Just Africa

‘Dead Aid’ for African Development?

From Bono to Angelina Jolie, the ‘cool’ humanitarian thing to do these days is to send money to Africa, you know, to help feed, shelter, educate and provide medical services to the starving boney children with flies on their eyes. What may come across as shocking to the Bonos of our world is that not all humanitarian efforts have helped the continent, at least that’s what Moyo would say. Most Africanists have heard of Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo for her clear-cut assertion that foreign aid has not only stagnated, but that it has also been the root cause of developmental retardation for the African continent. Perhaps it is a combination of Moyo’s conservative side and her African roots that have given her considerable attention, often compared to Ayaan Hirsi-Ali -another conservative figure bred on the continent who is widely known for criticizing the Prophet Muhammad. It comes as no surprise that both Hirsi Ali and Moyo have contributed their knowledge and experience to the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, a harbor of conservative scholar academia.

The emergence of popular, educated African women icons such as Moyo has given Western as well as other audiences new paths for understanding why Africa’s predicament is still enduring decades after colonial rule. Moyo’s perspective is not a completely unexplored opinion, authors such as Paul Easterly have advocated for diminishing help from bureaucratic organizations and instead searching for what he refers to as ‘homegrown development’. So what is fundamentally different about ‘Dead Aid’?  Moyo’s audience ranges from prominent politicians such as Rwandan President Paul Kagame who have been pushing for gradual independence from foreign assistance, to economists such as Jeffrey Sachs who advocate for the ‘end of [African] poverty’ through Western aid.

Throughout her many interviews, Moyo reiterates the main issues that she also raises in her book, one of which argues that foreign aid fuels corruption since there is no transparent allocation of the donation. Moyo raises an interesting point about the lack of fund appropriation for foreign aid; she also understands how this has trapped Africa in an aid dependency cycle that, coupled with operational bureaucracies, disables the development of private enterprise. Thirdly, Moyo argues that ‘large inflows of capital… really kill off the export sector’ because most African nations are abundant in extractable minerals and resources. Finally, Moyo elaborates on the consequences of corruption that result in the African government’s lack of accountability, rather than being held responsible by its people, governments have geared their liability to international organizations and businesses. As a result, Moyo makes the assertion that an African middle-class is barely existent, instead the disparities between the wealthy who remain in power and the poor who are barely surviving, continue to be the center of African realities.

Personally, I would say that Moyo’s collection of data that support her one-sided views have elements of truth within them, however, it would be unrealistic to reinforce a 'let's cut off all foreign aid to Africa' instantly. Despite the corruption and the bureaucracy, foreign aid has been the main source for the survival of at least an estimated millions, for this reason, the plan to decrease and eventually cut off foreign aid would be to strengthen the government's provision of public services. The measures would take time especially because most African governments are known for their notorious personal economic drives, that is why an internal change in the political institutions would have to be upheld alongside the development of a stronger civil society. As Moyo suggests, micro-finance is one of the most effective ways of establishing these goals since a 'homegrown' or bottom-up development could be sustainable in the long-term growth of Africa.The biggest challenges remain: how to deal with political greed? how do we create incentives for African governments to establish public services?

A Step in the Right Direction for Sudan?

On September 29th, 2009, the Associated Press reported that women and girls who escaped from the fighting in Darfur have become victims of rape within refugee camps, a disturbing trend found in countries torn apart by war. Refugee camps that should symbolized hope, freedom, and peace have become Darfari women’s nightmare. Getting water and firewood outside of the refugee camps in Chad is a known risk factor for women. When confronted with reports of rape within the Chad refugee camps, U.N. officials refused to comment. The next day, UN officials, led by Secretary of State Clinton, signed a resolution that condemned sexual violence in war zones.

Clinton stated,  “The United Nations had a special obligation to protect women and children, war's most vulnerable and violated victims." Yet, officials still refuse to acknowledge incidents in the Chad refugee camps.   The UN is not only to blame. The government spokesperson for Chad, Mahmat Hissene, stated, "Before the refugees came, we did not have rape cases in Chad; rape cases started when the Sudanese came. If there are cases of rape in the camps we cannot prevent them. The government is not responsible for security in the camps."  

In addition, through a lack of UN support, the United States is also complicit.

