the West, such a situation would be UNTHINKABLE, yet in African countries, this is EXACTLY the sort of VOODOO economics that the West, through the World Bank and IMF are PUSHING!
If it wasnt for colonialism and racist expoitation by Europeans Africans would be making MOST of the money from their own resources and would NOT be in the situation they are in today. No amount of pleading for us to BLAME Africans as the sole reason for this is going to change that fact. ALL of this goes back to the independence movements in each African country and what HAPPENED to the former colonialists in those countries. In MOST cases, the former colonialists made DEALS with the Africans to KEEP their plantations and mines in return for PROMISES of reconcilliation, much like South Africa. Well, FIRST, this is NONSENSE, since the whole POINT was to TAKE BACK that which had been STOLEN in the first place, not make a DEAL for it. Second, these former colonialists had no INTENTION to GIVE anything back to the Africans. This situation exists ALL OVER AFRICA and is very much the same as what has been happening in South Africa. How can Africans sit and WAIT for the WHITES to give back the land and wealth they stole from them? The whites WONT give it back, because they FOUGHT HARD to TAKE it from Africans "fair and square". These neo-colonial governments and their corrupt officials are just a SIDESHOW to divert attention from the REAL problem in Africa which is the fact that MOST of the profits from land and mineral wealth in Africa is being made by FOREIGNERS, which was the WHOLE POINT for them going into Africa and EXPLOITING Africa in the FIRST PLACE.
quote: or the first time, Zambia Sugar shares were actually listed on the Lusaka Stock Exchange and are fairing well.
However, a darker and more depressing scenario amid this success story has been unfolding.
Most contentious of all is the quality of life on the estate which according to some workers who preferred anonymity for fear of reprisals from management has deteriorated.
It is alleged that management has issued an order to all residents on the estates to register their domesticated animals and keep them secure in their dwellings failure to which stern punishment would be meted out.
A household is only allowed to keep one dog while all other forms of domesticated animals such as chickens are banned The growing of backyard vegetables or maize is also outlawed.
The residents of the estate have also been given an unconstitutional curfew time where anyone found driving or walking after the prescribed time unless so permitted is charged.
On conditions of service, the union is currently locked in a disputed case over a driver who was fired because he had given a lift to his wife who had lost a relative on a company truck to Lusaka.
Another classic example is where management has suspended all forms of transportation to workers except for a 60 seater bus which is only released for funerals.
Ironically, a brand new Mercedes Benz bus has recently been bought for as few as five to six managers’ kids who attend the nearby Musikili school.
Such and many more industrial related matters have continued to dampen the workers’ morale at the firm.
Worse still, incidences of racial slurs against the indigenous Zambians are also on the increase.
A top manager two months ago had his docket handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) after he made racially inclined disparaging remarks about Zambian businessmen and local staff.
The complaints were registered after a team of goods and services suppliers called on him to discuss business plans but were spurned.
They reported the matter to the local police who in turn handed the case over to their superiors and ultimately the DPP.
The manager is alleged before his posting to Zambia last November to have been locked out of his office at a sugar firm in Swaziland by irate workers after he passed such racial remarks.
This forced government authorities to demand his immediate deportation.
Another complaint workers have is about how Zambian university graduates with vast experience were being systematically sidelined from their jobs and replaced by certificate holding South African novices who were actually being taught the job by the same Zambians.
The workers said the immigration department should critically study these work permits and carry out on the spot assessments of the jobs that need so called expatriate staff.
They alleged that most of the jobs that were Zambianised even over a decade ago were slowly being reclaimed by expatriates.
A classic example is about a Zambian university graduate who had been understudying a top agricultural job for over 17 years until he was retired.
Most of the time they claimed expatriates came into the country at the pretext of teaching the indigenous workers understudying them the job when in actual fact they were in the jobs full time for extremely long periods.
In a separate interview with Mazabuka member of Parliament, Griffith Nangomba who confirmed the numerous problems afflicting Zambia’s foremost sugar firm, he revealed that a more pressing industrial dispute was brewing and unless positive intervention was made soon, there would be a crisis.
Mr Nangomba reveals that when Illovo Sugar bought off the firm, all workers should have been paid their gratuity and start off on new work contracts.
But despite interventions at ministerial level, management was adamant about the commitment they went into with the union and workers and that was causing unnecessary friction.
He adds that the sugar firm has instead opted to divert all the money earmarked for the workers gratuity into a retirement scheme and will only pay such monies upon an employees’s retirement or retrenchment date. “Zambia Sugar has the capacity to pay its workers no doubt about it.
Mr Nangomba says he has also received numerous complaints from the town’s business association and individual suppliers about how indigenous Zambian suppliers have been systematically phased out from supplying big contract goods and services with the firm opting for South African firms.
In this case, he says, many Zambia Sugar widows who indirectly depend on the firm for survival have been left in the cold.
He laments and prods Government not to turn a blind eye to such growing negative sentiments and complaints from workers but quickly intervene in the matter.
So please stop with the propaganda about the Western companies being SAVIORS of the people of Africa from the EVILS of corrupt governments. The point is that the WHITE racists who ORIGINALLY colonized Africa are STILL at work behind the helm of many of Africa's LARGEST corporations, since LITTLE has been done to them by Africans since independence. The fact that LITTLE of consequence was done to RETURN the land and mineral wealth of the countries BACK to Africans has allowed these people to STAY in a position of ABSOLUTE economic power over their African subjects. The current plan is to MAINTAIN this position and EXPAND it, allowing FOREIGNERS to INCREASE their ownership and profit making at the EXPENSE of Africans. This is NOT fair, since these foreigners are ONLY in this position in the FIRST place because of their colonial past.....
I DID NOT READ ALL THAT your posts is depressing. anyway you could say that all countries have investments from other countries.no country will be independent like they were in the past.this world today is too connected,so get over it. all you could do is be free as much as can. in your mindset than all countries are control by other states.besides many folks want outside investments.how dare you say what is good for them. by states in africa have agood share of control of the resources.many,if not all control the most of their resources and all control their own land.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
most of the money is coming back into africa,that is another point.that is way gnp is growing faster. AFRICAN STATES SO FAR ARE GETTING THEIR overall act together that is my point. AFRICA ALWAYS DOES NOT GET THE UPDATED GOOD NEWS. THERE needs to be a change on how africa gets the news. most of the money is coming back into africa,that is another point.that is way gnp is growing faster. AFRICAN STATES SO FAR ARE GETTING THEIR overall act together that is my point.zambis for instance,has it's debts cancelled.money is now coming in more so for schools health and other things now.
most of the money is coming back into africa,that is another point.that is way gnp is growing faster. AFRICAN STATES SO FAR ARE GETTING THEIR overall act together that is my point.
Posted by lamin (Member # 5777) on :
Kenndo, It's not just a question of GNP growth. The point is that real development will not take place unless the AU protocols are implemented: regional spaces purged of those silly colonial boundaries, single currencies, less brainwashed and intellectually deficient leadership classes> Cases in point: an African minister of education who steals stae funds to send his children to expensive European schools--just to be brainwashed; and African president who diverts state funds to fly to Europe for a medical check up; and most comical of all: an African head of state who puts his face on his country's currency then has the comedic gall of keeping bank accounts in European currencies.
The problem with Africa to a large extent is psychological: a lack of historical consciousness, an unwillingness to change atavistic beliefs and practices on the grounds that they represent "African culture", a lack of shame and a sense of dignity on the part of the vast majority of the members of Africa's political classes, an unconscious worship of whites, etc.
Posted by lamin (Member # 5777) on :
Kenndo,
I witnessed the AU conference held in Banjul, the Gambia a couple weeks ago. It was a total waste of funds with silly and pompous officals and heads of state rolling through town in expensive vehicles(Hummers and all) sirens blaring--just making very irritating nuisances of themselves. The whole thing reminded of small boys playing some silly game.
I want to believe that some 30 million euros were spent on this silly extravaganza with endless hours of welcoming dancers and dull, inspid speeches. It was interesting to see Hugo Chavez and Ahmadinejad there though. Must have caused GB to utter a few loud expletives.
There was just no talk of implementing the AU protocols. No talk of pooling resources. No talk of creating convertible currencies on par with those of Euro-America. [Just heard that the regional currency-the ECO-- for the so-called Anglophone bloc was quietly shelved on the advice of Massa]. No talk of creating regional scientific and medical research centres. No talk of really investing all those African petro dollars in Africa's underfunded. IN FACT NO TALK OF ANYTHING USEFUL EXCEPT THE USUAL PITIFUL BABY CHATTER FROM THE LIKES OF ANNAN AND CO. universities. [In fact his blond wife seemed to get more attention than KO himself. I guess it all boils down to what Fanon wrote many years ago about "negroes" and white women]
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
you wrong about that lamin.there has been talk at other times.i will send you something by private email.some links.that is far as i will go here.
Posted by KING (Member # 9422) on :
Kenndo
You need to post on Egyptsearch more. You should not stop posting just because you disagree with some of the posters. You have alot to offer this forum and the Forum needs people like you. I don't know why you want to stop posting on this forum but I hope you reconsider.
Peace
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
corruption is being stamp out,and progress is being.most black african men still want their black women.don't let the media fool you.
there is progress in consciousness is and there will be more of it. progress is happening,but of course there is away to go.rome and egypt was not built overnight.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
corruption is being stamp out,and progress is being made.most black african men still want AND MARRY their black AFRICAN women.more so than black america ,but even in america most black men go out and marry blcak women.don't let the media fool you.
There is progress in consciousness is and there will be more of it. progress is happening,but of course there is away to go.rome and egypt was not built overnight.
(I still can't edit)that problem needs to be fixed.
ANY MORE OF MY COMMENT WILL BE IN YOUR PRIVATE EMAIL.THAT'S ALL.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
quote:Originally posted by KING: Kenndo
You need to post on Egyptsearch more. You should not stop posting just because you disagree with some of the posters. You have alot to offer this forum and the Forum needs people like you. I don't know why you want to stop posting on this forum but I hope you reconsider.
Peace
Thanks.I WILL still post once in awhile,since iam really getting more busy now these days.Again thanks. Posted by Supercar (Member # 6477) on :
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: corruption is being stamp out,and progress is being.most black african men still want their black women.don't let the media fool you...
Fact is, many African ruling elites are no corrupt than their counterparts in Europe, Americas, southwest and east Asia, and so forth; the problem though, African elites are willing to compromise their national interests to former overtly colonial or present neo-colonial governments, whereby African bourgeois interests is subordinated to those of these neo-colonial parties. The interests of the African working class in turn, is yet further subordinated to those of the ruling African bourgeois. This would place the African working class comparatively worse off than their counterparts in the nations of the neo-colonial ruling elites. Having said that, it may be worth reiterating that Africa too has 'nation states' with varying degrees of socio-economic success and situational problems. Some African governments are less corrupt and reactionary than others, or vice versa, as the case is in any other geographical. location.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
kenndo , don't let these sharptons and farrakons depress the hell outta you, heck they probably are african decendants of the africans who sold africans into slavery...just remeber education is key...
nobody knew rubber was worth anything till henry ford started putting them on his cars, the saudis did'nt know oil was worth anything till a "westerner" developed a engine. and egyptions did'nt know they had a tourist industry till the french went there...
everybody can find injustices all over the past everywhere..the key is to not let in bog you down, and look to the future..
half the clowns on here probably wait every 30 days for a welfare check, then complain about it...
don't let the nay sayers win...henry ford did'nt, neither did edison..
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
There is STILL a reality of exploitation from the forces of neo-colonialism, exploitation, corruption and other things in Africa. I am not saying that Africa hasnt improved, however, what I am saying is that there are forces AGAINST progress in Africa that STILL threaten progress. Africa CANNOT go forward by FORGETTING its past. Africa CAN NOT forget the 400 years of slavery, genocide and injustice in order to move ahead. These things MUST be remembered, in order for African countries to become DETERMINED to NEVER let these things happen again.
In my mind, there are many things I look for that indicate progress in Africa. The MAIN thing is that African countries need to generate CAPITAL. Capital is the excess money generated in the country as the result of profits made by indigenous business owners. Capital is important because it is the basis of the loans and "investments" that are used to finance OTHER business projects, which in turn will hopefully generate MORE capital. Africa can not move forward on loans and hand outs from the world bank and foreign countries. It has to start generating CAPITAL from its raw materials, resources and MORE IMPORTANTLY, local INDUSTRIES, owned by Africans, that extract and process those raw materials, both for internal as well as external consumption. The next thing I look at is inter African trade. There is NO reason for African countries, in this age of Fed Ex and overnight shipping worldwide NOT to have a comprehensive African trade network. It is LUDICROUS. There is too much money to be made from African countries trading with each other. Also, I look at trade with the west, but not OUTGOING trade, rather than INCOMING trade. How many tractors, dump trucks, cranes and other such heavy equipment items are being traded to Africa? Africa needs access to the equipment and technology of the west in order to succeed in the future. If the west is being STINGY with such technology and equipment, then Africa needs to be STINGY with the raw materials. The "gold" of the west is the technology and equipment it produces, where as the "gold" of Africa is its resources. One cannot have progress if fair trade is not based on the free flow of "gold" between both parties.
Anyway some, interesting info I have come across recently:
I definitely do not trust the world bank and I definitely do not support forcing African countries to finance projects from loans from the world bank. The world bank has a long history of forcing African countries to undertake projects that are useless or worthless and put the country FURTHER into debt to the world bank. Why do you think there are so many African countries that owe so much to it? African countries need CAPITAL, not from the world bank, but from the profits made off the natural resources of the country..... PERIOD. The same natural resources the World Bank FORCES Africa to give to 3rd countries in return for BOGUS economic projects.
Yet,I strongly disagree with calling FOREIGN involvement in African economics in terms of "investment" as being positive. Western countries ONLY do business to MAKE MONEY. NOBODY gives money away (except Africa and other third world countries). Therefore, "investment" is not going to HELP Africa INCREASE CAPITAL. Western "investment" only REMOVES capital from the country making it available to WESTERN corporate as the basis for further "investment" and the generation of more capital for global enterprises. Africa must begin to GENERATE capital for ITSELF, not from hand outs or trickle down economic gimmicks, such as having Western companies build factories and mines to extract wealth while only generating a SMALL amount of money for African countries in terms of taxes and salaries. THIS is what must cease. Africans must have JOINT ventures with Western companies where PROFITS are SHARED and money is allowed to flow DIRECTLY from these profits into other areas of the economy, without the need for the EXHORBITANT loans given out by the world bank. Africans must also thing BIG. African countries have some of the biggest deposits of certain IMPORTANT raw materials found anywhere in the world. There is NO REASON why they should not OWN some of the BIGGEST commercial operations to EXTRACT this material. MOST of the workers, like in South Africa, are black ALREADY. The expertise is THERE, the PROBLEM is that the PROFITS go ELSEWHERE. This can be seen ALL OVER AFRICA.
Posted by yazid904 (Member # 7708) on :
There are levels of corruption evryywhere but Africa has not gotten over the centuries of exploitation. There is corription in America while saying there are institutions of self interest with a vested interest in securing the common good. At least most of the time!
Africa has no such institutions and it seems it never will! Tribalism, Arabism, Colonialism, all contribute to stifle city/state goals and initiatives. There are a few good people but that may not be enough to go around.
Posted by Arwa (Member # 11172) on :
Hello Doug M ,
I don't know if you watched the movie, Queimada
I really recommend to everyone.
The reason I say this that you remind me of the general's last words (-:
Posted by Supercar (Member # 6477) on :
quote:Originally posted by Arwa: Hello Doug M ,
I don't know if you watched the movie, Queimada
I really recommend to everyone.
The reason I say this that you remind me of the general's last words
For those of us, who haven't watched it, could you fill us in on the general's last words.
Obviously, there is much to be learnt about Africans by non-African working classes, whom in my opinion, alongside the African working classes, are yet to be effectively organized in their strategies to advance their interests, in all geographical locations. This requires careful research, allowing for consciousness about the realities of socio-economic conditions in all places involved, and not entirely depending on "Western" mass media. Although not obviously accessible to everyone, being on the ground in various regions and actually interacting with ordinary folks, for instance, is a plus in advancing one's knowledge of African communities.
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Horemheb wrote:
quote: Every person in Nigeria should be wealthy. The place is flooded with oil and should be a paradise. the fact that it is not defines the problem. We can only do so much to help there problems.
Nigeria gets 13% of the oil revenues and even that figure is a great improvement that has recently come about. Over 80% of Nigeria’s oil revenues go to foreign Corporations that aren’t even paying their fair share of the taxes in Nigeria. Oil spills and improper Oil drilling techniques are even worse problems in Nigeria.
Yazid904 wrote:
quote: Africa has no such institutions and it seems it never will! Tribalism, Arabism, Colonialism, all contribute to stifle city/state goals and initiatives. There are a few good people but that may not be enough to go around.
Tribalism in Afrika is NOT a major problem versus Arabism and Colonialism, Tribalism has worked quite well in Ghana for instance. Arabism mixed with tribalism is what causes a major problem. Colonialism is tragic and down right ugly in my opinion, because it is the Colonialist who spread the most vicious lies and promote the worst types of hatred towards Afrikans.
Today Afrikans are the MOST hated group of human beings on the planet so until Afrikans begin to accept this reality and start seeking to love and respect each other then that Global hatred that expresses itself in Global Racism will never end. Global Racism means- Arabs hate Afrikans, Europeans hate Afrikans, Indians, Chinese, Japanese etc. hate Afrikans. If people hate you why in the world should they invest with you?
Notice China is trying to promote itself as being friends of Afrikans yet it was the Chinese who sold weapons to Sudanese Arab run government that is being used today to kill Afrikan people, ironically it was Western governments who worked to hold sanctions against the Sudan in order that the Sudanese governments would end the forced labor and the Genocide that is going on there. Chinese voted against Sanctions toward the Sudanese government.
Today Arabs in Libya are calling for one Afrika, which is a total disgrace to pan-Africanism because these ideas of a united Afrika was started by Afrikan peoples who were trying to work together towards solving their own problems, now out of nowhere we have Arabs hijacking these ideas. United Afrika today would be just another Arab state and that does NOT benefit Afrikan people, so until Afrikans remove the Arabs from the mix then Afrika will stay oppressed because if the West sees Arabs oppressing Afrikans and getting away with it then why shouldn’t the Western Nations do the same thing?
Afrika should follow the example of Afrikan Americans and divorce those unwanted Arab parasites that are forever trying to fit themselves into Afrikan issues because they are invaders and not Afrikans, until Afrikans become Afrikans FIRST then Afrikans will be seen as the lower Caste human beings.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by Hotep2u:
Horemheb wrote:
quote: Every person in Nigeria should be wealthy. The place is flooded with oil and should be a paradise. the fact that it is not defines the problem. We can only do so much to help there problems.
Nigeria gets 13% of the oil revenues and even that figure is a great improvement that has recently come about. Over 80% of Nigeria’s oil revenues go to foreign Corporations that aren’t even paying their fair share of the taxes in Nigeria. Oil spills and improper Oil drilling techniques are even worse problems in Nigeria. ......
Hotep
Exactly. You cannot look at the situation in Africa with rosy colored glasses and expect the situation to get better. Who CARES why Africans are hated? The point is that Africa MUST stand up for ITSELF and its OWN interests and stop letting itself get USED for everyone ELSES benefit, but not Africa's. A lot of people here talk about GNP figures for Africa, but forget one important point:
quote: GNP: Gross National Product. GNP is the total value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a particular year, plus income earned by its citizens (including income of those located abroad), minus income of non-residents located in that country. Basically, GNP measures the value of goods and services that the country's citizens produced regardless of their location. GNP is one measure of the economic condition of a country, under the assumption that a higher GNP leads to a higher quality of living, all other things being equal.
Therefore, GNP does NOT reflect the total WORTH of all the goods and services in a country, especially if FOREIGNERS are making MORE money than the natives. GNP will NOT reflect the PROFITS of the foreigners who own the diamond mines, gold mines, rubber plantations and other such operations in the country. What you have to look at is the TOTAL value of all goods and products produced in the country, versus HOW MUCH went into the hands of the people IN that country. Trust me, MOST African countries EXPORT more money than they take IN. Of course, these neo-colonial economists WANT to hide the PROFITS of these major multinationals behind all sorts of smoke and mirrors. However, you cannot hide the fact that these companies are RAPING Africa for its wealth much as the colonialists did a 100 years ago. WHAT has changed? It is and always was about HOW MUCH MONEY Africans could make off of their OWN resources. This is WHY Europeans went there in the first place, to TAKE the raw materials they needed to build their OWN countries and make them powerful. This was part of the plan for the ORIGINAL new world order that sought to establish a PERMANENT upper class of WHITE wealthy industrialists who would rule the world for the forseeable future due the the oppression and exploitation of others. Allowing companies to CONTINUE this "order" in the name of "free" enterprise is a MOCKERY of the suffering of Africans and others at the hands of Europeans.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
then why don't african countries drill their own oil? and refine it?
Posted by Supercar (Member # 6477) on :
Was posted earlier, but for some reason the underlying message herein, is just too difficult for some to digest:
**TRIBES**, TRIBAL, TRIBALISM: harsh, contemptuous, condemnatory words that evoke nothing but primitivity, savagery, backwardness, primeval communities and conflicts. Words that are reserved for Africans and those `indigenous` peoples in Asia and South America that are periodically discovered in some remote jungle by National Geographic or featured on Discovery Channel.
But it is modern Africa that has still tribes everywhere, a whole continent that is held to ransom by the primordial pathologies of ancient tribal life. Africans are stamped with tribal marks from birth to death.
Tribes are beyond history, they have always existed in Africa, they explain everything: the poverty, the civil conflicts, the corruption, the dicatorships. European colonialism failed to stamp out the tribe, postcolonial modernization withers in its glare, contemporary democratization has no chance in its suffocating shadows…
Whereas in other parts of the world issues and conflicts may be named as political, economic, social, environmental, class, gender, religious, or cultural, in Africa they are almost invariably about tribes and tribalism.
Nobody of course talks of tribes in Europe, except in reference to the remote past, of contemporary tribal conflicts in the Balkans, in Northern Ireland, in Spain. European groupings are defined as `nations` and their conflicts deemed national or nationalist conflicts and accorded specific characteristics, combatants, causes, closures, and consequences. In Asia people are often divided into ethnic or communal groups and their conflicts termed ethnic or communal. Nations for Europe, ethnicities for Asia, tribes for Africa, a sliding scale of civilizational status and possibilities…
Ms. Jolie was obviouly in good company despite her limited education and obvious ignorance of African histories, cultures, societies, polities, and economies. She was merely repeating received western wisdom on Africa. Tribes may have long been banished from the academic vocabularly in Africanist discourse, but they are alive and well in the mass media. But even in the academy the term sneaks in from time to time as I discovered at a party when I first arrived at Penn State when a head of a certain otherwise progressive department who had done a little comparative research in Africa asked me: What tribe are from? My shocked gasp said it all, but just to make sure that she got the message, I sent her an e-mail explaining the politics of the term `tribe` to which she responded with a groveling apology. But many a western journalist assigned to the hardship African beat defend the use of the term `tribe` on account that Africans themselves use it. One student of mine returned from a four week study abroad in Kenya feeling empowered to use the term and challenged my allegedly western liberal antipathy to it. There was a time when African `groupings` were called `nations` before the rise of colonial racism and academic anthropology, and in my language the term used for African and European groupings is the same, `mtundu`.
**’TRIBE’ is an acquired term of COLONIAL SELF-DENIGRATION, NOT SELF-DEFINITION, let alone SELF-EMPOWERMENT**…
Western reporting on Africa rests on four well-tested mantras: selectivity, sensationalism, stereotyping and special vocabularly.
RAY SUAREZ: With oil at 67 bucks a barrel, why aren't these great times for Nigeria and the oil industry there?
STEVE INSKEEP: Well, to some degree it is a good time for Nigeria and the oil industry; they're getting windfall profits. A lot of money is flowing to Nigeria; a lot of money is flowing to oil companies -- not just Shell - but Chevron, Exxon/Mobile, and a number of others that are drilling there. online news hour quote- A small number of domestic private oil businesses, such as Famfa Oil Limited, have increased their stake in the oil sector, following the Nigerian government's 1990 program to help boost indigenous participation. Those companies, however, represent a much smaller stake in Nigeria's petroleum industry than the multinational firms.
Otherwise, nearly all of Nigeria's oil production and development projects are owned by joint venture operations between the government-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and multinational corporations.
The biggest joint venture operation, the Shell Petroleum Development Company Ltd., accounts for more than half of Nigeria's daily oil production and reserves. The massive operation is partly owned by the NNPC, which controls a 55 percent stake and the Netherlands-based Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies, with a 30 percent interest. Elf Petroleum, a subsidiary of the Paris-based TotalFinaElf, owns 10 percent, while Agip, a subsidiary of Italian energy giant Eni, holds a 5 percent stake.
The Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited is the second-largest joint venture operation, of which the NNPC owns 60 percent and the Texas-based Exxon Mobil holds the remaining 40 percent.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
Nigeria: Country Earned Almost $45 Billion in 2005 - CBN Report
This Day (Lagos) July 13, 2006 Posted to the web July 13, 2006 Ayodele Aminu Lagos
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed in its Annual Reports and Statements of Accounts for 2005 that Nigeria earned a princely sum of almost $45 Billion last year. Noting that the total federally-collected revenue exceeded the level in 2004 by 41.5 per cent, the apex bank attributed the rise to the significant increase in oil receipts, particularly in the third quarter of 2005. In the statements of accounts released Monday, CBN said gross earnings from oil alone accounted for N4.76 trillion out of the total federally-collected revenue. This comprises N1.99 trillion from crude oil/gas; N1.9 trillion from petroleum profit tax and royalties, N856 billion from other oil revenue, while non-oil revenues stood at N785 billion. "Analysis of gross revenue showed that oil receipts increased by 42 per cent to N4,762.4 billion, or 85.8 per cent of the total, compared with 85.6 per cent in 2004. Total federally-collected revenue amou-nted to N5,547.5 billion, representing an increase of 41.5 per cent over the level in 2004. "The improved performance was largely attributable to the favourable international crude oil price, which was consistently higher than the budget benchmark price of $30 per barrel. Adherence to the fiscal rule resulted in accumulated savings of $16,808.0 million by the three tiers of government at the end of 2005. The surplus comprised $2,984.1 million unspent from the 2004 savings and the $18,824.0 million accumulated in 2005. Similarly, non-oil revenue increased by 48.8 per cent over its level in 2004," the report stated. It however noted that the fiscal operations of the Federal Government during the period under review recorded a modest improvement in 2005, as the fiscal deficit narrowed from N172.6 billion or 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004 to N161.4 billion or 1.1 per cent. Specifically, the apex bank stated that the primary balance recorded a surplus of N831.0 billion, or 5.6 per cent of GDP, which was indicative of strict adherence to the fiscal rule as well as maintenance of fiscal prudence. Noting that the stock of public debt at end-December 2005 declined to N4,221.0 billion, or 28.3 per cent of GDP, from N6,260.6 billion, or 53.6 per cent of GDP in 2004, the CBN disclosed that Federal Government retained revenue and aggregate expenditure increased by 34.3 and 27.8 per cent respectively over the levels in 2004 to N1,660.7 billion and N1,822.1 billion respectively. "Revenue from non-oil sources increased by 48.8 per cent to N785.1 billion. All the components of non-oil revenue increased relative to their levels in 2004. Companies Income Tax (CIT), Customs and Excise Duties, Value-Added Tax (VAT) and Federal Government Independent Revenue increased by 24.6, 7.2, 11.7 and 260.1 per cent, respectively, over their levels in the preceding year. "The rise in Federal Government Independent Revenue reflected the increases in the operating surpluses of parastatals and agencies. The sum of N532.2 billion was deducted from the gross oil receipts for the Joint Venture Cash (JVC) calls, while N1, 958.9billion was deducted in respect of excess crude/PPT/royalty proceeds. The latter was retained in the names of the various tiers of government and other beneficiaries. "Revenue from crude oil and gas exports amounted to N1,995.7 billion, representing an increase of 33.2 per cent over the level in the preceding year. Similarly, revenue from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and Royalties increased by 61.0 per cent to N1,904.9 billion, while domestic crude oil sales increased by 28.3 per cent to N856.9 billion," the report disclosed. While noting that the sum of N3,033.9 billion accrued to the Federation Account in 2005, indicating an increase of 14.2 per cent over the N2, 657.2 billion recorded in 2004, the apex bank disclosed that of the total, N2,643.7 billion was distributed among the three tiers of government and the Derivation Fund. The report also noted that aggregate expenditure of the Federal Government rose by 27.8 per cent to N1, 822.1 billion from the level in 2004. "As a proportion of GDP, total expenditure remained unchanged at 12.2 per cent as in 2004. Non-debt expenditure (i.e. total expenditure less debt service payments) rose by 36.9 per cent above the level in 2004 and was 3.3 per cent below the N1, 477.2 billion budget estimate for 2005.
"Total debt service payments amounted to N394.0 billion, representing 21.6 per cent of total expenditure. At N1,223.7 billion, the recurrent expenditure rose by 18.5 per cent over the level in 2004 and accounted for 67.2 per cent of total expenditure. The increase in recurrent expenditure was attributable largely to personnel and overhead costs," the CBN stated. Meanwhile, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria's telecommunications sector has hit the $9 billion mark, the Minister of Communications, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, has said. Adebayo said in a message to the telecommunication seminar, organised by City People magazine Tuesday in Lagos that "at the last count in May this year, over $9 billion has come into the country as foreign direct investment in the telecommunications sector alone".
He said the foreign investments had resulted in massive expansion programmes by the telecommunications service providers and tens of thousands more jobs for the populace while the boom in the sector had also created vast opportunities in the economy waiting to be fully tapped by Nigerians and foreign investors. The minister calculated that the telecommunications sector had also recorded a growth rate of 535 per cent, placing the country's telecoms market as the fastest growing in sub-saharan Africa. He said the nation's teledensity had risen to 18.3 per cent with about 25 million people in the country now using telephones. Adebayo said the Federal Government would soon flag off the National Rural Telephony Project (NRTP) to avail everybody in the country the opportunity of using Information Communications Technology (ICT). "Things like e-agriculture, e-commerce, e-education and e-health will soon be part of our daily life in Nigeria," he said.
According to him, construction of exchange buildings has been completed in 73 sites located in 25 states of the federation as part of the rural telephony project while installation of switching facilities and exchanges had been completed in 14 locations with micro-wave towers built in six locations in the country. Adebayo said the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) was at present, supervising the building of internet exchange points to facilitate an internet gateway for the country. He recalled that the NCC had also realised about N1.83 billion from the sale of licences to four companies to operate the unified access services system.
correction for the above-nigeria earn 54 billion dollars last year.it's gnp ppp was 120 billion in 2004.the updated number is 174 billion,but nigeria does have money than this in real life,LIKE the private economy,underground economy etc.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
Africa set for the big 'EASSy' 06/07/2006 21:52 - (SA)
Nairobi - African countries participating in a project to launch an undersea telecommunications cable agreed on Thursday to start the much delayed project next month.
The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) project brings together 23 countries in southern and eastern Africa with the goal of launching an undersea fibre optic cable to slash phoning and internet access costs.
Start work in August
"We've agreed ... to move the process forward and sharpen the construction and maintenance agreement then commission the contractors to start the work in August," "We have agreed that those that may not have the funds required can seek funds from various sources including the World Bank," he added, speaking to reporters.
There had been some opposition to member countries getting funds from financiers such as the World Bank.
No SA dominance
"It is important as a matter of government policy to ensure that there is no dominance in respect to South Africa,"
"That is why we supported the principle of equality in participation and shareholding by the companies."
The EASSy project will lay down a 9 900km submarine cable by early 2008, linking Durban in South Africa and Port Sudan in Sudan, with six landing points along the way.
The cable will increase internet bandwidth and could drastically cut subscription costs in a region with some of the highest telecom costs which analysts say are impeding investment in the world's poorest continent.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
NIGERIA TO LAUNCH NIGCOMSAT-1 IN 2006
Nigeria will launch its information and communication satellite,"NIGCOMSAT-1" in 2006.The communication satellite, when launched, would help to improve telecommunication services in the country.It would also address abroad array of communication needs in the areas of telephony, broadcasting,broadband and Internet services. The satellite would also have a subsidiarypay load for space-based augmentation systems for navigation and globalpositioning systems. Nigeria is to launch its second satellite in 2007, Science and TechnologyMinister Turner Isoun said last week in Abuja. The satellite, christened"NigeriaSat-2"is coming after the pioneer "NigeriaSat-1" launched on Sept.27, 2003 at Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia.
[QUOTE=naijalove]Thanks Kendo. Thryve, can you make this sticky? Nigeria has a space agency: http://www.nasrda.org/
I post more news on Nigeria's space developments on this thread. Hopefully, thryve can make this sticky!![/QUOTE]
Sudan to achieve self-sufficiency in weapons: spokesman
KHARTOUM, July 1 (AFP) - Sudan will be capable of producing all the weapons and ammunition it needs by the end of the year thanks to its growing oil industry, the armed forces spokesman said in remarks published Saturday.
Khartoum, which has been fighting a civil war against rebels since 1983, "will this year reach self-sufficiency in light, medium and heavy weapons from its local production," spokesman General Mohamed Osman Yassin was quoted as saying by Al-Share Al-Syasi newspaper.
Yassin told a gathering of student army conscripts that Sudan was now manufacturing ammunition, mortars, tanks and armoured personnel carriers, but he did not specify whether any foreign expertise was involved.
He added that Sudan embarked on the military industry project during its "unprecedented economic boom, particularly in the field of oil exploration and exportation and the remarkable progress in light and heavy industries."
Sudan began exporting crude oil last August and inaugurated a refinery Friday which will produce butane gas for export.
-----------------------------------------------
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
KES18 Billion Port to be built in Lamu, Kenya
Work on Kenya’s second sea port will begin next month, a Cabinet minister announced yesterday.
The port to be built in Lamu is expected to open up northern Kenya, as well as southern Ethiopia and Sudan through a railway link.
"The decision to embark on the project is aimed at stimulating economic activities in eastern and northeastern parts of Kenya and also help to ease congestion at the port of Mombasa," Transport minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere told guests at the Nyali Golf Club in Mombasa during the Kenya Ports Authority Corporate Golf Day.
International standards
The Lamu port would be built to international standards, Mr Mwakwere said, and warned Mombasa port to be ready for expected competition.
"The Lamu port will take some of the cargo from Mombasa, which is meant for Sudan and Ethiopia," the minister said.
Roads and railway lines would be built to link other towns with the Lamu, he said, adding that the project was not reflected in this year’s Budget because it had been approved by the Government.
At the function, which was also attended by the Mombasa port directors, KPA Chairman Joseph Kibwana said the port was building schools and hospitals among other projects "as a way of benefiting the local communities".
other good news-
Nigerian Foreign reserve hits $36.2bn: Highest in Sub-Saharan Africa By Emmanuel Aziken Posted to the Vanguard Nigeria:
ABUJA —NIGERIA’S foreign reserve has climbed to a record $36.2 billion, the highest ever for a sub-Saharan African country. The disclosures at an interactive session between the CBN and the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions came as the CBN was directed to heed to the provisions of its establishment law requiring it to send half yearly reports to parliament.
CBN Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, led the bank’s senior officials to the parley with the Senate Committee chaired by Senator Gbenga Oguniya. Other Senators present at the session were Committee vice-chairman; Farouk Bello; Sanusi Daggash; Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN); Abu Ibrahim and Isa Maina.
Noting the increase in the foreign reserve, Prof. Soludo equally gave the bank’s determination to stabilise the nation’s investment climate through the stabilisation of monetary and other financial indicators, and notably the exchange rate.
“Our external reserve is now $36.2 billion, it is the highest in our history and the highest in sub-Saharan Africa today. We are fundamentally trying to change the way that the foreign reserve in this nation is managed (and) our proposal will soon come to the National Assembly as a bill. We want to stabilise the naira to enable potential foreign investors plan better,” the CBN Governor said.
On the CBN’s quest for complete autonomy, the CBN boss praised President Olusegun Obasanjo for not interfering with the functions of the bank, saying the autonomy had allowed for the sustenance of policies. Prof. Soludo equally gave the bank’s determination to completely eliminate the use of Ways and Means (printing of money) as a means of increasing government finances even as he defended recent efforts by the apex bank to increase its internal revenue through charging the banks for services rendered.
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Mike Rozier wrote: then why don't african countries drill their own oil? and refine it? --------------------------------------------------
If Afrikan countries did that then the Arabs would invade and take over the Afrikan country the minute they turned on the spigot. I honestly think Arabs think it is their right by some type of law to rule Afrikans.
This is sad to say but having Multinational ownership also gives protection via U.S. Military support in the case that Arabs might want to take over the country. Take Tchad for instance in 2000 they were invaded by Libya and it was the foreign Military aid that gave them the weapons to defeat Libya. Tchad is the only Afrikan country that I have seen who weren't afraid to stand up and fight Arabs.
Now the Sudan another Arab controlled country is trying to invade Tchad and as usual the other Afrikan countries just stand by and watch as the Arabs destabilize a Afrikan country. Mali was found to have a Oil supply and we have seen the Taureg trying to invade, and as usual other Afrikan countries just stand by and watch. Next these same Afrikan countries wonder why they get little respect from foreigners or anybody else.
Well here is some interesting news for Afrikan Americans.
By DULUE MBACHU, Associated Press Writer Thu Jul 20, 6:20 PM ET
quote: ABUJA, Nigeria - African and black American leaders meeting this week debated an unusual proposal to spur investment and interest in the continent — securing African citizenship for American descendants of Africans taken away as slaves.
The idea came out of a summit bringing African governments and the U.S. private sector together in search of partnerships to end Africa's poverty. Presidents from 12 African countries attended the four-day conference, along with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.
"Just as the people of different races in America have a place they call home, I believe we should have a place we call our ancestral home," said Hope Masters, daughter of the U.S. civil rights campaigner for whom the Leon Sullivan Summit is named.
Anthony Archer, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based lawyer, is heading a committee to consider how citizenship could be awarded.
"Dual citizenship will start the process of mutual and spiritual reconciliation of differences between the two continents that came as a result of slavery," he said. "If we can feel like we really belong, we'll feel more joyful about participating."
Key challenges include determining the ancestral homelands of black Americans, Masters said. The upheaval of the slave trade left many without knowledge of their place of origin.
One possibility is granting continent-wide citizenship to slave descendants through the African Union, Archer said. Another is to work for citizenship of blocs of countries through regional organizations. It was unclear what rights would be granted under those scenarios.
A third proposal would have countries grant citizenship independently to those who seek it.
Masters said the proposal will be further developed before the next summit in 2008. She said African leaders support the concept, noting that Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged black Americans "to see Africa as your home."
Among the Americans attending the Sullivan meeting in Abuja were executives from companies including Chevron Corp., Coca-Cola Co., General Motors Corp., and DaimlerChrysler AG.
Continent Wide or Bloc Citizenship?
Hotep
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
this is a old article.
The Head Heeb « Land grab | Main | All in the family » January 04, 2004 African regional integration: a spotter's guide Regional integration in Africa isn't a new thing. The Organization of African Unity, the precursor to the present-day African Union, was created in 1963 - only three years after the first wave of post-colonial African nations gained independence - and a strain of idealistic pan-Africanism has existed in continental politics since the colonial era.
In the past decade, though, and particularly during the past five years, regional integration has begun to move from the conceptual to the practical. As in Europe, multinational groupings originally created for economic and diplomatic purposes have developed political and security dimensions, and dormant regional associations have taken on new life. At the same time, integration on the continental level has advanced with the formation of the African Union and the forthcoming African parliament and human rights tribunal. With all that, however, supranational organizations in Africa have fallen far short of their promise.
The two longest-standing African regional groupings are the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which have undergone something of a convergent evolution. ECOWAS was founded in 1975 as a regional trade pact, but has taken on an increasing regional security role with the emergence of failed states in West Africa. During the 1990s, ECOWAS peacekeepers were deployed in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and were deployed again in Liberia in 2003 after the departure of President Charles Taylor. In the past decade, ECOWAS has been the African regional pact that has been most active - although not always most effective - in the field of conflict resolution.
SADC, on the other hand, had a security function from the beginning. At the time it was founded in July 1979, apartheid South Africa was a participant in a number of regional conflicts, and the intent of SADC's founders was to provide collective security as well as reducing economic dependence on South Africa. It had its moments - for instance, when a Zimbabwe-led intervention force halted the RENAMO offensive of 1986 - but wasn't remarkably successful at either.
Since the end of the apartheid era, SADC has undergone a radical realignment, with South Africa becoming its de facto leader rather than its primary target. With the major regional power on board, SADC's security and economic functions have become somewhat more effective; the member states recently approved a treaty establishing a standby peacekeeping force, and the organization has had some success in mediating conflicts in the Comoros and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In other areas, however - particularly the ongoing meltdown in Zimbabwe - it has been relatively timorous about flexing its political muscle.
The Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC) was founded in 1981, but was largely dormant until 1998 due to lack of funds. In the past five years, however, the CEEAC countries have begun to phase in free trade and have created a number of technical and development institutions. A brigade-strength standby force agreed to in 2001 has begun to get off the ground and is intended to reduce member states' dependence on mercenaries and paramilitary forces. CEEAC is also scheduled to merge with CEMAC, a monetary union of six Central African states.
The Community of Sahelo-Saharan States (CENSAD), created in 1998, consists of 18 countries in the Maghreb, the Sahel and the horn of Africa. With Nigeria and Egypt as members, CENSAD contains two heavyweights and is a potential bridge between sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. In practice, however, neither Egypt nor Nigeria has been an active participant, and such programs as CENSAD has instituted have primarily been vehicles for Libyan hegemony. The CENSAD development bank and the organization itself are headquartered in Tripoli, and the pact's sole regional security operation to date has been a widely criticized Libyan-led mission in the Central African Republic.
The final African regional political grouping, the East African Community, has its roots in a colonial-era administrative federation of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Some of the institutions of this federation survived until 1977, and regionalism has been a stronger force in East African politics than in many other parts of Africa. It is probably no accident that the reconstituted EAC is among the most ambitious of the continent's regional pacts; political integration is among its stated goals and its institutions include a regional high court and parliament. These regional institutions have been criticized as largely empty, however, and it is likely to be some time before they approach the level of political union.
Other regional associations, which often overlap the political pacts, serve purely financial or economic functions. CEMAC and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) together form the Communauté Financiere Africaine (CFA), which sponsors the Euro-pegged currency used in most of the former French colonies in Africa. The Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which overlaps the SADC, EAC, CEEAC and CENSAD regions, began as "preferential trade area" in 1981 and was reorganized in 1994 to provide phased-in free trade and uniform commercial law. COMESA also sponsors a development bank, banking and insurance institutions, and a court of justice that (unlike many other African regional courts) has actually adjudicated cases.
At the same time that regional economic and security institutions have become stronger, organizations at the continental level have also begun to perform similar functions. In 1991, the OAU countries drafted a treaty to form an African Economic Community with conceptual goals including a common currency, central bank and free trade by 2025. Another major turning point was the 2000 reorganization of the largely diplomatic Organization for African Unity as the African Union, with a charter consciously modeled on the EU.
The African Union also began as a Libyan initiative, but it has taken on a life of its own. The following year, the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) was formed under AU auspices to create areas of cooperation in public health, anti-poverty programs and economic development. 2004 has the potential to be a key year in the development of continent-wide African institutions with the inauguration of a pan-African parliament, a human rights tribunal and a standby peacekeeping force. The protocols for each of these institutions were drafted within the past five years, and have now been ratified by a sufficient number of member nations to enter into force.
As with the East African Community, however, the AU's legislative and judicial institutions are much weaker than their European counterparts. The African Court on Human and People's Rights, unlike the ECHR, will not have jurisdiction to hear cases brought by individuals or NGOs without the consent of the state being sued. In addition, the parliament will have "consultative and advisory powers only" during its first term, although it may thereafter be given legislative authority by the member states. According to the enabling protocol, its "ultimate aim" is "to evolve into an institution with full legislative powers, whose members are elected by universal adult suffrage," but it is likely to be a considerable time before this goal is put into effect. The real development of 2004 is likely to be the creation of economies of scale in African peacekeeping and regional security; the legislative and dispute resolution functions of the AU will take somewhat longer to come into their own.
The example of the European Union, which has turned one of the world's most warlike continents into perhaps the most peaceful, shows that regionalism has considerable potential as a means of peaceful development. Strong supranational institutions can result in a de-emphasis on national borders and a consequent reduction in border-driven conflicts. They can also assist in the creation of regional economies, reduce customs barriers in a continent with too many small nations, facilitate export trade for landlocked countries (of which Africa has more - 14 - than any other continent), permit economies of scale in infrastructure and public health, provide effective dispute resolution mechanisms and establish a regional security force for the instances when such mechanisms fail.
For the most part, however, African regional pacts haven't done this. Although supranational institutions have scored some conflict resolution and peacekeeping successes, these pale beside the number of conflicts that have proven intractable. In the economic sphere, there is little difference in standard of living between the countries that are part of a regional trade pact and those that aren't; prosperity in Africa is more dependent on other variables such as infrastructure, technical expertise, political stability and integrity of public institutions.
Why hasn't regionalism succeeded in Africa to the extent that it has in Europe? In part, the reason is that African regional integration is much newer. Although most of the frameworks for regional integration have existed for more than two decades, the development of free trade, dispute resolution mechanisms and effective political institutions has only begun in earnest in the past five years. To some extent, African supranational groupings are only now getting the tools to fulfill their goals, and should not be judged too harshly for past failures.
Nevertheless, there are also systemic problems. One of the most pressing is adequate funding; with most African countries at or near the subsistence level, there are few resources to spare for creating regional institutions ex nihilo. Political constraints also play a part in inhibiting African regional integration; many African countries, including nominal democracies, have an entrenched and corrupt political class that is resistant to any attempts to reduce its authority. Creation of supranational institutions has also not been an urgent political issue for African electorates, which tend to focus on issues closer to home. Also, since several regional pacts are dominated by a hegemonic local power, the governments of smaller states have been reluctant to cede their sovereignty to multi-national groupings. The result is that, for both financial and political reasons, many regional institutions are either dormant or weak.
