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While looking for information for this post my frustration with Africa (and South Africa in particular) was further emphasized. It seems all the sources of information available (on the internet, documentaries and books) seem to be written by foreigners (and I use this term loosely in the least derogatory manner). As a people we don’t seem to have a handle on information processing and preservation and making it accessible. Or maybe I’m the one who is unable to find information and looks in all the wrong places, I don't know.
This post is (perhaps) on an old issue (Africa's independence, or lack thereof) that has been written about over and over again. But since I find myself frustrated by the same things I was frustrated about 5 years ago I feel like I'm allowed to write about it. Maybe if enough people write about the same frustrations we'll begin to see change (I'm a pessimistic opportunist).
According to africanhistory.about.com the last African country to gain independence (from a non-African country, since South Africa and Ethiopia also tried their hand at colonizing) was Zimbabwe in 1980. Now, according to google dictionaries independence is the state of being independent (i.e. a state in which one is "free from outside control; not subject to another's auhtority". However, the reality is we are not entirely independent, the way world economics and politics are structured don't enable any one county to be truly independent. at least not with world trade, foreign lending and investments, tourism and other factors being relatively important in our various economies. However, counties are not equally influenceable (if this is even a word).
George Orwell said it best in 'Animal Farm': "All [countries] are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". Independence was never meant to level the playing field, colonization was a tool used by the big dogs to spunge off Africa (to put it simply and bluntly). All that independence did was take away the excavator (colonization) and give the big dogs a shovel (sanctions, foreign policy, financial aid). World politics and economics is like a playground really. There are cool kids and not-so-cool kids. If the cool kids don't like the way you are doing things they prohibit you from participating in their activities and starve you of fun; it is equivalent to economic and political bullying.
Evidence of the economic bullying are the sanctions against Cuba. The United States of America put an embargo on exports to Cuba (excluding medicine and food) after the Cuban government nationalized American owned oil refineries without compensation. However, the reality is how many times in the colonial times did America (and countries like America) do this? How many times did they take over companies in the colonial states and not compensate the the people of the state. How many companies were established in colonial states using the state's resources and the colonizing countries still benefit from those ventures and continue to not compensate the former colonial states?
How many mines in South Africa are owned solely by South Africans? ( :D now I don't know the stats because of the aforementioned problem). But seriously, the few companies that are solely owned by South Africans are probably owned by white South Africans (another issue for another day). The big dogs implement red tape or sanctions to bar countries from making the most of their independence (even if the most means that the country shall suffer for a while; counties, like individuals, learn from their mistakes).
One might argue that countries that colonized African countries have since tried to redeem themselves by offering one or other form of financial aid to said colonized country. Even this is a fallacy. The reality is that there are a lot of keep-africa-on-a-leash policies and the financial aid is one of them. I'm not saying that African countries don't need aid, I'm just saying the form in which it comes is not best for the recipient. If a man is starving, you give him a fish sure. But it is much more beneficial and empowering to give the man a fishing rod and teach him how to fish than have to give him fish all the time. The way in which foreign aid is facilitated to African countries is delivered in such a way that Africa as a whole is kept on a leash. It is swe rely on foreign aid for sustenance, poverty is still rife (although much improved), sustainable economic development and growth continue to elude us.
I've come to the end of my rant and I feel like I've achieved nothing by writing this piece. I've stated a problem we are, perhaps, all aware of an I've come up with no solutions for the status quo. But honestly, how do we relieve ourselves (as a country) of the world pressured but still meet the needs of the people, accelerate economic growth and development? Is it even possible or is it one of those unattainable goals? I for one, don't know enough about the economy to come up with solutions and don't have enough power (at least for now) to implement to solutions.
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