Therefore, the UN is posed with a difficult situation:  The Chadian government, the host of the majority of refugees in the region, blames the victims of violence. And while it is noble the U.S. signed a resolution that condemns sexual violence, more actual action is necessary to provide security for women in the region. Rape should not be an expected occurrence in one’s daily routine. 

The U.S. should take decisive action against sexual violence in refugee camps and support UNAMID so that the peacekeeping force can fulfill its mandate and those perpetrators of violence are held accountable. It is imperative that the United States keeps its promise, and protects these women.

“END GLOBAL APARTHEID” – A Symbol and A Message

While interning at Africa Action, I received a black T-shirt with a gray image of the African continent on the front. Over the top of the picture of Africa, the words “END GLOBAL APARTHEID” can be seen in bold, red capital letters. I have long contemplated those powerful words and how it applies to the world these days, particularly when people comment on the shirt with looks or words. Sometimes I wonder whether they understand the reference to “apartheid,” what it means, its history in South Africa, or its implications…or whether they think I’m just a pretentious white guy, walking around in apparent protest to a system that privileges me. Honestly, most of the time, people don’t say anything at all – but the responses I have gotten have been positive. In fact, the most positive comments on my shirt have come from South Africans themselves.

Before I share some of my most memorable experiences wearing the shirt, here’s some quick background if you’re unfamiliar with apartheid in South Africa: The word “apartheid” is Afrikaans for “separateness.” Therefore, separating, or keeping people apart from one another was what apartheid demanded. I find it easier to think of it as meaning “apartness,” hence apartheid.

First: In April 2009, I was traveling with some friends from Pimville, a township in Soweto, to Johannesburg and considered wearing my “END GLOBAL APARTHEID” shirt. I asked a friend whether she thought it would be appropriate to wear it around; in response, she pointed at her own shirt, which read, “100% BLACK,” and said with a smile, “I’m wearing this.” Clearly answering my question! We went into town to pick up some things and, as we were walking back to our car, I suddenly  heard a shout from across the parking lot: “Hey, you should be wearing that shirt in London.” I looked around to see a man dressed business casual with a tie, getting into a nice car. He was Coloured, someone who would have been oppressed during the apartheid era. I was a little surprised at his comment, and then I realized that it was also the same day as the G-20 summit on world economic recovery in London. It occurred to me then that, in South Africa, people know exactly what apartheid means – they all struggled to end it not so long ago. By wearing my t-shirt I was unconsciously showing my involvement in and support of that struggle.

The other story goes like this: I had gone over to the salon of Dr. Dread with my friend Motlalepule. We were in Pimville, walking in Zone 2, the section of the township that had been meant for Basotho people during apartheid.  

[Quick Backgrounder #2: Apartheid was not only the separation of different races, but of different tribes as well – the philosophy being that different tribes would fight each other if not kept apart. Ironically, in Soweto, the many different ethnic groups – Sothos, Zulus, Pedis, Xhosas, and others from all over South Africa – have been living together for sometimes three generations: they adopt aspects of one another’s cultures, and even blend languages, borrowing words in Sesotho, Zhosa, Zulu etc. Even during my trip I could see the ways that people come together and work and live together – highlighting even more clearly how unnecessary the philosophy of separateness is, and how much of an obstacle it was to peaceful interactions between human beings.]

So, I was wearing my “END GLOBAL APARTHEID” t-shirt and walking down the street; we could see people out in their yards, chilling and braaing (barbecuing and drinking) because of the Festive Season. I greeted a group of guys listening to house music in Sesotho: “Dumelang, bontate,” which started up a whole conversation. One of the guys, on hearing that I was from the U.S., commented that a major problem is that the only white people he ever sees walking around the township are from foreign countries, never from South Africa – very few live there. He thought it was nice that I had come and said I was welcome. He also looked and my shirt and said, “END GLOBAL APARTHEID…I like that. I like that very much.”

Finally, Another friend of mine, Thabang, invited me to an African National Congress (ANC) meeting [The ANC has been South Africa's governing party since the end of the apartheid regime in April 1994] He told me that it makes him proud to see me walking around in the township. Coming from a man who has lived in the township all his life, and struggled and fought just so he and I could have the freedom to simply sit and speak to one another, I told him that I was so grateful and humbled.