Another inhibiting factor is the difference between the legal landscape and the facts on the ground. The existence of a free trade pact matters little if the local warlord or provincial governor is determined to collect a toll. For the most part, neither African states nor multi-state groupings are strong enough to curb the power of local leaders. To some extent, the challenges facing the African Union can be compared to superimposing an EU-style overlay on top of feudal Europe rather than the modern European nation-states. Imagine trying to persuade one of the medieval dukes of Burgundy to abide by a treaty made by the French crown, and you will have some idea of the difficulty of establishing African free trade zones or dispute resolution mechanisms.
There is also the factor of infrastructure. During the colonial era, the physical infrastructure of Africa was geared toward trade with the colonial powers rather than with other parts of Africa, and this has gone largely uncorrected by post-colonial governments. African road and rail networks tend to connect outlying areas of a single country with the capital and port cities rather than connecting major cities on a regional basis. Until recently, customs barriers have provided a disincentive toward the development of regional infrastructure, and physical infrastructure projects are not high on the list of most present-day regional groupings. Without the roads to carry African goods to markets in neighboring countries, free trade by itself will not create prosperity.
Finally, many of the African multi-national organizations overlap in jurisdiction and provide redundant services, in some cases leading to conflict. The relationship between the regions and the African Union has also not been entirely sorted out; the AU protocols call for cooperation with pre-existing regional institutions but leave cooperation mechanisms and areas of authority nebulous. At a time when both continental and regional organizations are increasing their powers, this can easily lead to jurisdictional battles. Some consolidation is in order, preferably accompanied by rationalization of smaller multi-national pacts whose functions are subsumed within the regional groupings.
These factors, particularly when combined with local nationalisms, simmering ethnic conflicts and language barriers, combine to make regional integration in Africa difficult. These problems, however, are not insuperable. The momentum is currently in the right direction, and the difficulties may become more surmountable with time, especially if the initial development of regional institutions creates a virtuous cycle by reducing local warlords' power to impede further integration. In addition, the potential rewards are great. Africa, like Europe, has messy borders and overlapping ethnic groups, and stands to benefit greatly from a political system in which national borders are de-emphasized. In addition, economies of scale are highly important on a continent where many small, financially strapped countries are currently battling daunting public health and poverty crises.
It is possible, then, to imagine a regionalized Africa, circa 2050, in which the end result of current trends toward regional integration is a four-tier continent-wide political structure. At the apex is the African Union, which will be the primary representative of Africa in the geopolitical arena, possibly with a seat on the Security Council. The AU will also be a customs union with internal free trade, free travel and uniform commercial law, and will have responsibility for conflict resolution, peacekeeping and human rights. The next tier down will consist of regions, which will be more responsive than continent-wide institutions and will have primary responsibility for infrastructure development and public health. Depending on the degree of economic integration thus far achieved by the African states, currency and banking might also be regional functions, with the ultimate goal of transferring monetary policy to the continental level.
The third tier - nation-states - would be the primary source of legislation outside the commercial and human rights areas, and would maintain military forces while contributing troops to the AU collective security mission. Finally, local areas existing both within nations and across national boundaries will have internal autonomy and primary responsibility for education and cultural heritage. Thus, while nation-states will continue to exist, borders will no longer be barriers to trade or cultural cooperation, and border-driven ethnic conflicts and separatism will lose much of their impetus. The functions of government that local, national and supranational leaders are now trying to exercise all at once will be transferred to the most appropriate levels.
Posted by jonathan at January 4, 2004 04:21 PM
Comments Good article - I've summarized it here.
I can't help thinking there's a lot of duplication of resources involved in all these organisations.
Posted by: Phil Hunt at January 5, 2004 03:00 AM Just to say thanks for a compact and informative article on a subject I was only vaguely aware of, but which couold be the hope of Africa
Posted by: Tim at January 5, 2004 03:02 AM Informative and concise. A potentially useful article. Thank you. It got me to write about SADC forces in Lesotho in 1998.
Posted by: Rethabile Masilo at January 5, 2004 03:34 AM Jesus, it must be so depressing to be an Africa observer. You mention the difficulties of creating multi-national institutions when society is basically feudal, and even national institutions exist only as cleptocracies; perhaps what they need is the truce of god.
Posted by: Danny at January 5, 2004 08:28 AM The example of the European Union, which has turned one of the world's most warlike continents into perhaps the most peaceful, shows that regionalism has considerable potential as a means of peaceful development.
I found your post extremely enlightening. Can you further support your above claim? One could argue, for example, that Europe has been turned into the most peaceful continent due to other factors: shell-shock after the Second World War; a united anti-Soviet front; desire to be an economic and culture counterweight to American hegemony. Any of these could explain the current peace, which might unfortunately be a lull and not a permanent state of affairs.
Posted by: Zackary Sholem Berger at January 5, 2004 02:16 PM I can't help thinking there's a lot of duplication of resources involved in all these organisations.
There is. Some duplication is inevitable in any multi-layered setup, and sometimes it's even desirable; for instance, municipal governments duplicate some of the services of national governments at a more localized and responsive level. The African regional pacts carry duplication to the point where they waste resources and get in each other's way. In addition, the African Union has its own definition of "region" that doesn't always match the boundaries of the regional pacts.
Efficient regionalism will definitely require some degree of consolidation, with the AU and the regional groupings agreeing on the boundaries of their jurisdiction. There's also room to rationalize some of the smaller regional pacts created in the 1960s and early 1970s - e.g., the Economic Community of Great Lakes Countries, the Mano River Union and the Cross-Border Initiative - that have been superseded by larger groupings.
One could argue, for example, that Europe has been turned into the most peaceful continent due to other factors: shell-shock after the Second World War; a united anti-Soviet front; desire to be an economic and culture counterweight to American hegemony.
I'd say, though, that regional groupings - and particularly the EU - have been the means by which these factors have been translated into practical action.
Posted by: Jonathan Edelstein at January 5, 2004 04:31 PM What a wonderful article. It has given me more energy as a starter pack for my dissertation for my Masters Degree at the University of Botswana in which i will be looking at the Effects of Regional Integration in Africa- Acase of SADC. DYTON MILANZI-MASTERS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (POLICY MANAGEMENT AND ADMIN) October,2004
Posted by: DYTON MILANZI at October 16, 2004 01:14 PM hi!i would like to say its a very informative article and i would like to ask you this, what is the role of regional trading blocs in the integration of small economies into the global economy?with case study. i would be glad if my question will be answered.
Posted by: koketso maele at January 6, 2005 09:25 AM The current state of the EU goes with financial and mental developement so africa can develope its population in terms of education which will itself lead toeconomic developement then definately AU willl be like EU.
Posted by: gatete at February 6, 2005 05:47 AM i was battling with the statement of the problem for the transion of sadcc to sadc as a regional integrational concept
Posted by: george tlhalerwa at February 26, 2005 07:32 AM Its a very informative article.
Posted by: Makokha at June 6, 2005 09:12 AM Truly, most of them really duplicate one another with very minimal, if no, impact on the very common citizens. Are they really vehicles of development as one would expect? Are they regional intergration or regional degradation? Are they fully benefitting the said regions or there are some external forces behind
Posted by: Bernard Arap Okebe, Kenya at October 11, 2005 12:22 PM For papers and round-tables, yes, the intergtions can exist in Africa, but in really they won't exist because of the numerous political, border, econonomic, cultural/religious differences among member countries.
Posted by: Joseph Kiabuya at October 11, 2005 12:27 PM Post a comment Name:
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p.s. things have improved since this article was writte,
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Sudan to achieve self-sufficiency in weapons: spokesman
KHARTOUM, July 1 (AFP) - Sudan will be capable of producing all the weapons and ammunition it needs by the end of the year thanks to its growing oil industry, the armed forces spokesman said in remarks published Saturday.
Khartoum, which has been fighting a civil war against rebels since 1983, "will this year reach self-sufficiency in light, medium and heavy weapons from its local production," spokesman General Mohamed Osman Yassin was quoted as saying by Al-Share Al-Syasi newspaper.
Yassin told a gathering of student army conscripts that Sudan was now manufacturing ammunition, mortars, tanks and armoured personnel carriers, but he did not specify whether any foreign expertise was involved. --------------------------------------------------
This will spell MAJOR disaster for Afrika, mark my words MAJOR disaster.
Hotep
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
volume 9, issue #13 - Tuesday, June 29, 2004
sponsored by:
Nigeria should be able to meet its domestic refining needs 09-06-04 Oil industry, expert, Dr Diran Fawibe, has said that Nigeria as an oil-producing nation should be able to meet its domestic refining needs as a matter of national security. Fawibe, a petroleum economist, said that the present hikes in domestic fuel products were largely tied to limited domestic refining capacity as gaps had to be filled with imports at a time when spot market prices have climbed astronomically on the heels of rising crude prices. "Nobody can fault the argument that the refineries are the problem. It is being commonsensical, as a matter of national security, as a matter of national interest that as an oil-producing nation we should be able to refine products locally."
Fawibe, who said that deregulation of the oil downstream was the way out of the fuel price problem, said that price caps on fuel prices would serve as a disincentive to expected multi-billion dollar investments in private refineries which government is depending on to expand local refining capacity. "Our environment of uncertainty tends to discourage investors from bringing in funds. Also you have the problem of the labour unions that is saying you cannot have appropriate pricing for products. So given that scenario any investor will have to think twice before investing in such a venture.”
In other words, the uncertainty in the price situation in Nigeria is a disincentive to investments in refineries in Nigeria. He stressed that the nation's downstream oil sector was in danger of collapse if government backed down on its deregulation policy. He said that high prices of refined products due to the rising prices of crude on in the world markets should not be an excuse for reversing the deregulation policy and revert to a situation where the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation would be sole importer of petroleum products at subsidised rates. He said that price increase under the present situation was inevitable. "We are in a very difficult situation. Once we deregulate, we cannot run away from price increase from time to time. It is rather unfortunate that at this time prices are way up, which is the product of the crises in the world market, but I believe that sooner or later the law of gravity will apply and what goes up must come down."
Fawibe insisted that the government could not wait for another time to deregulate, because the oil shock was a global problem. He pointed to the irony of the situation, as Nigeria was now feeling of what consumer nations were experiencing though it is a producer nation, but said that the absence of mitigating factors was responsible for the high level of opposition to domestic fuel price increases. "We are now dancing to the music we have been playing for others. More money is accruing to the treasuries of producer nations but we are also experiencing what other are feeling and believe that Nigerians would not have agitated as much as there are doing now if there are complementary values for the increase, like alternative means of transportation pending the timethat fuel prices will come down," he said.
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Home | Industry Information | Business News | Browse by Publication | A | APS Review Downstream Trends
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NIGERIA - Privatisation of The Oil Refining Sector.
Article, News, Research, Information
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Publication: APS Review Downstream Trends Publication Date: 11-AUG-03 Format: Online - approximately 1366 words Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Article Excerpt With Nigeria's four state-owned refineries to be privatised, plans for several private oil refining projects are being developed. The federal government of Abuja has issued 18 private refinery licences after opening up the country's downstream sector to local and foreign investors.
In October 2002, President Obasanjo laid the foundation stone of a $1.5 bn project at Tonwei in a ceremony marking the start of construction of Nigeria's first private refinery. The plant will have an initial capacity of 100,000 b/d and it can be expanded to 200,000 b/d.
The government of Lagos state is studying the possibility of establishing...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.
Mozambique gets $1.3 billion World Bank debt relief
Maputo, Mozambique, 07/04 - The World Bank announced Monday the cancellation of most of Mozambique`s debt to its soft loans arm, the International Development Association (IDA), in the amount 1.306 billion dollars.
The debt relief is in line with the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) agreed at the 2005 summit in Scotland of the G8 group of most industrialised nations, a World Bank media statement indicted.
It said, when the amount of World Bank debt relief to Mozambique under the two instalments of the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) initiative is factored in, the total amount of debt to the IDA cancelled rises to 2.361 billion dollars.
Before MDRI, Mozambique was to have paid 32 million dollars in debt service to the IDA in 2007-08, and a further 97 million dollars in 2009-11.
But now the southern African nation owes the IDA nothing for this period.
World Bank country director for Mozambique, Michael Baxter, said: "The debt relief under MDRI will allow the government of Mozambique to allocate more resources for badly needed expenditure on, for example, education, health or infrastructure".
The release added that MDRI has cancelled all debts owed to the IDA, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank (ADB) that were outstanding at the end of 2003.
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz declared "We have secured a level of financing commitments from donors that allows us to begin implementing the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.
Additional debt relief will help Mozambique channel resources into programmes that directly help the people who need it most".
This relief has been extended to all 19 countries (15 in sub- Saharan Africa and four in Latin America) that have reached the "completion point" under HIPC.
Seeking a role in Congo's poor, violent market
By Bill Varner Bloomberg News
Published: July 3, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, New York Tae Jang, owner of a Washington construction company, sees a lucrative opportunity to build highways and bridges in Congo - as long as the United Nations pulls off the first free election in four decades in one of Africa's poorest and most violent nations.
Dozens of entrepreneurs, along with companies including Phelps Dodge and Celtel International, share Jang's view that the July 30 national elections in Congo may set off a development surge in the mineral-rich country that has suffered decades of war and graft.
"There are a lot of companies jockeying for position, trying to be part of a success story," said Chester Crocker, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington and a former assistant U.S. secretary of state for African affairs. He called Congo "a treasure-trove country, a high-risk, high-reward environment."
Congo's ambassadors to the United Nations and the United States say they have met during the past year with representatives of companies including Celtel, the Dutch mobile phone company that has operations in 13 African nations; Phelps Dodge, one of the world's biggest copper miners; and Citigroup, the financial company.
Bolstering the interest is a global commodities boom. Copper, one of Congo's principal exports, has doubled in the past year on the London Metal Exchange. Congo's state-owned mining company Gecamines estimates copper reserves at 56 million metric tons, which at the June 30 price of $7,420 would be worth about $415 billion.
The UN ambassador, Atoki Ileka, said that the executives also see profits in Congo's untapped gold, zinc, tin, nickel, uranium, oil and timber reserves. It also has two-thirds of the world's reserves of cobalt and one of the world's largest reserves of industrial diamonds.
The former Belgian colony, once known as Zaire, is still recovering from the war that followed the ouster of the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997. Hutu killers responsible for the genocide in Rwanda took refuge in eastern Congo and started the conflict, which drew in five other nations.
The election will determine whether President Joseph Kabila - who has ruled since his father, Laurent, was assassinated in 2001 - will remain in power. While Kabila is committed to attracting investment, said Faida Mitifu, Congo's ambassador to the United States, "it is very difficult for a country at war to promote business." With the election, he said, "now we have interest."
While Congo's per-capita economic output ranks 227th out of 232 nations on a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency list, the economy has expanded since 2002. Foreign demand for cobalt, copper and timber has pushed the annual growth rate to around 6.5 percent a year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
"We have to evolve, to have a modern banking system, a judicial system that ensures companies their money won't be touched," Ileka said. "There is no bank that has branches in the whole country, and the ones we have make transactions like it's the Middle Ages."
Jang, who managed a construction company that built roads in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s, said he was undaunted by Congo's shortcomings, which include having only 300 miles, or 480 kilometers, of paved roads.
Ileka said companies from China, Malaysia and South Africa were "lining up" to invest.
Phelps Dodge has a mining concession for 600 square miles, or 1,550 square kilometers, of territory. It is doing site preparation work, including construction of schools, for a copper and cobalt mine.
Celtel's chief executive, Marten Pieters, said that his company has 1.3 million mobile phone customers in Congo and aims to double that figure after the election.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07...erg/bxcongo.php other african news below. nigera enters space. nigeria and southafrican arms industry and other nigerian industries for the misinformed. nigeria growing computer and computer chip industries.
the short version from the link- -------------------------------------------------------------------
South Africa is one of the most sophisticated and promising emerging markets in the world, offering a unique combination of highly developed first world economic infrastructure with a vibrant emerging market economy.
World-class infrastructure
South Africa has world-class infrastructure - including a modern transport system, low-cost and widely available energy, and sophisticated telecommunications facilities.
Gateway to Africa
Not only is South Africa in itself an important emerging market, it is also a minimum requirement for accessing other sub-Saharan markets. The country borders with Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho, and its well-developed road and rail links provide the platform and infrastructure for ground transportation deep into sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, South Africa has the resident marketing skills and distribution channels imperative for commercial ventures into Africa. The country plays a significant role in supplying energy, relief aid, transport, communications and outward investment on the continent. SA was the largest investor into the rest of Africa between 1990 and 2000, according to a 2003 report by LiquidAfrica Research, with investment averaging around US$1.4-billion, amounting to some $12.5-billion over the decade.
South Africa's exchange rate makes it one of the least expensive countries in which to do business - particularly one with a first-world infrastructure and high living standards. Even though stronger local currency has strengthened against other major currencies in recent years, the rand exchange rate still makes commercial and residential property, quality hotels and restaurants inexpensive by world standards.
South Africa is among the top 30 countries in the world for ease of doing business, according to a 2005 World Bank report.
Industrial capability, cutting-edge technology
The country's manufacturing output is becoming increasingly technology-intensive, with high-tech manufacturing sectors - such as machinery, scientific equipment and motor vehicles - enjoying a growing share of total manufacturing output since 1994.
SA's technological research and quality standards are world-renowned. The country has developed a number of leading technologies, particularly in the fields of energy and fuels, steel production, deep-level mining, telecommunications and information technology.
A number of industrial support measures have been introduced since 1994 to enhance the competitiveness of South Africa's industrial base. These include placing more emphasis on supply-side than demand-side measures (such as tariffs and expensive export support programmes).
The government has provided incentives for value-added manufacturing projects, support for industrial innovation, improved access to finance, and an enabling environment for small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) development.
Industrial development zones have been established in close proximity to major ports and airports, offering world-class infrastructure, dedicated customs support and reduced taxation.
South Africa has a well-developed and regulated competition regime based on best international practice. The Competition Act of 1998 fundamentally reformed the country's competition legislation, strengthening the powers of the competition authorities along the lines of the European Union, US and Canadian models.
SouthAfrica.info reporter, incorporating material from the Department of Trade and Industry
South Africa offers investors a business destination combining a number of ideals: the stability of a developed country ...
Investor confidence grows
South Africa is becoming the investment destination of choice of an increasing number of leading global companies:
British bank Barclays bought a majority stake in South African bank Absa for close on £3-billion (around R30-billion) in 2005 - the biggest single foreign direct investment ever in the country.
In March 2005, Indian industrial giant Tata announced plans to invest US$245-million (around R1.5-billion) in new projects in South Africa, where its business includes IT services, telecoms, bus body building and car distribution.
In April 2005, General Motors announced plans to invest US$100-million in its South African production facilities, after awarding its South African arm a $3-billion contract to manufacture a new global version of its Hummer sports utility vehicle for export to markets outside the US.
In February 2006, British telecommunications firm TalkTalk announced plans to spend £20-million setting up two call centres, one in Cape Town and the other in Johannesburg, in the biggest foreign investment yet in South Africa's burgeoning call centre industy.
Also in February 2006, British communications giant Vodafone concluded a US$2.4-billion deal that gives it an 84% stake (and 90% effective voting interest) in South African investment firm VenFin, giving Vodafone access to VenFin's 15% stake in South African mobile phone operator Vodacom.
Transport, energy, telecommunications: South Africa has the infrastructure of a fully developed country.
South Africa has a world-class and modern infrastructure, including a sophisticated transport system, low-cost and widely available energy, and advanced telecommunications facilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
what is nepad? The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is a VISION and STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK FOR AFRICA’s RENEWAL
what are the origins of nepad? The NEPAD strategic framework document arises from a mandate given to the five initiating Heads of State (Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa) by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to develop an integrated socio-economic development framework for Africa. The 37th Summit of the OAU in July 2001 formally adopted the strategic framework document.
WHAT ARE THE NEPAD PRIMARY OBJECTIVES? a) To eradicate poverty; b) To place African countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development; c) To halt the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process and enhance its full and beneficial integration into the global economy; d) To accelerate the empowerment of women
WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES OF NEPAD? Good governance as a basic requirement for peace, security and sustainable political and socio-economic development African ownership and leadership, as well as broad and deep participation by all sectors of society; Anchoring the development of Africa on its resources and resourcefulness of its people; Partnership between and amongst African peoples; Acceleration of regional and continental integration; Building the competitiveness of African countries and the continent; Forging a new international partnership that changes the unequal relationship between Africa and the developed world; and Ensuring that all Partnerships with NEPAD are linked to the Millenium Development Goals and other agreed development goals and targets.
WHAT IS THE NEPAD PROGRAMME OF ACTION? The NEPAD Programme of Action is a holistic, comprehensive and integrated sustainable development initiative for the revival of Africa, guided by the aforementioned objectives, principles and strategic focus.
7. WHAT ARE THE NEPAD PRIORITIES? a. Establishing the Conditions for Sustainable Development by ensuring Peace and security; Democracy and good, political, economic and corporate governance; Regional co-operation and integration; Capacity building. b. Policy reforms and increased investment in the following priority sectors-
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)
NEPAD Nigeria News Vol. 1, Issue 1, Jan 2006.
News Items
Fish-For-All Summit
Communicating NEPAD at the Country-Level Home-Grown School Feeding and Health Programme
NEPAD Nigeria-Technofuture Digital Dividend Initiative
Fish-For-All Summit
Nigeria hosted the NEPAD Fish for All Summit in Abuja from 22 – 25 August 2005 under the Chairmanship President Olusegun Obasanjo. NEPAD Nigeria was actively involved in the Summit.
The NEPAD Fish for All Summit is the first high-profile Africa-wide event to draw global attention to the vital role of fisheries and aquaculture to meeting Africa’s development agenda. The NEPAD Secretariat, the World Fish Centre and FAO took up an invitation from President Obasanjo, Chairman of NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) and Chairman of the Fish for All Initiative, to hold this event in Abuja, Nigeria.
The Summit comprised a 2-day Technical Symposium, a Nigeria Fisheries Day, an Africa Fisheries Exhibition, and a Heads of State Summit to endorse common African objectives for the future of fisheries and aquaculture in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals.
The Summit produced among other things the Abuja Declaration on Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa and the NEPAD Action Plan on Fishery and Aquaculture.
Communicating NEPAD at the Country-Level
NEPAD Secretariat in partnership with NEPAD Nigeria organized a workshop with the theme “Communicating NEPAD at the County-level” from December 1 – 2, 2005 at Bolingo Hotel and Towers, Abuja. The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) was the sponsor of the two-day event.
The objective of the workshop was to examine progress made in communicating the philosophy of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) to Nigerians, to identify constraints and areas that required improvement, and to strengthen existing communication structures with the country and with the continental body. The workshop will serve as a template that for replication in other African countries by the year 2006.
Dr Imeh T. Okopido, former Minister of State for Environment made a welcome statement and declared the workshop open. Other dignitaries who participated in the workshop included Ambassador Tunji Olagunju, Chairman NEPAD Steering Committee, South Africa; Ambassador Olukorede Willoughby, Deputy CEO, NEPAD Secretariat; the Canadian High Commissioner, Mr. David Angell; the Country Representative of the GTZ, Mr Karl Brüning.
Presentations that featured during the plenary sessions include that of Chief (Mrs.) Asika titled “Communicating NEPAD at the Country level: The Nigerian Experience”. Other presenters were Dr Gabriel Gundu, Director, African Peer-Review Mechanism National Focal Point (APRM-NFP) Secretariat, Mrs. Thaninga Shope-Linney, General Manager Communications, NEPAD Secretariat, and Prof. I.L. Bashir, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru.
A good number of NEPAD Nigeria State Coordinators and NEPAD Focal Points in Federal Ministries and Agencies were able to attend and participated in the sessions. Some civil society groups, youth organisations and the media were also among the participants.
Home-Grown School Feeding and Health Programme
History was made when the President Olusegun Obasanjo launched the Home-Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSFHP) at Science Primary School, Kuje, FCT on 26th September 2005. The ceremony was graced by Executive Governors and Deputy Governors, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; the Hon. Ministers for Education, the Federal Capital Territory and Agriculture; members of the National Assembly among others. This epoch-making event was the culmination of months of preparation for the implementation of this programme.
The school feeding programme in Africa is the product of collaboration between the World Food Programme, as the lead agency, NEPAD, the United Nations Childrens’ Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Millennium Hunger Task Force (MHTF). Nigeria is one of ten (10) African countries to benefit in the pilot phase of the programme; Uganda, Ghana, Mali and Kenya have already flagged-off similar programmes.
The objectives of the HGSFHP are to:
reduce hunger among Nigerian school children;
increase school enrolment and attendance;
improve the nutritional and health status of school children;
stimulate local food production and boost the income of local farmers.
NEPAD Nigeria is a member of the National Steering Committee and the Senior Special Assistant to the President and Head of NEPAD Nigeria, Chief (Mrs.) Chinyere Asika, was at the occasion and delivered a goodwill message. She stressed the objectives of the programme were in line with the NEPAD Action Plans for Education, Agriculture and Health. She pledged the support of the office through the NEPAD State Coordinators for the implementation of the programme nationwide.
Highlights of the event included the delivery of the keynote address and de-worming of schoolchildren by President Obasanjo.
Related documents: Improving Food and Nutrition Security through Food for Education Programs in Africa
NEPAD Nigeria-TechnoFuture Digital Dividend Initiative
NEPAD Nigeria launched the NEPAD Nigeria-Technofuture Digital Dividend Initiative at a Round-table chaired by President Olusegun Obasanjo, in Abuja on December 22, 2005. The Initiative is a project providing a computerized educational model that teaches learners from kindergarten age to adulthood a unique combination of computer and entrepreneurship skills.
The tool empowers individuals by equipping them with skills that enable them set up their own business, operate optimally at the workplace, and compete more effectively in an increasingly technology-driven world, while making them self-sufficient upon retirement.
Speaking at the occasion at The TransCorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on NEPAD and Head of NEPAD Nigeria, Chief (Mrs.) Chinyere Asika, stressed the importance of NEPAD Nigeria’s involvement in such an initiative, as it will go a long way in facilitating the realization of the objectives of NEPAD ICT Programme.
The NEPAD Nigeria – Technofuture Digital Dividend Initiative is one of the NEPAD Nigeria - Private Sector Partnership Programmes with the following goals:
to facilitate the implementation of NEPAD ICT Programmes in Nigeria;
to fast-track capacity building in the area of ICT, especially as it relates to the promotion of entrepreneurship among various stakeholders in the Public and Private sectors;
to bridge the digital divide by empowering Nigerians with crucial technology and “life skills”, and
to promote economic growth and sustainable development through job and wealth creation.
Technofuture is essentially a well-targeted human capacity-building tool that teaches a unique combination of technology and business skills or life skills, to individuals of all ages starting from the age of four. NEPAD Nigeria and Technofuture will build synergies to sustain this initiative by collaborating with major stakeholders in the Nigerian public and private sectors, multilateral organizations and the academia.
[ Home ] Send mail to webmaster@nepad.org.ng with questions or comments about this web site. Last modified: 01/20/06 The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)
NEPAD Nigeria News Vol. 1, Issue 1, Jan 2006.
News Items
Fish-For-All Summit
Communicating NEPAD at the Country-Level Home-Grown School Feeding and Health Programme
NEPAD Nigeria-Technofuture Digital Dividend Initiative
Fish-For-All Summit
Nigeria hosted the NEPAD Fish for All Summit in Abuja from 22 – 25 August 2005 under the Chairmanship President Olusegun Obasanjo. NEPAD Nigeria was actively involved in the Summit.
The NEPAD Fish for All Summit is the first high-profile Africa-wide event to draw global attention to the vital role of fisheries and aquaculture to meeting Africa’s development agenda. The NEPAD Secretariat, the World Fish Centre and FAO took up an invitation from President Obasanjo, Chairman of NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) and Chairman of the Fish for All Initiative, to hold this event in Abuja, Nigeria.
The Summit comprised a 2-day Technical Symposium, a Nigeria Fisheries Day, an Africa Fisheries Exhibition, and a Heads of State Summit to endorse common African objectives for the future of fisheries and aquaculture in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals.
The Summit produced among other things the Abuja Declaration on Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa and the NEPAD Action Plan on Fishery and Aquaculture.
Communicating NEPAD at the Country-Level
NEPAD Secretariat in partnership with NEPAD Nigeria organized a workshop with the theme “Communicating NEPAD at the County-level” from December 1 – 2, 2005 at Bolingo Hotel and Towers, Abuja. The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) was the sponsor of the two-day event.
The objective of the workshop was to examine progress made in communicating the philosophy of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) to Nigerians, to identify constraints and areas that required improvement, and to strengthen existing communication structures with the country and with the continental body. The workshop will serve as a template that for replication in other African countries by the year 2006.
Dr Imeh T. Okopido, former Minister of State for Environment made a welcome statement and declared the workshop open. Other dignitaries who participated in the workshop included Ambassador Tunji Olagunju, Chairman NEPAD Steering Committee, South Africa; Ambassador Olukorede Willoughby, Deputy CEO, NEPAD Secretariat; the Canadian High Commissioner, Mr. David Angell; the Country Representative of the GTZ, Mr Karl Brüning.
Presentations that featured during the plenary sessions include that of Chief (Mrs.) Asika titled “Communicating NEPAD at the Country level: The Nigerian Experience”. Other presenters were Dr Gabriel Gundu, Director, African Peer-Review Mechanism National Focal Point (APRM-NFP) Secretariat, Mrs. Thaninga Shope-Linney, General Manager Communications, NEPAD Secretariat, and Prof. I.L. Bashir, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru.
A good number of NEPAD Nigeria State Coordinators and NEPAD Focal Points in Federal Ministries and Agencies were able to attend and participated in the sessions. Some civil society groups, youth organisations and the media were also among the participants.
Home-Grown School Feeding and Health Programme
History was made when the President Olusegun Obasanjo launched the Home-Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSFHP) at Science Primary School, Kuje, FCT on 26th September 2005. The ceremony was graced by Executive Governors and Deputy Governors, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; the Hon. Ministers for Education, the Federal Capital Territory and Agriculture; members of the National Assembly among others. This epoch-making event was the culmination of months of preparation for the implementation of this programme.
The school feeding programme in Africa is the product of collaboration between the World Food Programme, as the lead agency, NEPAD, the United Nations Childrens’ Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Millennium Hunger Task Force (MHTF). Nigeria is one of ten (10) African countries to benefit in the pilot phase of the programme; Uganda, Ghana, Mali and Kenya have already flagged-off similar programmes.
The objectives of the HGSFHP are to:
reduce hunger among Nigerian school children;
increase school enrolment and attendance;
improve the nutritional and health status of school children;
stimulate local food production and boost the income of local farmers.
NEPAD Nigeria is a member of the National Steering Committee and the Senior Special Assistant to the President and Head of NEPAD Nigeria, Chief (Mrs.) Chinyere Asika, was at the occasion and delivered a goodwill message. She stressed the objectives of the programme were in line with the NEPAD Action Plans for Education, Agriculture and Health. She pledged the support of the office through the NEPAD State Coordinators for the implementation of the programme nationwide.
Highlights of the event included the delivery of the keynote address and de-worming of schoolchildren by President Obasanjo.
Related documents: Improving Food and Nutrition Security through Food for Education Programs in Africa
NEPAD Nigeria-TechnoFuture Digital Dividend Initiative
NEPAD Nigeria launched the NEPAD Nigeria-Technofuture Digital Dividend Initiative at a Round-table chaired by President Olusegun Obasanjo, in Abuja on December 22, 2005. The Initiative is a project providing a computerized educational model that teaches learners from kindergarten age to adulthood a unique combination of computer and entrepreneurship skills.
The tool empowers individuals by equipping them with skills that enable them set up their own business, operate optimally at the workplace, and compete more effectively in an increasingly technology-driven world, while making them self-sufficient upon retirement.
Speaking at the occasion at The TransCorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on NEPAD and Head of NEPAD Nigeria, Chief (Mrs.) Chinyere Asika, stressed the importance of NEPAD Nigeria’s involvement in such an initiative, as it will go a long way in facilitating the realization of the objectives of NEPAD ICT Programme.
The NEPAD Nigeria – Technofuture Digital Dividend Initiative is one of the NEPAD Nigeria - Private Sector Partnership Programmes with the following goals:
to facilitate the implementation of NEPAD ICT Programmes in Nigeria;
to fast-track capacity building in the area of ICT, especially as it relates to the promotion of entrepreneurship among various stakeholders in the Public and Private sectors;
to bridge the digital divide by empowering Nigerians with crucial technology and “life skills”, and
to promote economic growth and sustainable development through job and wealth creation.
Technofuture is essentially a well-targeted human capacity-building tool that teaches a unique combination of technology and business skills or life skills, to individuals of all ages starting from the age of four. NEPAD Nigeria and Technofuture will build synergies to sustain this initiative by collaborating with major stakeholders in the Nigerian public and private sectors, multilateral organizations and the academia.
[ Home ] Send mail to webmaster@nepad.org.ng with questions or comments about this web site. Last modified: 01/20/06 http://www.nepadnigeria.org/
1 MEDIA RELEASE AFD Signs Grant Agreement to Support NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Programme Pretoria, South Africa, 29 June 2006. The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has today signed a grant agreement with NEPAD e-Africa Commission, through the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), to support NEPAD’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Broadband Infrastructure Programme. The occasion that was graced by His Excellency Jean Felix Paganon, the French Ambassador to South Africa, took place at the French Embassy. Other high ranking officials from the French Embassy, AFD, NEPAD and DBSA also attended the ceremony. Ms Christina Golino signed on behalf of DBSA and NEPAD, while Mr Phillipe Lecrinier signed on behalf of AFD. In the agreement, AFD will provide 850 000 Euros (ZAR 7,9 million) grant to the NEPAD e-Africa Commission to support the development of rationalised terrestrial broadband ICT network for Central, Western and Northern Africa. The project will build on the conclusions and recommendations of a meeting held in Dakar in 2005 by the NEPAD e-Africa Commission to initiate the Central, Western and Northern Africa ICT Broadband Infrastructure Programme. The support will enable the Commission to play its coordinating role whilst at the same time, dealing with policy and regulatory bottlenecks that impede investment in ICT infrastructure in the region. The NEPAD e-Africa Commission intends to facilitate the development of investor friendly policies that promote private-public partnerships (PPP) that are critical to ICT infrastructure development. Said Dr Henry Chasia, the NEPAD e-Africa Commission Executive Deputy Chairperson, “We expect that the Central, Western and Northern Africa ICT Project, will contribute to NEPAD’s objective of connecting all African countries to a broadband terrestrial fibre-optic network, and hence, to the rest of the world through submarine cables. The Network will provide abundant bandwidth, easier connectivity and reduced costs. The broadband connectivity will also contribute to the much needed integration of the continent by facilitating trade, social, and cultural exchange between countries” One of NEPAD’s priority objectives is the promotion and the integration of regional ICT infrastructures all over Africa. The NEPAD e-Africa Commission was therefore set up to manage the structured development of the ICT sector on the African continent, by developing policies and broad ICT strategies and by initiating projects. Agence Française de développement is a French financial institution that provides support to developing countries. Together with DBSA, they have already jointly committed 25 millions Rands to finance regional infrastructure projects under NEPAD. This new grant will focus more precisely on regional ICT Infrastructure Broadband projects in French-speaking Africa. Ends 2 For more information about AFD, visit http://www.afd.fr For more information on NEPAD, please visit: www.nepad.org For more information about NEPAD e-Africa Commission, visit: www.eafricacommission.org For further information, please contact: Samuel Mikenga Communications Manager,
THIS SHOULD BE IT FOR NOW.MORE PROOF THAT AFRICA IS MAKING PROGRESS AND NOT WAITING FOR ANYBODY.
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Nigeria seeks IAEA help for nuclear power plants
Nigeria has asked the world's nuclear watchdog for help in building two atomic power plants to supply electricity to the energy-starved oil exporting nation.
2005-02-14 18:10
Nigerian Science and Technology Minister Turner Isoun made the request during a four-day visit of the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the West African nation. "We would like to seek the assistance and support of the IAEA for the development of two full scale 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plants for the generation of electricity," Isoun was quoted as saying at a dinner on January21, Reuters reported.
Nigeria commissioned its first nuclear reactor, a small academic research reactor at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, last year. Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and has huge oil and gas resources, but corruption by successive governments and inefficiency in the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) have led to massive shortfalls in power supply. Investors cite constant blackouts as one of the country's top economic hurdles, and they spend millions of dollars every year on diesel-fuelled generators to keep industry running. NEPA, which currently supplies about 2,600 megawatts, has been split into seven generating companies, 11 distribution firms and one transmission company ahead of its planned privatisation later this year.
Nigerian officials insisted that they were seeking nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, and pointed to the country's ratification of the non-proliferation treaty and additional protocols as evidence of that. Formally IAEA cannot reject Nigeria’s request as the world’s nuclear watchdog was established to promote peaceful nuclear energy.
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this is old info from last year.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
NOTE- afew african states ahve become developed,some are really second world and other are third world,but even some of that are called third world have high enough technology and good roads,train system,like ivory coast,zimb. etc.,but their gnp ppp is not high enough to be really called second world yet,or first world but that time would come.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
NOTE- afew african states HAVE become developed,some are really second world WITH GOOD OR FIRST RATE ROADS ETC LIKE NAMBIA and other are third world,but even some of these are called third world have high enough technology and good roads,train system,like ivory coast,zimb. etc.,but their gnp ppp is not high enough to be really called second world yet,or first world but that time would come.
like superacr said africa is not a country,will not yet anyway.
regional developement and blocs is more likely and that is happening as you have read above.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
After all that spam you still missed the point:
Congo has the LARGEST concentration of mineral wealth in the WHOLE continent of Africa. Congo is about the POOREST country on earth. The wars there were fought BECAUSE of Congo's mineral wealth, NOT because of independence movements. Congo should be the WEALTHIEST country in Africa. So, with all these resources and HUGE foreign demand, why cant Congo get rich? The point is that Congo HAS to form JOINT ventures with these foreign companies so that the WEALTH of the country STAYS in the country and can be used to REBUILD. All this talk about the wealth in the ground does NO GOOD if all the money flows OUT of the country.
quote: By Bill Varner Bloomberg News
Published: July 3, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, New York Tae Jang, owner of a Washington construction company, sees a lucrative opportunity to build highways and bridges in Congo - as long as the United Nations pulls off the first free election in four decades in one of Africa's poorest and most violent nations.
Dozens of entrepreneurs, along with companies including Phelps Dodge and Celtel International, share Jang's view that the July 30 national elections in Congo may set off a development surge in the mineral-rich country that has suffered decades of war and graft.
"There are a lot of companies jockeying for position, trying to be part of a success story," said Chester Crocker, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington and a former assistant U.S. secretary of state for African affairs. He called Congo "a treasure-trove country, a high-risk, high-reward environment."
Congo's ambassadors to the United Nations and the United States say they have met during the past year with representatives of companies including Celtel, the Dutch mobile phone company that has operations in 13 African nations; Phelps Dodge, one of the world's biggest copper miners; and Citigroup, the financial company.
Bolstering the interest is a global commodities boom. Copper, one of Congo's principal exports, has doubled in the past year on the London Metal Exchange. Congo's state-owned mining company Gecamines estimates copper reserves at 56 million metric tons, which at the June 30 price of $7,420 would be worth about $415 billion.
The UN ambassador, Atoki Ileka, said that the executives also see profits in Congo's untapped gold, zinc, tin, nickel, uranium, oil and timber reserves. It also has two-thirds of the world's reserves of cobalt and one of the world's largest reserves of industrial diamonds.
The former Belgian colony, once known as Zaire, is still recovering from the war that followed the ouster of the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997. Hutu killers responsible for the genocide in Rwanda took refuge in eastern Congo and started the conflict, which drew in five other nations.
The election will determine whether President Joseph Kabila - who has ruled since his father, Laurent, was assassinated in 2001 - will remain in power. While Kabila is committed to attracting investment, said Faida Mitifu, Congo's ambassador to the United States, "it is very difficult for a country at war to promote business." With the election, he said, "now we have interest."
While Congo's per-capita economic output ranks 227th out of 232 nations on a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency list, the economy has expanded since 2002. Foreign demand for cobalt, copper and timber has pushed the annual growth rate to around 6.5 percent a year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
"We have to evolve, to have a modern banking system, a judicial system that ensures companies their money won't be touched," Ileka said. "There is no bank that has branches in the whole country, and the ones we have make transactions like it's the Middle Ages."
Jang, who managed a construction company that built roads in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s, said he was undaunted by Congo's shortcomings, which include having only 300 miles, or 480 kilometers, of paved roads.
Ileka said companies from China, Malaysia and South Africa were "lining up" to invest.
Phelps Dodge has a mining concession for 600 square miles, or 1,550 square kilometers, of territory. It is doing site preparation work, including construction of schools, for a copper and cobalt mine.
Celtel's chief executive, Marten Pieters, said that his company has 1.3 million mobile phone customers in Congo and aims to double that figure after the election.
How much of this "investment" is helping Congo? If Congo is EXPORTING up to $100 billion dollars worth of minerals A YEAR and only seeing less than 1% of that wealth STAY in the country, HOW is that GOOD for the Congo? Common sense should tell you it isnt. Seeing GREEDY foreigners line up to RAPE Congo for its minerals is NOT good news. How can it be? What is GOOD about it? If Congo is dirt poor but has ALMOST A TRILLION dollars worth of minerals in the ground HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? Any ECONOMIC PLAN for Congo that DOES NOT ensure Congo gets the LARGEST share of this wealth is RAPE, pure and simple. Let the people suffer while FOREIGNERS take ALL the money. There is NO REASON why Congo could not recover from the war damage in 5-10 years with the MONEY from its own resources AND NO DESTRUCTIVE LOANS from the World Bank or HANDOUTS from FOREIGN COMPANIES. Handouts and destructive loans are only COVER for the export of HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of dollars FROM a country, while they give only a FEW MILLION BACK in "investment"..... yeah great.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
More TRUTH:
quote: South Africa trying to give blacks more land
LADYSMITH, South Africa (Reuters) -- Unlike many his age, 26-year-old Zweli Mbhele does not want to leave his rural roots to seek his fortune in South Africa's booming cities.
Mbhele wants to farm -- and his dream has just come true.
Through a government program that aims to erase the country's land disparities, Mbhele and his family recently acquired 5,535 acres of the vast stretches of savannah in KwaZulu-Natal province.
Mbhele, who bought the property with a grant from the Department of Land Affairs, is excited about his prospects.
"I'm passionate about farming ... I grew up on a farm so I thought: Let me own one myself," he said outside the small town of Ladysmith, surrounded by undulating slopes, transformed into a sea of golden grass by the winter frost.
"I know farming is a lot of challenges and risk because you need to buy medicine to inoculate cattle against diseases and have to buy poisons for ticks. All that stuff costs a lot (but) I like to see my cattle grazing," he said, switching between English and his native Zulu.
Everyone agrees it is crucial for South Africa to address historical imbalances by entrusting more land to people like Mbhele. But some say farming may not be the ideal way to create wealth and say the results up to now do not look promising. 90 percent white-owned
More than a decade after the end of apartheid, more than 90 percent of South Africa's commercial farmland is still owned by the white minority -- a legacy of apartheid and colonial rule, which saw blacks kicked off their ancestral land.
So far the government has transferred roughly 4 percent of previously white-owned land to blacks -- far off its goal of 30 percent by 2014.
Frustration with the slow progress has begun to build and activists have threatened to invade land if the process does not speed up.
The chaos that resulted in neighboring Zimbabwe, where whites were often violently forced off their land, is a constant reminder of what can go wrong if the problem is left unchecked.
From President Thabo Mbeki to senior civil servants, there has been growing acknowledgment that the land question needs to be resolved faster -- but officials say an orderly process will be followed, with legal expropriations only used as a last resort.
Studies suggest that in a country where the economic role of agriculture has steadily declined over the decades, and where more and more rural folk are flocking to cities, agriculture should not be seen as a panacea for poverty.
"There's a lot of romanticism about agriculture," said Nick Vink of the University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town.
South Africa's ability to feed itself is a vital source of stability in a region that suffers frequent food shortages.
Department of Agriculture statistics show the sector employed around 940,000 people out of a population of 45 million in 2002 -- the last year for which figures are available -- down from about 1.6 million in the late 1960s. But it is still a crucial source of work in a country with a jobless rate of around 26 percent. Urban landscape
However, South Africa is now a nation of city dwellers.
Nearly 60 percent of the country is "urbanized" and in eight years, that might rise to 70 percent, according to a 2005 study by the independent Center for Development and Enterprises.
"In line with this, most South Africans now see land as a 'place to stay' rather than a 'place to farm'," it said.
"There is no doubt that many black South Africans are strongly attached to South African land in general, and the lands of their ancestors in particular ... However it should not be equated to wanting to farm for a living."
An OECD report earlier this year echoed those sentiments, saying simply handing more land to blacks, without developing neglected rural communities, was meaningless.
Dirk du Toit, deputy minister of agriculture and land affairs, said shortcomings in his department's policy were being ironed out and there was great economic potential in agriculture.
"There are sectors in the agricultural economy that are growing tremendously. Go and look what happened to our wine exports. We are doing very well with beef at the moment and you can go on," he said on a recent trip to KwaZulu-Natal to visit Mbhele's project.
"The land reform program is critically important ...It redresses the past imbalances ... but it's also about the socioeconomic development of poor people in this country."
GOOD news? And, even MORE important than that, what about the MINES in South Africa? The MINES is where the MONEY is, not just farms. HOw on EARTH could South African blacks want just the farm land and NOT the MINES that produce MOST of the wealth. Dont kid yourself with so called GOOD NEWS. Good news is when African blacks are not DIRT POOR in countries with hundreds of billions of dollars in resources being SUCKED out of the country. Good news is when MOST of the land and mines are OWNED by African blacks. THAT is the good news I want to hear, not some trickle down economic NONSENSE pushed by the world bank and foreign companies.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
whites do not own 90% of farmland in south africa.it was always 78% and that wen t down to around 70% in the past few years. iknow i use to get the south african news letter since 1994.
south africa poor is around 15 million for last year out of off. population of 46 million for 2004
the off. population grew to 47 million at the end of last year.south africa added 2 million folks to the upper and middle class in the past three years.most folks in south africa are not poor just like most black americans are not poor,but there is still a large number that is still poor and it seems that both groups are poor but they are not.
anyway here is some more good news.all good things come to tose who fight and not just complain.owning most of the farmland is a good way to go by 2015 that is thw plan.by the way the black led gov. owns a large part of land so white own less than 70%.i think the gov. owns about 20% and they plan to give some of this and most of the land own by whites by 2015.about 30% more of it.pogress is happening and more will come.it has only been 12 years and they don't plan to mess this up like in zimb.
quote-
To help change the situation, President Thabo Mbeki has initiated a policy of "Black Economic Empowerment" (BEE) which is similar to the affirmative action programmes adopted in the United States. Essentially, BEE involves a balancing act of trying to draw blacks into the formal economy without imposing regulations so intrusive that they might end up destroying business. Mbeki has pledged to spend about 2.4 billion dollars to encourage empowerment within the next five years. So far, government has enacted two laws to promote BEE. The first, the Mining Charter, calls for 26 percent of mines to be owned by blacks within a decade. The second law, the Financial Services Charter, seeks to place a quarter of this sector in black hands by 2010. Government is also trying to integrate BEE principles in trade agreements. "Any free trade agreement will have to accommodate black economic empowerment," says Xavier Carim of the Department of Trade and Industry. But a day later Zondi joined IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the head of the Solidarity union, Flip Buys, in Pretoria to sign a charter that seeks to address the fears of whites who feel threatened by BEE. Buthelezi said whites were being excluded from appointment and promotion opportunities simply because of their skin colour. Some analysts insist, however, that there is cause for hope in this scenario of apparent doom and gloom. "A great many positive changes took place during the past 10 years," Shoni Makhari of the Johannesburg-based empowerment rating and research agency EmpowerDEX told IPS on Wednesday (Mar. 3). Some of the most noticeable of these changes are at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). "The traditionally pale male boardrooms of JSE-listed companies are slowly beginning to embrace diversity," says Vuyo Jack, Chief Executive Officer of EmpowerDEX. "The number of black directors increased last year in line with a trend dating back to 1992 when only 1.2 percent (from) the top 100 JSE listed companies were black." According to EmpowerDEX's latest survey of directors, blacks now make up 14.7 percent of directors at JSE listed companies. Various big firms have also put BEE policies in place. Anglo American, South Africa's largest company, is spending about 1.7 billion dollars to encourage black empowerment. It hopes to fill 40 percent of its local management positions with blacks in five years. Currently, only 20 percent of the positions are held by blacks.
i think this is a old article,since than more progress has been made and more is coming.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
Black economic empowerment Mary Alexander
South Africa's policy of black economic empowerment (BEE) is not simply a moral initiative to redress the wrongs of the past. It is a pragmatic growth strategy that aims to realise the country's full economic potential.
Broad-based growth Black economic empowerment is not affirmative action, although employment equity forms part of it. Nor does it aim to merely take wealth from white people and give it to blacks. It is simply a growth strategy, targeting the South African economy's weakest point: inequality.
"As such, this strategy stresses a BEE process that is associated with growth, development and enterprise development, and not merely the redistribution of existing wealth."
There is a danger, recognised by the government, that BEE will simply replace the old elite with a new black one, leaving fundamental inequalities intact. For this reason the strategy is broad-based, as shown in the name of the legislation enacted in 2004: the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Act.
"Government’s approach [is] to situate black economic empowerment within the context of a broader national empowerment strategy … focused on historically disadvantaged people, and particularly black people, women, youth, the disabled, and rural communities," the DTI says.
How to achieve BEE? Black economic empowerment is driven by legislation and regulation. An integral part of the BEE Act of 2004 is the balanced scorecard, which measures companies' empowerment progress in four areas:
Direct empowerment through ownership and control of enterprises and assets. Management at senior level. Human resource development and employment equity.
Indirect empowerment through: preferential procurement, enterprise development, and This scorecard is defined and elaborated in the recently released BEE codes of good practice, which will soon be passed into law.
The codes will be binding on all state bodies and public companies, and the government will be required to apply them when making economic decisions on:
procurement,
licensing and concessions, public-private partnerships, and
the sale of state-owned assets or businesses.
Private companies must apply the codes if they want to do business with any government enterprise or organ of state - that is, to tender for business, apply for licences and concessions, enter into public-private partnerships, or buy state-owned assets. Private companies must apply the codes if they want to do business with any government enterprise or organ of state - that is, to tender for business, apply for licences and concessions, enter into public-private partnerships, or buy state-owned assets.
corporate social investment - a residual and open-ended category.
Companies are also encouraged to apply the codes in their interactions with one another, since preferential procurement will affect most private companies throughout the supply chain.
Different industries have also been encouraged to draw up their own charters on BEE, so that all sectors can adopt a uniform approach to empowerment and how it is measured.
Investor confidence grows International investors are increasingly embracing black economic empowerment - in sharp contrast to a few years ago, when the first round of empowerment deals in the country battled to find foreign support. Fortune 500 company Old Mutual's R7.2-billion BEE deal, launched in 2005, will not only give half a million South Africans an interest in the company - it also sparked a rise in Old Mutual share prices. Also in 2005, Deutsche Bank struck a deal giving black investors and staff a 25% stake in its South African operations (excluding its Johannesburg banking branch).
US investment bank Merrill Lynch announced in February 2006 that it will sell up to 15% of its South African business to black staff, women investors and a local educational trust, describing the move as part of its long-term commitment to the country and black economic empowerment.
Also in February 2006, London-based Blackstar Investors announced plans to help fund BEE deals in South Africa to the tune of £35-million (R380-million), signalling that foreigners are growing increasingly comfortable with BEE financing.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
How about just making the OWNERSHIP of Anglo American MOSTLY black African? That way the MONEY would go INTO the hands of black South AFricans. It is not about making more black managers. It is about DIRECT flow of profits INTO the hands of BLACK South Africans as a form of REPARATIONS for apartheid. Black African labor BUILT South Africa along with the LAND and RESOURCES STOLEN from the people, THIS is why the people are POOR, not because of population density. You also need to get your figures straight. White South Africans still own more than 80% of the land. But all of this is a diversion from the major issue: DeBeers. Debeers is the EPITOME of Apartheid and the exploitation of blacks for ECONOMIC and MONETARY gain by whites, if Black South Africans want to GAIN wealth AND power, they MUST TAKE OVER Debeers and I DONT just mean a few "management" positions either. A development bank should be set up to TAKE the money from the various mines and other large scale operations that have been TAKING wealth FROM black South Africa, for use in BUILDING Black South Africa. Black South Africans SHOULD NOT ACCEPT living in DIRT POOR conditions while whites ENJOY LAVISH LIFESTYLES due to apartheid, as if it is some sort of REWARD for the atrocities committed by blacks. The ONLY ones to make this happen are BLACKS themselves and it WILL NOT come from the WHITES. Dont believe for a second that the WHITES in South Africa intend to give up the ECONOMIC POWER and WEALTH that they have gained from the oppression of BLACK South Africans. This sort of power is not given it is TAKEN. Anyone that believes otherwise is RETARDED. Why else did the Europeans have to MASSACRE so many Black South Africans in the first place, if LAND and WEALTH did not have to be TAKEN by force?
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
most blacks are not poor in south africa,but it will take time for more t do well. all good things come for those who wait. by the way things are happening. yelling and screaming about things is not going to change the problems any quicker.progress is happening.blacks own 73 t 70% of the land. that will change,and the economic landscape will change sooner or later.you could believe that.the blacks in south africa are not will to wait like the blacks did in zimb.
oh,most of the land and large part or most of the wealth will fall into black hands in our life time.
from the bcc world news,land.more good news. I THINK they plan to take most of the land by 2014.
bbc news quote- Mbeki may speed up SA land reform South Africa may move more quickly on the emotive issue of land reform, said President Thabo Mbeki as he outlined this year's government's programme.
He promised to "review" the policy of "willing-seller, willing buyer", which could reduce the compensation received by farmers who lose their land.
Mr Mbeki was delivering his state of the nation address at the annual opening of parliament in Cape Town.
He also noted the "mood of confidence" from recent economic growth.
He focussed on measures that the government believes will help to reduce poverty and improve public services.
The land question is an emotive one in South Africa, where the majority of farmland remains under the ownership of white farmers.
Until now, measures to restore land to the black majority have been largely along market lines, but Mr Mbeki hinted this would change.
"The minister of agriculture and land affairs will, during 2006, review the willing-buyer willing-seller policy, review land acquisition models and possible manipulation of land prices, and regulate conditions under which foreigners buy land," Mr Mbeki said, to both cheers and jeers from members of parliament.
Optimism
Mr Mbeki began his address by pointing to surveys that indicated that South Africans in general and business owners in particular were optimistic about the country's future.
"Our people are firmly convinced that our country has entered its age of hope," Mr Mbeki said. He said some 372bn rand ($61bn) would be spent over the next three years to improve services including electricity, water and telecommunications services, and to build houses and other infrastructure.
Service delivery and housing are pressing issues for Mr Mbeki's ANC as it approaches municipal elections in March.
Service delivery and housing are pressing issues for Mr Mbeki's ANC as it approaches municipal elections in March.
He spoke of efforts towards "the attainment of a society free of shack settlements in which all our people enjoy decent housing" and pledged to eradicate the "bucket toilet" system by the end of next year.
Football
He added that "the government will remain focused on the challenge to fight corruption in the public sector and in society at large."
Mr Mbeki pointed out that after this year's football World Cup in Germany, the world of football would be watching South Africa, which is to host the 2010 championship, but which was eliminated in the first round of this year's African Cup of Nations.
"I am afraid that our performance in the current African Cup of Nations in Egypt did nothing to advertise our strengths as a winning nation," Mr Mbeki said, to laughter from the house.
"However, starting today, the nation must make every effort to ensure that we meet all the expectations of Fifa and the world of soccer, so that we host the best soccer World Cup ever," the president said.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
mistake-blacks own about or more than 20%(up to 27%) of the land now.the gov. owns land and that is about 20%.THE GOV. by the way is ruled by blacks. blacks control the country as awhole,so look on the bright side.the white land owners still must obey the law or there butts are grass.
THE pparts of the economy that is not lead controlled by blacks,is still indirectly control by the state.they can't just do what ever they want.
blacks will have more direct control in time.trust me.
.
Posted by Masonic Rebel (Member # 9549) on :
Quote:
quote: so your not parinoid doug..the world really is against you?
What is the situation in South Africa currently? What have been the results of the planned land program the government has announced? Land has always been an emotive issue in South Africa, though it is not yet as politicized as in Zimbabwe. It is bound to become a big political football, though, if the pace of land reform is not accelerated.
Unless the racial imbalance of land ownership is redressed, it will aggravate racial tensions and lead to violent confrontations, as we see happening now in Zimbabwe. It was the failure of the Zimbabwe government's land reform program which unleashed political pressures that in turn pushed Robert Mugabe into collusion with the land invaders.
In the last two years in South Africa, agitation groups like the Landless People's Movement, have become increasingly active. Though still small and unevenly organized, such groups and individuals have spearheaded isolated invasions of state-owned and white-owned land.
There are promising signs of progress in South African land reform as private sector banks and business groups, gazing uneasily at Zimbabwe, have realized the need to throw their weight behind government's reform efforts. And government itself is assigning more money, and developing better practices for land reform.
There are promising signs of progress in South African land reform as private sector banks and business groups, gazing uneasily at Zimbabwe, have realized the need to throw their weight behind government's reform efforts. And government itself is assigning more money, and developing better practices for land reform.
The big question is how rapidly South Africa's reform programs can develop. New state agricultural assistance grants to complement the land purchase grants should go far in helping to sustain the new farmers. The South African government has instituted legislation recently that allows the Land Affairs Minister to expropriate land in cases where "willing buyer, willing seller" deals fail. The legislation drew protest from the commercial farming lobby, who portray it as a Trojan horse maneuver by the government to effect a Zimbabwe-style land grab. But this is mere politicking; the government has always had the power to expropriate land, the legislation simply makes it easier.
In any case, commercial farmers still have the right to challenge the expropriation if they feel the amount that the government is offering is insufficient. The government's biggest failure so far has been its slowness to devise a working strategy. In many cases outdated apartheid strictures on land use and regressive land taxes that encourage unproductive big farms, instead of more affordable and efficient small farms, remain on the statute books.
In your coverage, describe some of the commercial land owners you've met and how they have been affected by land reform? I take it you mean white commercial farmers. The range of views is quite broad, from those who accept the need to reach an accord with would-be black farmers to those who have never, and will never, countenance black ownership of their farms, or even their neighbors' farms.
I have not made a special study of white farmers' views, but speak from experience of having met commercial farmers over the years, and having grown up partly on a farm myself. One white farmer, in the mid-1970s, plowed lime into his corn fields to make them infertile, after he was forced to sell his farm (by expropriation) to the then-apartheid government to make way for the first "independent" black homeland. Such bitter emotions still exist, especially in the more conservative parts of South Africa.
More enlightened white farmers have given their workers shares and joint management of their farms. In many cases of restitution, where white farmers have had to sell their land to the state for return to the historical owners, the new owners have retained the white farmers as managers because they do not have sufficient farming skills themselves. It is a complex relationship, and by no means stereotypical.
What is the sentiment among black farmers you've spoken to who have received land grants and who are now occupying farms that once belonged to white farmers? Have those you've seen been successful in farming the land once it's been distributed? There has not been much to cheer about in the transfer of white farms to new black farmers. The most successful cases seem to be those where the new and old owners reach a joint working agreement. The problem is that few blacks have experience in modern commercial farming.
Large-scale farms these days are highly mechanized and farm owners hedge their crop prices on the futures exchange. It requires financial as well as farming knowledge. One commercial bank has devised a loan scheme geared to emerging black farmers that includes crop insurance and a mentorship arrangement in which skilled white farmers will be retained to help train the new black farmers. The department of agriculture, too, is developing a mentorship program.
In South Africa, have any farms been seized? What kind of force has been used? There have been isolated seizures, but nothing to begin to compare with Zimbabwe. Two years ago when squatters moved on to state land near Johannesburg, the government was quick to remove them. This does not mean that South Africa could not head down the Zimbabwean road. That is still plausible if land reform continues to move too slowly and political pressures grow to the stage that they threaten the dominance of the ANC in government.
What has happened to the white farmers who have lost their land? In Zimbabwe, some have moved to neighboring Mozambique and Zambia, or simply retired to towns or emigrated.
Is there a general consensus among black Africans with whom you've spoken about whether land redistribution is good or bad? A 2001 survey by James Gibson of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa found that 57 percent of respondents felt land reform was "very important". Eight-five percent of black respondents agreed with the statement: "Most land in South Africa was taken unfairly by white settlers, and they therefore have no right to the land today." 68 percent of black respondents agreed with the statement: "Land must be returned to blacks in South Africa, no matter what the consequences are for the current owners and for political stability in the country."
What is the opinion in South Africa about the land seizures going on in Zimbabwe? Are there indications it could spread to South Africa? Yes, increasingly so. The fear of a "Zimbabwe-type situation" developing has prompted business lobbies and white-led interest groups in particular to become more supportive of government land reform initiatives.
my comments-IT SEEMS that the state owns land too like i said.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
more good news-
South African Blacks to get Land Stolen during Apartheid By Special to the NNPA from IPS/GIN May 5, 2004 quote- Thousands of Black South Africans will soon be able to buy back land taken from them during the apartheid era. Landless Blacks are allowed to claim White-owned farmland. If White farmers refuse to sell, a new law lets the government step in and forcibly buy the land at market price.
So far, about 20 percent of the land has been claimed. In some regions, such as Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal, the figure is close to 50 percent. So far 45,000 of the total 70,000 claims have been settled. The government aims to settle the rest by 2005.
The enforced selling law is only expected to be used in about 5 to 10 percent of claims, chief land claims commissioner Tozi Gwanya told Reuters.
And in Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe faced international criticism for allowing Blacks to occupy and take White-owned farms. A number of White farmers were killed in the process.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
one correction blacks own 13% of land commerical farmalnd. 4%more was given to blacks in recent times. the states owns about 5 to 10% i think and the rest is white own,but that will change by 2009 to 2014,or there will be trouble.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
another point of view.sometimes you have to know what othersare saying and up too.
here is a quote from a racist.he has a point however when he says that the states does own some land.i know it is least 10% but below it says higher.I THINK THIS IS RIGHT AS WELL. i could not find a different source for time being but i have read about this and heard it on the news awhile ago.
Editor's note: Longtime WorldNetDaily contributor Anthony C. LoBaido has made no less than six trips to South Africa in recent years and has lived, worked and traveled all over South Africa and neighboring countries.
quote-
Posted: September 3, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern
As South Africa begins its second decade after apartheid's dismantlement in 1994, the ruling Marxist African National Congress has rapidly escalated what some call "the Zimbabwe paradigm" – moving to more aggressively seize its white citizens' farms, possessions and futures. South African President Thabo Mbeki, a devout Marxist, has been a strong supporter of Zimbabwe despite dictator Robert Mugabe's disastrous policies in the former Rhodesia, once known as the breadbasket of southern Africa. Now it appears Zimbabwe's problems have been projected onto South Africa. Almost 1,700 white South African farmers have been murdered since 1994, with another 15,000 recorded attacks. White children, babies and the elderly have been raped and mutilated in these crimes, which often are carried out with archetype military precision and the use of snipers. President Bush visited South Africa during his first term in office and promised to look into the plight of South Africa's white farmers. This after being given a video presentation by Dr. Pieter Mulder of the Freedom Front Plus Party. Thus far, the president has publicly said nothing about the plight of the white Afrikaner farmers and has made Mbeki his "point man" on the Zimbabwe issue. While Bush did sign a presidential directive calling for action against Mugabe, American and British influence on the situation appears negligible. The opposition MDC in Zimbabwe is still cowed into submission while massive socialist and quasi-Maoist agrarian and land reform schemes continue to plunge "Zim" into despair.
Farmers claim they are charging market-related prices for their land, but the ANC has set far different values on the same land. As such, the ANC blames the farmers for slowing down their land reform project. The ANC owns lots of land in South Africa. The problem is the ANC officially doesn't know how much land it owns.
What is known is that the ANC government could invoke the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act. This Act was passed in 2003 and clearly authorizes the ANC to expropriate land.
ANC-owned land most likely stands at 19.8 percent of the total surface area of South Africa. Between 5 and 10 percent of that land could be redistributed today if need be. The ANC wants to have 30 percent of all commercial farmland under black ownership by 2014. As of December 2004, 3 percent of commercial farmland had been redistributed. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that farming, including genetically modified farming, has become an increasingly high-tech venture, calling for a high degree of intelligence, training and dedication. It is one thing to hand over the land. It is another thing to keep that land fruitful and feed the masses.
Many white South Africans have fled the rape, crime, murder, HIV and all-around social disintegration of this once wealthy, anti-communist nation. Destinations like the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are now home to the de facto Afrikaner and South African Diaspora. Like the Hmong, Karen, Montagnards, South Sudanese and Kurds, the Afrikaners will continue to exist as a people but not as a nation. Because of their Calvinist background and racial and cultural solidarity, white South Africans, especially the Afrikaners, are ill-prepared for the realities of living in post-Christian and post-modern Western Civilization, where someone like Paris Hilton is not only tolerated but celebrated.
According to groups like Genocide Watch, however, what is going on in South Africa's killing fields is not justice, but genocide. There are only about 40,000 white farmers in South Africa. The 1,700 murdered from that group is the highest per capita murder rate in the world. The average murder rate is 7 out of 100,000 worldwide. For the South African farmer it is 313 out of 100,000. The second-highest per capita murder rate in the world is that of the South African police.
my comment-now 4% of land has been giving to the blacks and the anc is not marxist. another point thsi racist got wrong on-south africa has more wealth today and gnp ppp is higher than ever,but this racist doe not want to give blacks credit for sound economic policies and growth.south africa is infact more advanced and more modern under black rule.
zimb. was able to slowed down negative growth and increase it's gnp ppp last year for the first time in years.hopefully a change will happen there soon.
crime is going down too,but racist like this does not like to admit this.
TRAINING IS being done for when the time comes to take over more land,and there are plenty of highly intelligent blacks in south africa.money is coming in for hiv and the state is doing it's part now.aids is stablizing,so that is good news but still have away too go.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
That is all on this issue. Bye.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: I HOPE SOMEONE FIXES THE EDIT PART.I can't edit anything here.
Farmers claim they are charging market-related prices for their land, but the ANC has set far different values on the same land. As such, the ANC blames the farmers for slowing down their land reform project. The ANC owns lots of land in South Africa. The problem is the ANC officially doesn't know how much land it owns. What is known is that the ANC government could invoke the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act. This Act was passed in 2003 and clearly authorizes the ANC to expropriate land. ANC-owned land most likely stands at 19.8 percent of the total surface area of South Africa. Between 5 and 10 percent of that land could be redistributed today if need be. The ANC wants to have 30 percent of all commercial farmland under black ownership by 2014.As of December 2004, 3 percent of commercial farmland had been redistributed.
IT is 4% now,maybe higher by now since it is hard to get updated info on any parts of africa.you have to find the info most of the time when it comes to good news. THAT was a quote above was from a racist.he has a point however when he says that the sou the africanstate does own some land.I know it OWN at least 10% but below it says higher.I THINK THIS IS RIGHT. I could not find a different source for time being but i have read about this and heard it on the news awhile ago.
That is all on this issue. Bye.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
I hope for the day when a person will be judged on the content of their charactor, and not the color of their skin..
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Here is a Must read:
Doug M and Masonic Rebel your points are well taken, though I think you need to realize that RAW MATERIALS and the PRODUCTS made from these RAW MATERIALS are two different items, just because Afrika has the resources that doesn't mean much because it is the finished products that fetch the good prices. Afrikans have to know how to trade and negotiate good deals in order to profit from the resources. It's all about the markets, for example Crude Oil when it comes out of the ground is fairly useless though when this Crude Oil is refined and shipped to it's buyers then that's where the value comes in that's where Afrika loses because Afrika is young and doesn't have much access to all the MARKETS, now this is where Europeans come to play the main role in Markets. Now having Europeans or Africanized European Afrikaners combining with Afrikans then that's a win win situation for both groups. South Afrika has a STRONG future, both for Afrikans and Europeans if they can work out their racial problems and their historical problems. Afrikans and Europeans need to sit together and have strong dialogue with each other towards making concrete steps to ending RACISM, at least in South Afrika and working on those ideas that they discuss because lip service won't help anyone. Martin Luther King and other Civil Rights leaders did the best job towards these problems before so I think South Afrika might want to consult with Civil Rights participants for some good advice towards solving the racial problems in South Afrika. Today numerous Europeans are moving back to South Afrika so we can say that the Economy is doing better and the future of South Afrika looks positive. Now at the end of the day South Afrika has 45+ Million people to feed so I figure the South Afrikan government will do its part in maintaining peace in South Afrika.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
You are right about basic economics Hotep. The problem here is that Basic Economics is NOT the real problem. The real problem here is Europeans wanting to be ON TOP in ANY economic enterprise in Africa. THAT is what keeps Africa poor and impoverished and unable to process raw materials in order to gain more CAPITAL for development. What you said therefore is only PARTLY true. Africa needs to DEMOLISH the system of CARTELS that run the diamond trade, oil trad and other trades in raw materials, that PURPOSELY shut Africans OUT of trading THEIR OWN resources. It isnt that Africans dont WANT to sell their resources to the international community, it is that they CANT. Debeers has a MONOPOLY on the diamond trade and WONT let Africans get a leg in edgewise.
On top of this, lets not go into how Debeers and the Anglo American corporation FORCED and CONTINUES to force Africans off of their land for LITTLE or NO money and EXPLOITS their labor to extract these diamonds. DeBeers, headed by Cecil Rhoades, was one of the WORST oppressors of AFricans in Southern Africa, OPENLY preaching the inferiority of Negroes to whites and OPENLY preaching that NEGROES had NO PLACE in civilized society except as BEASTS OF BURDEN, no better than MULES. So WHY is DeBeers, with its LILLY WHITE board of RACIST CEOs allowed to stay WHITE OWNED? Why dont the South African blacks just TAKE BACK what is theirs? That is the type of nonsense I am talking about.
The POINT I am making is that since the OVERT colonial regimes are gone, does not mean that Europeans are playing FAIR about trade and economics in Africa. Therefore, you can throw that book on basic economics in the TRASH, since what Europeans are doing in Africa will NOT allow basic economics to take root. Europeans want Africans to imagine that the colonial era and apartheid era was all just a misunderstanding about blacks being "human beings" and that it was some honest mistake and that the money and power that Europeans have over Africans is just a result of Europeans and their hard work. They want you to beleive that hard work and "basic" economics will allow Africa to get ahead and maybe, just MAYBE catch up with SOME of the Europeans. THAT is nonsense, because it avoids the CENTRAL ISSUE. White supremacy as a ideaology is about making whites SUPREME in ALL affairs of mankind, whether it be economic, military, political or otherwise. NOONE else is allowed to be on par or superior to whites in these spectrums of endeavor. Therefore, the ACTIONS of Europeans in Africa in the past SET THE STAGE for what we see in Africa today and CANNOT be separated from it. Africans must NOT let themselves be BRAINWASHED into ACCEPTING their FORCED poverty at the hands of wealthy foreigners. It is time for them to STAND UP and REJECT such nonsense of pie in the sky fantasies of "future" growth, where they STILL WORK UNDER EUROPEANS as MINIMAL WAGE (new slave) labor. It is time for Africans TO OWN THE PLANTATION, not just WORK ON IT for minimum wage, while the European MASTER gets all the profits. THIS is the voodoo economics they try and sell to Africans and THIS is the nonsense that must be stopped.
Case in point: The world bank goes into African country x and promises them 10 million dollars over 10 years in "investment" as part of an economic development package. What is the package? Allowing a consortium of European based interests to have sole access to the minerals in a certain area. First off 10 million dollars is CHUMP CHANGE. This consortium is going to tens of billions of DOLLARS in ONE YEAR off these resources and I mean from WHOLESALE trade, not MANUFACTURING. TRUST ME, there is NOTHING fair about this arrangement. The world bank is a FRONT for international corporations, that FORCE Africans to accept FOREIGN EXPLOITATION in return for VERY LITTLE. Yet, when the GNP is calculated, guess what gets added to the GNP and what doesnt? of course, the 10 million dollar "investment" gets added, but that multibillion dollar mining operation DOESNT. So stop kidding yourself and beleiving the LIES of the Europeans.
Posted by Supercar (Member # 6477) on :
LOL. What; so now Africans don't know what basic trade and economics is? As mere examples, historic African trade centers [among the earliest in human social development] developed via the Nile-Valley corridor, across the Red Sea and the Sahara, allowing for the growth of complex societies in the various regions, now conveniently cease to exist, within the context of the economic challenges now facing various African nations as a product of European imperialism...interesting, how history can be lost in one breath.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
ok, so your saying the african leaders are not very good in makeing buisness deals?
if a forein coutry offers 10 million, to make billions in one year.. (as you say)
and the african leader excepts this deal...
I guess the only logical solution is the african leader is not that bright....and the people of these countries should hold their leaders up to a higher,smarter standard?
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
mike rozier wrote:
quote: ok, so your saying the african leaders are not very good in makeing buisness deals?
if a forein coutry offers 10 million, to make billions in one year.. (as you say)
and the african leader excepts this deal...
I guess the only logical solution is the african leader is not that bright....and the people of these countries should hold their leaders up to a higher,smarter standard?
Afrikan Leaders sometimes end up NOT making wise business deals correct, which is normal because that is how trade works some times you win sometimes you loose. This is why you can't have dictators as leaders because the world has changed and today a good governing body requires itself to be surrounded by extremely intelligent people along with top QUALITY INFORMATION.
Look at Cobalt for example:
quote: Cobalt compounds have been used for centuries to impart a rich blue color to glass, glazes, and ceramics. Cobalt has been detected in Egyptian sculpture and Persian jewelry from the third millennium BC, in the ruins of Pompeii (destroyed AD 79), and in China dating from the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907) and the Ming dynasty (AD 1368–1644)[1].
Swedish chemist Georg Brandt (1694–1768) is credited with isolating cobalt sometime between 1730 and 1737. He was able to show that cobalt was the source of the blue color in glass, which previously had been attributed to the bismuth found with cobalt.
During the 19th century, cobalt blue was produced at the Norwegian Blaafarveværket (70-80 % of world production), led by the Prussian industrialist Benjamin Wegner.
In 1938, John Livingood and Glenn Seaborg discovered cobalt-60.
The word cobalt is derived from the German kobalt, from kobold meaning "goblin", a term used for the ore of cobalt by miners, who thought it worthless and who found that it was poisonous and that it polluted and degraded other mined elements, mainly due to the arsenic and sulfur also found in the ore
A byproduct which was once taught to be useless by most miners not just Afrikans, ok MOST mining companies. Add a research institute that seeks to find other uses for this mineral and look what you discover:
quote: Alloys, such as: Superalloys, for parts in gas turbine aircraft engines. Corrosion- and wear-resistant alloys. High-speed steels. Cemented carbides (also called hard metals) and diamond tools. Magnets and magnetic recording media. Alnico magnets. Catalysts for the petroleum and chemical industries. electroplating because of its appearance, hardness, and resistance to oxidation. Drying agents for paints, varnishes, and inks. Ground coats for porcelain enamels. Pigments (cobalt blue and cobalt green). Battery electrodes. Steel-belted radial tires. Cobalt-60 has multiple uses as a gamma ray source: It is used in radiotherapy. It is used in radiation treatment of foods for sterilization (cold pasteurization). It is used in industrial radiography to detect structural flaws in metal parts. Co-60 is useful as a gamma ray source partially because it can be produced - in known quantity, and very large amounts - by simply exposing natural cobalt to neutrons in a reactor for a given time.
[edit] Use in medicine Cobalt-60 (Co-60 or 60Co) is a radioactive metal that is used in radiotherapy. It produces two gamma rays with energies of 1.17 MeV and 1.33 MeV. The 60Co source is about 2 cm in diameter and as a result produces a geometric penumbra, making the edge of the radiation field fuzzy. The metal has the unfortunate habit of producing a fine dust, causing problems with radiation protection. The 60Co source is useful for about 5 years but even after this point is still very radioactive, and so cobalt machines have fallen from favor in the Western world where linacs are common.
See what research does? Now lets say your a shrewd business person who has found new uses for this mineral so you go to Afrika and sign a $10 Mil deal with a Afrikan politician who thinks he is getting over on you, only to find $10 billion dollars later that the joke was on him That politician got played but that's business you win some and you will lose some, unfortunately for his constituents in Afrika who are suffering that was a hell of a costly mistake correct? Though all along the root cause was the researcher found a gem where others thought garbage was being stored.
Welcome to the real world, now Doug M and Masonic Rebel reads about the issue and they get at Europeans for being too shrewd.
Next couple the historical problems that occurred between Afrikans and Europeans and we get a shrewd business man will now become the root cause of a Modern day racially provactive issue. Trading is not FAIR period, that's the nature of TRADE.
The problem is not that Afrikan leaders aren't smart they just are at a disadvantage due to information. Europeans have more researchers versus Afrikans, so who do you think will win 9 times out of 10 Trades?
Next Afrika is seen as a risky place to invest so Economics dictate that a PREMIUM must be paid by Afrikans because of the Risk that investors take to invest in Afrika.
If Afrika seeks to promote peace amongst all Afrikans then a politically stable environment will attract INVESTORS, which in turn will give Afrikans more room to negotiate, because if the Country or Countries are stable then Investors won't be afraid to invest.
I personally invest in Afrika and I only invest in stable countries or NON-MUSLIM countries, because it's safer to invest like that.
This question was still never answered, so let me repeat it. WHY SHOULD EUROPEANS DEAL FAIRLY WITH AFRIKANS WHILE ARABS ARE STILL ENSLAVING AFRIKANS TODAY?
Look at the Sudan Arab run government, who stole the land of the native Afrikans and murdered over 250,000 Afrikans, displaced and forced others into forced Labor/Slavery, while Afrikan nations stood by and watched this and did nothing, excluding Tchad most Afrikan Nations did absolutely nothing to protect their fellow Afrikans.
When Europeans throw crumbs at Afrikans we see a major uproar for the crumbs yet no uproar for the injustice in Sudan, Mauritania why?
Hotep
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
doug.you are letting the europeans drive you mad. africans have a basic control of their future.you make some good points but you don't see the big picture.alot ofm oney is coming back into africa now.iy is the question toady how well this will be manage and used for the folks there. this is my concern.
I JUST GAVE you a article about nigeria making bi profits.alot of money is coming in now,but i gess you don't want to see that.africans have companies too and they are getting more successful.
nigeria has joint ventures in the oil business,they control most of their oil.that is point i am trying to tell you.the reason why the money was not getting to the people was because of heavy corruption in the past.it is less so on average and most peolpe in africa in the past few years elected their leaders,so give them credit for that.
money is coming into africa now in a bigger way now. please get updated info,not just outdated info from the right. believe me africans in black ruled states control most or control the plantation.
SOME STATES have more control that others,but all nations today are influence to some extent by each other. that is why i still disagree with you to a certain extent,but you make some points that have to be look at,but in time these things will be be solve.get it time.progress is happening.
2 steps forward,sometimes one step back,and than two more steps forward. this is life.
read those articles again carefully please. thank you.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
I edited some things below.
quote:Originally posted by kenndo: doug.you are letting the europeans drive you mad. africans have a basic control of their future.you make some good points but you don't see the big picture.alot of money is coming back into africa now.it the question today is how well this will be managed and used for the folks there. this is my concern.
I JUST GAVE you articles about nigeria making big profits.alot of money is coming in now,but i guess you don't want to see that.africans have companies too and they are getting more bigger and more successful.
nigeria has joint ventures in the oil business,they control most of their oil.that is point i am trying to tell you.the reason why the money was not getting to the people was because of heavy corruption in the 80's and most of the 90's.
It is less so on average today and most FOLKS in africa in the past few years elected their leaders NOT DICTACTORS LIKE THE RIGHT WING LIKES TO STILL CALL MANY AFRICAN LEADERS TODAY,so give them credit for that.SOME EVEN CALL MANDELA BEFORE A DICTACTOR.SEE HOW FALSE THEY COULD BE.
money is coming into africa now in a bigger way now. please get updated info,not just outdated info from the right AND SOME MISINFORMED ON THE LEFT. believe me africans in black ruled states control most or control the plantation.
SOME STATES have more control of their resources than others,but all nations today are influence to some extent by each other. that is why i still disagree with you to a certain extent,but you make some points that have to be look at,but in time these things will be be solve.get it time.progress is happening.
IWAS SURPRISE THAT AFRICANS STATES CONTROLL MOST OF THE OWN RESOURSES when i got a book about modern africa in the public library,so i can't go around anymore saying that the west controls the resourses in africa because it is not the case today.I HAD TO FACE UP TO THIS new INFO THAT I LEARN AND PLACE The BLAME IN THE PAST ON MANY OF THE AFRICAN LEADERS ,BUT THE WEST PLAYED THIER PART TOO.
TODAY IS A MORE NEW BALL GAME AND WE AHVE TO FACE THIS NEW REALITY.
2 steps forward,sometimes one step back,and than two more steps forward. this is life.
read those articles again carefully please. thank you.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
That's all folks.bye.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by Hotep2u: Greetings:
mike rozier wrote:
quote: ok, so your saying the african leaders are not very good in makeing buisness deals?
if a forein coutry offers 10 million, to make billions in one year.. (as you say)
and the african leader excepts this deal...
I guess the only logical solution is the african leader is not that bright....and the people of these countries should hold their leaders up to a higher,smarter standard?
Afrikan Leaders sometimes end up NOT making wise business deals correct, which is normal because that is how trade works some times you win sometimes you loose. This is why you can't have dictators as leaders because the world has changed and today a good governing body requires itself to be surrounded by extremely intelligent people along with top QUALITY INFORMATION.
Look at Cobalt for example:
quote: Cobalt compounds have been used for centuries to impart a rich blue color to glass, glazes, and ceramics. Cobalt has been detected in Egyptian sculpture and Persian jewelry from the third millennium BC, in the ruins of Pompeii (destroyed AD 79), and in China dating from the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907) and the Ming dynasty (AD 1368–1644)[1].
Swedish chemist Georg Brandt (1694–1768) is credited with isolating cobalt sometime between 1730 and 1737. He was able to show that cobalt was the source of the blue color in glass, which previously had been attributed to the bismuth found with cobalt.
During the 19th century, cobalt blue was produced at the Norwegian Blaafarveværket (70-80 % of world production), led by the Prussian industrialist Benjamin Wegner.
In 1938, John Livingood and Glenn Seaborg discovered cobalt-60.
The word cobalt is derived from the German kobalt, from kobold meaning "goblin", a term used for the ore of cobalt by miners, who thought it worthless and who found that it was poisonous and that it polluted and degraded other mined elements, mainly due to the arsenic and sulfur also found in the ore
A byproduct which was once taught to be useless by most miners not just Afrikans, ok MOST mining companies. Add a research institute that seeks to find other uses for this mineral and look what you discover:
quote: Alloys, such as: Superalloys, for parts in gas turbine aircraft engines. Corrosion- and wear-resistant alloys. High-speed steels. Cemented carbides (also called hard metals) and diamond tools. Magnets and magnetic recording media. Alnico magnets. Catalysts for the petroleum and chemical industries. electroplating because of its appearance, hardness, and resistance to oxidation. Drying agents for paints, varnishes, and inks. Ground coats for porcelain enamels. Pigments (cobalt blue and cobalt green). Battery electrodes. Steel-belted radial tires. Cobalt-60 has multiple uses as a gamma ray source: It is used in radiotherapy. It is used in radiation treatment of foods for sterilization (cold pasteurization). It is used in industrial radiography to detect structural flaws in metal parts. Co-60 is useful as a gamma ray source partially because it can be produced - in known quantity, and very large amounts - by simply exposing natural cobalt to neutrons in a reactor for a given time.
[edit] Use in medicine Cobalt-60 (Co-60 or 60Co) is a radioactive metal that is used in radiotherapy. It produces two gamma rays with energies of 1.17 MeV and 1.33 MeV. The 60Co source is about 2 cm in diameter and as a result produces a geometric penumbra, making the edge of the radiation field fuzzy. The metal has the unfortunate habit of producing a fine dust, causing problems with radiation protection. The 60Co source is useful for about 5 years but even after this point is still very radioactive, and so cobalt machines have fallen from favor in the Western world where linacs are common.
See what research does? Now lets say your a shrewd business person who has found new uses for this mineral so you go to Afrika and sign a $10 Mil deal with a Afrikan politician who thinks he is getting over on you, only to find $10 billion dollars later that the joke was on him That politician got played but that's business you win some and you will lose some, unfortunately for his constituents in Afrika who are suffering that was a hell of a costly mistake correct? Though all along the root cause was the researcher found a gem where others thought garbage was being stored.
Welcome to the real world, now Doug M and Masonic Rebel reads about the issue and they get at Europeans for being too shrewd.
Next couple the historical problems that occurred between Afrikans and Europeans and we get a shrewd business man will now become the root cause of a Modern day racially provactive issue. Trading is not FAIR period, that's the nature of TRADE.
The problem is not that Afrikan leaders aren't smart they just are at a disadvantage due to information. Europeans have more researchers versus Afrikans, so who do you think will win 9 times out of 10 Trades?
Next Afrika is seen as a risky place to invest so Economics dictate that a PREMIUM must be paid by Afrikans because of the Risk that investors take to invest in Afrika.
If Afrika seeks to promote peace amongst all Afrikans then a politically stable environment will attract INVESTORS, which in turn will give Afrikans more room to negotiate, because if the Country or Countries are stable then Investors won't be afraid to invest.
I personally invest in Afrika and I only invest in stable countries or NON-MUSLIM countries, because it's safer to invest like that.
This question was still never answered, so let me repeat it. WHY SHOULD EUROPEANS DEAL FAIRLY WITH AFRIKANS WHILE ARABS ARE STILL ENSLAVING AFRIKANS TODAY?
Look at the Sudan Arab run government, who stole the land of the native Afrikans and murdered over 250,000 Afrikans, displaced and forced others into forced Labor/Slavery, while Afrikan nations stood by and watched this and did nothing, excluding Tchad most Afrikan Nations did absolutely nothing to protect their fellow Afrikans.
When Europeans throw crumbs at Afrikans we see a major uproar for the crumbs yet no uproar for the injustice in Sudan, Mauritania why?
Hotep
You guys are too funny. I think some of you are PURPOSELY missing the point. The reason that the African leaders ACCEPT such deals are because they are FORCED on them. The World Bank has been LONG known to FORCE Africans into unfair trading scenarios like the one I mentioned, that BLATANTLY leave Africa at a disadvantage. It is a LIE to make this a simple tale of Africans being to DUMB to figure out how to make money off of their own resources. That is what the West and other foreigners WANT you to think. The TRUTH is that those who OFFERED the Africans 10 Million in return for Billions KNEW what they were doing before they even WENT THERE. After ALL THE YEARS OF EXPLOITATION, people STILL try to depict FOREIGN exploitation of Africans for their resources as some INNOCENT act of "shrewd" business policy by FOREIGNERS, where Africans were just too DUMB to catch on. WAKE UP! Africans are NOT DUMB! Africans had NO CHOICE in these matters. For hundreds of years Africans were FORCED off their lands, killed and maimed by Europeans and Arabs, SOLELY for access to raw materials. So HOW can you act as if Europeans are simply INNOCENT businessmen trying to make a dollar in Africa? So I guess the European and Arab SLAVE OWNERS and butchers like King Leopold of Belgium or Cecil Rhoades were SHREWD businessmen then? Stop pushing WHITE SUPREMACY propaganda and THINK for yourself. You are trying to make the poverty in Africa SOLELY the responsibility of Africans, as if FOREIGN exploitation is NOT a factor, DOES NOT exist and has NOTHING to do with Africas CURRENT economic crisis. That is PURE nonsense.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Words from the horse's mouth:
quote: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions
Listen to Segment || Download Show mp3 Watch 128k stream Watch 256k stream Read Transcript Help Printer-friendly version Email to a friend Purchase Video/CD We speak with John Perkins, a former respected member of the international banking community. In his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man he describes how as a highly paid professional, he helped the U.S. cheat poor countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could possibly repay and then take over their economies. [includes rush transcript] John Perkins describes himself as a former economic hit man - a highly paid professional who cheated countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars.
20 years ago Perkins began writing a book with the working title, "Conscience of an Economic Hit Men."
Perkins writes, "The book was to be dedicated to the presidents of two countries, men who had been his clients whom I respected and thought of as kindred spirits - Jaime Roldós, president of Ecuador, and Omar Torrijos, president of Panama. Both had just died in fiery crashes. Their deaths were not accidental. They were assassinated because they opposed that fraternity of corporate, government, and banking heads whose goal is global empire. We Economic Hit Men failed to bring Roldós and Torrijos around, and the other type of hit men, the CIA-sanctioned jackals who were always right behind us, stepped in.
John Perkins goes on to write: "I was persuaded to stop writing that book. I started it four more times during the next twenty years. On each occasion, my decision to begin again was influenced by current world events: the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1980, the first Gulf War, Somalia, and the rise of Osama bin Laden. However, threats or bribes always convinced me to stop."
But now Perkins has finally published his story. The book is titled Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. John Perkins joins us now in our Firehouse studios.
* John Perkins, from 1971 to 1981 he worked for the international consulting firm of Chas T. Main where he was a self-described "economic hit man." He is the author of the new book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is available free of charge, however donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution. Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...
AMY GOODMAN: John Perkins joins us now in our firehouse studio. Welcome to Democracy Now!
JOHN PERKINS: Thank you, Amy. It’s great to be here.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Okay, explain this term, “economic hit man,” e.h.m., as you call it.
JOHN PERKINS: Basically what we were trained to do and what our job is to do is to build up the American empire. To bring -- to create situations where as many resources as possible flow into this country, to our corporations, and our government, and in fact we’ve been very successful. We’ve built the largest empire in the history of the world. It's been done over the last 50 years since World War II with very little military might, actually. It's only in rare instances like Iraq where the military comes in as a last resort. This empire, unlike any other in the history of the world, has been built primarily through economic manipulation, through cheating, through fraud, through seducing people into our way of life, through the economic hit men. I was very much a part of that.
AMY GOODMAN: How did you become one? Who did you work for?
JOHN PERKINS: Well, I was initially recruited while I was in business school back in the late sixties by the National Security Agency, the nation's largest and least understood spy organization; but ultimately I worked for private corporations. The first real economic hit man was back in the early 1950's, Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of Teddy, who overthrew of government of Iran, a democratically elected government, Mossadegh’s government who was Time's magazine person of the year; and he was so successful at doing this without any bloodshed -- well, there was a little bloodshed, but no military intervention, just spending millions of dollars and replaced Mossadegh with the Shah of Iran. At that point, we understood that this idea of economic hit man was an extremely good one. We didn't have to worry about the threat of war with Russia when we did it this way. The problem with that was that Roosevelt was a C.I.A. agent. He was a government employee. Had he been caught, we would have been in a lot of trouble. It would have been very embarrassing. So, at that point, the decision was made to use organizations like the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. to recruit potential economic hit men like me and then send us to work for private consulting companies, engineering firms, construction companies, so that if we were caught, there would be no connection with the government.
AMY GOODMAN: Okay. Explain the company you worked for.
JOHN PERKINS: Well, the company I worked for was a company named Chas. T. Main in Boston, Massachusetts. We were about 2,000 employees, and I became its chief economist. I ended up having fifty people working for me. But my real job was deal-making. It was giving loans to other countries, huge loans, much bigger than they could possibly repay. One of the conditions of the loan–let's say a $1 billion to a country like Indonesia or Ecuador–and this country would then have to give ninety percent of that loan back to a U.S. company, or U.S. companies, to build the infrastructure–a Halliburton or a Bechtel. These were big ones. Those companies would then go in and build an electrical system or ports or highways, and these would basically serve just a few of the very wealthiest families in those countries. The poor people in those countries would be stuck ultimately with this amazing debt that they couldn’t possibly repay. A country today like Ecuador owes over fifty percent of its national budget just to pay down its debt. And it really can’t do it. So, we literally have them over a barrel. So, when we want more oil, we go to Ecuador and say, “Look, you're not able to repay your debts, therefore give our oil companies your Amazon rain forest, which are filled with oil.” And today we're going in and destroying Amazonian rain forests, forcing Ecuador to give them to us because they’ve accumulated all this debt. So we make this big loan, most of it comes back to the United States, the country is left with the debt plus lots of interest, and they basically become our servants, our slaves. It's an empire. There's no two ways about it. It’s a huge empire. It's been extremely successful.
AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. You say because of bribes and other reason you didn't write this book for a long time. What do you mean? Who tried to bribe you, or who -- what are the bribes you accepted?
JOHN PERKINS: Well, I accepted a half a million dollar bribe in the nineties not to write the book.
AMY GOODMAN: From?
JOHN PERKINS: From a major construction engineering company.
AMY GOODMAN: Which one?
JOHN PERKINS: Legally speaking, it wasn't -- Stoner-Webster. Legally speaking it wasn't a bribe, it was -- I was being paid as a consultant. This is all very legal. But I essentially did nothing. It was a very understood, as I explained in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, that it was -- I was -- it was understood when I accepted this money as a consultant to them I wouldn't have to do much work, but I mustn't write any books about the subject, which they were aware that I was in the process of writing this book, which at the time I called “Conscience of an Economic Hit Man.” And I have to tell you, Amy, that, you know, it’s an extraordinary story from the standpoint of -- It's almost James Bondish, truly, and I mean--
AMY GOODMAN: Well that's certainly how the book reads.
JOHN PERKINS: Yeah, and it was, you know? And when the National Security Agency recruited me, they put me through a day of lie detector tests. They found out all my weaknesses and immediately seduced me. They used the strongest drugs in our culture, sex, power and money, to win me over. I come from a very old New England family, Calvinist, steeped in amazingly strong moral values. I think I, you know, I’m a good person overall, and I think my story really shows how this system and these powerful drugs of sex, money and power can seduce people, because I certainly was seduced. And if I hadn't lived this life as an economic hit man, I think I’d have a hard time believing that anybody does these things. And that's why I wrote the book, because our country really needs to understand, if people in this nation understood what our foreign policy is really about, what foreign aid is about, how our corporations work, where our tax money goes, I know we will demand change.
AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to John Perkins. In your book, you talk about how you helped to implement a secret scheme that funneled billions of dollars of Saudi Arabian petrol dollars back into the U.S. economy, and that further cemented the intimate relationship between the House of Saud and successive U.S. administrations. Explain.
JOHN PERKINS: Yes, it was a fascinating time. I remember well, you're probably too young to remember, but I remember well in the early seventies how OPEC exercised this power it had, and cut back on oil supplies. We had cars lined up at gas stations. The country was afraid that it was facing another 1929-type of crash–depression; and this was unacceptable. So, they -- the Treasury Department hired me and a few other economic hit men. We went to Saudi Arabia. We --
AMY GOODMAN: You're actually called economic hit men --e.h.m.’s?
JOHN PERKINS: Yeah, it was a tongue-in-cheek term that we called ourselves. Officially, I was a chief economist. We called ourselves e.h.m.'s. It was tongue-in-cheek. It was like, nobody will believe us if we say this, you know? And, so, we went to Saudi Arabia in the early seventies. We knew Saudi Arabia was the key to dropping our dependency, or to controlling the situation. And we worked out this deal whereby the Royal House of Saud agreed to send most of their petro-dollars back to the United States and invest them in U.S. government securities. The Treasury Department would use the interest from these securities to hire U.S. companies to build Saudi Arabia–new cities, new infrastructure–which we’ve done. And the House of Saud would agree to maintain the price of oil within acceptable limits to us, which they’ve done all of these years, and we would agree to keep the House of Saud in power as long as they did this, which we’ve done, which is one of the reasons we went to war with Iraq in the first place. And in Iraq we tried to implement the same policy that was so successful in Saudi Arabia, but Saddam Hussein didn't buy. When the economic hit men fail in this scenario, the next step is what we call the jackals. Jackals are C.I.A.-sanctioned people that come in and try to foment a coup or revolution. If that doesn't work, they perform assassinations. or try to. In the case of Iraq, they weren't able to get through to Saddam Hussein. He had -- His bodyguards were too good. He had doubles. They couldn’t get through to him. So the third line of defense, if the economic hit men and the jackals fail, the next line of defense is our young men and women, who are sent in to die and kill, which is what we’ve obviously done in Iraq.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain how Torrijos died?
JOHN PERKINS: Omar Torrijos, the President of Panama. Omar Torrijos had signed the Canal Treaty with Carter much -- and, you know, it passed our congress by only one vote. It was a highly contended issue. And Torrijos then also went ahead and negotiated with the Japanese to build a sea-level canal. The Japanese wanted to finance and construct a sea-level canal in Panama. Torrijos talked to them about this which very much upset Bechtel Corporation, whose president was George Schultz and senior council was Casper Weinberger. When Carter was thrown out (and that’s an interesting story–how that actually happened), when he lost the election, and Reagan came in and Schultz came in as Secretary of State from Bechtel, and Weinberger came from Bechtel to be Secretary of Defense, they were extremely angry at Torrijos -- tried to get him to renegotiate the Canal Treaty and not to talk to the Japanese. He adamantly refused. He was a very principled man. He had his problem, but he was a very principled man. He was an amazing man, Torrijos. And so, he died in a fiery airplane crash, which was connected to a tape recorder with explosives in it, which -- I was there. I had been working with him. I knew that we economic hit men had failed. I knew the jackals were closing in on him, and the next thing, his plane exploded with a tape recorder with a bomb in it. There's no question in my mind that it was C.I.A. sanctioned, and most -- many Latin American investigators have come to the same conclusion. Of course, we never heard about that in our country.
AMY GOODMAN: So, where -- when did your change your heart happen?
JOHN PERKINS: I felt guilty throughout the whole time, but I was seduced. The power of these drugs, sex, power, and money, was extremely strong for me. And, of course, I was doing things I was being patted on the back for. I was chief economist. I was doing things that Robert McNamara liked and so on.
AMY GOODMAN: How closely did you work with the World Bank?
JOHN PERKINS: Very, very closely with the World Bank. The World Bank provides most of the money that’s used by economic hit men, it and the I.M.F. But when 9/11 struck, I had a change of heart. I knew the story had to be told because what happened at 9/11 is a direct result of what the economic hit men are doing. And the only way that we're going to feel secure in this country again and that we're going to feel good about ourselves is if we use these systems we’ve put into place to create positive change around the world. I really believe we can do that. I believe the World Bank and other institutions can be turned around and do what they were originally intended to do, which is help reconstruct devastated parts of the world. Help -- genuinely help poor people. There are twenty-four thousand people starving to death every day. We can change that.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
The whole myth of Africa as the "Dark Continent" and land of mystery is a concoction of European explorers who FIRST went there in search of raw materials. This STORY of them being LOST in the jungle full of savages and beasts is a blatant LIE meant to divert attention from what was REALLY happening. This is why you dont know about Leopold killing off 10 million congolese in search of rubber. This is why you dont hear about the thousands of African British soldiers MASSACRED over back pay from Britain. It is this sort of PROPAGANDA that continues in the modern day in the form of Africa being a "savage" continent of wars, disease and corruption, that ALSO diverts attention from what is REALLY going on. Every story on Africa that focuses on such things is designed to KEEP you from seeing the MONEY being sucked out of the country by foreigners. It is something like the wildife shows that show vast areas of Africa DEVOID of humans, but full of animals. Where are ALL THE AFRIANS? Why arent AFRICANS depicted as part of this NATURAL PARADISE? Why? Because they dont WANT you to see Africans as being part of paradise. You will NEVER see Africans depicted as living with flamingos, rhinoceros and other "fancy" beasts that Europeans prize so much. Therefore, it only is a psychological campaign to FORCE you to associate Africans with pain, suffering and death, but NOT with the glorious landscapes and wildlife of Africa. It is also the sams sort of psychological warfare that they use to SEPARATE Africans from the PROFITS being generated by resources mined by foreigners. Therefore, NEVER will you hear any WESTERN reporters talk about WHY Africans are SO POOR when so MANY FOREIGN COMPANIES are getting rich. They want to DISASSOCIATE Africans from the wealth generated by the natural resources of Africa, much as they want to dissasociate Africans from Africa as a place of beauty and wonder. All this is to try and paint TWO images of Africa, one where the AFRICANS struggle to survive amongst SAVAGERY, while Europeans live in an IDYLLIC paradise, with bounteous animal life as PROTECTORS of the environment and SHREWD businessmen trying to generate PEACE and PROSPERITY through the WISE use of natural resources. Dont let that BS fool you.
Africans can NOT be dissasociated from the beauty of Africa. Africans should NOT be kept out of the picture of a beautiful and prosperous land. Yet THAT is what Westerners and others PURPOSELY push as part of the campaign of pshycological warfare. The REAL question is WHY Africans dont have BILLIONARES and millionares who have PROFITED from the SHREWD use of their OWN resources to build companies and generate CAPITAL for African companies to meet the NEEDS of African economies. This is the ONLY scenario that will allow Africa to PROSPER and take its RIGHTFUL place amongst the whos who of the richest countries in the world. This ONLY comes from PROPER involvement of Africans in the plantations and mining activities in their OWN countries. This is the picture Africans should have of themselves, not as SEPARATE from the vision of a Africa of beauty and wealth, but PART of the picture and part of the future.
As long as foreigners can continue to use this psychological propaganda to divert attention from the fact that FOREIGNERS are taking MOST of the money from African countries, thereby leaving them BROKE, then you will ALWAYS have AFricans and others in the diaspora talking NONSENSE about "things getting better". Things will get BETTER when Africans get CAPITAL to BUILD their economies from their OWN resources and STOP giving them away for HANDOUTS and BEGGING for handouts from those who are getting RICH off of Africa's resources.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
So much promise, so little progress. Populated with creative people and filled with natural resources, Africa, one might think, should be a global powerhouse. Instead, the continent is filled with tragedy.
That doesn’t mean some people don’t prosper. In Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa’s Future, George Ayittey writes,
Only death will separate African politicians and elites from their Mercedes. In East Africa, they are called the wabenzi — men of Mercedes Benz — in Swahili.
A native of Ghana, Ayittey teaches economics at American University and is president of the Free Africa Foundation. He has long fingered rampant misgovernment in Africa as the primary reason so many people live in such desperate poverty. Africa Unchained paints a bleak portrait of the present, but Ayittey also looks to the future. He sees hope in “unleashing the entrepreneurial talents and creative energies of the real African people — the peasants.”
As an African, Ayittey obviously and genuinely shares the pain of a people ravaged by war, disease, corruption, oppression, and poverty. The effect on everyday life is everywhere obvious. He sadly writes of “steaming squalor, misery, deprivation, and chaos.”
The problem is not just relative failure, that is, the continent’s inability to grow as fast as states elsewhere have grown. Particularly shocking is the fact that many African countries have literally imploded, leaving their peoples poorer today than one, two, and three decades ago. For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa per capita GDP shrank an average of 1 percent a year between 1975 and 1999.
Ayittey discusses Ghana, which won independence in 1957, when it matched the economic development of South Korea. The former was filled with natural resources and educated professionals and had not recently suffered through a devastating war. “But 40 years later, South Korea’s income per capita is ten times that of Ghana: $4,400 versus $420,” he relates.
Immiserating poverty leads to malnutrition, inadequate education, high child mortality, poor health care, and premature death. In a world of expanding opportunity, Africans are being left behind.
What makes the picture particularly poignant is the fact that this enormous suffering has been so unnecessary. There are African success stories, such as Botswana, Mozambique, and Uganda. The first has been an island of stability and prosperity since becoming independent four decades ago. The other two have surmounted tyranny and civil war.
Success did not come easily. But good governance yielded results. Most nations, however, have not been well-governed. As Ayittey documents so effectively, Africa’s failure is a leadership failure. Africans have not been well served by those who have won their trust in the occasional election — or, all too often, who simply seized power.
Ayittey smashes ideological icons when he argues that the failure extends back to independence. Revolutionary leaders should have stepped aside, he argues, since “the skills and expertise required to wage a successful liberation struggle are not the same as those needed for successful economic development.” None were inclined to do so and more than a few were determined to cash in on their victory.
The result, detailed by Ayittey, was economic disaster. The desire to prove that the newly independent states could succeed encouraged counterproductive economic strategies: state-led socialist planning; expensive showcase projects; rapid industrialization and urbanization. As he notes, “This psychological disposition, while understandable, plunged many African countries into a development quagmire.”
Poverty, corruption, and foreign aid
Ayittey devotes two detailed chapters to the often brutal and always counterproductive economic and political policies adopted by postindependence governments. His judgment is scathing, but born out by the facts:
Africa’s postcolonial development effort may be described as one giant false start. The nationalist leaders, with few exceptions, adopted the wrong political systems (sultanism or one-party-states); the wrong economic system (statism); the wrong ideology (socialism); and took the wrong path (industrialization via import-substitution). Equally grievous, perhaps, was the low caliber of leadership. Functionally illiterate and given to schizophrenic posturing and sloganeering, the leadership lacked basic understanding of the development process.
For decades corrupt and incompetent African leaders blamed the West for their problems. They demanded — and received — large-scale aid transfers as their supposed due. But their nations’ decline continued, often accelerating.
Indeed, as Ayittey demonstrates, Western aid officials have been complicit in Africa’s decline. The donors created many problems with foreign assistance. Much was provided on the basis of Cold War political purposes rather than sensible economic rationales. Aid programs and bureaucracies rarely acted as paragons of efficiency.
However, the greatest failings came on the recipient side. Corruption was rampant. Complains Ayittey,
More maddeningly, the donor agencies knew or should have known all along the motivations and activities of corrupt African leaders and that billions of aid dollars were being spirited into Swiss banks by greedy African kleptocrats.
Even when it wasn’t stolen, “aid” often was wasted, immediately consumed, or “invested” in money-losing projects that could not be sustained. In this way “aid” often proved to be a hindrance. The abundant financial transfers enabled corrupt leaders to remain in power and follow foolish economic policies. The foreign aid subsidized the very causes of poverty in the recipient nations.
Here, too, Ayittey provides devastating detail, with individual chapters on what he terms first- and second-generation problems of governance. Both emanate naturally from “the predatory state.” Pervasive economic intervention invites corruption even as it suppresses commercial activity.
Regulation versus economic liberty
As Ayittey puts it so nicely (yet sadly), “The Byzantine maze of state controls and regulations provided the vampire elites with golden opportunities for self-enrichment.” Every failure, such as those in agriculture, led to a new round of interventions, such as price controls, causing more harm.
Ultimately, both the cause of and solution to poverty lie with the degree of economic freedom, especially for entrepreneurial peasants. Writes Ayittey,
Consensus is growing among economists that government, economic management, institutions, and economic freedom have more to do with successful economic development than natural endowments.
It is economic freedom, especially for those at the bottom of the economic ladder, that offers Africa hope. Until now, Ayittey complains, African elites have impeded development by attempting to control the “Atingas,” or peasants:
Seduced by sophisticated modern gadgetry and preoccupied with aping foreign paraphernalia, the elites seldom consider the Atingas “partners in development.” Worse, African governments run by the elites repress, brutalize, and plunder the wealth of the Atinga. How then does development occur in such an atmosphere?
It can’t. Only by removing the controls and interventions of the elites and leaving peasants free to be entrepreneurs will African nations finally move toward economic prosperity and higher standards of living.
Like a number of other recent economists studying development, Ayittey derides the endless succession of grand initiatives offered to save Africa. The answer to Africa’s problems won’t come from outside the continent. Rather, he writes, “the resources Africa desperately needs to launch into self-sustaining growth and prosperity can be found in Africa itself.”
He cites Africa’s “indigenous economic system,” with its emphasis on family and tribe in the midst of free markets and trade. Needed is a fresh start at development that places peasants, or the Atingas, “full-square at the center and starts from the bottom up, rather than the top down.” Development can proceed at the village level, assuming “there is peace, order, and economic freedom — that is, the country is not wracked by conflict and the Atingas are free to produce what they want, sell wherever they want, at whatever prices they choose to charge.” Ayittey goes on to offer some detailed steps to promote such a strategy.
For too long many Western political leaders have been afraid to speak the truth to African political leaders. Not so Ayittey:
Africa is a mess — economically, politically, and socially. Despite Africa’s vast natural resources, its people remain mired in the deadly grip of poverty, squalor, and destitution while buffeted by environmental degradation and brutal tyranny. Most Africans are worse off today than they were at independence in the 1960s. African leaders have failed Africa. African politicians have failed. African intellectuals have failed Africa, too. The failure is monumental.
Enabling Africa to switch course and fulfill its potential won’t be easy: vampire elites show no sign of wanting to give way and Western leaders have done more to impede than promote reform for years. But across Africa average people are demanding change. With Ayittey’s help, they have a better hope of tossing the wabenzi upon the trash heap of history.
Posted by lamin (Member # 5777) on :
The last post made reference to Ayitteh as some kind of noteworthy theorist on African development. First, Ayitteh is a bit of a quack who knows little about economics. Second, he is a man of palpable bad faith. How can he be pontificating about African development when he has REFUSED to return to Africa--if he doesn't think Ghana is sufficiently developed for his tastes then he can go to South Africa--to teach and do his research? I say, always put your money your money where your mouth is--if you want to be take seriously. I contrast Ayitteh with economist Samir Amin who has spent the bulk of his career in Dakar, Senegal and has published much much more, and better, than Ayitteh. Or writer Ayi Kwei Armah, also from Ghana who has never for one minute ever thought of taking up any of those high priced posts at Harvard, Cornell that have been waved before his eyes for decades. Armah has lived in Senegal for decades(see his articles in recent New Africa Magazine issues).
No need to reinvent the wheel: Africa should just follow the paths of places like Korea, Taiwan, Norway, Finland, Sweden, etc. for development models.
As I said before the problem with Africa is PSYCHOLOGICAL--especially with those individuals in leadership roles who have been trained in the West. There is this stupid unconscious belief that Western whites have all the answers. The leadership comprador class is just too ignorant, frivolous and greedy to provide the answers. It's only the students, intellectuals and masses(trade unions and other workers) who can push the giant train of development up the hill.
The blueprint for development is there and it needs is implementation. Just read Nkrumah's classic "African Must Unite" and there you have it.
But fools are just born that way: consider that while places like Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa sit on mountain loads of weaponry and idle soldiers the African Union could muster only 8,000 troops for Darfur and the shameless cowards who run those countries are now begging for millions from the whites to do basic guard duty in Darfur.
Another example: the so-called Anglophone ECOWAS nations were supposed to have launched by now a new regional currency--the ECO--that would help trade in the West Africa. Thus instead of a bunch of usless play money we would now have the CFA and the ECO. But someone in higher places--I suspect it came from Massa--has told those mental juveniles to shelve that gesture. The whole thing is just pitiful--that grown men can be so infantile and cowardly.
Another example: Many posters on this site often refer to Cheikh Anta Diop as a major African intellectual of the last 100 years. BUT VERY UNIVERSITIES IN AFRICA HAVE HIS BOOKS AND FEW STUDENTS KNOW ABOUT HIS WORKS--thanks to the intellectual laziness of the political classes in Africa.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
this should help everyones understanding of the situation in africa...
read carefully..and more inportantly, comprehend what is being said..
quote: And also we all know the big elephant in the room. The big elephant in the room is African governments. Africa has been totally mismanaged and misruled in the past decade, but nobody wants to talk about that because of political correctness. Africa's begging bowl leaks horribly. As a matter of fact, the African Union itself estimated that every year corruption alone costs Africa $148 billion. If African leaders could cut that in half, they'll find more money than what Tony Blair is trying to raise for them.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
quote: GEORGE AYITTEY: Well, it is definitely a necessary condition for many Africans because we know that the African regimes, many African regimes have failed their people and many Africans want regime change, and there are a lot of African leaders who make promises but don't carry them out.
I mean, the progress -- I mean, it is noble for the rich countries to help Africa, but then the question is: What are African leaders themselves doing to help their own people?
When Uganda got debt relief in 1999, the first item President Museveni bought was a presidential jacket for himself. I mean, look at Ethiopia, for example. Smart aid is what will empower the African people to instigate reform from within. The United States and rich countries cannot change Africa from within. It has to impose reform on Africa; it has to come from within.
And civil society people -- these are the people -- civil society groups are the people who need to monitor the aid to ensure that the aid is directed to what it is supposed to. And in order for them to do so, they need to have the space, they need to have the freedom, and they need to have the right to demonstrate, and to petition their government. They can't do that in Ethiopia; they can't do that in Eritrea; and so this is why I was cautioning that we may be repeating some of our old mistakes.
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Doug M let me repeat.
Look at the Sudan Arab run government, who stole the land of the native Afrikans and murdered over 250,000 Afrikans, displaced and forced others into forced Labor/Slavery, while Afrikan nations stood by and watched this and did nothing, excluding Tchad most Afrikan Nations did absolutely nothing to protect their fellow Afrikans.
When Europeans throw crumbs at Afrikans we see a major uproar for the crumbs yet no uproar for the injustice in Sudan, Mauritania why?
Arabs DO NOT respect Afrikans so tell me why Europeans should respect Afrikans?
Arabs use brainwashing tactics and mind control techniques to manipulate and use Afrikans, now tell me why Europeans shouldn't do the same thing Doug M?
Arabs are still to this day subjecting Afrikans to forced labor/Slavery, yet you would expect me to think that Europeans are the problem.
If Europeans decided to return $200 billion dollars to Afrika today, Arabs would take away $210 billion dollars from Afrikans tomorrow, add in a extra $10 billion dollars for Islamic charity of course. When Afrikans remove Arabs out of Afrika then Afrika will get the respect it deserves.
What Arabs get away with in Afrika, they dare not do amongst Afrikans Americans because they are well aware that if Afrikan Americans knew what Arabs do to Afrikans in Afrika all hell would break loose here in America.
Arabs are willing to pay some Afrikan American sell outs like Farakahn to cover up Arab atrocities in Afrika, do you wonder why do Arabs do that Doug M?
The news about Arab atrocities is slowly reaching the Afrikan Americans here and trust me Arabs here are dealing with the consequences.
MAN LAW NO. 1 IF ONE MAN PLAYS YOU FOR A PUNK DON'T BE SUPRISED IF ANOTHER MAN PLAYS YOU FOR A PUNK ALSO.
Hotep
Posted by ausar (Member # 1797) on :
Most of the goverment of the Sudan are Africans with Arab mixture. Some Arabs did migrate into the Sudan but took local wives and intermarried in with the population. Both northern and southern Sudanese are Africans but the northern Sudanese have adopted the arabic language and idenity. Since according to Arabs if you father is an Aran then you are to.
Also the situlation in Sudan is not always Islam vs. Christianity,for many of the people of Darfur and eastern Sudan have been victims are Muslims. The southern Sudanese get all the attention but many people who are Muslims suffer as well.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by mike rozier:
quote: And also we all know the big elephant in the room. The big elephant in the room is African governments. Africa has been totally mismanaged and misruled in the past decade, but nobody wants to talk about that because of political correctness. Africa's begging bowl leaks horribly. As a matter of fact, the African Union itself estimated that every year corruption alone costs Africa $148 billion. If African leaders could cut that in half, they'll find more money than what Tony Blair is trying to raise for them.
More propaganda. Where do these CORRUPT politicians get their money from? Certainly you are not trying to suggest that MOST of the mineral wealth of these countries is in the pockets of the government, because it isnt. The corruption that is being talked about is the corruption based on KICKBACKS from foreign companies allowed to make BILLIONS of dollars by making EXCLUSIVE deals that take resources and money OUT of Africa. Africa needs CAPITAL, not AID. Investment is not a solution for Africa. Why? Because investment does not mean GIVING Africans something for nothing in return. Investment is purely a SELFISH endeavor, designed to make WEALTHY caplitalists look GENEROUS in giving a couple of pennies to some African country while making BILLIONS on the back hand side. Investment is putting money in on the front end with the expectation of MORE in return. Therefore, it is NOT designed to GIVE Africa MORE access to the capital from the harvesting of their OWN resources. It is designed to give a RETURN, as in return on investment to those FOREIGNERS who pony up the money for development projects. Africa needs CAPITAL. Capital is NOT a loan and capital is NOT aid from the West. Capital is the EXCESS profits left over from the activities of ENTREPENEURS in the country that gets RECIRCULATED in the economy and provides SEED money to OTHER businesses to start up and make MORE profits which turns into MORE capital. This is what the foreigners are taking OUT of Africa and that is CAPITAL and that is why it is VODOO economics to think that AID will build Africa's economies to the point were they will be independent and able to COMPETE with the West. THAT is nonsense. These FOREIGN powers dont base their economic policies on receiving foreign aid. They base their policies on GENERATING CAPITAL or in other words, MASSIVE PROFITS, especially those from obtaining access to precious strategic resources in the THIRD WORLD. This ALWAYS has been the case and it is NO DIFFERENT NOW. Africa will get rich and SOLVE its economic woes once it is able to PROFIT off of its own resources, NO MORE NO LESS. Aid and handouts will NOT do the trick.
I AGREE that we need to get rid of corrupt leaders in Africa. However, we need to get to the ROOT of the problem, which is that these leaders are corrupt BECAUSE of the foreign companies that desire to continue TAKING MONEY OUT of Africa. The only way they can do this is buy PAYING OFF corrupt officials, who allow the economies of their countries to suffer while FOREIGNERS make ALL the money. So, getting rid of the corrupt officials, ALSO means getting rid of FOREIGNERS getting MOST of the money from the natural resources of Africa than Africans themselves. The two go together and to focus on the corrupt officials WITHOUT focusing on the foreign governments and companies that KEEP THEM IN POWER is to IGNORE the REAL problem and BLAME the victims for EVERYTHING. The PEOPLE want change but the foreigners and western companies DONT, so dont BLAME the people, because they have LITTLE to do with the powers who CONTROL Africa and it isnt Africans.
As for your article on the G8 and their debt releif, all I can say is DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE:
quote: These are timely questions in a summer in which Blair and Bush, their hands still wet with Iraqi blood, sought to rebrand themselves as the saviours of Africa. The G8's debt-forgiveness initiative was spun successfully as an act of western altruism. The generous Massas never bothered to explain that, in order to benefit, governments must agree to "conditions", which included allowing profit-making companies to take over public services. This was no gift; it was what the merchant bankers would call a "debt-for-equity swap", the equity here being national sovereignty. The sweetest bit of the deal was that the money owed, already more than repaid in interest, had mostly gone to buy industrial imports from the west and Japan, and oil from nations who bank their profits in London and New York. Only in a bookkeeping sense had it ever left the rich world. No one considered that Africa's debt was trivial compared to what the west really owes Africa.
Beckford's experts estimated Britain's debt to Africans in the continent and diaspora to be in the trillions of pounds. While this was a useful benchmark, its basis was mistaken. Not because it was excessive, but because the real debt is incalculable. For without Africa and its Caribbean plantation extensions, the modern world as we know it would not exist.
Europeans have NEVER given anything to Africa and if they do it is FOR something in return. NEVER believe that they are GIVING Africans ANYTHING, because they arent.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
dougie m, the eturnal victim..
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Victim of WHAT? How am I the victim when I tell the TRUTH? THAT is the victim here, when people pus h PROPAGANDA in the support of WHITE SUPREMACY which tries to BLAME Africans for all their woes and DENIES the history of GENOCIDE, SLAVERY and OPPRESSION in Africa. THAT is the victim. Anyone who tries to push NONSENSE about Africans FORGETTING the past and MOVING FORWARD without GAINING SUBSTANTIAL and IRREVERSIBLE reparations from WHITES is preaching INJUSTICE. Anyone who tries to sweep the involvement of FOREIGNERS in the DEMISE of Africans is just a LIAR, plain and simple.
All you do Mike is PARROT the propaganda pushed by the west that the FOREIGN corporations and their ALL WHITE boys club of millionaires and billionares are SAVIORS of Africa. As if WHITES NEVER did anything wrong to begin with. Save me the B.S. Mike, I dont want to hear it. Africans HAVE been suffering and will CONTINUE to suffer as long as FOREIGN corporations are allowed to PILLAGE resources from Africa with LITTLE or NO participation of Africans in the WEALTH generated by such operations. ANY economic plan that is BASED AROUND FOREIGN ownership of the MAJORITY of Africas resources and therefore the MAJORITY of the wealth in ANY African country only REINFORCES the POVERTY in Africa and is NOT a solution. The SOLUTION is Africans OWNING the MAJORITY of their OWN resources and getting the MAJORITY of the profits. Basic economics 101.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
doug, when did I ever say europeans never did anything wrong?
that would be like saying egyptians never slaughterd mass amouts of people...
the thing is doug, that was then, this is now...
let me fill you in on something..
[11] There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. [12] They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. [13] Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: [14] Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: [15] Their feet are swift to shed blood: [16] Destruction and misery are in their ways: [17] And the way of peace have they not known: [18] There is no fear of God before their eyes. [19] Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. [20] Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. [21] But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; [22] Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: [23] For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Doug M let me repeat.
Look at the Sudan Arab run government, who stole the land of the native Afrikans and murdered over 250,000 Afrikans, displaced and forced others into forced Labor/Slavery, while Afrikan nations stood by and watched this and did nothing, excluding Tchad most Afrikan Nations did absolutely nothing to protect their fellow Afrikans.
Doug M do individuals of the Dinka and Nuer tribe in the Sudan have a future today?
Doug M do Christians who live in the Sudan have a future today?
Doug M the Sudanese government is currently right Now building up weapons, why do you think the Sudanese government is building weapons?
ALTA GRACIA, Argentina (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro took his Venezuelan protege on a pilgrimage on Saturday to the childhood home of his one-time revolutionary comrade, communist icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chavez is disliked by the European power structure though he is still alive.
What does that say about White Supremacy?
Confessions of a Economic Hitman was a book written about activities in the past, today we see Afrika positioning itself for growth.
Afrikans in South Afrika have a really good future. Europeans are major INVESTORS in South Afrika today and we know South Afrika has a per capita GDP of $10,000+ which is almost as much as some Afrikan American living in America today.
Afrikans like the Dinka and some Christians living in the Sudan have NO future, their future is destined for death and destruction at the hands of ARABS and Arabized brainwashed Afrikans.
The brainwashing of Afrikans by Arabs is a atrocity by itself, do you agree or disagree Doug M?
Doug M the points you make towards unfair business practices done by Europeans in the PAST is well taken though I will advise you that the PRESENT, 2006 situation in Afrika is much better for Afrikans who are not involved with ARABS versus Afrikans who are involved with ARABS.
Sudan is a member of the Arab League, Afrikans have no future in the Sudan today, if they don't subject themselves to being brainwashed under Islam, and even acceptin Islam is not enough for a Afrikan living in the Sudan because some Afrikan Muslim from the Sudan are still sold in forced labor/Slavery. This is happening TODAY Doug M, may I repeat in 2006 a Afrikan Muslim living in the Sudan may be sold in bondage by Arabs or Arabized Afrikans.
Somalia is a member of the Arab League, Afrikans in Somalia have War and destruction staring them in the face RIGHT NOW because they are too brainwashed to think for themselves TODAY due to brainwashing effects from Arabs.
Mauritania is a member of the Arab League, we know Afrikans are subjected to forced labor/Enslavement in Mauritania TODAY. Do you understand this Doug M?
Morrocco is a member of the Arab League, we know Afrikans have no future in Morrocco because RACISM is written in to LAW there, Police in Morrocco kill Afrikans with impunity.
Libya is a member of the Arab League, Afrikans are lynched and murdered with impunity in Libya.
Doug M you seem to be trying to pull a "Fara-CON" on us because you want us to blame Europeans for dealing unfairly with Afrikans and IGNORE ARABS who have been committing these atrocities for over 1300 years, well DOUG M if you want to blame Europeans go ahead just don't move to the Sudan or Morrocco, Libya, Somalia or any country with a ARAB majority because if you are Afrikans with broad features and dark skin, your days in Arab run countries will be much more miserable and limited versus Afrikans who don't live in those countries.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
No Hotep, YOU are trying to confuse my point. I look at ALL foreign exploitation in Africa in the same light, whether it be Arab, Asian, European or anyone else.
The FACT that people keep saying that exploitation happened in the PAST is part of the problem. People do NOT understand the nature of the struggle. First off, the actions of the past set the stage for what happens in the future. The racists EXPLOIT Africa in order to make themselves the SUPREME overseers of African economics. Now the descendants of these racists are EMPLOYING Africans, ie "investment" and we are HAPPY? Happy about what? Why are we HAPPY to see more Africans JUST being able to FINALLY be able to GET PAID for working? Sure, it is better than NOT being paid, but in a REAL sense, is it progress? TRUE economic progress in Africa and TRUE FREEDOM for Africa is when Africans are not JUST WORKERS, but OWNERS of the LARGE enterprises in Africa. Being JUST WORKERS is ALL PART OF THE PLAN OF WHITE SUPREMACY. Because you are STILL JUST PUTTING MONEY IN HIS POCKET. That is the whole point. So of course, they dont HAVE to kill you off by the millions, because you will WILLLINGLY go to work for this white man to make his economic CONTROL AND POWER OVER YOU THAT MUCH STRONGER. Make no mistake, I dont call just WORKING as a WAGE SLAVE for WHITE MULTINATIONALS BUILT ON EXPLOITATION as PROGRESS. THAT is the BRAINWASHING that the WEST puts in your head and MAKES YOU BELIEVE that YOU having to WORK HARD SLAVING in some WHITE owned company is PURELY FAIR and the RESULT OF NATURAL LAW. THAT is B.S. Whites being on TOP of the economic PYRAMID is NOT NATURAL, it is based on putting FOOT IN THE ASS of the black man and TAKING IT. So stop talking NONSENSE. YOU WILL NEVER get the SAME ECONOMIC POWER as WHITES just by WORKING as a wage slave. Blacks in South AFrica should not only WORK in the mines they should OWN THE MINES. THAT would represent TRUE PROGRESS, not just Africans FOLLOWING THE BLUEPRINT established by the WHITE RACISTS like Cecil Rhoades envisioned LONG AGO, where WHITE SUPREMACY put WHITES at the TOP OF ALL HUMAN ENDEAVOR, with blacks PERMANENTLY ON THE BOTTOM, as WAGE SLAVES, not OWNERS or IN CONTROL of their OWN ECONOMIES. South Africas economy is NOT OWNED AND RUN BY BLACKS, therefore, it is NOT PROGRESS for them JUST to be getting more money from WAGE SLAVERY. South AFrica's economy SHOULD be RUN BY BLACKS, but it isnt because of APARTHEID, no amount of SPECIAL PLEADING will change that. The GOAL for BLACK South Africans should be to CONTROL South AFrica's economy, from a position ON TOP of the heap not from the BOTTOM. THAT should be the goal, not just WORKING, like all BLACK South Africans have been doing ALL ALONG. HOw is that DIFFERENT? How has anything CHANGED, except you being BRAINWASHED into THINKING it changed? Why isnt the goal CONTROLLING the wealth of the country, rather than just WORKING for chump change and NOT really getting WEALTHY? The GOAL for South African blacks should be to ADDRESS the UNEQUAL distribution of WEALTH and POWER between WHITES AND BLACKS. Remember that? Remember how THAT is why WHITES KILLED so many blacks in the FIRST PLACE? Just WORKING for these racists, is NOT going to CHANGE THE BALANCE OF POWER between WHITES AND BLACKS in South Africa. By NOT persuing a goal of BLACKS being IN CONTROL of South Africa's economy, you are IMPLICITLY SUPPORTING the OBJECTIVES of WHITE SUPREMACY, whether you LIKE IT OR NOT.
Posted by multisphinx (Member # 3595) on :
quote:Originally posted by Hotep2u: Greetings:
Doug M let me repeat.
Look at the Sudan Arab run government, who stole the land of the native Afrikans and murdered over 250,000 Afrikans, displaced and forced others into forced Labor/Slavery, while Afrikan nations stood by and watched this and did nothing, excluding Tchad most Afrikan Nations did absolutely nothing to protect their fellow Afrikans.
When Europeans throw crumbs at Afrikans we see a major uproar for the crumbs yet no uproar for the injustice in Sudan, Mauritania why?
Arabs DO NOT respect Afrikans so tell me why Europeans should respect Afrikans?
Arabs use brainwashing tactics and mind control techniques to manipulate and use Afrikans, now tell me why Europeans shouldn't do the same thing Doug M?
Arabs are still to this day subjecting Afrikans to forced labor/Slavery, yet you would expect me to think that Europeans are the problem.
If Europeans decided to return $200 billion dollars to Afrika today, Arabs would take away $210 billion dollars from Afrikans tomorrow, add in a extra $10 billion dollars for Islamic charity of course. When Afrikans remove Arabs out of Afrika then Afrika will get the respect it deserves.
What Arabs get away with in Afrika, they dare not do amongst Afrikans Americans because they are well aware that if Afrikan Americans knew what Arabs do to Afrikans in Afrika all hell would break loose here in America.
Arabs are willing to pay some Afrikan American sell outs like Farakahn to cover up Arab atrocities in Afrika, do you wonder why do Arabs do that Doug M?
The news about Arab atrocities is slowly reaching the Afrikan Americans here and trust me Arabs here are dealing with the consequences.
MAN LAW NO. 1 IF ONE MAN PLAYS YOU FOR A PUNK DON'T BE SUPRISED IF ANOTHER MAN PLAYS YOU FOR A PUNK ALSO.
Hotep
Nigga are u stupid, the arabs u speak of are Africans whom are arabized. Dont try to say whats happenin in Sudan is between arabs and Africans. Everyone who lives in Sudan is an African.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
So lets talk facts now. Some keep trolling here about how the CORRUPT politicians of Africa are RUINING the country. What happens to most of these guys once they are deposed? Many times, western governments DECRY their corruption and freeze their bank accounts, then turn that money over to the people to try and REBUILD the contry. Now look at South Africa. You had a WHOLE REGIME of corrupt government officials who made BILLIONS off the exploitation of African land, labor and resources. They get deposed and WHAT HAPPENS? NOTHING. Their bank accounts arent frozen, the money they STOLE is not redistributed the POWER they had is not TAKEN (I mean true power) and they KEEP the wealth and power they STOLE from Africa. Now you want me to see that as FAIR?
Whites CONTROL South Africa the same way whites CONTROL the U.S. South Africa is black in NAME ONLY. Blacks live MOSTLY in GHETTOES, lack access to good health care, good schools, good jobs and everything ELSE that comes with MODERN civilized society. People, especially WHITE people, want us to believe that this is the result of NATURAL forces in the environment. BULL***T. This is a result of APARTHEID. White South Africans and other FOREIGNERS live in the lap of LUXURY, surrounded by wealth, while MOST black South Africans live in squalor. Sure SOME have made it, but MOST havent. Yet you want me to believe that this is all going to be rectified PURELY by blacks WORKING their way up from the bottom? Working at McDonalds is NOT going to make you rich. Blacks in South Africa will ALWAYS be the MAJORITY of the POOR population as LONG as the WEALTH of the country STAYS in the hands of the whites. As long as whites control WHERE you live, WHERE you work, HOW MUCH you get paid, what SCHOOLS you go to, what HEALTH CARE you get, the loans you get and so on. The goal of the struggle is not to be STUCK IN THE GHETTO as PERMANENT POOR. Dont look at the few who DO MAKE it as a sign of "progress", when MOST STILL live in the ghetto. If just WORKING was the solution, then by all rights BLACKS SHOULD BE RICH, since they DID ALL THE WORK, making white s RICH while they got NOTHING. This is not just an issue of WORKING it is an issue of WEALTH distribution. On a philosophical level, if I STEAL your wallet, the ONLY solution for you getting your MONEY back is to get your WALLET back from me. NOTHING ELSE will do it. If you accept a "payment plan" where I GIVE you what I THINK you deserve from YOUR wallet in small amounts, then you ACCEPT me owning YOUR wallet and controlling YOUR money. This is the SAME as saying that blacks exploited by Whites for HUNDREDS of years are going to SIMPLY get ahead JUST by working. First, that is IMPLICIT acceptance that WHAT WAS DONE TO THEM WAS OK, in the sense that the MONEY STOLEN from the blacks through slave labor, oppression, exploitation and genocide BELONGS to the WHITES and is RIGHTFULLY THEIRS TO KEEP. Second, it accepts the idea that WORKING as WAGE SLAVES, taking crumbs in the form of PAYMENT for working will CORRECT the economic imbalance between WHITES and BLACKS. It WONT.
Why do BLACKS live in POVERTY in South Africa? How long should it take to fix that? HOW should that problem be fixed? Answer that question and you will SEE how this whole idea of blacks just WORKING will NOT change the unbalanced distribution of wealth between WHITES and BLACKS in the world. Answer those questions and you will see who is a FOOL and who understands the STRUGGLE. Until blacks are on TOP of the economy, ESPECIALLY in Africa, Africans will ALWAYS be MOSTLY the poor ghetto dwellers of the world.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Here is a test to see if you understand what I am talking about:
We have all heard in the news about Chad's government wanting to renegotiate the terms of the oil development deal made by the world bank. Of course, the West portrayed it as Chad wanting more funds for Guns and somehow being in "jeopardy" of being CORRUPT and THWARTING attempts to help the people of Chad. Yet, look at the details of the project and you will see that this is NOTHING but a smokescreen for Western countries KEEPING CHAD POOR.
Key FACTS
MOST of the investment funds are PRIVATE being made up of the following companies:
Elf Aquitaine (17.3%) ExxonMobil Corporation (34.6%) Government of Cameroon (8.5%) Government of Chad (5%) Societe Shell du Cameroun (34.6%)
Now, before we go any further, just look at how much of a percentage stake Chad and Cameroon have in this project.
Next, lets look at the financing.
Total cost: 2-3 billion dollars MOST of this is being financed by PRIVATE banks, through NORMAL loans to the oil companies and the oil companies themselves. (Make note of this). The world bank supplied ($53.4 million for Cameroon and $39.5 million for Chad) to finance the governments' equity share in the project and a $100 million loan from International Finance Corporation (IFC) to the joint-venture pipeline companies. This amounts to a measly 200 million dollars of "investment" in total dollars by the world bank to Chad and Cameroon.
Terms of the deal. Under this program, Chad and Peak oil output per day: 225,000 barrels, with Chad getting 12.5% of the yearly royalties. Now, do the math. How does 12.5% amount to a lot of money? Why cant Chad, the SOURCE of the oil get more of the profits? Why? Because BLACK Africans are supposed to be ignorant savages and unable to HANDLE big money. This is the pretext for the World Bank going in and FORCING Chad to have to get its money from an ESCROW account controlled by the World Bank. The point here is that Chad is poor. It needs to make money off of its resources to PROSPER. The world bank comes in and provides COVER for foreign companies to make BILLIONS off of Chad's oil, while using Chad's possible CORRUPTION as a SMOKESCREEN to hide this fact.
Therefore, the SOLE purpose of the World Bank in this project, was NOT to give Chad an opportunity to PROSPER, but to JUSTIFY giving Chad a SMALL percentage of the total profits of the projected revenue. The key point to remember here is that the commercial companies are CONTINUING to expand their oilfields in Chad OUTSIDE the original oilfields specified by this project. Therefore, these NEW oilfields dont fall under the rules established by the project. However, even though these NEW oilfields are being drilled OUTSIDE the original project, the percentage Chad gets of any profits is STILL 12.5-15%. TOTALLY unfair. Why is it unfair? Do the math. The TOTAL profits of 1 year's operation of this pipeline will PAY FOR ITSELF. If gas is floating at $75 dollars a barrel and you are pumping 225,000 barrels + the amount of barrels found in OTHER oilfields, that amounts to about 6 BILLION a year. That is MORE than enough to pay off the total initial investment of 3 billion a year. ANY new oilfields FOUND in Chad SHOULD be DEVELOPED by Chad owned oil companies and NOT by FOREIGN companies getting the MAJORITY of the profits. It is ridiculous to call this some sort of HELP for Africa, since it LOCKS IN FOREIGN CONTROL of CHAD's resources and FORCES Chad to get LESS than its fair share of the profits. Just going by today's crude oil prices, this project, at 225,000 barrels a day will make over 150 billion dollars in 25 years. And that is at TODAY's prices, dont even think about what happens when the oil goes above 80 dollars a barrel. Guess where MOST of that money is going. The project projects that Chad will get about 2 billion dollars in revenue over 25 years as a result. Probably more than that due to current oil prices, but either way a measly amount compared to the TOTAL profits being made.
Bottom line, this is a PERFECT example of how the World Bank RAPES Africa and USES government corruption to JUSTIFY FOREIGN companies making MORE MONEY off of Africa's resources than Africa itself and then BLAMING governments, who only get a SMALL percentage of the profits to begin with, for all the problems.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
so how much of this oil is chad, drilling, shipping and refineing?
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Doug M wrote:
quote: No Hotep, YOU are trying to confuse my point. I look at ALL foreign exploitation in Africa in the same light, whether it be Arab, Asian, European or anyone else.
All foreign exploitation is NOT the same because Arabs exploits Afrikans through a BRAINWASHING process they use Islam to brainwash Afrikans into removing their Afrikan identity then assuming a ARAB identity later these Arabs use the newly formed brainwashed Arab wannabe robot into hating and killing their fellow Afrikans by labeling one group of Afrikans as Arabs or Muslims and the other group PAGANS or Bantu, typical divide and conquer tactics.
ARAB exploitation has been going on for over 1300 years, so Doug M if you claim the BRAINWASHING of Afrikan people with Islam as being the same as using UNFAIR business practices to cheat Afrikans out of their fair share of the wealth that comes from Afrika then you Doug M is the one trying to confuse the issue.
A thief is a thief, a CHEATER is a CHEATER while a LIAR is a LIAR, they are not all the same they are different. Doug M based off the evidence you have provided then it is fair to say Europeans cheat and steal while Arabs LIE and Murder these are two different actions done by two different groups in order to exploit Afrikan people.
Afrikans suffer under European exploitation while Afrikans die or get murdered under Arab exploitation so it is in the best interest of all Afrikans to recognize the difference and deal with the MOST critical problem first.
Stop the Arabs from continuing to kill Afrikans without repercussion then you will put the Afrikans in a position to better deal with European exploitative tactics.
Doug M wrote:
quote: Now you want me to see that as FAIR?