The philosophy of apartheid claimed that white and black people couldn’t get along and needed to be separate. But my experiences in South Africa, making friends and being accepting into families and into the community, are just further examples that such ideas are untrue. Furthermore, the freedom to speak with another human being is worth achieving, as Damian Marley puts it, “by any plan and any means and strategy.” Wearing my “END GLOBAL APARTHEID” shirt in South Africa, and the responses I received, made me hope even more that one day, here in U.S., we will get to experience such a positive vibration and feel what it means to end separateness. The specifics of the system are different here, but I don’t think it’s any less dangerous.

If we really try to be honest with ourselves about history, and consider the inequalities which have affected the indigenous people on our own continent, as well as Latin America, the Caribbean, and the African continent….if we become aware of these issues we will certainly see more clearly where we are today and what still needs to be done to improve the conditions colored in many ways by colonialism, imperialism, by racism, and unequal power balances between different peoples. Such understandings of how we are part of the making of history and, thus, the making of our future, will help us see that the t-shirt, “END GLOBAL APARTHEID,” is really a prophetic call to action, not only because Global Apartheid will and must end, but also because once our consciousness is awakened by voices and action coming from places like Soweto – as it did in Jamaica, Ethiopia, in the U.S., so many other places – we will naturally find ourselves working to build structures that protect the freedoms that will inevitably be enjoyed by the posterity of this earth.

By Nick Carl, a former Public Education and Mobilization Intern with Africa Action

Where Do We Come From?

“I’m from Uganda”. “No..no, that can’t be, you look like you are from Rwanda”.  “Yes, really I am”. “No, my friend, you look like my cousin back home in the village”.

I have come across conversations like this where it is quite normal for Africans to question both their own or others’ ethnicity and background.  It has been typical to hear, “hey, that person looks Nigerian”, “He must be South African”, or “she is definitely Ethiopian”. Africa is widely considered as the place where humanity began, and certainly contains numerous ethnic groups with over 2,000 languages being spoken on the continent. However, there has not been any concrete scientific mapping on the history and migration of Africans until now, and this research can certainly makes the answers to questions on ethnicity and background a little less straightforward.

For over a decade, an on-going DNA analysis study by a team of scientists led by Sarah Tishkoff from the University of Pennsylvania, has tried to map African DNA to look at where different tribes originated from and the genetic history of the continent. Recent results have revealed a striking illustration of the genetic diversity across Africa.

The scientists gained data from African populations, African-American populations, as well as European populations. They identified 14 “ancestral clusters” of humanity, of which 9 are from Africa, highlighting Africa’s huge ethnic diversity. Some of the research showed that the Masai, who traditionally maintain their pastoral lifestyle, have interestingly been found to have mixed significantly with different populations from Ethiopia, but maintain quite different languages. The oldest African population was also found to be near the coastal border of Namibia and Angola, where indigenous San communities reside. From this community, modern migration took place throughout Africa and the rest of the world. African-Americans were also included in the study, and they were found to share about 71% of their ancestry with the Niger-Kordofanian language family from West Africa. 13% percent of their makeup was also European, and the rest was from other African groups.

These scientific results underscore the diversity of Africa’s population, and remind us once again that Africa is certainly not homogenous, and to avoid the colonial mindset of looking at Africans as one population. It also has other implications, as the data can contribute to research on the link between genetics and diseases. So the question is, what do you think about this study? Was it worthwhile, and does it bear any relevance?

I do however suggest that the next time somebody asks you where you come from, to pick up May’s issue of the journal of Science and check out your African genetic history.

AfriGadget: Simple Materials to Solve Big Problems

“Sometimes when you’re walking around Africa you come upon something that at first appears mundane. Then, upon second glance, you realize it is actually is mundane -- but it’s still interesting.” Like this shoeshiner who figured out how an old keyboard could make his job easier.

The premise of AfriGadget is to bring to light projects around Africa that use simple, low-maintenance, locally available technology to solve important problems in ways that were never thought of before. Like using a bicycle on a school’s water pump so that children will have fun while they help fill up the water tank, instead of having to cut time off school and walk miles carrying buckets of water on their heads.

In Kibera, Kenya, “one of Africa’s biggest slums,” a group of Kenyan architects figured out how two solve two major environmental problems with one stone: a communal cooker that helps recycle plastic waste and reduce the use of charcoal energy by turning rubbish into fuel.