No Doug M that is not fair that racist didn’t pay for their crimes against Afrikan people in South Afrika that were victims of Apartheid, I agree with you that some form of reparations should be paid.
Doug M Europeans do NOT control South Afrika because if they did then Mbeki would NOT be president and Affirmative Actions LAWS would not be written into their legal structure right now, here in America Affirmative Action has helped some Afrikan Americans to gain wealth, this proves that Affirmative Action laws can be used to as a deterrent against RACIST practices that could go on in business.
Doug M some times you have to give people a chance to prove themselves and Europeans in South Afrika are trying to make things better for everyone their so lets hope they succeed in creating a environment where Afrikans and Europeans can work together for the common GOOD because at the end of the day South Afrika has 45+ million people to feed TODAY.
Taking away farm land and mining companies might do more harm than good for the majority of South Afrikans, Doug M are you aware that South Afrika today has the highest standard of living for any Afrikan living in Afrika? Do you want to compare South Afrika with all its problems to the Sudan, Nigeria, etc.? South Afrika has a real future for Afrikans I wish them well. Native Afrikans make up 90% of South Afrika population so guess who will always fill the ghettos by default? Simple mathematics Doug M, here in America majority of the poor are Europeans, majority of the welfare recipients are Europeans because European Americans make up majority of the population in America.
Most native South Afrikans do NOT live in Squalor Doug M because South Afrika has a generous housing policy where they are building and selling low interest houses in order to move the Afrikans out of poor living conditions and guess what South Afrika has received so much immigration from other Afrikan countries especially Zimbabwe that the immigrants are playing a major role in the problem of Afrikans living in poor living conditions.
South Afrika is in a tight and complex situation because they are trying to solve past racial injustices and having to confront the aftermath of Mugabes harsh position in Zimbabwe, so it’s a situation of your damned if you do and damned if you don’t right now, so we have to give the process some time to fix itself because Europeans took 300 years to get to where they are in South Afrika today the process of brutal oppression wasn’t overnight so the solution will NOT happen overnight Doug M.
The South Afrikan government has given up until 2014 to bring about the country where at least 30% of all businesses in South Afrika are OWNED by native Afrikans. Let’s hope that the South Afrikans who obtain wealth use it WISELY and don’t waste the opportunity, lets hope they help the poor amongst their own community and not give away the wealth with materialistic pursuits.
Doug M let me share something with you a couple of years ago Botswana tried to take a strong position in the diamond industry meaning they tried to take over the Debeers by selling diamonds of their own and cheaper, what the Debeers did was counter this move by flooding the market with diamonds which drove prices down to a point where Botswana was losing money from it’s venture, as a result Botswana conceded defeat and began working back with the Debeers because that’s business you win some and you lose some.
Botswana today has a good economy where its people are living decent even though Botswana also has to deal with the wave of migrants from Zimbabwe because of the position that Mugabe took.
Botswana and South Afrika feels the pressure from Zimbabwe issues, these countries have people to feed so they have to do the best they can Doug M. Racial problems between Afrikans and Europeans are a big problem today in Afrika and ARABS exploit these problems to the fullest in order to spread Islam, so you have Arabs who feed off Racial problems between Europeans and Afrikans by promoting tough talk and so called sympathy towards Afrikans only to use these problems as a way to brainwash Afrikans into rebelling against Racism by accepting Islam of course and this is the way the GAME is played against Afrikans, because Afrikans lose any way you look at it.
Doug M wrote:
quote: Terms of the deal. Under this program, Chad and Peak oil output per day: 225,000 barrels, with Chad getting 12.5% of the yearly royalties. Now, do the math. How does 12.5% amount to a lot of money? Why cant Chad, the SOURCE of the oil get more of the profits? Why?
Doug M Chad did NOT put up the billions needed to dig for the Oil the Corporations did, if Chad doesn’t like the deal don’t sign leave it alone.
Quote:
quote: LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - The start of production at Exxon Mobil's (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Maikeri field could help boost Chad's oil output to 200,000 barrels per day by the end of the year, up 30,000 bpd from 2005, the country's oil minister said on Tuesday. Oil Minister Mahamat Nasser Hassane also reiterated that the country's output could rise to 400,000 bpd in about five years. "If everything works normally, we think we can achieve 400,000 barrels per day," Hassane told Reuters on the sidelines of an oil conference in London. The new Exxon field Maikeri, which the government recently allowed to commence production, could add up to 40,000 bpd to the country's output, he added. Oil revenues account for 87 percent of government revenues in Chad, one of the world's poorest countries Chad only produces 200,000 barrels per day now lets understand the Corporation took many RISK when it made this deal because the BILLIONS needed to build the rigs came from the Corporations
Doug M let me give you a secret; the lowest position an Afrikan can become is a Muslim Afrikan. A Muslim Afrikan is destined to poverty because most people are scared of Muslims period and don’t want to do any business with Muslims and definitely not a Muslim + Afrikan two lower caste positions so even before Chad comes to the negotiating table they are in a losing position trust me.
Risk taken were
Chad has a high Muslim population, Muslim Afrikans are brainwashed and unstable plus they are prone to war so at any time a war might occur and this could cause this Oil Company to lose most if not all the money it invested because some crazy Muslim could blow it all up.
Chad is close to Libya another Muslim country who also doesn’t like Afrikans so the idea of Arabs seeing Afrikans gaining wealth stimulates JEALOUSY amongst Arabs which will promote Arab aggression towards Chad, this spells WAR RISK.
Chad is close to the Sudan another Muslim country with an ongoing Civil war that could spread at any moment over the border, this spells WAR RISK.
Most Insurance Companies are going to charge a high premium to insure this Corporation doing business in Chad because it’s a stupid investment because of the WAR RISK.
Next you have unruly Afrikans might strike at any moment because they are mad about the politics that exist in the country this spells, low productivity plus WAR RISK.
Doug M the RISK outweigh the rewards for the investment when you look at the environment plus OIL prices are not stable, 6 years ago Oil was selling at under $20/ barrel, so the prices we see today will not last for 25 years trust me.
Doug M I’m not condoning the theft of profits I’m just asking you to look at the facts involved because just as we look at the Risk so do the Corporations that do these deals, sure enough look what happened in Chad, Libya attacked and the A.U. or (Arab hijacked Union) did NOTHING as we would expect the Arab Union in Afrika did absolutely nothing they left Chad to dry. Lets drop the A.U. meaning Afrikan Union nonsense because the facts show the A. U. is controlled by Arabs today, so the A.U. means ARAB UNION. Lets get back to the issue now Chad gets help because the Corporation had to protect it’s interest so we can assume some calls were made to the right people and the weapons came in to help Chad WHOOP Libya.
Trust me those weapons cost the poor people in Chad because when Chad could have been using those crumbs to build the Economy of the country funds had to go towards fighting off ARAB invaders from Libya, Doug M did Libya help Chad by raging war on a poor Afrikan country that was already being raped?
Europeans kicking Chad in the stomach next ARAB Libya comes in and knocks Chad over the head with War Clubs and Doug M only looks at the Europeans involvement.
Doug M It’s a tag team match up because the minute Chad defeats Libya what happens next the Sudanese refugees numbering 2.5 million flood the country because they are running from the ARABICIZED brainwash Afrikans living in the Sudan who were acting like the robots they are by seeking to kill and destroy Christians and Animist (so called Pagans) Arab controlled Divide and Conquer tactics at work.
Now we also can’t forget that the other Afrikan nations stand by and do NOTHING to end the problem that Chad faces.
Though that wasn’t the end of the problem because the Sudan decides to attack Chad just as the RISK assessment probably figured and as usual the other Afrikan countries stand by and watch as Chad just gets abused from every single direction and we wonder why Chad today is one of the poorest countries in the world.
AFRIKANS must remove the Arabs they have to go, Afrikans must deal with the Arabs because they are causing too much TROUBLE. When Afrikan Nations goes to War with Arab countries that’s when Afrikans will begin to prosper because ARABS are costing Afrika, LIVES and progress. Doug M war cost money plus its bad for business so it will cost countries in Afrika also, a business has to assess the risk it takes to mine those resources and in the end if the risk is high then the country loses, the solution to this problem is for Afrikan countries to stabilize politically or mine their own resources.
Europeans benefit when they don’t deal unfairly with Afrikans though in the end Afrikans have to remove the ARAB risk because they can’t afford the premium that it cost Afrikan people.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Hotep, thanks for the reply, but let me say this up front. While I am talking about EUROPEAN exploitation in Africa, that does NOT mean that I do not AGREE that ARABS are also a MAJOR source of problems in Africa. It just so happens that I am focusing on the European exploitation, since MANY still dont believe it STILL exists.
Why are you so SYMPATHETIC to the whites? Do you feel sorry for them? I never said I was PRO Arab. I am PRO BLACK AFRICAN, period. You keep trying to turn this into a issue that it isnt. I want Africans to get MOST of the profit from any economic activity in Africa. The ONLY reason they are NOT getting the MAJORITY of the profits from economic activity in Africa is because of colonialism and racism. First off, Africans deserve REPARATIONS for the hundreds of years of whites BLATANTLY using Africa to get rich. Yes, I WANT to take Whites off the TOP of the economic heap. I want BLACKS to be the richest people in Africa. I want BLACKS to have the most money in Africa. I am not racist, but I have no problem saying this because of the history of racism and exploitation in Africa.
Debeers should be GONE and replaced by an African owned company. And Debeers is a CARTEL, based on the SOLE CONTROL of distribution of African diamonds by WHITE South Africans, Europeans, Arabs and Israelis. Taking BILLIONS from blacks, yet you are on DEBEERS side? The example of Debeers DEVALUATING the price of DIAMONDS is EXACTLY the problem. The PROBLEM is that Debeers is NOT PLAYING FAIR, has NEVER played fair and WILL NOT PLAY FAIR WITH PROFITS FROM DIAMONDS. Debeers is the most racist monopoly on the face of the earth and YOU act as if you SUPPORT their tactics as being FAIR. They dont WANT anyone to get money from diamonds EXCEPT THEMSELVES. The idea that diamonds are RARE is a LIE invented by Debeers in the FIRST PLACE, to DRIVE UP the price of diamonds. THEY concocted the add campaigns that made diamond rings a sign of engagement and a "womans' best friend". Then they TOOK control of MOST diamond production in African countries through OVERT and COVERT operations that killed and destroyed countless African communities to BUILD the cartel so that they could CONTROL the diamond trade and KEEP diamond prices HIGH. So Hotep, NOTHING about Debeers is based on TRUE economics of fair trade. It is purely based on exploitation, racism and market manipulation. WHY do you support them? I think you are NAIVE in that you buy the SOB STORIES and CROCODILE TEARS of Europeans who are ALWAYS shown on Western T.V. as SUFFERING because of the blacks taking the land or taking something from the whites. Dude, I dont feel sorry for whites after all their years of exploitation and their stories of "suffering" are meaningless to me.
South Africa's population is 50% poor and yes it has the highest standard of living in Africa for WHITES and INDIANS, who make up less than 10% of the population. The problem of South Africa, just like the problem in MOST of Africa with Africans and poverty is UNFAIR distribution of WEALTH due to RACISM and OPPRESSION, whether it be Arab, European or ANYONE ELSE. MARKET FORCES will not SOLVE the problem because MARKET FORCES did not CREATE the problem. The PROBLEM was caused by foreigners PURPOSELY taking MOST of the land and resources from Africans and USING them to get RICH to the DETRIMENT of the blacks. Therefore, the ONLY way for blacks to get ahead is to FIRST acknowledge that these foreigners OWE them a GREAT DEAL and DEMAND reparations. The WHOLE FARCE of this exercise of peace and reconcilliation between Africans and the former colonialists, is that EVERY TIME, the Africans are NEVER EVER paid reparations. In fact, the it is the COLONIALISTS are paid off. So the COLONIALISTS prosper EVEN MORE and the Africans are left looking STUPID. Land has to be PAID FOR by the government of South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe before it can be given BACK to the Africans, they cant just TAKE it and DEMAND a percentage of the profits earned by the farm based on its years of existence during colonialism (even though many have PURPOSELY changed hands since the colonial period, to make these NEW owners seem like INNOCENT victims of African land grabs, while the TRUE racists get away with the money). Why should Africans have to PAY to get back the land STOLEN from them? Africans should NOT have to start on a farm given to them with NO MONEY. They should get LAND AND MONEY in order to make this whole exercise WORK. This WHOLE process of peace and reconciliation is RIGGED in favor of the foreigners. It is just CONTINUED exploitation, which MOST of us who are BRAINWASHED beleives is progress.
Market forces will not HELP address economic inequality UNLESS Africans OWN the businesses and make MOST of the profits from economic activity. Modern capitalism is based on PROFITS. PROFITS go to the OWNERS of the company, not the workers. The BOSS and the TOP EXECUTIVES get MOST of the money. Workers get VERY LITTLE, compared to those at the top. THEREFORE, the disparity is in how many black Africans are at the TOP of the company, CEO and UP, BOARD OF DIRECTORS and other TOP EXECUTIVE POSITIONS. Just being the stock boy does NOTHING. Therefore, to TRULY use the market to redress the legacy of exploitation, Africans MUST take over the means of production and OWNERSHIP or MAJORITY STAKE in the major enterprises of the country. Next, they have to BUILD a SUPPORT SYSTEM. Colonists in Africa did not just take LAND from Africans, they built support systems to maintain and prosper on the land. These support systems were CRITICAL to the success of these operations. Just GIVING the land to Africans, with no money and no SUPPORT SYSTEM in place is MEANINGLESS and is an excercise in futility. Colonists had HELP from the colonial NATIONS from which they came to BUILD their support system. Therefore, Africans must build SUPPORT SYSTEMS to make African farms and other enterprises BENEFICIAL to them. You need seed distribution, water distribution, disease control, mechanical equipment, technical knowledge, agricultural knowledge and other forms of SUPPORT to prosper in these endeavors.
Trust me, the FACT that reparations are NOT being paid is DIRECTLY a result of the colonialists making sure that THEY would stay on TOP of Africans in positions of economic POWER and ENSURE the longevity of WHITE SUPREMACY. This leaves blacks in South Africa and elsewhere bickering among EACH OTHER as to WHY they are still poor even though colonialism and apartheid is over:
quote: In per capita terms South Africa is an upper-middle-income country, but despite this relative wealth, the experience of most South African households is of outright poverty or of continuing vulnerability to being poor. In addition, the distribution of income and wealth in South Africa is among the most unequal in the world, and many households still have unsatisfactory access to education, health care, energy and clean water. This situation is likely to affect not only the country’s social and political stability, but also the development path it follows: countries with less equal distributions of income and wealth tend not to grow as rapidly as those with more equitable distributions. This Poverty and Inequality Report (PIR) reviews the extent and nature of poverty and inequality in South Africa, and assesses the current policy framework for the reduction of both. It attempts to provide clear conceptual and practical guidelines concerning the issues which need to be taken into consideration in the formulation of policy, its implementation, and when monitoring its impact.
The approach to reducing poverty and inequality
The approach adopted by the PIR is based on breaking the forces that have perpetuated poverty, while promoting income, wealth and opportunity. It is based on the following assumptions:
* economic growth and human development are linked, and should enhance quality of life; * this is best achieved through advancing the capabilities of disadvantaged communities, households and individuals by improving their access to assets, both physical and social; * having established a framework for short-term macroeconomic stability, government should place increasing emphasis on redistributive measures; * to achieve this, a more assertive role will be required by government in facilitating the transfer of assets and services from the wealthy to the poor, matched by market, institutional and spatial reforms benefiting the less well-off; * the collection of social, economic and demographic information to monitor the extent and nature of change is a priority in managing the reduction of poverty and inequality.
Expansion of capabilities focuses on the relationship of people to the resources they have and the commodities they require when meeting their basic sustenance requirements. The important elements in this are: (1) the assets, claims and resources that are available to people; (2) the activities they have to undertake in order to generate a sustainable livelihood; and (3) the commodities and services they require for an acceptable standard of living. Different policy options can impact on different elements within this system: for example, land reform could increase the availability of land for small-scale farming, while reforming financial markets could facilitate the actions required to produce a crop.
Experience has shown that unqualified reliance on market forces to allow the benefits of economic growth to ‘trickle down’ to the poor is not effective where the underlying institutional context has remained the same. In South Africa, while many of the institutional requirements for efficient markets are present, institutional discrimination has meant that many markets remain strongly influenced by existing positions of power and influence. Policy to reduce poverty and inequality therefore has to take into account the complementarity between different kinds of assets and the nature of the markets in which they are exchanged.
While economic growth contributes to poverty reduction, it may not necessarily reduce inequality. Further, there is evidence that countries starting off with significant inequality experience lower growth rates than others because lack of access to physical, financial and human assets constrains poor people from participating effectively and efficiently in the economy. By contrast, the Newly-industrialised Countries (NICs) of East Asia experienced rapid economic growth which was associated with interventionist government policies to achieve more equitable human resource development. In South Africa, it seems likely that the perpetuation of extreme inequality will constrain achievement of government’s ambitious economic growth targets.
Posted by lamin (Member # 5777) on :
Doug M you make informative points. But explain why a place like Nigeria with barrels of petrodollars flowing in daily cannot solve such basic and elementary problems such as 24 hour electricity and pipe-borne water? Abuja is a nicely built-up place but the majority of Nigerians don't live there. I was listening to BBC just a few days ago and there was a discussion on corruption, and the electricity and water problem came up. One of Nigerian guests complained that there has no electricity in her area of Lagos for a very long time, etc., etc. IS THE PROBLEM PSYCHOLOGICAL? LACK OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA? JUST PLAIN ALIENATION? IGNORANCE? After all electricity generation is an old technology--with us for more than 100 years. And the brainwashed Nigerian "elite" has been sending its members to be trained overseas now for decades. What is the point of all that if basic technologies just cannot be effectively implemented?
The answer given by the Nigerian panelist was that the funds budgeted for eletrical energy are simply siphoned off. If true, then what causes that kind of blatant irresponsibility?
To HOTEP:
I look at Sudan TV by way of a satellite here in West Africa. It's Channell 43 on my programme list--and as far as I see the people there--with fanciful Arab names and all speaking Arabic as their language--are all very black. I even saw a youth football(soccer) game on TV yesterday and everybody was--well--just black as the people of Northern Nigeria(Hausa and Fulanis).
The problem is that the black?African has no self generated modern identity to present to the world. All black/African identities have been created and imposed by others--and all are embraced as if they were self generated. Think of anything cultural today that Africans/blacks embrace and you will see that they are phony and fake: nationality(just think of that stupid conflict in Ivory Coast about who is a "real" Ivoirian and who is not. The leading ideologue in all this is President Gbagbo himself--and the man, of all things, is a historian in Africa), religion--Christianity and Islam for which people in Northern Nigeria and other parts go crazy over.
So does this alienation explain the weird and crazy behaviour of African/black governments and people all over Africa and in overseas Africa(this "diaspora" term is just so phony)?
Doug M argues that the solution is for Africans to disposses the usurping Europeans and others of their strangleholds on the economies and resourecs of Africa. So why don't the African officials just do it! What's holding them back? Ignorance, fear(of what?), being just brainwashed, etc.?
I witnessed the AU conference here in Gambia a couple weeks back. Apart from the presence of Hugo Chavez--who spoke--I was struck by the fact that nations like Haiti and Jamaica have never requested membership in the AU when such off-shore places like Mauritius, Madagascar and Comores are members. The Arab league has members on both continents--Africa and Asia. The Commonwealth has eager members from all over the world where the British plundered, killed and enslaved--with even places like Mozambique(ex-Portugese colony) joining up. Alienation? An unwillingness of the African/blackman to look at himself straight in the mirror and ask: "what am I"?
All this ties in with Egyptsearch because one of its functions has been to seek to answer the question of Africa--the another twist on the riddle of the Sphinx.
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
quote:Originally posted by Hotep2u: All foreign exploitation is NOT the same because Arabs exploits Afrikans through a BRAINWASHING process they use Islam to brainwash Afrikans into removing their Afrikan identity then assuming a ARAB identity later these Arabs use the newly formed brainwashed Arab wannabe robot into hating and killing their fellow Afrikans by labeling one group of Afrikans as Arabs or Muslims and the other group PAGANS or Bantu, typical divide and conquer tactics.
Tell me Hotep, other than the Northern Sudanese, what Mulsim Africans do you know who are brainwashed to deny their black African identity??
I know many Somalis and NON of them ever make claims to being Arab. The same goes for some West African Hausas I know who are also traditionally Muslim.
There are Somalis who post on this board and have you noticed that they seem very interested in things like the Land of Punt in which some of whom claim to in their homeland. They also seem interested in the connections between their heritage and the Egyptians. Yet at the same time they are also proud of being Muslims.
Multisphinx is an Egyptian who is extremely adament about his people being black Africans and their ancient civilization being African and gets sick and tired of claims saying otherwise, yet he is a proud Muslim.
Tell me, since when does being Muslim mean being "brainwashed" into being Arab??
You realize that there are many Muslims in Asia and yet non of them ever claim to be Arab. I even have a few relatives who are Muslims.
It's one thing to be angry about the situation in Sudan but it's another thing to hold such a view on Muslims in general.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by lamin: Doug M you make informative points. But explain why a place like Nigeria with barrels of petrodollars flowing in daily cannot solve such basic and elementary problems such as 24 hour electricity and pipe-borne water? Abuja is a nicely built-up place but the majority of Nigerians don't live there. I was listening to BBC just a few days ago and there was a discussion on corruption, and the electricity and water problem came up. One of Nigerian guests complained that there has no electricity in her area of Lagos for a very long time, etc., etc. IS THE PROBLEM PSYCHOLOGICAL? LACK OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA? JUST PLAIN ALIENATION? IGNORANCE? After all electricity generation is an old technology--with us for more than 100 years. And the brainwashed Nigerian "elite" has been sending its members to be trained overseas now for decades. What is the point of all that if basic technologies just cannot be effectively implemented?
Do you know the HISTORY of Nigeria? Why do people want to start the story at the END of the book? Anyway, just how much money is Nigeria making?
Nigeria has the LARGEST population in Africa. Nigeria has about 125 billion dollars in gdp from 2005.
Do the math. You CANNOT expect the population of Nigeria to have the SAME amount of money per person as a country like Saudi Arabia. The Saudi population numbers at 27 million. Saudi Arabia had about 350 Billion in GDP from 2005.
Do the math. The only reason Saudi Arabia is considered a RICH country is because they have such a SMALL population in comparison to the amount of REVENUE received on a yearly basis. If Saudi Arabia had the SAME population as Nigeria, it WOULD NOT be considered a rich country. On top of that Saudi Oil has been for a LONG time OWNED by the government and even when they DID privatize it, the private company that took over was RUN by Saudi Princes. So calling the situation in Nigeria a situation based PURELY on corruption is not looking at the whole picture. If you ONLY have a limited amount of resources, NO REAL ECONOMY and a LARGE population, then you WONT have a whole lot of money to begin with. Therefore, whatever corruption that exists will be AMPLIFIED because of the LIMITED resources in the country. Wealthy countries are wealthy BECAUSE of the ability of companies run by their citizens to profit off of resources on FOREIGN soil. If the Western countries had to SOLELY depend on the resources WITHIN their borders, they WOULD NOT be rich. In RICH countries, the corruption goes unnoticed because there is SO MUCH money to begin with. We all question Dick Cheney's, George Bush's and Condoleeza Rice's connection to the OIL industry, but other than the FOREIGN POLICY implications, most consider it as the ULTRA rich getting ULTRA richer and not directly impacting their DAILY ability to EARN money. The KEY to that is the fact that Western countries have an economy OUTSIDE the oil sector and does NOT depend SOLELY on oil to survive. Therefore, no matter IF George, Dick and Condy are making millions in kickbacks, MOST Americans wont FEEL a pinch on their pocketbooks DIRECTLY, since they KNOW that the economy is big enough to spread the wealth around. At the same token however, it does make many feel, both IN and OUTSIDE the that the government of the U.S. has a foreign policy that IS based on oil and profits on oil have a HUGE part to play in many of the American political decisions. But of course, that does NOT come into play when talking about poor Nigeria.
As a comparison to the GDP of Nigeria, the total revenues for Shell Oil were 307 billion dollars in 2005. Where do you think this money comes from? Foreign oil deposits of course.
Now last but not least, lets look at the U.S. The U.S. GDP in 2005 was 12 TRILLION dollars. The population of the U.S. is about 300 million. Do the math. Thats a lot of money that can dissappear do to corruption at ALL levels with NOBODY noticing.
While I do agree that Nigeria has problems with corruption, I think that MANY are UNFAIRLY judging Nigeria and MANY African countries and NOT looking at the ABILITY of these countries to get MORE MONEY from their OWN resources and not just a mere percentage. Western countries are rich PRECISELY because of their abiliti to EXPLOIT other people's land, labor and resources for their OWN profit. This is what allowed the industrial revolution to occur. It was NOT just intellectual activity, it was the ACCESS to CHEAP raw materials extracted from COLONIAL holdings and CHEAP labor in the form of SLAVERY that generated the HUGE profits that allowed Western industrialists to EXPAND and DIVERSIFY. An even BETTER example is South Africa. The Whites took the MONEY generated by the mines and farms in South Africa to finance the development of industry and banking. These in turn were used to finance EXPANSION of South African WHITES in into NEARBY countries like Namibia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. This in turn allowed them to make even MORE in profits from the exploitation of the resources in these countries. Therefore large prosperous economies are NOT build from depending on the resources in your OWN borders and having JUST enough to cover your debts and fiscal obligations. Large prosperous economies are built on EXCESS profits that go into the BANKING system and is used to FINANCE economic activity. Without EXCESS profits to generate CAPITAL and make economic activity POSSIBLE, there is NO WEALTH. Therefore, it is IMPOSSIBLE to expect countries in Africa, who SOLELY depend on one or two PRIMARY exports, have a HISTORY of exploitation that TOOK money from them, have NO economies and NO infrustructure and only get a SMALL perentage of total revenue from their resources to BE PROSPEROUS. Like I said earlier, if Europe and America were JUST limited to the resources in their OWN borders, they would NOT be rich. Especially if you expect these countries to MAGICALLY become wealthy within 20 years of gaining INDEPENDENCE from the west and IGNORE the fact that MANY of the corrupt governments and MUCH of the political stability is SUPPORTED by Western interests. Lets not forget that the U.S. SUPPORTED Obasanjo for a LONG time.
Now lets look CLOSELY at this corruption: General Abacha, the former president of Nigeria, supposedly took about 5 billion dollars from Nigeria. His rule lasted about 5 years. That amounts to 1 billion a year. While I am NOT saying I support corrupt governments in Africa, I AM saying that 5 billion over five years is NOT enough to TURN Nigera into a RICH country either. That is RIDICULOUS. And the government DID get 2 billion of it back, but how much of a difference did it make? And lets not forget the REASON why these GENERALS were put in place in the FIRST place, the Cold War.
So, while I AGREE that corruption is BAD for Africa, I disagree that it is the SOLE reason for Africa's poverty. MOST of Africa's poverty and economic woes STILL trace back to the racist exploitation of Africa for its resources, including the activities of Western Governments and their companies. This CORRUPTION is an excuse for Westerners to CONTINUE meddling in the economic affairs of Africa, EXPLOITING their resources, while using CORRUPTION as a cover. After all the years of supporting people like MOBUTU, the EPITOME of African corruption, in the first place. Learn history and dont start at the END of the book. Not only that, lets not forget that BRITAIN was a STAUNCH supporter of Aparthied South Africa for a VERY LONG time and it is the BRITISH economic interests in South Africa that are the REASON behind that B.S. truth and reconcilliation plan that FORGAVE the racists for all their SINS and LEFT them with all the money, in order to PROTECT British economic interests.
The funny thing is after all of that talk of the BILLIONS Mobutu stole from Africa, they ONLY found about 4 million in Swiss Banks..... Of course, I hope you dont beleive that this is in the pockets of AFRICANS, corrupt or otherwise.
quote: doug.you are letting the europeans drive you mad.
No he’s not Doug is on Point
Nice spin though
Question are some of you here trying to convince us that a small group who are not even indigenous to Africa for example theDe Beers Company controlling 80% of African diamonds is good for Africans?
No Indigenous Africans at this party
The same De Beers who originally help imprison Nelson Mandela in the first place under the Apartheid system
Shrewd business people is an understatment
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Let me explain how the VODOO economics system is KEEPING Africa poor.
As I said repeatedly in my posts, Africa needs access to CAPITAL. Capital is EXCESS profits from various economic ventures which is used as the BASIS of the banking system, which, in turn, is the basis of the ECONOMY. In ANY history book, the WEALTH of the U.S. economy starts with TRADE and BANKING. Trade in resources (stolen of course from the Indians) and equipment generates wealth for the traders who deposit money in banks. These banks becomes INSTITUTIONS of STATE, allowing the FINANCIAL interests of the country to be developed. But the KEY here is that the BANKS only have as much as is deposited, so without EXCESS money from exploiting OTHER peoples land and resources, like the Indians and so forth, there wouldnt BE finances for tremendous growth.
Now. Here we have Africa. MOST African countries do NOT have their own Banks and the banks they do have DONT have a lot of CAPITAL. THEREFORE, without CAPITAL, they CANNOT stimulate the indigenous BUSINESS sector to GO OUT and MAKE MORE MONEY. So, everything in MOST African countries depends on FOREIGN banks. Most FOREIGN banks, especially COMMERCIAL banks, will NOT make direct loans to FOREIGNERS, especially Africans. MOST banks are institutions of STATE, meaning they are SOLELY for the advancement of the PROFITS of economic interests WITHIN the country, not FOREIGNERS. Therefore, they are USED to PROMOTE the expansion of economic interests into overseas markets, which promotes MORE profits and MORE capital for the COUNTRY, which puts MORE money in the banking system. So, Africans wanting to develop MAJOR industries or do MAJOR construction, have to rely on guess who? The World Bank. The World Bank is basically a consortium of the BIGGEST banking interests from the largest economies in the world. So it is INHERENT in the World Bank, in its VERY EXISTENCE to PROMOTE the interests of the BANKING SYSTEMS, meaning FOREIGN BUSINESS INTERESTS, of the countries involved in it. Therefore, any LOAN or AID gotten from the World Bank will ALWAYS have STRINGS attached. These STRINGS almost ALWAYS involve allowing COMPANIES from the countries INVOLVED in the World Bank, to expand their ECONOMIC INTERESTS in the economy of the country GETTING the aid. Most times this GUARANTEES that the FOREIGNERS are getting MORE from the AID than the COUNTRY that NEEDS it. So it is NOT really aid. In all reality the World Bank is a BROKER or FRONT company for FOREIGN firms, making sure FOREIGNERS have UNFAIR advantage over third world economies, which allows FOREIGNERS to take MUCH NEEDED resources FROM the developing world, all the while making it look like they are giving AID. And it is MOSTLY built around the legacy of RACIST exploitation of native populations for MONEY. THEREFORE, Africans just cant GET the same access to CAPITAL that whites get. So they cannot engage in the SAME level of economic activity as WHITES. But of course, the World Bank and other FOREIGN interests dont MENTION access to capital when they talk about the DEVELOPING world. And if they do, it is almost ALWAYS tied to some "plan" that generates MORE money for THEM than the country they are SUPPOSEDLY trying to help. Africans need UNFETTERED, NO STRINGS ATTACHED, access to capital, the same way some FOREIGNER who goes to Africa has ACCESS to CAPITAL from banks in their home countries. THIS would allow Africans to COMPETE and GAIN from growth in the economy, since they would be participating as ENTREPENEURS not as just LABORERS. They cant COMPETE with foreign businesses, coming into the country with all sorts of access to CAPITAL from their home countries. This puts Africans at a DISADVANTAGE in the global economy, keeping them from making the LARGE profits that they COULD make from their own economies. But that is WHAT THE FOREIGNERS WANT.
When foreigners talk about "investment" in Africa, they are talking about SUPPORTING FOREIGN business activities in Africa that make MORE money than Africans. This "investment" is not going directly to Africans, it goes to the COMPANIES and INDIVIDUALS, who in turn use it to FINANCE business activity which GENERATES profits for the COMPANIES and INDIVIDUALS involved and a RETURN for the original investors. THEREFORE, it takes money FROM Africa, keeping Africans AWAY from the CAPITAL and MONEY they need to finance their OWN economic interests. Economic activity in Africa is mainly a LOPSIDED affair, with foreign companies and minority white owned interests making the MAJORITY of the money. Africans dont HAVE the wealth, power and PRESTIGE from years of COLONIAL exploitation, military strength or economic depth to PROTECT their own interests. Most times, they are EMERGING from ONE crisis or another, either wars, colonial rule, despotic governments or something else, that FORCES them to TAKE whatever "aid" is being offered, whether the "aid" is really "aid" or not. THIS is why wars, disease and despotic governments have LONG been associated with FOREIGN influence, since it ALLOWS foreigners to CONTINUE to manipulate Africa for its OWN interests and Africas DETRIMENT.
Case in point, when was the last time you saw an African become a successful OIL tycoon, FARMER or some such OTHER entrepeneur based on corruption, warfare or some other sort of exploitation? NEVER. Whenever WHITES get involved in any sort of rebellion, exploitation or corruption, there is almost ALWAYS some corporate benefactor somewhere, which is DIRECTLY a result of such corrupt activity. This points to the fact that Europeans do almost EVERYTHING in the name of MONEY. Forget IDEOLOGY. Africans are always fighting WARS, but NEVER have anything to show for it after they are OVER. Why is that? Why fight for the country only to be WORSE OFF than you were before? The OBVIOUS answer is because MOST of these wars are NOT wars of TRUE revolutions or FOR the people. These are PROXY wars, funded by FOREIGN interests for THEIR benefit. The same with CORRUPTION in Africa. Where are the OIL tycoons and OIL conglomerates run by AFRICANS based on EXPLOITATION and CORRUPTION? NOWHERE. Therefore, it SHOWS that the CORRUPTION in Africa is MOSTLY a FRONT for FOREIGN interests, not the PERSONAL economic interest of a said African individual. Almost ALL politics in the West is based around the economic interests of BIG companies. This is the NORM. Africa, is no exception, except their politics are run by FOREIGN companies and FOREIGN interests, not those of INDIGENOUS Africans. Economics and politics go hand in hand, since one supports the other, because in all reality EVERYONE wants MORE than the next guy. It is only AFRICA and OTHER third world regions that are FORCED to live by the rule of getting more from LESS, while everyone ELSE gets rich.
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Djehuti wrote:
quote: Tell me Hotep, other than the Northern Sudanese, what Mulsim Africans do you know who are brainwashed to deny their black African identity??
I know many Somalis and NON of them ever make claims to being Arab. The same goes for some West African Hausas I know who are also traditionally Muslim.
There are Somalis who post on this board and have you noticed that they seem very interested in things like the Land of Punt in which some of whom claim to in their homeland. They also seem interested in the connections between their heritage and the Egyptians. Yet at the same time they are also proud of being Muslims.
Multisphinx is an Egyptian who is extremely adament about his people being black Africans and their ancient civilization being African and gets sick and tired of claims saying otherwise, yet he is a proud Muslim.
Tell me, since when does being Muslim mean being "brainwashed" into being Arab??
You realize that there are many Muslims in Asia and yet non of them ever claim to be Arab. I even have a few relatives who are Muslims.
It's one thing to be angry about the situation in Sudan but it's another thing to hold such a view on Muslims in general.
Most Muslims in Somalia, Eritrea, Djoubti, etc. are brainwashed because they aspire to be like an Arab called Muhammad. Muhammad was NOT an Afrikan so to aspire to be like Muhammad means you have to give up your Afrikan identity and take on an Arab copy that is where the brainwashing comes in. It is the Arab who defines how Muhammad was, which is just brainwashing techniques.
Most of those brainwashed Afrikans then think that Mecca is some holy place, which is just a way for Arabs to keep the TOURIST industry in Saudi Arabia profitable.
See for yourself Djehuti how Islam divides Afrikans notice how they use non-believer versus believer as if they aren’t both Afrikans.
quote: Thousands of people gathered in Mogadishu Monday carrying banners reading: "Ethiopian soldiers are unwanted in Somalia;" "Somalis have to prepare themselves for the occupation of Somalia;" "We are ready for holy war against Ethiopia." They were addressed by Islamist leaders, some of whom urged restraint while others talked up the prospect of bloodshed. " Anybody who allies himself to the Ethiopians will be regarded as a non-believer who violated the principle of Islam and will face jihad," said Sheikh Ahmed Kare, a hard-liner.
See how the game is played against Afrikans?
If Muslims in Somalia knew who they were then they would be able to show concrete facts towards Punt but they can’t because they have been brainwashed into thinking that they are descendants from Noah, Ishmael, Ishak etc. They don’t know their history so lets thank the so called Bantus like Cheikh Anta Diop and other Afrikan historians for helping to find and relate the truth towards the ethnic make up Kemet and other ancient East Afrikans because we know if the Arabs had their way they would continue lying and brainwashing other Afrikans.
Mauride Islam is very big in West Afrika, which shows that there are other forms of Islam that aren’t Arab centered.
I think if Cheikh Anta Diop was a Muslim he would have been a Mouride muslim. Djehuti Afrikans have known the Arab con along time ago and put their own spin on Islam, including their own holy city where Mourides make hajj to TOUBA.
Multispinx used the derogatory N word, which shows that Multisphinx is not intelligent enough to address a Afrikan in a respectful manner which is what we would expect from a brainwashed Afrikan who doesn’t know how to respect other Afrikans or themselves for that matter.
Djehuti I am not Asian so I don’t focus on what Asians are doing that is up to Asians to determine what they feel about Islam I’m a Afrikan and being a Afrikan I see Arabs using Islam against Afrikan people and destroying Afrikan efforts at building a strong Economy in Afrika and that is where I find my problems with Islam.
Doug M wrote:
quote: Hotep, thanks for the reply, but let me say this up front. While I am talking about EUROPEAN exploitation in Africa, that does NOT mean that I do not AGREE that ARABS are also a MAJOR source of problems in Africa. It just so happens that I am focusing on the European exploitation, since MANY still dont believe it STILL exists.
Why are you so SYMPATHETIC to the whites? Do you feel sorry for them? I never said I was PRO Arab. I am PRO BLACK AFRICAN, period. You keep trying to turn this into a issue that it isnt. I want Africans to get MOST of the profit from any economic activity in Africa. The ONLY reason they are NOT getting the MAJORITY of the profits from economic activity in Africa is because of colonialism and racism. First off, Africans deserve REPARATIONS for the hundreds of years of whites BLATANTLY using Africa to get rich. Yes, I WANT to take Whites off the TOP of the economic heap. I want BLACKS to be the richest people in Africa. I want BLACKS to have the most money in Africa. I am not racist, but I have no problem saying this because of the history of racism and exploitation in Africa.
Doug M your knowledge of Afrika shows you are well informed which is GREAT, now here is where you cannot allow your anger towards Europeans to cloud your decision because the facts look like this.
FACT 1. Europeans have a stronger military than Afrika so leave the war issue aside.
FACT 2. Europe and America has approximately 30+ million AFRIKANS who live amongst Europeans so if Europe and America fails then so do the Afrikans living amongst Europeans also end up suffering the consequence.
FACT 3. Afrika today receives Billions of dollars from Afrikans who live and work in Europe and America, so Doug M the West isn’t so bad as you might think because Afrikans who live in the West are also concerned about Afrikans who live in Afrika.
FACT 4. All Europeans are NOT racist, greedy Imperialist, don’t forget that thousands of Europeans are in Afrika today working to help feed the poor, the sick and the victims of the wars that are fought in Afrika, not to mention that some European charities fund schooling in Afrika that benefit Afrikan children and Afrika.
Europeans and Afrikans are joined in the pockets right now so the approach to solving the problems caused by racism will be fixed when Afrikans in Afrika use Affirmative Action legal structures to ensure that Afrikans don’t lose out in the future.
Doug M it is not in the best interest of Afrikans to see Europeans being taken out of their spot on the Economics positions because if Europeans get taken off then we will see China take the dominant position and the last time I checked China does NOT have Afrikans living there, China is quite racist against Afrikans.
Doug M and Masonic Rebel you have laid the standards that you would want to see taking place in Afrika which is more wealth being generated amongst Afrikans plus higher standards of living for Afrikans well that is happening Today, also you mentioned the Debeers milking the Diamond industry yet you forget that they market these Diamonds and helped to create the industry themselves, I agree that it came at the expense of Afrikans but you would have to prove to me that Afrikans over 70 years ago could have persuaded Europeans to buy diamonds.
Cecil Rhodes and the Debeers what they did to our Ancestors was down right evil, now I can’t ignore those facts but today the diamond market is controlled by the Debeers and if Afrikans attempt to take it away then the Debeers will more likely destroy that market in the process because if they can’t profit from it then they sure as hell are NOT going to stand by and watch Afrikans profit from it. Mugabe and Zimbabwe was a lesson to all Afrikan warriors, if you play hardball then Europeans play hardball and guess who will lose? The AFRIKAN PEOPLE and EUROPEANS. Now some Europeans can afford to take a hit but most Afrikans cannot afford to take a hit in the pockets because doing so might send them over the edge. Afrika needs people who can create WIN WIN situations where Afrikans win and Europeans win, now in order for that to occur it usually means some Afrikans will be hurt and some Europeans will be hurt, though the Afrikans are usually the ones who cannot afford the losing position that they will find themselves in, this is why the Afrikans or Europeans who win MUST look out for those Afrikans and Europeans who lost out. Afrikans have got to master the art of spreading around the wealth.
Today Afrikan governments have written many laws that promote numerous Affirmative Action policies, these laws help to ensure that Doug M and Masonic Rebel will be satisfied when you see most percentage of businesses in Afrika that will, and are owned by Afrikans.
The last fact that I would like to point out is that most countries in North Afrika today practice Apartheid against native Afrikans today, the Arab atrocities that goes on in Afrika today MUST be dealt with. Now if violent revolt occurred in South Afrika as a means to end Apartheid then guess what MUST be done in North Afrika to end Apartheid that continues in North Afrika. The problem in the Sudan caused Afrikan Americans to be involved because Afrikans in Afrika would not get involved, why? Why is it that Afrikans in Afrika refuse to stand up to Arabs? It was Europeans aid agencies who embarrassed the Black Caucus here in America by pointing to the hypocrisy that Afrikan Americans would not help Afrikans in the Sudan who were being put into forced labor in the Sudan, that sparked the response you see today, because most Afrikan Americans did NOT know that forced labor/ Slavery was still going on in Afrika TODAY by Arabs.
Let me repeat that over a decade ago Oil was found in the Southern regions of the Sudan now this region belonged to native Afrikans who were not brainwashed Muslims yet the Arabs and brainwashed Arabicized Afrikans in the North attacked and killed over 250,000 native Afrikans in the south. They also displaced 2.5 million refugees which destabilized Chad and Afrikans did nothing to stop this problem, this type of behavior does not give Afrikans the respect they need at the negotiating table because when business people negotiate deals if you are seen as a pushover then you will get bad deals period.
The warrior who is willing to fight for the meal will eat while the warrior who won’t fight for the meal will go hungry.
Doug m and Masonic Rebel please research the Economic benefits that Afrikans stand to gain by standing up to Arabs.
If Afrikans want to get ahead in the Economic heap then they must stand up to Arabs because Arabs have been stepping on Afrikans for too long.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Hotep, you are confused. I am not unaware of Arabs and their exploitation of Africans. There are MANY groups who are helping exploiting Africans, including Saudis, Lebanese, French, British, Americans, Indians, Chinese, Taiwanese.... and so on. The point is that there isnt a NEED to list them all, the OVERALL point is STILL the same. Africa NEEDS to get MOST of the profits from its OWN resources. THAT will alleviate MANY of Africa's economic problems.
As for the REST of the nonsense you posted about the reason why Africans should NOT threaten European econmomic power, ie WHITE SUPREMACY, is so ridiculous, so LUDICROUS that it is really NOT worth my time to reply to. However, KEEP this in mind, Debeers and ALL OTHER white owned businesses that PROFIT from the resources in Africa are RICH because of a LOT of money going into the hands of a VERY few. This IMBALANCE of wealth is INHERENTLY unnatural. WHITE SUPREMACY is inherently unnatural. OF COURSE the economy will suffer if AFRICANS gain the UPPER hand in their OWN economic interests. THAT was the WHOLE POINT IN THE FIRST PLACE. BUILD an economic system on the BACKS of African blacks, USE their labor and resources and TAKE the majority of the WEALTH from Africa to BUILD economic POWERHOUSES that would DOMINATE for a long time to come. OF COURSE this system would crumble if the Africans were to get an upper hand. So what are you saying, you dont WANT Africans to get an upper hand? Dont you understand that in ORDER (new world order) for this system to SURVIVE, that Africans must CONTINUE to die and SUFFER? DONT you understand that? What kind of IDIOT are you? Who will SUFFER more if the UNJUST and UNFAIR economic system of Europe and the West crumbles? It wouldn't be Africans. Africans dont NEED super modern, hight tech industrial economies to survive. MOST Africans just want to LIVE on their land able to FEED themselves through subsistence farming and other MINIMALLY invasive agricultural techniques that have been their way of life for HUNDREDS of years. It is the WEST who would suffer, since THEY are the ones that need to take MORE than their fair share of the earth's resources in order to MAINTAIN their standard of living. The standard of living in the West is NOT something that EVERYONE can achieve. If EVERYONE burned fossil fuels and emitted carbon dioxide gases at the levels of Western countries, we would ALL BE DEAD ALREADY? Therefore, the WHOLE PROBLEM and THE WHOLE CONCEPT of PROGRESS meaning MORE AND MORE construction and MORE AND MORE CITIES and MORE AND MORE "THINGS" is UNMAINTAINABLE. This CAN NOT BE supported by the earth and the natural environment. EVERYONE can not live that Western standard of living. If EVERYONE consumed resources at the RATE of the West, there would BE no trees, no oil, no clean water, no NOTHING for ANYONE. For a long time, people have overlooked the CENTRAL basis of white supremacy, that by KILLING OFF the indigenous non white population of the world, not ONLY would that give them UNFETTERED access to the world's resources, but it would guarantee that their standard of living could be MAINTAINED for a long time into the future. The time is NOT far off when mankind will realize that THIS level of "progress" is NOT maintainable. Therefore, DONT be brainwashed into thinking that Africans are the PROBLEM, because there are TOO many Africans or TOO many Asians or TOO many NONWHITES trying to CLAIM more resources. HOW IS THAT, when Western countries, like the U.S. which only has 5% of the population, consumes more than 40% of its resources? On the other hand, Africans and South Asians, one third of the earths population, is only consuming 3% of the resources. So WHO is THREATENING the earth's resources. It is the WEST and WESTERN systems that PROMOTE an INHERENTLY UNSUSTAINABLE amount of consumption. And it is these SAME people who BLAME it on the poor and developing countries who consume LESS than a small percentage of the earth's resources compared to their population size. All of this is based around an inherently UNFAIR and UNEQUAL economic system that CONTINUES to REWARD as SMALL percent of the earth's population in the RICHEST countries and PUNISHES the LARGE percentage of the earth's population in the POOREST countries.
Hotep, it is time for you to STOP talking nonsense about caring about this Western economic system as if it is GOD's gift to mankind and the ANSWER to the problems of the world. It isn't and is ACTUALLY the CAUSE of most of the world's problems. So while I do enjoy the BENEFITS of such a system to a degree, at least I am HONEST enough to admit that it is DOOMED to crumble over the long run, unless a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE get killed off in some MAJOR catastrophe (and not the "civilized" countries of course).
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
A PERFECT example of what I am talking about from current events:
quote: KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo (AP) -- Thousands of opposition supporters clashed with Congo riot police Tuesday, burning President Joseph Kabila's campaign posters ahead of historic elections meant to bring lasting peace to the Central African giant.
Security forces swung batons and fired tear gas at protesters who threw chunks of masonry and Molotov cocktails. They also ripped Kabila's campaign advertisements from signposts and torched the banners in the streets of the capital, Kinshasa. There was no immediate word on injuries.
One onlooker said Congo's young people -- who made up most of the seething 4,000-person crowd in an outlying slum -- were outraged by their poverty after years of war and corrupt rule that has hobbled their vast, mineral-rich nation.
"Our poverty stems from our politics, which don't work. Our leaders are corrupt and sell our riches overseas while we have nothing," said Bob Massoud, a 23-year old artist. "We're mad because we're suffering. Everyone is angry."
WASHINGTON, Jul 5 (IPS) - International companies and local elites in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are pocketing revenues from copper and cobalt production instead of sharing it with local communities or spending it to reduce poverty, a watchdog group charged Wednesday.
A new report by the London-based Global Witness says that despite being one of the richest copper- and cobalt-producing areas in the world, the province of Katanga in southeastern DRC remains severely poor and the population has little or no infrastructure or public services.
"The profits are serving to line the pockets of a small but powerful elite -- politicians and businessmen who are exploiting the local population and subverting natural riches for their own private ends," says the report, whose authors based their findings on field research in November and December last year.
The 56-page report also scrutinises the role of local regulators, international donors and multinational firms. It says that government officials are actively colluding with mining companies to skirt regulations and the payment of taxes.
The report, "Digging in Corruption", explains that a significant share of the copper and cobalt is mined informally and exported illicitly from the African nation, representing a major revenue loss for the Congolese economy and a lost chance to reduce poverty.
A local source quoted in the report estimated that at the end of 2005, at least three-quarters of the minerals exported from Katanga were leaving illicitly. Since the DRC's recorded copper and cobalt exports were estimated at 390 million dollars last year, that means the illicit trade could amount to as much as 1.1 billion dollars.
And since most of the products mined by hand are exported in raw form, even when these exports are declared, the DRC is losing out on the higher prices it could obtain if it processed the minerals before export.
Global Witness urged the international community to seize the opportunity of the Jul. 30 elections to press for real reform.
"In the run-up to elections, politicians and companies have been scrambling to get their hands on ever-greater shares of the lucrative mineral trade, with little or no regard for the welfare of the Congolese population," said Patrick Alley, director of Global Witness.
"The plunder of the DRC's natural resources continues to undermine the country's opportunities for peace, stability and development," he said.
The world's appetite for minerals is rapidly growing. Copper is sought after for use in power transmission and generation, building wiring, telecommunications, and electrical and electronic products. Cobalt is used in super-alloys to make parts for gas turbine aircraft engines and demand is continuing to soar as it is used for rechargeable batteries in globally popular mobile phones and devices.
It is also used to make magnets, tire adhesives and catalysts for the petroleum and chemical industries.
The price of copper has quadrupled since 2001, standing at 7,603 dollars per tonne in May this year.
Resource-hungry Western nations have viewed the interest in copper and cobalt from rising industrial powers like India and China with worry. The two Asian giants suffer from scarce domestic resources.
World production of copper is expected to increase by six percent and total use by five percent in 2006, with the areas on the border between DRC and Zambia playing a major role.
The so-called copperbelt running through Katanga and Zambia contains 34 percent of the world's cobalt and 10 percent of the world's copper. Since 2004, there has been a massive influx of foreign companies pouring into Katanga on the DRC-Zambia border.
The study says operations have been marred by price fixing in contract negotiations in the capital Kinshasa, where politicians have quickly approved several large contracts with multinational companies, leaving only a small share for the state mining company, Gécamines.
The Kamoto copper mine, the Dima-Kamoto Concentrator and the Luilu hydro-metallurgical plant are one example, with Kinross-Forrest inking a deal with Gécamines that gave the former a 75 percent share and Gécamines 25 percent. The main shareholders of Kinross-Forrest are George Forrest International in Britain and the Canadian company, Kinross Gold Corporation.
International companies have been returning to the country prompted by high copper and cobalt prices, and by the gradual decrease in conflict in DRC over the last two years. The establishment of a transitional government in 2003 and the advent of elections in 2006 have all contributed to creating a more attractive climate for international investment.
Those companies and banks include the Canadian mining firm First Quantum Minerals Ltd, the Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg, and Adastra, a Canadian company with its head office in Britain.
The report also examines the ties between international mining firms and global public lenders such as the World Bank. It says the World Bank is involved in copper and cobalt mining in DRC and in promoting foreign investment despite classifying the country in one of its publications as the worst country in the world in which to do business.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private investment arm, has provided financing for a feasibility study carried out by Adastra, which is hoping to establish a copper and cobalt project in Kolwezi.
The IFC now has a 7.5 percent stake in Adastra's project that was taken over by First Quantum, another Canadian mining company.
The report called on private companies to help reform the sector and declare all mineral exports, pay the appropriate taxes and ensure that the working conditions of the estimated 150,000 miners who supply them meet minimum health and safety standards -- or refuse to buy products originating from those mines.
The average miner in Katanga earns about two or three dollars a day. Most work without protective clothing, equipment or training, and scores die every year in preventable accidents, the report says.
"We know that the Congo is rich. But despite this, we don't even have enough to eat. Only one category of people profits," one miner told Global Witness. (END/2006)
Not everyone is sharing in the dividends. On a busy street lined with some grocery stores, a pharmacist, a small clothes shop and a hairdresser, the young pharmacist told me that he earned $4 per day.
Lwishiwishi mine A tenth of world cobalt consumption is extracted from the Lwishiwishi mine in Katanga "I haven't really seen the effects of this investment," he said.
"I actually studied law at university but because there isn't enough employment I had to open this pharmacy."
It was a sentiment expressed by several other shopkeepers, although further along, the barber was more optimistic.
He had cut an Indian man's hair that day, and had recently had American, Lebanese and Chinese customers - all of them working for mining companies, he said.
"I'm happy to see foreigners coming to my country. If foreign people are coming, we can move forward together. If foreign people are not coming, you can't go anywhere."
The hidden fact not mentioned in this piece is that these FOREIGNERS are making MORE than the indigenous Africans on these mines. So WHY is he happy? Outsourcing labor to India, Lebanon or China is NOT cheaper in this scenario. Indians, Lebanese, Chinese and others are making GOOD MONEY compared to the Africans. This OUTSOURCING is another example of how OTHERS are BENEFITTING from Africa's wealth but NOT Africans. Mining and industry in Africa is only designed with ONE purpose in mind and that is to TAKE money from Africa to ENRICH everyone else.
Congo is MINERAL rich, so HOW COME the country is SO POOR? Corrupt Africans are not like corrupt Europeans. These Africans are NOT getting kickbacks from AFRICAN OWNED mining companies that make billions in profit and are MAJOR players in the African economy. When Europeans are involved in corruption and exploitation, it is used to build INSTITUTIONS that perpetuate the wealth and power of the European. When Africans are involved in corruption and exploitation, it generates NOTHING and MOST times the money ends up dissappearing and there is NO INSTITUTION to perpetuate African wealth and power.
If the World Bank and other international finance organizations were SERIOUS about helping Africa, they would do some KEY things. First, they would provide Africans with access to regular COMMERCIAL LOANS from Western Banks, without the strings attached forcing them to share profits with FOREIGN companies. Then they would help the African governments build SEED BANKS, African banks that would take a good percentage of the profits made from such ventures to provide SEED money to OTHER African ventures. These would not be small MICRO businesses either, these businesses would be mining, construction, farming and communication, which would in turn provide MORE deposits to the SEED bank for FURTHER capital to be used to fund MORE businesses. These CORE companies would then be the MAJOR players in ANY economic activity in the country, given a 10 year incubation period that ALLOWS them to grow and prosper, so they are NOT forced to compete at a DISADVANTAGE to Western companies. After this 10 year incubation period, things would be opened up to more INTERNATIONAL involvement. In this 10 year period, the government would use a percentage of all the profits from the various mineral and other resource revenue, with help from GOOD FAITH LOANS from other countries, to rebuild the country. This money of course would GO to the companies being financed by the seed banks. These countries would be on the road to a complete TURNAROUND in 10 years.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Here is a link to the full report on Congo's mineral exploitation:
Your knowledge of how the economic and political game is played in Africa is very commendable. The game, obviously, is stacked against African agency yet there is very little protest. Note that when a political game does not suit the U.S. or Europe they just block the game then change its rules. If that doesn't work they simply don't play.
So the question is why don't African governments by way of the AU seek to play the game on their own terms? Ignorance? Fear? Greed and selfishness?
You made a point about the population of Saudi Arabia. Forget it: the population of bonafide Saudis is NOT 27 million. The Saudis simply rigged their numbers to impress. In the last century Arabia was just mostly desert with a few bedouins straggling from watering hole to watering hole dragging their tents with them. I don't deny though that the Saudis have imported lots of people to do all their dirty servant work for them and to have ready-made servant/concubines on the spot.
If Europeans have been able to do to Africans all the things you describe and keep getting away with it, then something must be wrong. Is it the effect of history? Even so, why is the learning curve for African governments so slow--after the works of people like Nkrumah, Diop and Fanon?
To Hotep
Diop was a Muslim--though maybe a lapsed one. Most Senegalese are Moslem by the way. Also West Africans are not Bantus. Diop, a Wolof, was obviously not Bantu.
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
quote: She said: "Remittances today are becoming an important source of income for many countries, and sometimes surpassing exports as the source of foreign exchange. The World Bank estimates that about $167 billion in remittances was sent to developing countries in 20o4.
"It is estimated that sub-Saharan Africa receives about $7.7 billion in inward remittances, with Nigeria accounting for nearly $3 billion. These are all, however, conservative estimates and economists agree that the actual values may be up to 50 percent higher. So in the case of Nigeria, we are looking at a total value of remittances of over $4 Billion! This is a valuable source of income for the country, and it is some thing we want to encourage."
Billions of dollars coming from Afrikans working in the West.
Doug M what exactly does the African Union do? they seem to have a nice sounding name though I wonder with a name like African Union one would expect that forced labor/Slavery would not occur in Afrika including Apartheid systems yet these systems are in place today in North Afrika. Doug M are you aware that it is the Black Caucus here in America along with European organizations that were fighting to end forced labor/ Slavery in Afrika today. What is the African Union for, if I see non-Afrikan Organizations dealing with these legacies of Colonialist.
quote: The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) or Organisation de l'Unité Africaine (OUA) was established on May 25, 1963. It was disbanded July 9, 2002 by its last chairman, South African Thabo Mbeki and replaced by the African Union.
Its intended purpose was to promote the unity and solidarity of the African States and act as a collective voice for the continent. It was also dedicated to the eradication of colonialism and established a Liberation Committee to aid independence movements
I have two stories on Somalia now tell me where the African Union should be concerned with the famine in Somalia or the possible Jihad against Ethiopia.
quote: A New Humanitarian Hot Spot is Building in Somalia Where Patchy Seasonal Rainfall And Rising Military Tension Threaten the Food Security of 2.1 Million, FAO Said Today.
"Somalia is in deep crisis. Additional tension or conflict would be disastrous," said Henri Josserand, head of FAO's Global Information and Early Warning Service. "We are watching the situation very closely," he added.
For the third consecutive season, the main Somali cereals harvest in August is expected to be poor due to insufficient rainfall during the main rainy season from April to June.
At the same time, rising tension between opposing armed groups, with reports of a military build-up around the seat of the transitional government, Baidoa, is seen as a major threat.
NOTICE WHAT THE A.U. SEEKS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS!
Somalia: AU Urges UN to Lift Arms Embargo On Somalia
The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
July 26, 2006 Posted to the web July 26, 2006
Dagnachew Teklu Addis Ababa
The African Union (AU) Commission urged on Tuesday the UN Security Council to expedite the exemption of arms embargo in Somalia to allow IGASOM to be deployed in the troubled Somalia.
The call was made after the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) received a briefing session from its special envoy to Somalia and the TFG of Somalia ambassador to Ethiopia and the AU.
Ambassador Said Djinit, Peace and Security Commissioner of the AU told journalists that it is crucial to lift the arms embargo in Somalia in order to undertake a peacekeeping operation in that country.
Djinit also indicated that the Council also expressed its concern at the fragility of the peace and reconciliation process in Somalia since it's meeting on 17 June 2006 and expressed its full support to the TFG.
"In this respect, the Council once again calls on all concerned parties in Somali to seek the path of dialogue and to extend necessary cooperation to TFG in order to achieve lasting peace and reconciliation in Somalia, building in the dialogue facilitated by the League of Arab States," he said.
It was the second time when the AU called for the end of arms embargo in Somalia.
AU has yet to receive a response from the Security Council.
Ambassador Djinit also told journalists that the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) ministerial meeting will be held in Addis Ababa in the coming few days to discuss on the current situation in Somalia.
The ministerial meeting is expected to hear a report by the AU mission, which convened an assessment and reconnaissance trip in Somalia from 5 to 9 July 2006, according to the Ambassador.
The Islamic Courts Union (ICU), of Somalia which controls Mogadishu and the surrounding towns, declared Jihad on Ethiopia this week after it accused Addis Ababa of sending troops in Somalia But the Ethiopian government still denies the ICU accusation as rubbish and has threatened to crush any attack on the Transitional government.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia said on Tuesday that the decisive role in resolving the crisis in Somalia was in the hands of the people and the political forces of that country.
In a statement issued on the current situation in Somalia yesterday, the Ministry of Information said neighboring countries, including Ethiopia, can not play the key role of the Somali people in resolving the crisis besides supporting efforts toward that goal, it said.
quote: "The Ethiopian government believes that the recent crisis in Somalia is a result of absence of government and lawlessness in that country. The prime victims of the crisis are the people of Somalia," it said.
Ethiopia is closely observing developments in Somalia since "any crisis in that country could have negative repercussions on Ethiopia and the neighboring countries," the Ministry said.
Ethiopia has a responsibility only to support ongoing efforts geared toward creating a legitimate government in Somalia, ensuring peace and stability in the country and thwarting the suffering of the Somali people, it said.
Somalia invaded Ethiopia in 1978 in an attempt to grab land occupied by ethnic Somalis. Since then, Ethiopia has attempted to influence Somali politics to prevent another invasion. Addis Ababa sent troops into Somalia in 1993 and 1996 to crush Islamic militants who it said were perpetrating terrorist acts to destabilize the country attempting to establish a religious government. --------------------------------------------------
The A.U. seeks WEAPONS instead of food Aid because Arabs rule the African Union it's a front for Arabs to spread Islam.
I wonder if the African Union knows that ARABS were the first Colonials in Afrika? African Union or Arab Union which is it?
Doug M you have some ideas wrong.
When Afrikans gain wealth Europeans also benefit, like wise when Afrikans don't gain wealth it actually hurts Europeans also. Zimbabwe is a perfect example of this because those mining rights in Zimbabwe were sold to the Chinese which means European mining companies lost out. Racism does not benefit Europeans in the long run,what benefits both Europeans and Afrikans is to work together in fair trade, cooperation and a mutual respect for each other this would lead to a win win situation for both groups.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
HOTEP!! I NEVER SAID that the AU was a PROGRESSIVE African oriented institution. WHY must you PICK an ARGUMENT with me where there ISNT ONE? I KNOW that the AU wants to ARABIZE Africa and make Africa a PAN ARAB nation-state. You ARENT telling me ANYTHING I DID NOT KNOW. So PLEASE STOP ACTING as if I SUPPORT Arab imperialism, because I DONT.
Likewise, stop trying to FOIST off your LOVE of Europeans on me. I love myself and Africans above Europeans. I seek the benefit of MYSELF and AFRICANS before anyone else. EVERYONE ELSE does it and it is only FAIR for Africans to do so. Sure, in a THEORETICAL sense, Europeans and Africans SHOULD be able to work together in FAIR trade. But REALITY is that they DONT. Economics and trade in Africa is UNFAIR. WHEN it becomes fair and WHEN the Europeans dont DOMINATE trade in Africa, THEN I will agree that everything is fair. And on TOP of that, it is NOT because of Africans that economics are UNFAIRLY practiced. It is because of the RACIST history of WHITE and other FOREIGN activity in Africa, including ARABS that economics in Africa does NOT benefit the MAJORITY of black Africans. How in the WORLD would I be MORE CONCERNED with the profits of some white MULTIMILLIONARE, while Africans are STARVING? HOw in the HELL could I equate some MULTIBILLION DOLLAR company LOSING some profits as equal to the SUFFERING of starving POORLY PAID African PEASANTS? How could I feel SYMPATHY for the SUPER RICH economies of the West and WHITE South Africa when Africans have SO LITTLE. WHY would I be concerned about the TRIFLING sob stories of RICH WHITES while BLACKS suffer. Your ATTITUDE of SYMPATHY is RIDICULOUS. ESPECIALLY when that SYMPATHY is NOT returned. SYMPATHY has NO PLACE in the ROUGH AND TUMBLE, EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF WORLD of MODERN ECONOMICS. MODERN economics is NOT ABOUT SYMPATHY it is about GREED, PURE AND SIMPLE. You are a perfect example of the BRAINWASHING that has LULLED so many Africans to SLEEP, ALLOWING the FAKE TEARS and FAKE CRIES of SUFFERING by RICH WHITES to BLIND THEM to their OWN SUFFERING. I am being nice Hotep, but you can keep that NONSENSE about Europeans and their economic SUFFERING to yourself. Europeans are NOT SUFFERING. AFRICANS ARE SUFFERING. That B.S. you keep posting about how Europeans suffer is the biggest boatload of nonsense propaganda brainswashed happy feely TRASH that I have EVER heard in my life. Worry about YOUR OWN suffering and stop worrying about EVERYONE ELSES, especially WHITES whose SUFFERING is NOT SUFFERING AT ALL! The point is that WHY would Zimbabwe SELL the mines to the CHINESE in the first place? Doesnt Zimbabwe NEED MONEY? Dont they want to PROFIT of their OWN resources? Are Zimbabweans INHERENTLY STUPID and unable to MASTER the economics of RUNNING A MINE? What sort of STUPID STUFF are you talking about? Countries dont GO TO AFRICA and start MINES just because they NEED RESOURCES. THey GO TO AFRICA to GET RICH off the resources THEY NEED. If they had to PAY AFRICANS a FAIR WAGE and FAIR MARKET VALUE for their RESOURCES, they WOULD NOT get rich, but they WOULD STILL buy the resources anyway. The economy of the world WILL NOT SUFFER because Africans FINALLY become MASTER of their OWN economics. That FALLACY is so blatantly ridiculous as to be laughable. How in the HELL is the world economy going to SUFFER because Africans FINALLY make a PROFIT and GENERATE some WEALTH for themselves? Are you REALLY trying to say that SUDDENLY ALL these European economies will SUDDENLY be BROKE? The 12trillion dollar economy of the U.S. will be BROKE because Congo, a 5 Billion dollar economy gained MORE than a small percent of the TENS of billions of dollars taken OUT of ther country every YEAR? You want to cry FOUL and SYMPATHIZE for the CAPITALISM which GLORIFIES getting RICH from the WORK OF OTHERS? You want to call RICH companies and countries that make HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of DOLLARS a year not being able to take EVERY PENNY from Africa as SOMEHOW SUFFERING? Dude..... I THOUGHT you understood what this is about. Yet and you IGNORE the fact that SO MANY Africans LIVE OR DIE because of those PENNIES? PLEASE, this NONSENSE must CEASE!
Hotep, please dont say anything else to me about this issue, it seems you have NO concept of FAIRNESS or COMMON SENSE.
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Doug M i'm a Afrikan, plain and simple though at the same time I don't allow my anger against SOME Europeans to lead me into the ARAB brainwashing, fake sympathy, accept Islam as a way to show your anger towards Europeans "Trap" or the Chinese fake sympathy Trap.
Too many outsiders are using the fact that Afrikans have suffered greatly due to European Racism. Too many outsiders are using European racism as a means to score political points amongst Afrikans in general, this process has to STOP.
The Arabs and Chinese are just as racist yet when they want to score political points with Afrikans they play the anti "West" or anti "Europeanism" drum, and score political points amongst Afrikans.
Afrikans have to change, we have to start shouting i'm PRO AFRIKA, and I AM PRO AFRIKAN PEOPLE and I AM PRO BLACK, Black Empowerment, Reparations Now, More Black wealth, Freedom and Justice for Afrikans and Black people.
I am all for Afrika getting wealthier because it means that Afrikans in the West will also get wealthier also. Europeans are at the top so Europe will not go to the bottom if Afrika goes up a notch, though if Europe goes down a notch then Afrika will also go down from the bottom to the bottom because Economies moves in small levels ONE step at a TIME. The richest man in the world did not get rich from natural resources because Computers and technology generate more wealth versus RAW MATERIALS.
Doug M some of the richest Afrikans live in the "West" or Europe so why in the world would you want to see western Economies fall? Doug M their are many wealthy Afrikans who live in the West yet you Mr. Pro Afrikan are hating on the west while at the same time working to see these wealthy Afrikans who live in the West also go broke too. Afrika does NOT benefit if Afrikans in the west go broke. Afrikans laid the foundation for what we call America today so America is a child of Afrika also because without Afrikan people America would not be the Super power it is today. 30+ Million Afrikans contribute to Western Economies don't forget that. The West should not be synonomous with Europeans, the West should be synonomous with Diverse populations.
Byzantines were removed by Arabs due to the Kemetic people allowing the Arabs to invade and look at Afrika today as a result of that last mistake, the people living in Kemet were ANGRY at the Byzantines and look what happened.
ARAB-AFRIKA sounds strange to you now but that's how the Arabs intend for the future of Afrika. Tell me what position native Afrikans will play on the newly named continent of ARAB-AFRIKA?
Doug M, China today is a major user of Resources and China's thirst for Resources means that if Western nations use less, China will only fill the gap that Western Nations save, effecient use of Resources is necessary for the protection of the planet, China does not seem to care about effecient use of resources either.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Hotep, there is no need to keep going on and on with this. You keep putting words in my mouth that WITHOUT any BASIS OF FACT. You seem DESPERATE to put a "spin" on EVERYTHING I say in order to introduce some sort of focus on Arabs or Chinese or whoever else you want to focus on. Stop TWISTING my words in order to MAKE an argument. This is ridiculous. Technically, if we go by the BASIC economics of supply and demand, Africans should be EVEN MORE RICH, because of Chinese demand for their resources. I HATE when people try and look DOWN on Africans when they do what EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING, which is GET RICH, no matter WHAT RULES they may break in the process. Yet when Africans start trying to get their act together, everyone tries to put them under "SPECIAL" scrutiny, as if Africans are some sort of IGNORANT BACKWARDS SAVAGE people who DONT have the ability to manage themselves. THIS is the point underlying what I have been saying about how WESTERN economies PURPOSELY cast Africa in a UNFAIR light, in order to reinforce RACIST stereotypes that allow Europeans, Arabs, Chinese, and many OTHERS, to RAPE Africa but make AFRICANS look like the bad guy.
Like I said, there is NO REASON why an African government should have to PAY to get land back that was TAKEN from Africans as a result of COLONIAL EXPLOITATION. Yet and still this is EXACTLY what happens in the countries of Southern Africa, even though MOST of these countries CANT AFFORD IT in the FIRST PLACE. Then people WONDER why Africans dont have more of thier OWN LAND. And the ONLY people that see this as FAIR are the WHITES and BRAINWASHED Africans who think that by Whites PAYING Africans what they OWE them in REPARATIONS it would HURT the economy. What about the HURT put on Africans to BUILD that economy? Doesnt that COUNT? How can you DEFEND someone else's right to PROSPER off of STOLEN land where the people that TRULY have a CLAIM for legal compensation are PAYING the CROOK? If you are going to DEFEND something and DEFEND a person's right to PROSPER off the land then why not DEFEND those who had the land STOLEN from them? Doesnt that seem like HYPOCRISY to you? Doesnt it seem SILLY to want the VICTIM to pay for the actions of the AGRESSOR? That is like someone going to COURT hand having to PAY the THIEF who STOLE their wallet in order to get back an EMPTY wallet..........................
NONSENSE is NONSENSE my friend.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
doug, as long as YOU, BLAME the white man for YOUR FAILURES..YOU will allways end up being a LOSER! YOU need to stop YOUR WELFARE mentality, and GET A JOB.stop acting like the WORLD owes you something,and TRY to become a PRODUCTIVE citizen. in the fantasy world of DOUG nobody is responsible for THEIR actions, as long as WHITEY is around to BLAME.in doing this YOU are no better than the WELFARE queen who sits IDEL in SQUALAR, and cries that WHITEY should buy her a new CADIALAC, and give her a GOVERMENT job...to work for the same GOVERMENT YOU CLAIM has robbed her.
might I suggest YOU move to africa, and PRACTICE what you PREACH! untill then you are just a LIL man, who doesn't PRACTICE what you PREACH. Im white dougy, what do YOU want from me? a dollar?
I'll send you a DOLLAR dougey, if it will HELP you get off your KEYSTER, and GET A JOB.but fist I suppose I will have to sell ALL the land I OWN in africa..
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
what if oprha or mikey jordan copped dougey's attitude?
and just sat around complaining and comeing up with conspiracy theories?
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by mike rozier: doug, as long as YOU, BLAME the white man for YOUR FAILURES..YOU will allways end up being a LOSER! YOU need to stop YOUR WELFARE mentality, and GET A JOB.stop acting like the WORLD owes you something,and TRY to become a PRODUCTIVE citizen. in the fantasy world of DOUG nobody is responsible for THEIR actions, as long as WHITEY is around to BLAME.in doing this YOU are no better than the WELFARE queen who sits IDEL in SQUALAR, and cries that WHITEY should buy her a new CADIALAC, and give her a GOVERMENT job...to work for the same GOVERMENT YOU CLAIM has robbed her.
might I suggest YOU move to africa, and PRACTICE what you PREACH! untill then you are just a LIL man, who doesn't PRACTICE what you PREACH. Im white dougy, what do YOU want from me? a dollar?
I'll send you a DOLLAR dougey, if it will HELP you get off your KEYSTER, and GET A JOB.but fist I suppose I will have to sell ALL the land I OWN in africa..
Mike, ignorance is BLISS but NONSENSE is retarded. I dont BLAME anyone for MY failures. This is NOT an issue of BLAME. I call it the TRUTH. Stop trying to deny that Europeans, Arabs and OTHERS have been PURPOSELY exploiting black Africans for hundreds of years and STILL do. Once again, you are just ANOTHER example of people trying to BLAME the victim for the actions of the AGRESSOR in order NOT to have to give the VICTIM the APPROPRIATE compensation for the CRIMES commited. It is NONSENSE like that that allows white South Africans to get away with YEARS of exploitation and outright GENOCIDE with nothing but PHONY crocodile tears at a truth and reconcilliation hearing, but yet KEEP all the wealth and power they gained from Apartheid. And then get PAID OFF for the land they stole. This is RIDICULOUS. So I guess you call that FAIR and putting those WHITES in jail that committed those atrocities IN JAIL, where they belong is NOT justice, but BLACKS trying to get SOMETHING for NOTHING? What is it then when BLACKS are KICKED off the land, and USED as SLAVE labor then? Is that NOT getting something for nothing or is that SHREWD economics? Dont give me that B.S. about FAIRNESS.
Posted by rasol (Member # 4592) on :
quote:Originally posted by mike rozier: what if oprha or mikey jordan copped dougey's attitude? and just sat around complaining and comeing up with conspiracy theories?
^ Then they would end up like you. Wasting their lives away throwing childish tantrums on the internet to distract themselves from their personal life failures.
So, we should be like Mike J. the player, and ignore rosey Mike....the hater.
This company is an internet service provider that is supposedly the LARGEST in sub-saharan Africa. It makes it possible for Africans to get online. It also has one of the LONGEST historical records in Africa.
Now. Think about it, if you read the history of this company you would think that this is an HONORABLE company that is founded by HONORABLE MISSONARIES helping Africans in trade. Sure. Trade that BENEFITTED THEMSELVES more than Africans. Sure, I want to see internet in Africa, but at the SAME TOKEN, I want AFRICANS to OWN these companies or have MAJORITY stakes in these companies. Likewise, browse the sites linked from the main page on this site. Most refer to BRITISH colonial companies that are STILL in Africa and PROMOTING these BRITISH firms as POSITIVE forces for Africans. SURE, it is good for Africans to be able to WORK, but I would rather see AFRICAN run Insurance, Banking and Telecommunications firms. My point is that THESE FIRMS are DIRECTLY related to the OLD COLONIAL SYSTEM of oppression. Working for them DOES NOT represent PROGRESS for Africa, it represents PROFITS FOR BRITISH INTERESTS. Sure I WANT TRADE for Africa, but trade that BENEFITS Africans, not just as WORKERS, but as OWNERS, INVESTORS, BANKERS and TRUSTEES. This idea that these FORMER colonial enterprises are SOMEHOW FAIR, is ridiculous. These companies are about PROFITS, PROFITS Africans would get, making Africans more PROSPEROUS, if NOT for the legacy of COLONIAL rule that FOUNDED such institutions. Africans will NOT become prosperous as long as they HAVE NO INSTITUTIONS promoting THEIR OWN INTERESTS. Just as the page above BLATANTLY promotes BRITISH INTERESTS in Africa.
Posted by Masonic Rebel (Member # 9549) on :
quote: doug, as long as YOU, BLAME the white man for YOUR FAILURES..YOU will allways end up being a LOSER!
Same old rhetoric same old Spin
quote: YOU need to stop YOUR WELFARE mentality, and GET A JOB.stop acting like the WORLD owes you something,and TRY to become a PRODUCTIVE citizen
People who refuse to take responablity for their own actions really get on my nerves ,also need I remind you of Enron
it's a conspiracy!
Posted by Tee85 (Member # 10823) on :
We need to all conspire to get your ass some spelling lessons Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Its funny. I say I want Africans to OWN Banks, Contstruction Companies, Utility Companies, Mines and Oil companies. Mike says "get a job!". I say GET A CLUE.
The West ALWAYS wants to turn the struggle in Africa into Africans getting something for nothing, but IGNORES the FACT that MANY AFRICANS work up to 12 hours a DAY in the most HORRIBLE conditions for PENNIES on the dollar. UNTIL Africans get CONTROL of their economies and CONTROL of their own resources and PROFIT off of their LABOR and RESOURCES, they will STAY poor. This is NOT about working, it is about Africans PROFITING from their labor and not being EXPLOITED. Need I explain what being EXPLOITED means? It means working and getting paid FAR LESS then what is needed to survive and live well, while the companies you work for make HUGE profits, which are taken OUT of the country before circulating even ONCE in the economy, therefore being NO BENEFIT to the country in which the LABOR and RESOURCES are being EXPLOITED. It means being STUCK in a permanent LOWER CASTE as a WORKER or WAGE SLAVE, unable to get access to CAPITAL from BANKS in order to start businesses and make MAJOR MONEY. It is funny how everyone CELEBRATES Exxon making 10 billion dollars in PROFITS in ONE QUARTER, yet if Africans were able to make that kind of money, they CRY FOUL.
Posted by mike rozier (Member # 10852) on :
work smart, not hard
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote: All Things Considered, August 7, 2006 · Some two-thirds of Africans live in rural areas, and most are without lifelines into the economy. Even in South Africa, which has the strongest economy on the continent, rural unemployment is about 70 percent.
This is in response to those who want to say that South African land reform has put more land in the hands of Black South Africans. If anything, the only thing put in the hands of black South Africans was the worst or least useful land that the Whites didnt want. And even THEN the government had to PAY the whites for it. PAY them for the land they STOLE in the first place. So no wonder there is no money to make sure that the blacks to GET the land have the MONEY to maintain it properly. In all actuality this whole idea of land reform is a FARCE, designed to work on multiple levels. First it makes Africans look ignorant, lazy, savage, dumb or all of the above, since they cannot maintain the land once given to them. HOwever, nobody TALKS about the fact that these lush WHITE farms didnt get that way because of God's good graces. Hundreds of thousands of BLACKS were FORCED to work the land and make it PROSPEROUS for the whites. Not only that, the Whites had a WELFARE system, BASED on money gained from the diamond mines and other resources STOLEN from black South Africans. So, compared with the FINANCIAL support received by whites and the LABOR they got almost FREE, they want to make black African farmers with NO MONEY, NO SUPPORT and NO FORCED LABORERS seem equal..... yeah right.
This whole ploy is DESIGNED to fail and to produce a BACKLASH of sympathy for the Whites and their PRISTINE farmland, that they will say HAS to stay in the hands of the Whites in order to remain profitable. Yeah.... right. Of course, this will influence the politicians and they will buckle under of course, enough to push the whole process further and further along, taking more time. While all of this is happening, Whites will REINFORCE their claims to the land by sales and other sorts of LOOPHOLES to try and make it seem that they have a RIGHT to it and that it wasnt STOLEN from blacks, even IF the blacks have to PAY FOR IT. The mere fact that they have to PAY the whites for the land is ADMISSION that they have no rights to the land. OTHERWISE, the WHITES would be KICKED OFF OUTRIGHT and the Bull***t cut off at the pass. But of course, Africans just want to "get along" and show whites how HUMAN they are, that they are NOT animals and that they can be NICE people. What the hell does THAT have to do with ENDING years of FORCED oppression and POVERTY? What does that have to do with ACKNOWLEDGING that WHITES are the blame for this situation and are MAINTAINING the status quo, which means BLACKS SUFFERING? When are news organizations going to start reporting the WHOLE truth, which is that blacks in MUCH of Africa are at the mercy of WHITE land owners, mine owners, nature preserves and OTHER bastions of WHITE ECONOMIC POWER, which ONLY SERVE to MAINTAIN the WEALTH stolen from Africans by whites? Why isnt THAT mentioned when they talk about POVERTY in Africa?
Posted by lamin (Member # 5777) on :
As usual, Doug you right on the money. So what then is Mbkei's role in all this? There's something very fishy about post-Apartheid SA. Mbeki initially talked about "SA belonging to ALL[meaning to include the settlers] who lived there" yet he has maintained detention centres for so-called "illegal aliens" coming in from the contries above SA.
It is also common knowledge that whites from anywhere can fly into SA without visas yet Africans from elsewhere must have visas--even when in transit. This is just weird!
I measn what has this guy done except chatter on about "African Renaissance". And he seems to fast becoming a message boy for the West: he was just sent on a mission to Sudan to plead with Al bachir to let in some U.N. troops to replace the AU troops.
Posted by Reid (Member # 11536) on :
Blacks in South Africa are in a uphill struggle. They need to unite. I find it strange that blacks from outside the country are treatded like criminals and are held in detention centres. That is not a good way to run the government. They still treat white people like they are better then blacks. The black farmers need to stand up to the white people and the Government and demand they get their land back. Doug M and Lamin you both make good points. Their is more to this story then getting a job. Most of the time the blacks in South Africa are held back from getting a job. South Africa needs a real democratic government that will rightly give land back to the black South Africans. 96% of South African land is still in the hands of White south Africans this needs to change. Why is the South African government so slow to change? Land reform needs to move up. I think it is stupid that they(the government) have to pay these white people for giving back stolen land.
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Doug M, lamin, Reid you are off the mark on some points though you are correct on some because today South Afrika gets 10-15% of after tax profits from their diamond minds which is NOT GOOD obviously, plus they stand the cost of marketing those diamonds which is WACK, here is another problem and lets look how it affects outside entities.
ZIMBABWE is another problem, because an estimated 1-2 Million people left Zimbabwe and migrated to South Afrika most of these immigrants were illegal so they end up living in the poor urban communities so when you see the stats in South Afrika you might think it's the South Afrikans that are losing but it's actually the result of the after effects of the Sanctions that are messing up Zimbabwe's Economy.
Mbeki in my opinion is a good leader for South Afrika because he is doing the best he can to satisfy the Afrikans and Europeans which is a very difficult job especially now that Zimbabwe is getting hurt from the Sanctions.
I hope that Zimbabwe can work out some type of comprimise towards their land issues that they have with the Europeans because until that problem is solved Southern Afrikan Countries will be feeling the effects of that problem.
South Afrikans are benefiting and gaining real WEALTH from those land reform policies that exist their in South Afrika, it's well known that a Afrikans are moving from poor class to middle class in South Afrika today. The issue that comes with land reform in South Afrika occurs when the government gave free land and farming equipment to Afrikans for redistribution and some South Afrikans ended up selling some of the equipment, and failing to produce a high supply of products. Zimbabwe experienced the same problem as the South Afrikans.
When that happens PRICES for those farm produce went higher and the poor in South Afrika suffered as a result. The government in South Afrika had to take back the land from the Afrikans because they could not meet the standards that European farmers were producing. Zimababwe had to do the same thing as South Afrika which is take back the land from the pro-black but underproducing farmers. Remember hungry people have to eat no matter what color they are ok.
The South Afrikan government had to implement ANOTHER program of only distributing land to Afrikans who were TRAINED and EDUCATED about MODERN farming techniques, also the South Afrikan government had to require that individuals who were proven to be competent, also had to borrow funds to buy farm equipment. South Afrika resorted to education+farm loans which produced a SUCCESSFUL group of NEW AFRIKAN FARMERS in South Afrika who are working under Cooperative business partnerships, which is producing REAL WEALTH amongst Afrikans TODAY in South Afrika.
The lesson learned is if you give somebody something for nothing they will probably abuse it. The education+loan program does not look pretty to the Black Warriors but it works, because USING,ABUSING and UNDERPRODUCING does NOT help the Black Cause.
South Afrika is a success story in the making, Mbeki is a good President, they should give him one or two more terms in my opinion because South Afrika's Economy grew quite well under his leadership and Afrikans got wealthier under his leadership which is good. 12 years in the making and South Afrika is reversing the problems that existed under Aparthied, though not immediately making everybody happy but the process towards raising the standard of living + Education for Afrikans is progressing and I can't knock anyone who does that.
quote: South Africa: Manufacturing Recovery Picking Up Speed
Business Day (Johannesburg) Ayanda Shezi Johannesburg
MANUFACTURING production growth climbed to 6,1% year on year in June, aided by strong domestic demand and a weaker rand in the month, which suggests that recovery in the sector is now fully entrenched.
The sector, which accounts for about 16% of gross domestic product (GDP), is expected to perform better this year than it did for most of last year, when a strong rand eroded the competitiveness of exporters.
Statistics SA released data on Tuesday showing that output in the economy's second-largest sector rose 3,9% in the three months to June.
June's year-on-year rise of 6,1% is up from a revised 5,6% year on year in May. In the month production increased 1,7%.
Investec's purchasing managers' index, a leading indicator of activity in the sector, has remained in positive territory for six consecutive months, and reached a record high of 63,2 last month, which bodes well for the sector's prospects in coming months.
"Overall, the numbers suggest that producers continue to benefit from strong local and external demand conditions, and that the weaker rand has provided an additional positive impetus to output growth," said JPMorgan economist Marisa Fassler.
A strong manufacturing sector is also good news for overall GDP.
*Economic growth, although relatively strong at about 4%, needs to grow at about 6% and more in order to end two of SA's biggest problems -- unemployment and poverty.*
Government's Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for SA (Asgi-SA) is aimed at halving unemployment and alleviating poverty by 2014, quite a mammoth task considering that SA's unemployment level is currently at about 26.7%, or about 4.5-million unemployed people.
Asgi-SA is also aimed at tackling the country's increased demand for skilled personnel.
*Only 29% of employed black people have achieved a matric qualification or higher, compared with 64% for white, coloured and Indian workers.*
Growth momentum in manufacturing accelerated to 6% in the second quarter of this year, up from 4,3% in the first quarter, Fassler said.
"This supports our view that GDP growth probably rose to about 4,6% quarter on quarter in the second quarter, up from 4,2% previously. However, our GDP forecast will be finalised only after the mining output numbers are released (today)," she said.
Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni said at the Bank's monetary policy committee meeting last week: "Manufacturing output growth has shown some signs of sustaining the first-quarter recovery after the subdued levels in the second half of 2005.
Said Brait economist Colen Garrow: "With this in mind, monetary authorities possibly felt more comfortable hiking rates, since any monetary tightening may have encouraged the rand to strengthen, working counter to the export activities in the manufacturing sector."
Mboweni expects the economy to grow above 4%, although it may decelerate somewhat this year. Last year the economy grew at 4,9% year on year.
"We remain fairly optimistic about the prospects for domestic manufacturing in spite of rising domestic interest rates," Vunani Securities chief economist Johan Rossouw said.
"While higher rates should culminate in declining growth in household consumption demand, we do not anticipate an equivalent slowdown in the rate of growth in overall gross domestic demand."
Doug M, lamin, Reid in the future look for South Afrika GDP to show 6% or higher because that spells Poverty reduction.
If Zimbabwe clears up their land disputes issue with the Europeans then the South Afrikan Economy will grow even stronger plus Zimbabwe economy will grow just as much. These Afrikan leaders should realize that a lack of quality EDUCATION is the most important fight for Afrikans, because the biggest loss that occurs towards Afrikans under racism is loss of access to obtaining a quality EDUCATION.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Hotep you are a lost cause. You are a PERFECT example of what is wrong when it comes to poverty in Africa.... BLAMING the victim and turning whites into SAINTS who have DONE NO WRONG.
YOU sure seem to SUPPORT the WHITE South Africans and SURE seem to want to KEEP them in power. I DONT. I DONT want to see WHITES running South Africa's economy. I DONT want BLACK South Africans to have to WAIT for their land back. I DONT think that it is fair that they only want to give 30% of the land back. I DONT think it is fair that the WHITES were allowed to keep ALL the LAND, MONEY and INDUSTRY that they ATTAINED due to APARTHIED. YOU on the other hand, dont see it as UNFAIR that blacks have to START from the BOTTOM, with NO FORM OF REPARATIONS, after hundreds of years of ECONOMIC exploitation.
The key here is that apartheid was a form of ECONOMIC exploitation. What IDIOT thinks the Whites went to South Africa for religion? It was for MONEY, WEALTH and POWER. ALL European countries went to Africa and colonized it for the SAME REASON. This was not BENIGN, this was the most BRUTAL, INHUMANE and SAVAGE form of oppression EVER, DESIGNED to KEEP BLACKS under the HEEL of the white man. At the same time all of this was touted as "DEVELOPMENT" and "BRINGING CIVILIZATION" to Africa by Europe. What does that mean? It means putting WHITES on TOP of the ECONOMIC pyramid and BLACKS at the bottom. Therefore, if you TRULY are going to address the HISTORY of oppression in Africa, you would realize that JUSTICE in South Africa means putting AFRICANS at the top of the ECONOMIC pyramid, TAKING the land from whites and NOT paying for it, TAKING companies from whites, TAKING money from whites and GIVING it to the blacks, DEPORTING those whites KNOWN to have committed CRIMES against BLACKS. This is ONLY FAIR. NO COUNTRY or PEOPLE ever got POWERFUL or WEALTHY by being FAIR and CERTAINLY NOT WHITES. So CUT THE BULL***T that blacks have to be "fair" to whites after HUNDREDS of YEARS of unfair treatment. You are only trying to SUGARCOAT CONTINUED oppression.
UNTIL BLACKS STAND UP and STOP allowing WHITES to KEEP the wealth and power stolen from Africans, Africans will STAY POOR. Because in 15 more years, just like SOME BLACKS will get richer MORE WHITES will too. South African blacks WILL NEVER gain or supersede whites in WEALTH as long as they allow WHITES to maintain control of the land, mines and mineral wealth of the country. ANY economic growth only benefits WHITES more than BLACKS. Why should STARVING BLACKS celebrate WHITES BENEFITTING from years of OPPRESSION? Why should ANY black South African CELEBRATE whites being WELL OFF? What black South African FOOL would celebrate WHITES being RICH as a result of apartheid and ACT as if the WEALTH of Whites is NOT because of Apartheid? Save your nonsense and WARPED ideas of progress for someone else.
Blacks in ALL parts of the world have been LULLED to sleep because they THINK they are free. They are NOT. Blacks in America got another 25 year renewal of the voting rights act, why? Because they STILL dont REALLY have the right to vote. Blacks are NOT really free ANYWHERE in the world. They are at the BOTTOM of EVERY LADDER you can imagine, except maybe the "chosen few" black entertainers, athletes and celebrities that think they have MADE it. You cant be FREE while the FORMER colonial SLAVE master still controls your INSTITUTIONS, YOUR ECONOMICS and your EDUCATION.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Ohh... and by the way, of course it seems SAVAGE when blacks finally rise up and TAKE things into their own hands. Of course it seems SAVAGE when blacks get TIRED of being tired. But what do you EXPECT? Blacks in Africa are TIRED of SELL OUTS in government who KISS THE BEHIND of the white colonial masters. Blacks are TIRED of WAITING for their land and wealth back. Blacks are TIRED of being DIRT POOR in their OWN COUNTRIES while FOREIGNERS and WHITES get RICH. Of course it seems SAVAGE when black farms FAIL, since the BLACKS had NO MONEY to begin with and no GOVERNMENT support. Of course it seems SAVAGE when the government STOPS land reform because of a few "problems". Of course it seems SAVAGE when whites STILL own MOST of the land. Of course it seems SAVAGE when WHITES are STILL RACIST. Of course it seems SAVAGE when BLACKS die of diseases that are CURED for everyone else. Of course it seems SAVAGE when people dont OPEN THEIR EYES and THINK for themselves.......
Posted by herukhuti (Member # 11484) on :
Doug M is the truth. You're a true Shepsu.
Peace.
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Doug M what Afrika needs today is DAMAGE CONTROL, their are numerous areas that are in a state of CRISIS and South Afrika is not one of those areas. SUDAN, SOMALIA, MAURITANIA, TCHAD, CONGO some of these places have forced labor/Slavery going on TODAY Doug M. Afrika has got to make a priority list and work on solutions to problems that should be determined by their effects on human life. Problems that are most destructive to Afrikan lives and development need to be worked on first. Lets look at the Sudan their are women who are committing SUICIDE on a daily basis their today because they are victims of rape and other unspeakable atrocities now that problem has to be solved by Afrikan people because it will only get worse in the future.
The number 1 problem that Afrikans have to work on today is FORCED LABOR/Slavery in the SUDAN and the impending war in Somalia both problems have a ARABIC colonialist agenda as the root cause. Afrika has worked on the European issue in the south now they MUST work on the ARAB problem in the NORTH and EAST in order to stabilize AFRIKA.
Reparations in Southern Afrika is not a critical problem TODAY versus the Apartheid in the North and forced labor/Slavery in the North and Eastern regions. Doug M when you can get as passionate about the Sudan and Northern Afrikan Apartheid then you get back to me.
quote: In South Africa, Relocated Community Chooses Jobs Over Lost Land Leon Marshall in Johannesburg for National Geographic News
October 19, 2005 Thirty-six years ago, South Africa's white-minority government forced a small community known as the Makuleke people from their land so that it could be included in Kruger National Park.
They resisted. But their houses were destroyed, and the Makuleke were put on trucks with their belongings and ordered to resettle an area 30 miles (50 kilometers) away.
In 1998, four years after the fall of apartheid in South Africa, the Makuleke won back their ancestral territory.
The community then faced a tough choice: Whether to return to their land or to stay put and preserve their land to gain income and jobs from ecotourism and park-approved hunting.
After much discussion and thought, the Makuleke chose the latter, recalls Livingston Mululeke, a community spokesperson.
"The older people longed for their land and wanted to go back there," he said. "They remembered how hard it was for them to lose it. They remembered how they were bundled on government trucks with such belongings as they could take and transported to the new place.
"It was terrible. Our old people to this day shiver when they talk about that experience."
With the younger people it was different, Mululeke says. "They did not have the same connection as the old people with their ancestral land and were not as anxious to go back there. They could see the advantages of rather letting it remain part of the park."
Including himself among the younger generation, he said: "Our argument was that it could be of bigger benefit to the community. We said we could get a fixed income from giving concessions to game-lodge operators, and our people could get jobs from it."
"Finally the older people agreed. And as it turned out, we have delivered on our promises," Mululeke said.
By opting to keep their land in the park and earn income that way, the Makuleke have set an example for community involvement in parks that is being followed in other parts of South Africa.
The Makuleke ancestral land comprises some of Kruger National Park's most beautiful scenery. The area is punctuated by rocky hills, giant baobab trees, and a great variety of plant and animal life. Yet, with scant facilities, it has mostly remained off the tourist map.
In recent years, however, the region has gained two luxury game lodges, which were built under concession from the Makuleke. The area also has good access roads now, and an airfield washed away in floods five years ago has been repaired by concession holders.
One of the concessionaires is Wilderness Safaris, a company that in 2003 won a World Legacy Award from Conservation International and National Geographic Traveler magazine for environmentally and socially responsible tourism.
The company has just completed a lodge, called Pafuri Camp after the name of the region, which has provided much-needed employment to the poverty-stricken community.
Though the construction jobs have been mainly temporary, Mululeke says they have taught his people many skills that can help them in the future.
Operations at Pafuri Camp and an older lodge called the Outpost, run by another company, have also provided a number of permanent jobs. Makuleke community members have been trained as bartenders, housekeepers, waiters, cooks, and managerial staff. Some are also being trained as tourist guides.
Income from the concessions and approved hunting has served the community as well, Mululeke says. The money goes into a trust run by representatives of the community and the South African government's department of land affairs.
The trust funds one development project a year and has just built a school for the community.
Another project has been the electrification of the Makuleke township. "We even have street lights!" Mululeke declares. "This in a rural area! We think of ourselves as the Johannesburg of the region!"
Mululeke shows obvious pride when describing the effect the experience has had on his community's spirit.
"Yes, we suffered for years. But instead of crying, we fought back until we got our land returned to us," he said. "This, and the debate about what to do with the land, as well as the planning that had to be done after we decided to leave it as part of the park, all served to bind us together as a community."
The Makuleke's decision has in turn served the cause of nature conservation. Apart from safeguarding their ancestral land as part of Kruger National Park, the community now actively participates in wildlife protection.
Three community representatives sit on a six-person management board, run jointly with South Africa National Parks, which administers the region. And with help from the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the Makuleke have just sent 25 of their young people to institutions of higher learning to study conservation.
James Ramsay, managing director of Wilderness Safaris' South African lodges, says the community has been making a major contribution in devising conservation strategies. But its most tangible role has been in the reduction of game poaching in that section of the park.
The poaching problem is an old one. It has been aggravated by the number of Zimbabweans crossing the Limpopo River border with South Africa who are driven by the ravages of their politically unstable country's collapsing economy.
The Makuleke community's anti-poaching unit, including 15 young people trained with financial help from Wilderness Safaris, has collected numerous snares and arrested a number of poachers.
As part of its contribution to the area's wildlife management, Wilderness Safaris has sponsored the relocation of four white rhinos from southern Kruger National Park to Pafuri.
It is the first time in more than a hundred years that white rhinos are again roaming this northern section of Kruger National Park, and Ramsay believes it will contribute to the tourism attraction of the area.
One level of Crisis solution at a time now lets support Ethiopia and Tchad in their efforts to deal with the original ARAB invaders.
South Afrika is on a path to success and they will succeed with or without reparations because they are AFRIKANS and AFRIKANS are known to make something out of nothing, so lets support them in their efforts.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by Hotep2u: Greetings:
quote: In South Africa, Relocated Community Chooses Jobs Over Lost Land Leon Marshall in Johannesburg for National Geographic News
October 19, 2005 Thirty-six years ago, South Africa's white-minority government forced a small community known as the Makuleke people from their land so that it could be included in Kruger National Park.
They resisted. But their houses were destroyed, and the Makuleke were put on trucks with their belongings and ordered to resettle an area 30 miles 50 kilometers away.
In 1998, four years after the fall of apartheid in South Africa, the Makuleke won back their ancestral territory.
The community then faced a tough choice: Whether to return to their land or to stay put and preserve their land to gain income and jobs from ecotourism and park-approved hunting.
After much discussion and thought, the Makuleke chose the latter, recalls Livingston Mululeke, a community spokesperson.
"The older people longed for their land and wanted to go back there," he said. "They remembered how hard it was for them to lose it. They remembered how they were bundled on government trucks with such belongings as they could take and transported to the new place.
"It was terrible. Our old people to this day shiver when they talk about that experience."
With the younger people it was different, Mululeke says. "They did not have the same connection as the old people with their ancestral land and were not as anxious to go back there. They could see the advantages of rather letting it remain part of the park."
Including himself among the younger generation, he said: "Our argument was that it could be of bigger benefit to the community. We said we could get a fixed income from giving concessions to game-lodge operators, and our people could get jobs from it."
"Finally the older people agreed. And as it turned out, we have delivered on our promises," Mululeke said.
By opting to keep their land in the park and earn income that way, the Makuleke have set an example for community involvement in parks that is being followed in other parts of South Africa.
The Makuleke ancestral land comprises some of Kruger National Park's most beautiful scenery. The area is punctuated by rocky hills, giant baobab trees, and a great variety of plant and animal life. Yet, with scant facilities, it has mostly remained off the tourist map.
In recent years, however, the region has gained two luxury game lodges, which were built under concession from the Makuleke. The area also has good access roads now, and an airfield washed away in floods five years ago has been repaired by concession holders.
One of the concessionaires is Wilderness Safaris, a company that in 2003 won a World Legacy Award from Conservation International and National Geographic Traveler magazine for environmentally and socially responsible tourism.
The company has just completed a lodge, called Pafuri Camp after the name of the region, which has provided much-needed employment to the poverty-stricken community.
Though the construction jobs have been mainly temporary, Mululeke says they have taught his people many skills that can help them in the future.
Operations at Pafuri Camp and an older lodge called the Outpost, run by another company, have also provided a number of permanent jobs. Makuleke community members have been trained as bartenders, housekeepers, waiters, cooks, and managerial staff. Some are also being trained as tourist guides.
Income from the concessions and approved hunting has served the community as well, Mululeke says. The money goes into a trust run by representatives of the community and the South African government's department of land affairs.
The trust funds one development project a year and has just built a school for the community.
Another project has been the electrification of the Makuleke township. "We even have street lights!" Mululeke declares. "This in a rural area! We think of ourselves as the Johannesburg of the region!"
Mululeke shows obvious pride when describing the effect the experience has had on his community's spirit.
"Yes, we suffered for years. But instead of crying, we fought back until we got our land returned to us," he said. "This, and the debate about what to do with the land, as well as the planning that had to be done after we decided to leave it as part of the park, all served to bind us together as a community."
The Makuleke's decision has in turn served the cause of nature conservation. Apart from safeguarding their ancestral land as part of Kruger National Park, the community now actively participates in wildlife protection.
Three community representatives sit on a six-person management board, run jointly with South Africa National Parks, which administers the region. And with help from the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the Makuleke have just sent 25 of their young people to institutions of higher learning to study conservation.
James Ramsay, managing director of Wilderness Safaris' South African lodges, says the community has been making a major contribution in devising conservation strategies. But its most tangible role has been in the reduction of game poaching in that section of the park.
The poaching problem is an old one. It has been aggravated by the number of Zimbabweans crossing the Limpopo River border with South Africa who are driven by the ravages of their politically unstable country's collapsing economy.
The Makuleke community's anti-poaching unit, including 15 young people trained with financial help from Wilderness Safaris, has collected numerous snares and arrested a number of poachers.
As part of its contribution to the area's wildlife management, Wilderness Safaris has sponsored the relocation of four white rhinos from southern Kruger National Park to Pafuri.
It is the first time in more than a hundred years that white rhinos are again roaming this northern section of Kruger National Park, and Ramsay believes it will contribute to the tourism attraction of the area.
One level of Crisis solution at a time now lets support Ethiopia and Tchad in their efforts to deal with the original ARAB invaders.
South Afrika is on a path to success and they will succeed with or without reparations because they are AFRIKANS and AFRIKANS are known to make something out of nothing, so lets support them in their efforts.
Hotep
Hotep, thanks for making my point for me. You are PROVING what is wrong in Africa and WHY blacks STAY at the bottom of the socio economic heap!
First off, lets reword the issue. If I am LIVING IN POVERTY and had a choice to make MILLIONS or BILLIONS of dollars, as an industrialist, land owner, mining operator or farm entrepeneur based off of my OWN LAND and MY OWN RESOURCES and MY OWN LABOR versus just make SMALL CHANGE, barely making a living, scraping by while OTHERS make MILLIONS and BILLIONS of of MY RESOURCES and MY LABOR, WHICH should I choose? Tick, Tick, Tick...... DING! The answer is OBVIOUS. You would choose to make millions and billions, which would SOLVE your whole poverty problem. Now, lets look at the situation in South Africa, you have BLACK Africans, who have been FORCED to take the second approach to a LIFE OF POVERTY, while OTHERS get rich as the previously stated mining operators, farm entrepeneurs and industrialists, WHY would BLACK Africans CHOOSE the second approach out of CHOICE? WHY? Doesnt that seem strange that they would CHOOSE to continue a life of SERVITUDE to SOMEONE ELSE who is getting RICH of their LAND AND RESOURCES? Doesnt that sound like a PATTERN? Remember what happened after Slavery in America? Dont you remember that the REASON these people HAD to CHOOSE an INFERIOR option is A: because WHITES WERE STILL RACIST B: that blacks were STILL being economically oppressed and discriminated against C: Blacks were STILL being forced to the bottom of the social/economic heap by JIM CROW and other LEGAL RACIST MECHANISMS? Dont you understand that JUST being FREED from OUTRIGHT FORCED LABOR AND OPPRESSION is NOT THE END OF THE BATTLE? JESUS dude, GET A CLUE!
Therefore, why would blacks CHOOSE to GIVE AWAY THEIR BIRTHRIGHT and ALLOW OTHERS to make ALL THE MONEY off their LAND? Why wouldnt black South AFricand OWN THEIR OWN GAME PARKS, RESERVES and RESORTS? Dont you understand that THIS is the ONLY WAY to economic FREEDOM, not WAGE SLAVERY? Your quoted example of "progress" is not PROGRESS! Why wouldnt these BLACK South Africans have been given the MONEY, in GRANTS and LOANS to start THEIR OWN game resorts? Why should WHITES get ALL THE MONEY? OBVIOUSLY, this TELLS YOU that things are NOT RIGHT in South Africa, that WHITES have played the SAME GAME with South African blacks that they have played with ALL former slaves and oppressed black people ALL OVER the world. This game makes blacks THINK that they are FREE, when in ALL REALITY, THEY ARE NOT. They are STILL just the "workers" off of whose LABOR, LAND and RESOURCES WHITES make MILLIONS AND BILLIONS of dollars. Why and the HELL would I CHOOSE for some WHITE COMPANY to make BILLIONS of dollars off of the DIAMONDS, LAND or other resources of MY LAND and NOT make MY OWN COMPANY? What is so special about WHITES being in control of ALL THAT MONEY? They dont DESERVE it any more than those who OWN THE LAND, especially since BLACKS DO MOST OF THE WORK ANYWAY? So what is the white person doing OTHER THAN MAKING ALL THE MONEY and talking a bunch of NONSENSE about how this is based on "fairness" and the "hard works" and "virtues" of WHITES? Sure, there is some business skill and expertise that is necessary, but that does not mean whites are the only ones with such skills and DOESNT JUSTIFY WHITES MAKING MORE OFF THE LAND AND RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY THAN THE BLACKS. People need to wake up and SEE that it is just a NEW form of OLD RACIST ideaology, where NOW SOME OF US GO ALONG WITH IT!
Stop trying to DEFINE the struggle for black people. As long as BLACK PEOPLE allow their ENEMIES to DEFINE THE TERMS OF THE STRUGGLE, they will STAY POOR, STAY BEGGARS, and STAY AT THE BOTTOM of the ECONOMIC LADDER relative to WHITES. The ONLY answer for ALL Africans is for AFRICANS to OWN the MAJORITY of ALL ENTERPRISES in Africa, whether they be BANKS, FARMS, MINES, TEXTILE COMPANIES or ANYTHING ELSE. OTHERWISE, they are ONLY FOLLOWING THE BLUEPRINT OF NEOCOLONIALISM. This BLUEPRINT FORCES blacks to ACCEPT LOW PAYING JOBS as WILLING WAGE SLAVES of the FORMER NEOCOLONIAL MASTER. This BLUEPRINT puts SELL OUTS in positions of POWER AND LEADERSHIP who preach AGAINST BLACKS TAKING OVER THE ECONOMIES OF THEIR OWN COUNTRIES. These people are placed into power to LULL THE PEOPLE TO SLEEP and to "define the struggle" as one of "integration" or "being friends" as opposed to ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND WEALTH DISTRIBUTION. Economics and WEALTH distribution are the BASIS of the struggle. Not FRIENDSHIP with whites, not going to WHITE stores, not just WORKING for whites as a FREE person, but being ECONOMICALLY on the SAME level and ABOVE whites in AFrica as land owners, miners, farmers and EVERYTHING ELSE the whites TOOK FROM Africans by FORCE. THAT is how you gain ECONOMIC independence, not by DEPENDING on economic TRICKLE DOWN policies that KEEPS all the WEALTH of African countries in the hands of a SMALL MINORITY of WHITES. In addition, the struggle is based on DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH. Whites did not GO TO AFRICA just because Africans were DIFFERENT looking than whites. Whites went to Africa to OPPRESS blacks because WHITES wanted to REDISTRIBUTE the WEALTH TO THEMSELVES and AWAY from blacks. THIS HAS TO BE ADDRESSED BY THE STRUGGLE. You CANNOT expect THOSE who BENEFITTED FROM YEARS of WHITE WEALTH REDISTRIBUTION to GIVE BACK MONEY WILLINGLY. THEREFORE, the TRUE struggle is to FORCE this redistribution of wealth TAKEN from black Africans BACK to Black Africans, BY Black Africans who UNDERSTAND THE TRUE STRUGGLE. The struggle is NOT JUST ABOUT VOTING, it is about WEALTH and ECONOMIC POWER which is the BASIS of TRUE FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE.
People have allowed themselves to be BRAINWASHED into thinking Africans are TRULY FREE when they arent. The ONLY thing that has changed is that the LAND AND RESOURCES that whites USED TO TAKE through OPENLY RACIST policies is NOW TAKEN by a system of CONCESSIONS. Concessions are NOT FAIR LAND DEALS, it is basically GIVING AWAY the JEWELS for NOTHING IN RETURN. That is why you dont HEAR of it ANYWHERE ELSE but in FORMER COLONIES, and NOT IN Europe or America, where land and resources are HANDLED DIFFERENTLY. This SYSTEM started when the Europeans invaded Africa and DIVIDED IT UP as part of the BERLIN CONFERENCE, for the PURPOSE of determining WHAT COUNTRIES would control the RESOURCES in VARIOUS PARTS OF AFRICA. It wasnt about voting, it wasnt about biology and it wasnt about "race", other than "race" was a JUSTIFICATION for the greed and oppression of whites. It was about MONEY, pure and simple. Concessions are FORM OF NEOCOLONIALISM, where the former colonial subjects GIVE UP THEIR CLAIMS OF SOVEREIGNTY on the LAND OR RESOURCES in a particular area. Therefore, it is STILL SUBJECT/MASTER relationship being FORCED on the colonial subject, even though the OUTRIGHT COLONIAL occupation has ENDED.
Concession: In international law, a concession is a territory within a country that is administered by another entity than the state which holds sovereignty over it. . This is usually a colonizing power, or at least mandated by one, as in the case of colonial Chartered companies.
Usually, it is conceded, that is, allowed or even surrendered by a weaker state to a stronger power. For example, the politically weak and militarily helpless Qing China in the 19th century was forced to sign several so-called Unequal Treaties (by analogy with private contract law, their validity has been contested because of force majeure) by which it gave, among other rights, territorial concessions to numerous colonial powers, European as well as Japan, creating a whole host of concessions in China in addition to even more numerous treaty ports where China retained territorial controll.
However, just as with permanent sales of territory, there are cases when concession has been entered upon voluntarily by a power which could have resisted the demand, believing the arrangement to their mutual interest, or as part of a more complexly balanced deal.
In the many cases where the terms of the contract (be it in the form of a treaty between states) provides for similar terms as an ordinary property lease, notably a term limited in time and usually an indemnity sum, the territory can be called more precisely a lease territory or leased territory. Many of the concessions in China were leased.
The term is not to be confused with 'territorial concession', which applies to any clause in a treaty whereby a power renounces control over any territory, usually in the form of a full and indefinite transfer, often without any indemnity.
From wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concession_%28territory%29
You can SEE the fact that these concessions are TRULY the mechanism by which COLONIAL ECONOMIC RULE is maintained by seeing WHO gets the CONCESSIONS in VARIOUS PARTS OF AFRICA. Concessions are NOT designed to and DO NOT support African ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE, they are just TOOLS of continued oppression by the FORMER COLONIAL MASTERS. The only difference now is that MANY AFRICANS are BRAINWASHED into beleiving that these "concessions" represent PROGRESS and they DONT. Your article is a perfect example of that. This has NOTHING to do with CRISIS MANAGEMENT, this has to do with bringing the CONTROL AND MANIPULATION of Africas economic and politial landscape by COLONIAL masters in the guise of "concessions", "aid" and the World Bank.
The point of putting Egypt into a PROPER AFrican context is to SHOW what Africans are CAPABLE OF when IN CONTROL of their OWN CULTURE, LAND, RESOURCES and WEALTH.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Also, in addition to the "concessions", many of the modern companies operating in Africa are a mirror of the Chartered companies of years gone by. These "charters"
quote: enabled states to use private resources for exploration and trade beyond the means of the limited resources of the treasury, which is a liberal form of indirect rule; some companies did themselves employ a form of indirect rule of territories through traditional leaders, such as princely states with whom they (not the European state) made treaties.
The key here is that these "charters" provided the LEGAL basis for Europeans to EXPLOIT Africa and the rest of the world LEGALLY. Many powerful companies in and out of Africa trace their histories back to Chartered companies. The point though is that NO TRUE INDEPENDENT AFRICAN STATE should RECOGNIZE the LEGAL BASIS of such companies, since it is tantamount to saying that Africans HAVE NO RIGHTS when it comes to the OWNERSHIP, BUYING, SELLING and ECONOMIC PROFIT of their OWN LAND. THIS is why African governments DO NOT have the POWER to KICK WHITES off the land. This is ALSO WHY South African governments CANNOT JUST KICK OUT THE WHITES from the FARMS AND THE MINES. It is like someone coming into YOUR house and saying that they have A LAW that allows THEM to OWN your house, BUY, SELL and TRADE the furniture in it and PROFIT off the work of the people IN IT. Now, hundreds of years later, these former colonial masters often MAKE DEALS that THEY SAY ARE LEGAL, but arent. How can someone RECOGNIZE someone making PHONY LAWS that ONLY EXIST TO JUSTIFY ECONOMIC OPPRESSION? How can a system BUILT on such laws UPHOLD THE RIGHTS OF AFRICANS? It cant. This is the problem with MUCH of Africa and the LEGAL basis for land redistribution and reparations which HAS LARGELY GONE NOWHERE, since the Africans RECOGNIZE THE LEGAL BASIS OF EXPLOITATION. Until African governments and courts THROW OUT LAWS BASED ON THE OLD BRITISH COLONIAL CHARTERED SYSTEM, they will CONTINUE to respect the RIGHTS OF THE THEIVES AND COLONIZERS. If you say that your land was stolen then there IS NO BASIS IN LAW for the THIEF TO REMAIN ON IT. All so-called "laws" meaning rights are LOST if the land is stolen, meaning you dont recognize the RIGHT OF THE THEIF TO BUY OR SELL YOUR PROPERTY. Therefore, someone who BOUGHT IT HAS NO RIGHTS EITHER. The land therefore GOES BACK TO THE ORIGINAL OWNER, NO QUESTIONS ASKED and NO FURTHER TRANSACTIONS ARE REQUIRED, unless the ORIGINAL OWNER desires COMPENSATION for the years of PROFIT off the land MADE BY THE THIEF. Unfortunately, the WEST does not ALLOW African courts to FUNCTION IN A SOVEREIGN MANNER and as soon as one tries to THROW OUT THE BUMS ON THEIR EARS, Britain, the U.S., France or some other COLONIAL POWER automatically JUMPS UP AND CRIES FOUL. Cries foul about what? The rights of the THIEF? HOW IN THE HELL DOES THE THIEF HAVE RIGHTS? So as you can see, the OLD COLONIAL SYSTEM OF LAND AND WEALTH CONTROL (white supremacy) is STILL IN EFFECT IN AFRICA. Of course these Western countries say you have to respect the "rights" of the WHITES and function under the rule of law, but under WHOSE rights and WHOSE laws are they expecting you to operate? OBVIOUSLY it is NOT under the RIGHTS OF AFRICANS NOT TO BE EXPLOITED OR TO OWN AND PROFIT OFF THEIR OWN LAND or to BUILD BANKS AND ECONOMIC SYSTEMS AROUND SUCH. This is ONLY FOR WHITES, according to the LAWS AND RIGHTS of the WEST.
[Quote] The British South Africa Company (BSAC) was established by Cecil Rhodes through the amalgamation of the Central Search Association and the Exploring Company, Ltd., receiving a royal charter in 1889. Modeling the BSAC on the British East India Company, Rhodes hoped it would enable colonisation and economic exploitation across much of south-central Africa, as part of the "Scramble for Africa". The company's directors included the Duke of Abercorn, Rhodes himself and the financier Alfred Beit.
The company was empowered to trade with African rulers such as King Lobengula; to form banks; to own, manage and grant or distribute land, and to raise a police force (the British South Africa Police). In return, the company agreed to develop the territory it controlled; to respect existing African laws; to allow free trade within its territory and to respect all religions.
The company recruited its own army, and attacked and defeated the Matabele and Shona north of the Limpopo river. It was the first time in history Britons have used the Maxim gun in combat (five Maxims to five thousand Ndebele casualties). The company carved out (and for the following three decades administered) a territory which it named Zambezia, and later, Rhodesia, and which now covers the area occupied by the republics of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In 1914, the royal charter was renewed, on condition that settlers in Rhodesia were given increased political rights. In 1922, the company entered negotiations with the government of the Union of South Africa, which was keen to take over the territory - a plan foiled by the colony's settlers, who voted against incorporation with South Africa. In 1923, Britain chose not to renew the BSA Co's charter, and instead accorded 'self-governing' colony status to Southern Rhodesia (today, Zimbabwe) and protectorate status to Northern Rhodesia (today, Zambia).
The BSAC was not able to generate enough profit to pay its shareholders dividends until after it lost direct administrative control over Rhodesia in 1923. In 1933, the BSAC sold its mineral exploration rights south of the Zambezi to the Southern Rhodesian government, but retained rights over Northern Rhodesian mineral rights, as well as the company's vast interests in mining, railways, real estate and agriculture across southern Africa. The arms of the British South Africa Company Enlarge The arms of the British South Africa Company
In 1964, the company was forced to hand over its mineral rights to the government of Zambia, and the following year, the British South Africa Company merged with the Central Mining & Investment Corporation Ltd and The Consolidated Mines Selection Company Ltd to form a mining and industrial company known as Charter Consolidated Ltd, of which slightly over one-third of the shares were owned by the British/South African mining company Anglo American plc.
Therefore to TRULY say that you RECOGNIZE the claims of Africans TO THEIR OWN LAND, means YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE the LEGAL BASIS OF WHITE POWER IN AFRICAN LANDS. You cannot OPERATE under COLONIAL legal systems or even INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC legal systems, if these systems DO NOT RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES TO THE LAND AND WEALTH OF THE COUNTRY. If they DO NOT then they MUST BE ABOLISHED and any COMPANY, LAND OR PROPERTY BUILT UNDER SUCH LAWS SHOULD BECOME THE PROPERTY OF THE PEOPLE FROM WHICH IT WAS TAKEN.
THAT IS THE BASIS OF THE STRUGGLE ECONOMICALLY IN AFRICA. There is NO SUCH THING as stealing something "FAIR AND SQUARE". GROWN UPS dont play those games and FIGHT WARS, KILL AND DIE over such claims on a constant basis.
Put it this way. Did Africans have a SAY in these "charters" of European governments on land in AFRICAN COUNTRIES? No. Did Africans AGREE to RESPECT THE LAND RIGHTS OF WHITES in African countries? NO. Did whites consult with Africans on the basis of these laws? NO. Therefore these are NOT TRUE LAWS because the parties involved did NOT CONSENT. Did African slaves have a SAY in the LAWS governing their rights? NO. Did African slaves have a RIGHT to demand FAIR PAY for their labor? NO. Did Africans have a RIGHT to set the terms of their employment? NO. So HOW would someone RECOGNIZE these laws OUTSIDE THE FORCED imposition of such "laws" on those the laws are said to represent. THEREFORE, FORCING someone to ACCEPT these LEGAL terms is DOES NOT MAKE THESE ACTIONS LEGAL. And, by ALL RIGHTS, that person DOES NOT HAVE TO RECOGNIZE SUCH LAWS AS TRULY LEGAL. THAT is the TRUE basis of JUSTICE in terms of the treatment of Africans as WEALTH PRODUCERS for whites for the last 400 years.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Other parts of the story and how they relate are very important.
Note 1: The scramble for Africa and the beginning of Scientific Racism:
quote: Colonial propaganda and jingoism
Further information: Human Zoo, Colonial Exhibitions, and Scientific racism
However, by the end of World War I, the colonized empires had become very popular almost everywhere: public opinion had been convinced of the needs of a colonial empire, although many of the metropolitans would never see a piece of it. Colonial exhibitions had been instrumental in this change of popular mentalities brought about by the colonial propaganda, supported by the colonial lobby and by various scientifics. Thus, the conquest of territories were inevitably followed by public displays of the indigenous people for scientific and leisure purposes. Karl Hagenbeck, a German merchant in wild animals and future entrepreneur of most Europeans zoos, thus decided in 1874 to exhibit Samoa and Sami people as "purely natural" populations. In 1876, he sent one of his collaborators to the newly conquered Egyptian Sudan to bring back some wild beasts and Nubians. Presented in Paris, London and Berlin, these Nubians were very successful. Such "human zoos" could be found in Hamburg, Anvers, Barcelona, London, Milan, New York, Warsaw, etc., with 200,000 to 300,000 visitors attending each exhibition. Tuaregs were exhibited after the French conquest of Timbuktu (discovered by René Caillé, disguised as a Muslim, in 1828, who thus won the prize offered by the French Société de Géographie); Malagasy after the occupation of Madagascar; Amazons of Abomey after Behanzin's mediatic defeat against the French in 1894... Not used to the climatic conditions, some of the indigenous exposed died, such as some Galibis in Paris in 1892 [6].
Geoffroy de Saint-Hilaire, director of the Parisian Jardin d'acclimatation, decided in 1877 to organize two "ethnological spectacles", presenting Nubians and Inuit. The public of the Jardin d'acclimatation doubled, with a million paying entrances that year, a huge success for these times. Between 1877 and 1912, approximatively thirty "ethnological exhibitions" were presented at the Jardin zoologique d'acclimatation [7]. "Negro villages" would be presented in Paris' 1878 and 1879 World's Fair; the 1900 World's Fair presented the famous diorama "living" in Madagascar, while the Colonial Exhibitions in Marseilles (1906 and 1922) and in Paris (1907 and 1931) would also display human beings in cages, often nudes or quasi-nudes [8]. Nomadic "Senegalese villages" were also created, thus displaying the power of the colonial empire to all the population.
In the US, Madison Grant, head of the New York Zoological Society, exposed pigmy Ota Benga in the Bronx Zoo alongside the apes and others in 1906. At the behest of Grant, a prominent scientific racist and eugenicist, zoo director Hornaday placed Ota Benga in a cage with an orangutan and labeled him "The Missing Link" in an attempt to illustrate darwinism, and in particular that Africans like Ota Benga were closer to apes than were Europeans.
Such colonial exhibitions, which include the 1924 British Empire Exhibition and the successful 1931 Paris Exposition coloniale, were doubtlessly a key element of the colonisation project and legitimized the ruthless Scramble for Africa, in the same way that the popular comic-strip The Adventures of Tintin, full of clichés, were obviously carrier of an ethnocentric and racist ideology which was the condition of the masses' consent to the imperialist phenomenon. Hergé's work attained summits with Tintin in the Congo (1930-31) or The Broken Ear (1935).
While comic-strips played the same role as westerns to legitimize the Indian Wars in the United States, colonial exhibitions were both popular and scientific, being an interface between the crowds and serious scientific research. Thus, anthropologists such as Madison Grant or Alexis Carrel built their pseudo-scientific racism, inspired by Gobineau's An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1853-55). Human zoos provided both a real-size laboratory for these racial hypothesis and a demonstration of their validity: by labelling Ota Benga as the "missing link" between apes and Europeans, as was done in the Bronx Zoo, social darwinism and the pseudo-hierarchy of races, grounded in the biologization of the notion of "race", were simultaneously "proved", and the layman could observe this "scientific truth".
Anthropology, the daughter of colonisation, participated in this so-called scientific racism based on social darwinism by supporting, along with social positivism and scientism, the claims of the superiority of the Western civilization over "primitive cultures". However, the discovery of ancient cultures would dialectically lead anthropology to criticize itself and reevalue the importance of foreign cultures. Thus, the 1897 Punitive Expedition led by the British Admiral Harry Rawson captured, burned, and looted the city of Benin, incidentally bringing to an end the highly sophisticated West African Kingdom of Benin. However, the sack of Benin distributed the famous Benin bronzes and other works of art into the European art market, as the British Admiralty auctioned off the confiscated patrimony to defray costs of the Expedition. Most of the great Benin bronzes went first to purchasers in Germany, though a sizable group remain in the British Museum. The Benin bronzes then catalyzed the beginnings of a long reassessment of the value of West African culture, which had strong influences on the formation of modernism.
Several contemporary studies have thus focused on the construction of the racist discourse in the 19th century and its propaganda as a precondition of the colonization project and of the Scramble of Africa, made with total disconcern for the local population, as examplified by Stanley, according to whom "the savage only respects force, power, boldness, and decision." Anthropology, which was related to criminology, thrived on these explorations, as had geography before them and ethnology — which, along with Claude Lévi-Strauss' studies, would theorize the ethnocentric illusion — afterwards. According to several historians, the formulation of this racist discourse and practices would also be a precondition of "state racism" (Michel Foucault) as incarnated by the Holocaust (see also Olivier LeCour Grandmaison's description of the conquest of Algeria and Sven Lindqvist, as well as Hannah Arendt). The invention of concentration camps during the Second Boer War would also be an innovation used by the Third Reich.
A key point here to remember is that while these racists were claiming that black Africans were primitive savages incapable of forming civilization, they were ALSO DESTROYING any CIVILIZATIONS THEY DID ENCOUNTER. Therby DESTROYING the TRUE LEGACY of African culture and its impact on the West. It is not insignificant that the destroyed empires of West Africa are also the home of the Great Moorish empires which also occupied Medeival Europe, thereby making ANY claim of Africans NOT understanding culture or civilization A BOLD FACED LIE. The culture of Africa has been DEVASTATED because of this period and the impact of this RACIAL SCIENCE and LIES and EUTHENASIA (genocide) has left a BLACK HOLE in the middle of Africa's history that has warped and distorted EVERY aspect of African history and culture both before and since the colonial period. This is what we are trying to recover, not just in Egypt but ALL OVER AFRICA, Africa BEFORE colonialism and the TRUE nature of African civilization, culture and history, prior to the destruction by whites.
Note 2: Taking of African land by FORCE and giving it to soldiers involved in the exploit:
quote: The Pioneer Column was a force raised by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company in 1890 and used in his efforts to annex the territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The column consisted of a Pioneer Corps of 180 men, accompanied by a paramilitary police force (later christened the British South Africa Police) of 300; it was commanded by Major Frank Johnson and guided by the hunter Frederick Selous.
The Column's route began at Macloutsie in Bechuanaland on 28 June 1890 and proceeded east towards what is now Harare. The British union flag was hoisted on 13 September 1890 (later celebrated as a Rhodesian public holiday).
The Pioneer Corps was officially disbanded on 1 October 1890 and each member was granted land on which to farm.
The whole point is that colonialism was an ECONOMIC SYSTEM that put the land and wealth and RIGHTS to such in the hands of whites, which INSTITUTIONALIZED this system into BANKS, COMPANIES and other ENTERPRISES which MAINTAIN THE LEGACY of colonialism, even though the OUTRIGHT COLONIAL OCCUPATION has ended. Whites STILL own most of the farms, STILL make MOST of the money off of Black African land and labor and STILL put this money into BANKS which DO NOT LOAN TO BLACKS. This system of WHITE WEALTH GENERATION traces STRAIGHT BACK to the colonial period. Therefore, by NOT DESTROYING these institutions and the COLONIAL LAWS by which they OPERATE, you are ONLY A WILLING SUBJECT TO FURTHER EXPLOITATION. Understand that the Western Economic system and its "laws" are not TRUE LAWS and DO NOT RESPECT THE RIGHTS of the indigenous people of the "third world". The ONLY thing these laws RESPECT is the RIGHT OF WHITES TO PROFIT OFF THE LAND, LABOR and RESOURCES of black land. Therefore, they will NEVER SUPPORT BLACKS OWNING THEIR OWN BANKS, FARMS, FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, MINES and other CAPITAL GENERATING ENTERPRISES, since this IS A DIRECT THREAT TO THEIR ECONOMIC CONTROL AND WEALTH.
Note 3: Behanzin was last king of Dahomey, who FOUGHT French occupation. His resistance to French occupation is significant, but that is only part of the story. Also noteworthy are the SYMBOLIS of Kingship which are in evidence here, which PREDATE European kingship and heraldry and also show a DISTINCT RELATIONSHIP to Egyptian cartouches and symbols of Egyptian kingship:
quote: His symbols are the shark, the egg (a rebus of his name), and a captive hanging from a flagpole (a reference to a boastful and rebellious Nago practitioner of harmful magic from Ketou whom the king hanged from a flagpole as punishment for his pride). But, his most famous symbol is the smoking pipe, seen on the picture to the right. This is because he claimed that there wasn't a minute in his life, even when he was a baby, that he was not smoking.
Note how MANY of these symbols of the King seem to echo the tradition of symbolism for Egyptian Kings, right down to the notion of CAPTIVES as part of the Kings symbolism. The REBUS as it is called, actually traces itself back to heiroglyphs, which are pictographs that stand for syllables, which is OBVIOUSLY heiroglyphics. Also not the pipe smoking tradition that is FAR OLDER in Africa than Europeans want to admit. Also significant is the religion of the people of Dahomey, which is animist and VERY MUCH LIKE Egyptian religion in many senses. Ancient Egyptian religion was also ANIMIST, because MOST of the deities in Egypt were NETER, which are NATURE SPIRITS.
However, since Egypt is also the source of MUCH Christian belief, then Egypt is held as a "special case" of religion, even though it is REALLY JUST ANIMIST like most OTHER native African and other religions in the world. This is why you hear Europeans coming up with all sorts of ways to categorize and explain what is and isnt "animist" and what is and isnt "philosophy" and what is and isnt "religion", because they are ALL JUSTIFYING their OWN WORLD VIEW as somehow UNIQUE and DIFFERENT than what came before Europeans. So read between the lines on this one.
Benhazin hailed from what is now called Benin, which is a country that is only a SMALL PART of what was once a large and powerful kingdom in West Africa. Benin has a state religion called Vodun, which is the basis for the Voodoo religion practiced in America and the Carribean.
interestin posts Doug M. So against your tapestry of interpretation what do you think of the colonial mindsets involved in the recent falp concerning Nigeria(an artifical creation of the British and named by Lugard's concubine Flora Shaw. I suspect she was making some kind of joke, but then the joke was taken seriously--and voila, we have "Nigeria")) and the Cameroon--named by the Portugese because a part of the territory resembled a shrimp--and the Bakassi Peninsula. The matter was settled by the Euro-controlled World Court which acted as if the exploits of the colonial powers were somehow sacrosanct.
My solution would have been for the Bakassi inhabitants to acquire dual nationalities and to invite Cameroon--a war ground for the French, British and Germans--to join ECOWAS.
It should be noteworthy how colonialism has distorted the consciousness of Africans to the extent that the Bakassi dwellers were saying that they "don't want to be ruled by Cameroon and that they don't feel Cameroonian"--as if it really mattered at some profound level.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
The distortion of the Colonial powers has proved to be a powerful force in Africa. The main reason is because of the brainwashing practiced on Africans through colonial control of education, religion, politics and history. This control has allowed Africans in and OUT of Africa to become WOEFULLY ignorant of their history. It is sad that the once GLORIOUS kingdoms of Mali, Songhay and Benin lay FORGOTTEN due the the murderous rampages of the French and others. This is why it is IMPORTANT for Africans to begin to discover THEIR OWN HISTORY and not have it GIVEN TO THEM by the Europeans, whose COLONIAL control over world history STILL continues to perpetuate MYTHS and LIES about Africa and other peoples in the world, INCLUDING Europeans.
The general thrust:
Europeans are the MOST civilized people on the planet and represent the MOST ADVANCED species of human (even though there is ONLY 1 human species).
Destroying people who are "unfit" is the RIGHT of Europeans.
The gain of MATERIAL WEALTH is the HALLMARK of advanced civilization and "progress".
War, destruction and genocide are JUSTIFIED in the pursuit of MATERIAL progress.
Europeans INVENTED democracy and democracy is the MOST ADVANCED form of government on earth, allowing RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS FOR ALL.
People who live close to nature and dont use much of the earth's resources are SAVAGES and need to be killed so that people in the Western world and elsewhere can CONSUME more and more of the Earth's resources, including fossil fuels, minerals and water.
The lifestyle of European countries is the MODEL by which all countries should be judged and ALL COUNTRIES should have advanced industries and a population that has plenty of "things" brought from these capitalistic industrial enterprises.
The future of the earth is one where democracy and free enterprise create a world of UNPARALLELED progress, with TECHNOLOGY providing the basis to the solution of ALL OF LIFE'S problems.
Technology will save humanity and allow capitalism to REMAKE the earth into a BETTER place....
Anyone who has not been able to develop MASSIVE amounts of industries and a MASSIVE capacity to KILL AND DESTROY is inferior and UNFIT for existing on the planet.
Humans who have existed in nature for THOUSANDS of years are inferior to the TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED civilizations that have only been around for a few hundred (and may not last for many hundreds more).
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
^^Of course European colonialism is over (for the most part), although certain effects linger. And there are some of European descent who still maintain the 'colonialist' mentality, but many I dare say most do not any longer. Although sometimes, in some incidences I still wonder.
Posted by Southern Woman (Member # 11025) on :
Doug,your post is on point.
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Greetings:
Doug M you only have HALF the story now let me help with the other HALF of the truth towards Afrika.
The distortion of the Colonial powers has proved to be a powerful force in Africa. The main reason is because of the brainwashing practiced on Africans through colonial control of education, religion, politics and history.
This control has allowed Africans in and OUT of Africa to become WOEFULLY ignorant of their history. It is sad that the once GLORIOUS kingdoms of Mali, Songhay and Benin lay FORGOTTEN due the the murderous rampages of the French and others. This is why it is IMPORTANT for Africans to begin to discover THEIR OWN HISTORY and not have it GIVEN TO THEM by the Europeans, whose COLONIAL control over world history STILL continues to perpetuate MYTHS and LIES about Africa and other peoples in the world, INCLUDING Europeans. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is why it is IMPORTANT for Afrikans to begin to discover THEIR OWN HISTORY and not have it GIVEN TO THEM by ARABS whose DECEITFUL and MANIPULATIVE actions towards Afrikan history and world history STILL continues to perpetuate MYTHS and LIES about Afrika (Especially Kemet) and ISLAM in the world, INCLUDING covering up ARAB atrocities towards Afrikans.
The general thrust:
Europeans are the MOST civilized people on the planet and represent the MOST ADVANCED species of human (even though there is ONLY 1 human species). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arabs are the MOST civilized people on the planet and represent the MOST ADVANCED and Spiritually upright species of human based on the Arabic book called the Koran and the religion of ARABS called ISLAM. (Even though there is ONLY 1 human species)
Destroying people who are "unfit" is the RIGHT of Europeans. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Destroying people who are “unfit” example (pagans, infidels, unbelievers, Jews, Zionist, Abeed etc.) is the RIGHT of ARABS given to ARABS under their book called the Koran and their religion ISLAM.
The gain of MATERIAL WEALTH is the HALLMARK of advanced civilization and "progress". -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The gain of Material wealth is assured in heaven only to those brainwashed Muslims who KILL or DIE in the name of ISLAMIC Jihad, which shows ARAB brainwashing ups European ideologies by associating material wealth as the HALLMARK of advanced civilization which will be also found in HEAVEN of all places, don’t forget sex with numerous virgins in heaven also.
War, destruction and genocide are JUSTIFIED in the pursuit of MATERIAL progress. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jihad is said to be holy war, which only promotes DESTRUCTION and GENOCIDE that goes on today in Sudan, accepted to be JUSTIFIED by the KORAN and Islam which are religious ideologies created by ARABS for ARABS who pursue MATERIAL progress in the name of the CREATOR, which is a disgrace and downright shameful act that ARABS commit against Afrikans.
Europeans INVENTED democracy and democracy is the MOST ADVANCED form of government on earth, allowing RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS FOR ALL. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arabs invented ISLAM and Islamic ideologies and Islam is the ONLY TRUE Religion ideology, and Islamic forms of government will give rights and freedoms for All ESPECIALLY Women. Saudi Arabia is the perfect example of this.
People who live close to nature and don’t use much of the earth's resources are SAVAGES and need to be killed so that people in the Western world and elsewhere can CONSUME more and more of the Earth's resources, including fossil fuels, minerals and water. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- People who live close to nature and don’t use much of the earth’s resources are SAVAGES, infidels, pagans, unbelievers etc. and need to be killed so that people in the Eastern world or Northern Afrikan regions can CONSUME more and more of the Earth’s resources, including fossil fuels, minerals and water. The Sudan proves this also. Islamic ideologies will not allow Muslims to share with Animist because Islam considers such individuals as PAGANS so death shall be their punishment, like wise Afrikans are known to tamper with Islam and synchronize concepts not sanctioned under Islam, so Afrikans can expect to be massacred by countless Millions because no tampering is allowed under the “TRUE MUSLIM” concept.
The lifestyle of European countries is the MODEL by which all countries should be judged and ALL COUNTRIES should have advanced industries and a population that has plenty of "things" brought from these capitalistic industrial enterprises. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The lifestyle of Arabian countries especially Saudi Arabia is the MODEL by which all countries should be judged because the Koran says Saudi Arabian Mecca is the holy land that all Muslims should make a pilgrimage to at least once in their lifetime, likewise ALL COUNTRIES should have Islamic religious institutions and have any historical institution that is not Islamic in nature should be DESTROYED, the Afghanistan statue of Buddha proves this. Populations are all to be BRAINWASHED into accepting and buying all things sanctified as Islamic.
The future of the earth is one where democracy and free enterprise create a world of UNPARALLELED progress, with TECHNOLOGY providing the basis to the solution of ALL OF LIFE'S problems. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The future of the earth is one where the ONE WORLD ARAB ODER and Islam create a world of BRAINWASHED human beings who only accept Islam and Islamic ideologies, providing the basis to the solution of ALL OF LIFES problems.
Technology will save humanity and allow capitalism to REMAKE the earth into a BETTER place.... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ONE WORLD ARAB ODER will save humanity and allow ISLAM to REMAKE the earth into a BETTER place for ARABS alone every one else will be sold in the Industry of forced labor/Slavery, Jews, Europeans and definitely the Afrikan who is a sanctified under the numerous Islamic religious text to be a Abeed.
Anyone who has not been able to develop MASSIVE amounts of industries and a MASSIVE capacity to KILL AND DESTROY is inferior and UNFIT for existing on the planet. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anyone who is not a ARAB or Muslim will be considered inferior and UNFIT for existing on the planet, ARAB history has already made this quite clear for all who have studied ARABS under Islam.
Humans who have existed in nature for THOUSANDS of years are inferior to the TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED civilizations that have only been around for a few hundred (and may not last for many hundreds more). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Humans who have existed in nature for THOUSANDS of years are inferior to the Spiritually ADVANCED Islamic civilizations that have been around for approximately 1362 years, Destroying Afrikan peoples, and other Civilizations etc. ever since birth. Today in this present time the mission is still the same infiltrate Afrikan establishments via a process of INTEGRATING into Afrikan societies studying the culture next formulating a plan of attack from the inside and promoting political disunity amongst Afrikans by labeling one group of Afrikans as Arabs and the other as PAGANS next claiming Jihad and have Afrikans destroying each other, (SOMALIA and ETHIOPIA, Sudan is a modern day version of this plan) next taking the victims on the losing side and selling them as Abeed and when the winning group of Afrikans think they have arrived the ARAB will kill them next and the job is done. Next rewrite the history of the Afrikan by claiming that ARABS built the Civilization and the Afrikans were only used for physical labor because the Afrikan is unable to do anything intelligent.
Doug M Arabs with Islam have been just as destructive to Afrikans as Europeans, Sudan and Mauritania proves this, so if you are going to point to the WEST don’t stop there also point to the East also because Arab atrocities is the MOST CRITICAL PROBLEM that AFRIKANS face today.
Somalia and Ethiopia Sudan Mauritania Morrocco Libya Chad
Afrikans are suffering under GENOCIDE, RACISM, and Apartheid in these Afrikan countries TODAY because of ARAB Manipulation, so please don’t ignore these facts. Europeans are not the ones enslaving Afrikans in the Sudan they are actually fighting for their freedom alongside Afrikans though Doug M might not want that point known.
Europeans had to pay Morrocco to deport illegal Afrikan immigrants to Morrocco by plane because the Morrocan police were KILLING Afrikan illegal immigrants and spreading their dead bodies through out the Sahara desert.
It is Europeans human rights groups that had to expose these atrocities in order to help end the practice, though Doug M won’t like to hear that either.
Europeans also helped to collect donor aid to buy forced laborers or enslaved Afrikans living in Mauritania today though Doug M doesn’t want to know that also.
No One can defend European atrocities and No One can defend Arab atrocities though AFRIKAN people should not ignore Arab atrocities while focusing mainly on Europeans.
Doug M continues to blame the “WEST” while the Afrikans living in the “EAST” are being massacred and MANIPULATED by ARABS TODAY not 100 years ago but TODAY. Doug M who is going to stop the ARABS from continuing their ATROCITIES towards Afrikans?
Remember Arabs destroy Nations from the inside like a CANCER, Arabs under Islam want others to be tolerant of them while they are not tolerant of others, this is the way Arabs work they take over from the INSIDE.
Once Arabs obtain one foot in the door then you will not be able to remove them because when you start challenging the Arab they cry anti-Islam cries and call all their friends over the world to fight on their behalf because that was the plan all along to invade in the name of PEACE or Islam and destroy in the name of Jihad holy war, compromise was never on the table, if Afrikans don’t stand up to Arabs they will be DESTROYED by Arabs it’s that simple.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Hotep, why do you have to turn this into a who is the worst villian in Africa thread? My point was NOT to IGNORE Arab cruelty and racism. The issue for me is those who try and paint a ROSY picture of African progress, including yourself. Case in point, SOME of us here would have us believe that the situation in the Sudan is one of PROGRESS, with posts about skyscrapers and GDP and other such things. My point is that such PROPAGANDA is NONSENSE, when Africans are STILL SUFFERING from war, malnutrition, disease and WAR to make way for these visions of "progress". It makes no difference to me whether it is Western propaganda or EASTERN propaganda, I look at it ALL the same, as a BLATANT attempt to cover over the destruction of African peoples with lies and DECEIT.
Posted by Supercar (Member # 6477) on :
Fact is that, it shouldn't be seen as a stretch to show that Africa has nation states [in fact, the continent to have the first one ever], i.e. not a single country and never was, Africans are the most ethnically diverse and so are their social practices, have varying levels of socio-economic successes as well as problems, and that while there are certainly challenges ahead of the various African nations to varying degrees, there are also successes that have to be equally acknowledged.
Particularly with respect to the latter point, this must be done, not as a means to obscure the problems faced by Africans [which in any case, as far as "Western" nations are concerned, is inconceivable, since that is all their mass media talk about; Africa's "problems" blown to near 'apocalyptic' proportions], but as a means to show that, despite the odds, Africans are just like any other, i.e. having the passion for progress; these successes show African determination 'despite' the obstacles stacked against them.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
I agree, Supercar. HOWEVER, Africans must be CAREFUL in allowing FOREIGNERS to define African "progress". That VISION of progress does NOT put Africans on TOP of the economic systems of their countries. In fact, this FOREIGN defined vision of progress is one where MOST African LAND is in the hands of foreigner and multinationals, most RESOURCES are owned and profitted from by FOREIGNERS and the Africans are JUST WORKERS, progressing on the SMALL INCOME paid by these FOREIGN OWNED capitalist enterprises. Sure, it is a SORT of progress, but it STILL puts Africans ON THE BOTTOM, working as WAGE SLAVES, forced to look up to the FOREIGNER as the "master" in the sense that the FOREIGN BOSSES will in control of their LIVELIHOODS. FREEDOM in Africa is NOT having FOREIGN MASTERS, whether they be bosses at work, farm owners, mine owners, conservationists, archaeologists or anthropologists. It is about Africans being in CONTROL of ALL ASPECTS of human endeavor and NOT UNDER ANY FOREIGNER, economically, culturally, socially or ethnically. The main issue here for me, is that by learning and understanding African history, you understand that FOREIGNERS have always wanted to CONTROL Africa and therefore, Africans have to STRUGGLE to be IN CONTROL of their OWN DESTINIES and DEFINE PROGRESS on their OWN TERMS, not on the terms of FOREIGNERS who care more about THEIR OWN self interests than Africans.
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
Hotep's blind attacks against Islam in Africa reminds me of that time (I believe it was in this very thread) in which he cited an article about Somali Muslims practicing a ritual in which they are in a trance like state. The fool claimed that this trance state is an example of how Islam brainwashes Africans, even though the ritual was a PRE-ISLAMIC AFRICAN ritual akin that practiced in West African Vodoo!! LMAO Posted by Supercar (Member # 6477) on :
quote:Originally posted by Doug M:
I agree, Supercar. HOWEVER, Africans must be CAREFUL in allowing FOREIGNERS to define African "progress".
By "progress", I mean the "universal" idea of building proper infrastructure, from governance to social institutions for the uplifting of the general populace; e.g. every ordinary parent wants their child to get access to at least basic education, livable 'wages' and meaningful living conditions, good roads and public transportation system, to be able to choose a government that works on their behalf rather than vice versa, and so forth. These are "universal" human aspirations, which unfortunately, in the kind of global geopolitical atmosphere we live in, have not been allowed to be fairly realized on a larger social base and global scale. The point is to not turn a blind eye to challenges that lie ahead, but to acknowledge them along with some encouraging strides that have been made, despite the odds. Such 'strides' should serve as indicators of what Africans could achieve on a relatively larger scale, if given a relatively evenhanded opportunity to do so, with respect to their "relatively" more privileged counterparts, i.e. if it weren’t for the present state of global geopolitics. The world doesn't have to be an absolute utopia or a “biblical” heaven, for societies to strive for the realization of the bulk of their social aspirations, and reducing the time to realize them as much as possible. It is not 'impossible', as some like to think or propagate, for societies to come close to the realization of such aspirations, but it depends on the will to achieve them. On the part of the working class, this requires socio-political consciousness and organization centered on their collective social needs, as well as not being ignorant of those of their counterparts the world over. The social systems in various parts of the world are interlinked, which means that what happens in one nation state in the "name" of the general populace, is bound to have an impact on the working class/general populace of another. So yes, Africans should be diligent towards realizing their social aspirations, as nobody else is expected to do it for them [as opposed to assisting them], but this would be made easier with the 'real' democraticization of world geopolitical and social institutions both within nations; e.g. government, and global; e.g. the World Trade Organization. What working classes generally fail to realize in an organized manner, is that the repressive social measures, which are often coded as being executed in the "nation's interest" by ruling elites [but really a euphemism for their narrow social interests], are similar measures used elsewhere, but only that it is done so on a relatively larger or smaller scale, and hence, giving the phenomena a covert character. Nothing has proven more effective than using jingoism to whip up xenophobia, to distract working classes from the real social issues they face, while effectively dividing them on class and/or ethno-social constructs.
quote: Doug M:
That VISION of progress does NOT put Africans on TOP of the economic systems of their countries. In fact, this FOREIGN defined vision of progress is one where MOST African LAND is in the hands of foreigner and multinationals, most RESOURCES are owned and profitted from by FOREIGNERS and the Africans are JUST WORKERS, progressing on the SMALL INCOME paid by these FOREIGN OWNED capitalist enterprises...
I understand where you are coming from with the points you’ve raised, which is why it is worth considering the issues I just mentioned.
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Dodo Bird wrote:
quote: Hotep's blind attacks against Islam in Africa reminds me of that time (I believe it was in this very thread) in which he cited an article about Somali Muslims practicing a ritual in which they are in a trance like state. The fool claimed that this trance state is an example of how Islam brainwashes Africans, even though the ritual was a PRE-ISLAMIC AFRICAN ritual akin that practiced in West African Vodoo!! LMAO
I would like to ask the Dufus-huti to show me evidence that individuals in Somalia were practicising transic rituals before their contact with Sufi brainwashers. I guess you must be a Muslim because you are sounding the Alarm to your fellow Muslims that I have dared to point out facts in a predominantly Muslim country that is downright savage behavior being commited against Afrikan Animist and Christians, so the Muslim alert is now going off that I am attacking Islam, please forgive me for daring to point to the cruelty of Arabs and BRAINWASHED Arab wannabes against Afrikan people.
quote: Controversy and criticism of Sufism Sufism is a somewhat controversial subject today. For didactic convenience, the perspectives on Sufism as a part of Islam will be mentioned first and after that, the non Muslim groups who claim to be Sufi adherents.
[edit] Islamic positions on Sufism [edit] Classic position on Sufism Sufism was traditionally considered the systematisation of the spiritual component of Islam. It dealt with matters of the heart (just as Fiqh dealt with the body and Aqida dealt with the intellect). Many of the greatest Islamic scholars wrote treatises on the subject (eg. Al-Ghazali's ihya ulum-aldeen (احياء علوم الدين), Imam Nawawi's Bustan al-Arifeen etc.). Many of the traditional scholars who were part of famous Islamic institutions (eg. Al-Azhar) like Ibn Ata'illah were Sufi masters. Even today, many of the traditional Islamic universities like Al-Azhar endorse Sufism as a part of the religion of Islam [2]. Many of the famous Islamic scholars have praised Sufis and their practices. For a list, please refer scholars on sufism.
However, Sufism emphasises non quantifiable matters (like states of the heart). The authors of various Sufi treatises often used allegorical language which couldn't be read by an unknowledgeable person to describe these states (eg. likened some states to intoxication which is forbidden in Islam). This usage of indirect language and the existence of interpretations by people who had no training in Islam or Sufism led to doubts being cast over the validity of Sufism as a part of Islam. Also, some groups emerged that considered themselves above the Sharia and discussed Sufism as a method of bypassing the rules of Islam in order to attain salvation directly. This was disapproved of by traditional scholars. An example of such a deviant sufi was Abu Hilman. One of the most vocal critics of such deviations from the Islamic creed was Ibn Taymiya.
For a detailed essay on the role that Sufism plays in traditional Islam, please refer Place of Tasawwuf in traditional Islam.
[edit] Criticism of Sufism Sufism has been criticised as being non Islamic in nature. The adherents of the Salafi school form the majority of Muslims opposed to Tasawwuf. They hold that Sufism was always held to be an innovation even by the earliest scholars ([4],[5]). Some of their main criticisms are listed below.
Sufi masters have introduced many special prayers and devotional acts into their schools. These are criticised as being reprehensible innovations which are at best unnecessary. The supporters of Sufism defend their position by saying that innovations can be classified into good and bad ones. They hold that the textually transmitted prayers and invocations are superior in all respects to the ones they institute and that the latter only plays a reinforcing role rather than a main one ([6],[7]). Some point to certain practices like singing being inconsistent with the Sharia. Sufis defend their position by quoting prophetic traditions that condone certain forms of non instrumental music (refer links above). The allegorical and often abstruse language used by Sufis in their texts when interpreted by unqualified people opens avenues for many misunderstandings. eg. The concept of divine unity Wahdat-ul-wujood which critics consider equivalent to The allegorical and often abstruse language used by Sufis in their texts when interpreted by unqualified people opens avenues for many misunderstandings pantheism and therefore incompatible with Islam([8]).
Sufi masters in many of their introductory texts caution aspirants from reading and interpreting texts by themselves. They hold that the subject can only be taught by a master to a student under strict guidance and supervision owing to its delicate nature.
Classical BRAINWASHING material such as telling a someone that you NEED the MASTER to tell you what to think because you can't figure out what is written in the books on your own, only the MASTER knows the "TRUE PATH" . If someone cannot become a sufi Master just by reading the Quran alone then Sufi-ism can be used to brainwash a individual, Most mind control techniques work this way.
Somalia and Sufi-ism, don't forget that when Arabs want to brainwash people they start with the Koran and "TRUE MUSLIM-ism", next if that doesn't work then they resort to Sufi-ism.
Sufism means anything goes, they'll tell you whatever you want to hear just make sure you accept Islam in the end.
quote: Religious Orders and the Cult of the Saints Religious orders have played a significant role in Somali Islam. The rise of these orders (tarika, "way" or "path") was connected with the development of Sufism, a mystical current in Islam that began during the ninth and tenth centuries and reached its height during the twelfth and thirteenth. In Somalia Sufi orders appeared in towns during the fifteenth century and rapidly became a revitalizing force. Followers of Sufism seek a closer personal relationship to God through special spiritual disciplines. Escape from self is facilitated by poverty, seclusion, and other forms of self-denial. Members of Sufi orders are commonly called dervishes (from the Persian plural, daraawish; sing., darwish, one who gave up worldly concerns to dedicate himself to the service of God and community). Leaders of branches or congregations of these orders are given the Arabic title shaykh, a term usually reserved for these learned in Islam and rarely applied to ordinary wadaddo.
Dervishes wandered from place to place, teaching and begging. They are best known for their ceremonies, called dhikr, in which states of visionary ecstasy are induced by group- chanting of religious texts and by rhythmic gestures, dancing, and deep breathing. The object is to free oneself from the body and to be lifted into the presence of God. Dervishes have been important as founders of agricultural religious communities called jamaat (sing., jamaa). A few of these were home to celibate men only, but usually the jamaat were inhabited by families. Most Somalis were nominal members of Sufi orders but few underwent the rigors of devotion to the religious life, even for a short time.
Three Sufi orders were prominent in Somalia. In order of their introduction into the country, they were the Qadiriyah, the Idrisiyah, and the Salihiyah. The Rifaiyah, an offshoot of the Qadiriyah, was represented mainly among Arabs resident in Mogadishu.
The Qadiriyah, the oldest order in Islam, was founded in Baghdad by Abdul Qadir al-Jilani in 1166 and introduced into Harer (Ethiopia) in the fifteenth century. During the eighteenth century, it was spread among the Oromo and Somalis of Ethiopia, often under the leadership of Somali shaykhs. Its earliest known advocate in northern Somalia was Shaykh Abd ar Rahman az Zeilawi, who died in 1883. At that time, Qadiriyah adherents were merchants in the ports and elsewhere. In a separate development, the Qadiriyah order also spread into the southern Somali port cities of Baraawe and Mogadishu at an uncertain date. In 1819 Shaykh Ibrahim Hassan Jebro acquired land on the Jubba River and established a religious center in the form of a farming community, the first Somali jamaa.
Outstanding figures of the Qadiriyah in Somalia included Shaykh Awes Mahammad Baraawi (d. 1909), who spread the teaching of the order in the southern interior. He wrote much devotional poetry in Arabic and attempted to translate traditional hymns from Arabic into Somali, working out his own phonetic system. Another was Shaykh Abdirrahman Abdullah of Mogadishu, who stressed deep mysticism. Because of his reputation for sanctity, his tomb at Mogadishu became a pilgrimage center for the Shabele area and his writings continued to be circulated by his followers in the early 1990s.
The Idrisiyah order was founded by Ahmad ibn Idris al Fasi (1760-1837) of Mecca. It was brought to Somalia by Shaykh Ali Maye Durogba of Merca (Somali city), a distinguished poet who joined the order during a pilgrimage to Mecca. His visions and the miracles attributed to him gained him a reputation for sanctity, and his tomb became a popular objective among pilgrims. The Idrisiyah, the smallest of the three orders, has few ritual requirements beyond some simple prayers and hymns. During its ceremonies, however, participants often go into trances.
This is so ironic that a war torn country like Somalia has a national religion of PEACE called ISLAM, also this so called religion of PEACE cannot stop the Somalis from waging continuous Jihad "HOLY WAR" amongst themselves. Islam has proven that Somalis are not obtaining success with Islam or Sufi-ism.
Someone needs to tell Tweety bird to get clue.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Actually, the practice of imparting wisdom through direct person to person dialog is the most ANCIENT form of spiritual discourse on the planet. Sufism, just like the "mystical" parts of Christianity and Judaism, is only taking parts of OLDER religious traditions regarding the ESOTERIC dimension of religion and making it part of Islam. Case in point, dont you realize that the "asiatics" depicted with the long beards in Egypt are the same "arabs" of today and that the custom of long beards in that part of the world has NOTHING to do with Islam? Dont you realize that the dress of the West AFrican Moors predates Islam and that many of the traits of West Africans, Mauritanians and others PREDATE Islam? There are MANY cultural aspects of NATIVE African culture that predate Islam, but since these areas are considered Islamic they have become identified WITH Islam. Islam, when it controlled a LARGE part of Africa, Asia and Europe absorbed MANY cultural traditions and was a "melting pot" of ideas and beliefs. Therefore, NOBODY should be shocked or surprised that many traditions in the Islamic world actually PREDATE Islam.
Now I dont know about this Somali ritual in particular. However, you would HAVE to get the FACTS about Somali cultural and religious history PRIOR to the arrival of Islam, in order to show that this is or isnt a PRE Islamic tradition. What was the Somali culture and religion PRIOR to Islam?
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
^^You are correct Doug, but try telling this to the hysterical mouth-foaming Muslim hating Hotep (which is ironic, since Hotep in Egyptian meant 'peace').
He is so caught up in his anti-Islamic rant, that he condemns many actually pre-Islamic, indigenous traditions, as actually being "Arab-Islamic"! And now he accuses me of being a Muslim just because I correct him! ROTFL
For the record, if you didn't know, I am Christian. But irregardless the guy can call me a "bird brain" all he wants because birds are actually quite smart animals unlike drooling hyenas who attack without thinking.
Maybe he should change his screen-name from 'Hotep' to Wakhakwi!
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
The Kruger national park is ACTUALLY run by PRIVATE companies OWNED BY WHITES. By calling it a NATIONAL park, it makes some think that SOMEHOW these parks are part of the BLACK African government in South Africa. These parks are a legacy of the colonial system of Charters, by which Europeans came to be in control of African land. In this game park are many LUXURY game resorts where people can pay sums into the millions of dollars to stay in a LUXURY cottage. In order to cover up the fact that WHITES are making a KILLING off of this land, they get some POSTER CHILD to advertise this location as part of Zulu culture and history. This is BS. These theme parks and game reserves are ANOTHER example of how Africans are LEFT PENNILESS while OTHERS make BIG MONEY off of African land and resources. And the FUNNIEST part is the HISTORY of this Game reserve. It removes ALL THE RACIST HISTORY of land acquisition by whites and replaces it with a bunch of NONSENSE stories about BIG GAME hunters and other Europeans and their "adventures". Please. This is some of the purest form of NONSENSE I have ever heard in my life.
The Royal Thana Zulu lodge was supposedly given the "blessing" of a Zulu chief. But who gets all the money in the profits? It certainly isnt the Zulus. I was reading in a magazine about how one of these luxury cottages goes at 6,000,000 (I dont know if it is rand or dollars). Now, of course they mention that they provide SUPPORT to Zulu concerns like aids and education, but that is only TOKENISM.
Like I said before, the PATTERN of development for Africans that the WEST wants to promote is one where EUROPEANS and others own the MAJORITY of the MAJOR companies in Africa, from Game parks, "National" Wildlife Preserves, Mines, Farms, Manufacturing and textiles and provide low wage JOBS to Africans as well as HANDOUTS in the form of AID for African concerns. This is B.S. NO COUNTRY can get ahead on AID and low paying jobs, or NO PAYING jobs, especially while FOREIGN companies are making HUNDREDS of millions or even BILLIONS off of the same land and resources.
(Note: how it OMITS how these EUROPEANS came to be in control of ALL THIS AFRICAN LAND, I guess they assume that you understand how they MURDERED Africans and TOOK the land, or maybe they dont care if you dont because they are getting rich off of this legacy of APARTHEID).
Actually the REAL issue here is what happens when this VISION of progress comes to fruition? What happens when all the MONEY is in the hands of Europeans and the land and resources? What happens when POOR Africans start clogging the cities LOOKING FOR MONEY? Who will be seen as the problem and who will be looking like the BAD guy? Who will be BLAMED for NOT having PROGRESSED any further than being a BEGGAR and POOR and DESTITUTE? Who do you think will get the sympathy and support, the rich Europeans and other foreigners or the poor Africans?
You have to understand that the Dutch settlers have LONG tried to convince everyone that the land they control was UNCLAIMED by any African. Their ANTHROPOLOGISTS AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS tried to prove that the land was ONLY RECENTLY inhabited by BLACK Africans. They try and convince everyone that them OWNING MOST OF THE LAND is FAIR and not due to any "oppression". They have used so-called SCIENCE to paint the picture of South Africans not arriving until AFTER the whites.....
quote: Many of the inequalities created and maintained by apartheid still remain in South Africa. The country has one of the most unequal income distribution patterns in the world: approximately 60% of the population earns less than R42,000 per annum (about US$7,000), whereas 2.2% of the population has an income exceeding R360,000 per annum (about US$50,000) [18]. Poverty in South Africa is still largely defined by skin colour, with black people making up around 90% of the country's poor [19]. Subsequently, the government has implemented a policy of Black Economic Empowerment. Eighty percent of farming land still remains in the hands of white farmers [20]; the requirement that claimants for restoration of land seized during the apartheid era make a contribution towards the cost of the land "excludes the poorest layers of the population altogether" [21], while a large number of white farmers have been murdered [22] since 1994 in what campaign groups [23] claim is a campaign of genocide.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chad tightens grip on oil resources The abrupt move to improve the state's energy stake is a risky act of resource nationalism, analysts say MADJIASRA NAKO N'DJAMENA
Associated Press, Reuters
CHAD -- Chad's President suspended the Oil Minister and two other Cabinet members who negotiated deals with two foreign oil firms that he ordered out of the country for failing to pay taxes, officials said yesterday.
President Idriss Deby suspended the three ministers on Saturday after telling California-based Chevron Corp. and Malaysian company Petronas that they owed Chad $450-million (U.S.) in taxes and should begin making plans to leave, a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information to the media.
The two firms are part of an oil production consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp.
Oil Minister Mahmat Hassan Nasser, Planning Minister Mahmat Ali Hassan and Livestock Minister Mockhtar Moussa were suspended because they negotiated the terms of the agreements with Chevron and Petronas.
Chad's abrupt move to improve the state's energy stake is a risky act of resource nationalism that may damage the landlocked African nation's investment image for the future, analysts say.
The announcement, which caught diplomats and oil executives by surprise, followed closely on the heels of a demand by Chad's government to restructure the country's foreign-owned oil consortium to allow in a newly created national energy company.
Crude oil pumped since 2003 by the consortium has become an economic lifeblood for Chad, a conflict-torn country with large areas of desert which is ranked one of the poorest and the most corrupt in the world.
With oil prices sizzling above $70 a barrel, oil producing nations from Algeria to Venezuela are looking to cash in and wrest more benefits and control from powerful oil multinationals in a strategy dubbed resource nationalism.
Analysts said Mr. Deby's bid to carve out a more active stake for the Chadian state in the $3.7-billion pipeline consortium, rather than just receive royalties from it, reflected this desire to exercise sovereignty over national resources.
But they said the blunt manner in which he was going about it -- both Chevron and Petronas said they had not been notified -- could risk backfiring for Chad and damaging the country's prospects of obtaining more foreign capital and expertise.
"Security of investment is something that oil companies are desperately anxious about . . . this kind of situation is their worst nightmare," said Anthony Goldman, an independent energy expert.
"You can maybe get away with certain things when oil prices are very, very high, but in the longer term the damage done to the investment climate could come back and haunt you," he added.
"It's not like this is Saudi Arabia," Mr. Goldman said.
Mr. Deby said Chevron and Petronas had been asked this month to honour corporate tax obligations but had not responded. Chevron said it was fully complying with tax obligations.
Chad, which relies on its foreign partners to extract its oil and pipe it to the Cameroon coast, produces around 160,000 to 170,000 barrels a day, a modest level.
Mr. Deby, who has been fighting off attacks by eastern rebels and was re-elected in early May in polls boycotted by opponents, has criticized the original 1988 oil consortium deal as a "fool's agreement" that robs Chad of its just deserts.
Petronas holds 35 per cent of the consortium, Chevron 25 per cent, and Exxon the remaining 40 per cent.
The President says Chad's 12.5-per-cent wellhead value share of total production under the agreement is just "crumbs."
The opposition CPDC coalition accused Mr. Deby of "improvisation and brutality" in the way he was handling the oil companies.
Chad was ranked by a Transparency International survey last year as the world's most corrupt state.
Critics question whether Mr. Deby, who was embroiled earlier this year in a row with the World Bank over use of oil revenues, would employ extra oil income in tackling poverty or to favour his clan family and bolster the military to stay in power.
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by Hotep2u: Greetings:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chad tightens grip on oil resources The abrupt move to improve the state's energy stake is a risky act of resource nationalism, analysts say MADJIASRA NAKO N'DJAMENA
Associated Press, Reuters
CHAD -- Chad's President suspended the Oil Minister and two other Cabinet members who negotiated deals with two foreign oil firms that he ordered out of the country for failing to pay taxes, officials said yesterday.
President Idriss Deby suspended the three ministers on Saturday after telling California-based Chevron Corp. and Malaysian company Petronas that they owed Chad $450-million (U.S.) in taxes and should begin making plans to leave, a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information to the media.
The two firms are part of an oil production consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp.
Oil Minister Mahmat Hassan Nasser, Planning Minister Mahmat Ali Hassan and Livestock Minister Mockhtar Moussa were suspended because they negotiated the terms of the agreements with Chevron and Petronas.
Chad's abrupt move to improve the state's energy stake is a risky act of resource nationalism that may damage the landlocked African nation's investment image for the future, analysts say.
The announcement, which caught diplomats and oil executives by surprise, followed closely on the heels of a demand by Chad's government to restructure the country's foreign-owned oil consortium to allow in a newly created national energy company.
Crude oil pumped since 2003 by the consortium has become an economic lifeblood for Chad, a conflict-torn country with large areas of desert which is ranked one of the poorest and the most corrupt in the world.
With oil prices sizzling above $70 a barrel, oil producing nations from Algeria to Venezuela are looking to cash in and wrest more benefits and control from powerful oil multinationals in a strategy dubbed resource nationalism.
Analysts said Mr. Deby's bid to carve out a more active stake for the Chadian state in the $3.7-billion pipeline consortium, rather than just receive royalties from it, reflected this desire to exercise sovereignty over national resources.
But they said the blunt manner in which he was going about it -- both Chevron and Petronas said they had not been notified -- could risk backfiring for Chad and damaging the country's prospects of obtaining more foreign capital and expertise.
"Security of investment is something that oil companies are desperately anxious about . . . this kind of situation is their worst nightmare," said Anthony Goldman, an independent energy expert.
"You can maybe get away with certain things when oil prices are very, very high, but in the longer term the damage done to the investment climate could come back and haunt you," he added.
"It's not like this is Saudi Arabia," Mr. Goldman said.
Mr. Deby said Chevron and Petronas had been asked this month to honour corporate tax obligations but had not responded. Chevron said it was fully complying with tax obligations.
Chad, which relies on its foreign partners to extract its oil and pipe it to the Cameroon coast, produces around 160,000 to 170,000 barrels a day, a modest level.
Mr. Deby, who has been fighting off attacks by eastern rebels and was re-elected in early May in polls boycotted by opponents, has criticized the original 1988 oil consortium deal as a "fool's agreement" that robs Chad of its just deserts.
Petronas holds 35 per cent of the consortium, Chevron 25 per cent, and Exxon the remaining 40 per cent.
The President says Chad's 12.5-per-cent wellhead value share of total production under the agreement is just "crumbs."
The opposition CPDC coalition accused Mr. Deby of "improvisation and brutality" in the way he was handling the oil companies.
Chad was ranked by a Transparency International survey last year as the world's most corrupt state.
Critics question whether Mr. Deby, who was embroiled earlier this year in a row with the World Bank over use of oil revenues, would employ extra oil income in tackling poverty or to favour his clan family and bolster the military to stay in power.
Hotep
A very important step in the right direction IMO. Yet, note how all the foreigners automatically CRITICIZE a poor AFRICAN country from taking advantage of FREE ENTERPRISE to make MONEY for themselves. Yet nobody CRITICIZES the RICH countries SUCKING the LIFE blood out of Africa and watching Africans starve. It is absolutely funny . Also note how they DONT talk about the fact that the corruption is TIED to the FOREIGN firms being allowed to TAKE such a LARGE percentage of the profits from these sorts of enterprises DENYING Africans from MAKING MONEY off their OWN resources. Add to that how they talk about INVESTMENT being lost, when the foreign companies have MADE BACK any money put into the project in the FIRST place. So how are they LOSING money? What they really mean is that this jeopardizes foreigners being able to make HUGE profits off a SMALL initial "investment" to pay off government officials, aquire the land (often from those displaced by war, disease or hunger) and buy equipment. If you read the details of the project that I posted earlier the amount of money spent on this project initially only amounted to a couple hundred million. A SMALL amount of money compared to what kinds of profits are being generated on a 6 month basis. And even THEN these companies didnt come out of THEIR OWN pockets for the money, because BANKS would GLADLY loan them the money in return for the interest on the loan. So how are they LOSING anything? The real issue is why African countries DONT have the ability to outright develop THEIR OWN companies to take advantage of THEIR OWN mineral wealth, with access to NORMAL loans from NORMAL banks, without having to get RAPED by the World Bank for an "investment" that does NOTHING but leave them WORSE OFF than when they started. It is also funny how they talk about "resource nationalism" as if it MEANS something. WHAT industrialized country does NOT get most of the money from their OWN natural resources. What is the percentage of FOREIGN involvement in drilling Americas OIL or mining its iron or coal or cutting down its lumber? MOST countries, especially INDUSTRIALIZED countries PROTECT THE PROFITS their OWN industries involved in natural resource development, which includes FARMING as a form of NATIONALISM. Local ENTERPRISE and DEVELOPMENT is a part of NATIONAL economic policy. So how is it DIFFERENT for AFRICANS or South Americans who want to develop and profit off of THEIR OWN resources? It isnt. It is just a POOR excuse for DENYING Africans and others who have been EXPLOITED for hundreds of years by Western economies to FINALLY MAKE MONEY FOR THEMSELVES.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
While many companies from all parts of the world pollute the environment and claim land innapropriately, the point here is WHY Africans dont own the MAJORITY of their OWN gold, diamond and other resource companies as opposed to foreigners? Dont African governments realize that this is how Africans can MAKE MONEY?
The KEY issue here and the MAIN POINT that those who want to see growth and prosperity and Africa should look at, is the fact that almost DAILY some sort of mining/mineral concession is bought or sold in Africa. Many of these operations are tied to the old colonial powers that ruled Africa for access to such minerals, including WHITE OWNED companies in South Africa. Now that Africans are "free", how many AFRICAN owned companies are able to BUY these concessions? On top of that, after years of exploitation and corruption, WHY are FOREIGNERS getting free access to these PROFITS over the INDIGENOUS people, who need the MONEY MORE? Why do African governments AUCTION OFF their BIRTHRIGHT, when African companies SHOULD be allowed SOME protection in order to DEVELOP into POWERFUL corporations and interests in their own right, able to compete in a level playing field. The playing field is NOT level now and it is NOT FAIR to say that WESTERN companies, with YEARS of exploitation and MONEY behind them are FAIR competitors. AFrican companies and economies need an INCUBATION period in which THEY are allowed to grow and expand and take advantage of the resources of Africa for profit. Then, once they have gained profitability and wealth, they can be allowed to compete in a level playing field. OTHERWISE, you are giving away the "family jewels" for NOTHING in return. On top of that, why FIGHT for liberation and independence only to GIVE AWAY the LAND AND WEALTH of the country to THOSE who tried to TAKE IT FROM YOU in the first place? Sure, some will say that the FACT that such land is on the MARKET is progress, as opposed to the bad old days of OUTRIGHT colonial acquisition of such holdings. HOWEVER, that is only HALF the battle, the OTHER half is NOT to have MOST of these holdings OWNED by foreigners who do NOT have ANY obligation to give PROFITS back to Africans. The ONLY way for Africans to get this money is DIRECT MAJORITY OWNERSHIP. THAT is the goal of FREE MARKET enterprise, OWNERSHIP and PROFIT based off supply and demand, otherwise, why would all these FOREIGNERS be there in the first place?
And do not forget that these FOREIGN companies will ALWAYS underpay their African (slave) workers:
quote: Efforts by the Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU), Selebi-Phikwe branch to convince the striking BCL employees to return to work has proved unsuccessful.
The mine employees - mainly spanner men and machine men, downed their tools last Tuesday over a salary review that developed tension between the same workers and the mine management in 2004.
Branch Secretary, Bob Malele, confirmed that the union's efforts to convince workers to resume work so that discussions with management over the issue can take place, has proved unsuccessful.
All is not lost however, but even though many Africans countries are STARTING to get a taste of economic growth, it MUST NOT be forgotten WHAT AFRICA is FIGHTING FOR. Africans are fighting to be ON TOP of their OWN economies, not as laborers (slaves), not as SECOND CLASS managers (lackeys), but as OWNERS and INDUSTRIALISTS of their OWN RESOURCES and NATURAL WEALTH. This is a WAR of ECONOMIC independence that is a NATURAL extension of POLITICAL and SOCIAL independence. What is the POINT of being POLITICALLY and SOCIALLY free, but POOR as DIRT while the former oppressor has ALL the money? What kind of FREEDOM is that?
Here is some GOOD news:
quote: Livingspring Minerals, a private company established with the backing of the Osun State government won the bid for the Igun Gold District (ML20501, ML20507and ML10904) with an offer of $350,000.00. The indigenous firm defeated two international mining companies namely Central Asia Gold and Dome Minerals to acquire the title to the asset. Central Asia Gold a publicly quoted company on the Australian and Toronto Stock.
Another example of the TRUE nature of corruption (backed by foreigners) in Africa:
quote: The UN recommendation that sanctions should be imposed against Ugandan minerals has rattled those involved in the Country’s mining sector. The UN measure was taken as a result of Uganda’s participation in the looting of natural resources, including gold and diamonds, in Congo-Kinshasa. Opponents of the UN measure, however, point out that it might unfairly penalise those involved in Uganda’s tiny, thriving, and potentially highly lucrative mining sector.
WHO IS WHO IN UGANDA MINING
Bryan Artwood, chairman of the Uganda Chamber of Mines, claims that minerals can be found in many districts in Uganda. He maintains that about 500,000 artisan miners will suffer as a result of the UN sanctions. Artwood is also owner of the Heritage Oil and Gas Company , which along with Petrel of Ireland, is involved in oil exploration in western Uganda.
However, as matters now stand, UN sanctions may be largely symbolic. Mining in the country remains undeveloped, and accounts for just 1% of GDP. Although the country almost certainly contains viable, and possibly considerable, deposits of gold, oil, cobalt and nickel, no comprehensive survey of the mineral wealth has been undertaken and the economic significance of the deposits remains unknown. The Ugandan government, however, is keen to diversify an economy dominated by the agricultural sector. Its efforts have been rewarded with the Uganda Investment Authority having already registered 20 investors who apparently propose to inject $ 210m into mining related activities.
Anything to do with gold mining and sales is handled by the office of President Yoweri Museveni . He recently told parliament that the country last year exported 10 tonnes of gold, a substantial increase over the average for recent years. However, the bulk of gold transactions are handled by companies that are either 100% foreign-owned or are joint ventures with army officers. These liaisons have created a complicated web of interests, but they remain dominated by the private sector.
Catalyst Corporation of Canada, which acquired 100% interest in Kaabong, is reputed to control substantial gold reserves in north-east Uganda. It has Major-General Salim Saleh , Museveni’s controversial brother, as a shareholder. Along with Oslo International it took over the adjacent Lopedo prospect when Branch Energy renounced its concession. Nabisoga Mining Ltd ., has four permits for Kyakiddu property in central Uganda and has entered into a joint venture with the Canadian-based Gold Empire Ltd . They operate in Bushenyi in western Uganda with 22 concessions covering an indeterminate area.
New Ensigns Resources , affiliated to the Irish-based Glencar Mining plc has four permits in south-east Uganda, and International Roraima Corporation has 20 of which 17 were funded by South AfricaOs Iscor.
Many of these companies hold licences in the south-west and south-east of the country. But most are not actively mining and some have already abandoned exploration or mining.
The FOREIGN control of Uganda's resources is PROPPING up the government of Uganda, because THIS government ALLOWS foreigners to come in and OWN MOST of Uganda's resources as opposed to LOCAL, INDIGENOUS firms. Note that the Ugandan government, KNOWING it needs money, has decided NOT to go out and take a survey of the mineral deposits in the country. WHY? What IDIOT would not determine how much PROFIT can potentially be made off of the natural resources of the country, ESPECIALLY a BROKE African country like Uganda? Along with that, they are backing FOREIGN investment as a KEY to growth. FOREIGN investment in SOME sorts of industries CAN be a key to growth IN SOME areas of the economy. HOWEVER, mining is NOT a LABOR intensive operation. MINING is PURELY a PROFIT generating enterprise that creates CAPITAL for the owners and countries in whose BANKS the money is deposited. THEREFORE, Uganda should be TRYING to put as much of this CAPITAL as POSSIBLE into its OWN economy (banks and businesses) as opposed to expecting some crumbs in return for letting this money go to foreigners. But that is an example of how FOREIGNERS CORRUPT African governments and WRECK the economies of Africa through neo-colonialist policies.
Posted by Hotep2u (Member # 9820) on :
Greetings:
Doug M, great information as usual now here is the other side of the tag team approach, because one groups rips off Afrikans and throw crumbs while the other group massacres the victims in Afrika.
quote: By Henry Meyer
Cairo, Egypt - The Sudanese government is indiscriminately bombing civilian-occupied villages in Darfur, a human rights group charged. France raised the idea of sending United Nations peacekeepers to the war-torn region even without Sudanese permission.
UN resolutions calling for the peacekeeping mission say they must be deployed with the consent of Khartoum, which has staunchly rejected any UN troops.
But French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy hinted that deploying anyway should be considered.
"Do we go there, in spite of them?" Douste-Blazy said at a Paris news conference on Thursday. "That's not on the table, nobody has asked the question like that. But it's a real question."
Sudanese government forces on August 28 launched a major offensive believed to involve thousands of troops backed up by bomber aircraft and helicopter gunships in a bid to flush out rebel strongholds in the troubled western region.
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based rights group, said that sources report flight crews rolling bombs out the back ramps of their Soviet-made Antonov aircraft, a means of targeting rebels that was often practiced by government forces in their 21-year civil war with rebels in southern Sudan.
This method is so inaccurate that it cannot strike at military targets without a substantial risk of harm to civilians, the rights group said in a statement posted on its Web site late Wednesday.
According to international observers in northern Darfur, where the offensive is taking place, a woman was killed and seven children wounded last week in Hassan, about three miles south-east of Kulkul, when a bomb was dropped on her house, the rights group said.
An understaffed and cash-starved African Union force of 7 000 peacekeeping troops has been unable to halt the violence in Darfur, a vast region the size of France, since a conflict began in 2003 between the Arab-led government and ethnic African rebels.
However, Sudan earlier this week said it would expel the African Union peacekeepers if they insist on transferring their mission to the United Nations after an AU mandate expires at the end of the month.
France's Douste-Blazy urged Sudan to accept the UN force and said he planned to visit the troubled region and meet with Sudanese officials soon.
But a top Sudanese diplomat on Thursday denounced the proposed UN peacekeeping force.
"What would be occupation if this is not an occupation?" Sudanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ali Ahmed Kerti told reporters in Cairo. "What would be deprivation of sovereignty if this is not deprivation of sovereignty?"
More than 200 000 people have died from war and starvation and 2,5 million have been displaced. - Sapa-AP
Doug M, which group is the biggest threat to Afrikan people? Notice the media does NOT show this war in the Sudan, we see the world uproar towards Lebanon though no one says anything about the Sudan, WHY? Are the lives of Afrikans less important than the lives of Arabs?
Hotep
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
quote:Originally posted by Hotep2u: Greetings:
Doug M, great information as usual now here is the other side of the tag team approach, because one groups rips off Afrikans and throw crumbs while the other group massacres the victims in Afrika.
quote: By Henry Meyer
Cairo, Egypt - The Sudanese government is indiscriminately bombing civilian-occupied villages in Darfur, a human rights group charged. France raised the idea of sending United Nations peacekeepers to the war-torn region even without Sudanese permission.
UN resolutions calling for the peacekeeping mission say they must be deployed with the consent of Khartoum, which has staunchly rejected any UN troops.
But French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy hinted that deploying anyway should be considered.
"Do we go there, in spite of them?" Douste-Blazy said at a Paris news conference on Thursday. "That's not on the table, nobody has asked the question like that. But it's a real question."
Sudanese government forces on August 28 launched a major offensive believed to involve thousands of troops backed up by bomber aircraft and helicopter gunships in a bid to flush out rebel strongholds in the troubled western region.
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based rights group, said that sources report flight crews rolling bombs out the back ramps of their Soviet-made Antonov aircraft, a means of targeting rebels that was often practiced by government forces in their 21-year civil war with rebels in southern Sudan.
This method is so inaccurate that it cannot strike at military targets without a substantial risk of harm to civilians, the rights group said in a statement posted on its Web site late Wednesday.
According to international observers in northern Darfur, where the offensive is taking place, a woman was killed and seven children wounded last week in Hassan, about three miles south-east of Kulkul, when a bomb was dropped on her house, the rights group said.
An understaffed and cash-starved African Union force of 7 000 peacekeeping troops has been unable to halt the violence in Darfur, a vast region the size of France, since a conflict began in 2003 between the Arab-led government and ethnic African rebels.
However, Sudan earlier this week said it would expel the African Union peacekeepers if they insist on transferring their mission to the United Nations after an AU mandate expires at the end of the month.
France's Douste-Blazy urged Sudan to accept the UN force and said he planned to visit the troubled region and meet with Sudanese officials soon.
But a top Sudanese diplomat on Thursday denounced the proposed UN peacekeeping force.
"What would be occupation if this is not an occupation?" Sudanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ali Ahmed Kerti told reporters in Cairo. "What would be deprivation of sovereignty if this is not deprivation of sovereignty?"
More than 200 000 people have died from war and starvation and 2,5 million have been displaced. - Sapa-AP
Doug M, which group is the biggest threat to Afrikan people? Notice the media does NOT show this war in the Sudan, we see the world uproar towards Lebanon though no one says anything about the Sudan, WHY? Are the lives of Afrikans less important than the lives of Arabs?
Hotep
Because, just like you mentioned it is a TAG TEAM effort of WHITES (Arabs, Europeans and Asians) to DOMINATE Africa for its natural resources. Arabs are STUDY pushing south from Northern Africa, CREATING an ARAB identity among people who USED to be considered BLACK. How LUDICROUS is it to think that SUDAN, "Land of the Blacks", may one day be called, "Land of the Arabs". The same goes ALL ACROSS Northern Africa including Mauretania the WESTERN "Land of the Burnt Faces", which is becoming another "Land of the Arabs". This RECENT push by Arabs is going to try and REWRITE African history and "claim" MANY of Africas greatest civilizations as "Arab".
Posted by Willing Thinker {What Box} (Member # 10819) on :
I don't see this changing..
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
^ I don't see how it cannot change, given the irrationality and blatant stupidity! (Arabized nuts denying African history to create a false Arab history?!)
Posted by Alive-(What Box) (Member # 10819) on :
*U*K the foreign media, Africa nedds its own media.
Posted by Alive-(What Box) (Member # 10819) on :
quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: ^ I don't see how it cannot change, given the irrationality and blatant stupidity! (Arabized nuts denying African history to create a false Arab history?!)
don't see our history changing until WE are again telling it (without MOCK Afrocentricity of course which could obliterate our history).
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I didn't know Abuja was so developed and beautiful. Thank you so much for the pictures guys. Please post more[/QUOTE]
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correct? Though all along the root cause was the researcher found a gem where others thought garbage was being stored. ![[Mad]](mad.gif)
at Europeans for being too shrewd.
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