AfriGadget’s grassroots project is looking for 10 reporters to travel around Africa to unearth more of these creative and sustainable ideas, help spread the word, and inspire more Africans to put their ingenuity into practice.

South African activist and popular singer, Miriam Makeba has died

Miriam Makeba, aka Mama Africa, a renowned international singer-songwriter and activist who spoke out against Apartheid and lived in exile for almost three decades, died this past Sunday after a performance in Italy. Africa Action's Gerald LeMelle talks about her life and legacy on KPFK's Uprising Radio here. Below is a clip from her address to the UN in 1964.

Angry African on the Loose

“This blog is about me being pissed off from an African perspective.” It is about the sometimes-exasperating ironies of the world we live in. Born and raised in South Africa, Angry African, as he calls himself, now lives in the U.S. and blogs daily to share his passionate feelings. He writes about American society from an African perspective, and about his sense of American perspectives on Africans. Mostly, he writes to “laugh at the world and the funny people living on this small floating rock.” His honesty, creativity, sense of humor and wonderful narrative style will get you hooked.

South Africa’s history and culture regularly come up in his examination of current events. Last week, blogging about the U.S. presidential elections stirred up memories of another historical election, the first elections in post-Apartheid South Africa. He writes with a talent for story-telling that vividly conveys the atmosphere of that particular moment in time: “What struck me was how quiet people were. No partying. No shouting and hardly any laughing. Just a silence as people stood in the queue waiting for the doors to open so that they could go and vote. … I expected people to celebrate. Come on - we are in Africa. We make a noise and party when the kid drools for the first time. Only later did I realize why. People still couldn’t believe that it was happening. And they did not want to do anything until they saw those doors open. After so many years of hardship they still could not believe that the Apartheid regime won’t try and pull a fast one.”

In the “About AA” section of the blog, you’ll be surprised to find out that the author was “born to be the stereotypical ‘good, racist Afrikaner’ in Apartheid South Africa” and then became an “accidental activist,” campaigning in many parts of the world for more justice towards Africa.

A voice for African women and the LGBT community

Black Looks was created to speak out in the blogosphere against the taboos and stereotypes concerning African women and LGBT issues. Why aren't the news covering the important role of women in fighting for democracy in Zimbabwe? What are the problems of a "dating agency" arranging for HIV+ people to meet each other with the aim of reducing the spread of HIV? Do we really need to ask for justifiability of mob justice against perpetrators of violent physical and sexual crimes against women? The blog also includes an interesting selection of podcasts and many links to relevant websites (such as Thembi's AIDS diary), press releases, poems/literature and music.

This blog is one of the powerful voices that are helping shape an international consensus placing women at the center of a sustainable future. As Sokari reports, "Including women in any decision making process is about improving the lives of everyone--women are not at war, women are not killing and destroying life. On the contrary it is women who are the ones calling for peace, growing food, maintaining the homes we grow in, the majority of displaced, of refugees and victims of violence." While it focuses on gender and sexuality issues, Black Looks also sheds light and calls for action on a wide range of other topics including poverty, health, conflict areas, racism, social movements, in Africa, the US, the UK and elsewhere.

The world is talking. Are you listening?

As a web surfer looking out for independent voices beyond the mainstream media, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by the millions of blogs from all over the planet. Global Voices makes your job easier by acting as a crossroads of the most relevant blogs out there. Its crew consists of hundreds of blogger -authors, -editors and translators who point you towards the most interesting grassroots perspectives and conversations online. They do this by selecting passages from a wide array of online citizen media posted in their region and interconnecting them on the Global Voices website, using a variety of technologies: weblogs, podcasts, photos, videos, wikis, tags, aggregators and online chats. Their criteria for selection include respectability and credibility of the original bloggers, as well as contextual relevance of the information and analysis.

In essence, Global Voices makes the dialog happen. It promotes freedom of expression by advocating against internet censorship and developing tools and relationships that expand the scope of influence of voices speaking from everywhere. It encourages the world’s citizens to put their voices forward by providing online tutorials and publicizing ways in which they can safely express themselves with open-source and free tools. Global Voices is available in sixteen different languages and addresses preoccupations that are often ignored by the international English-language dominated media, but are important to communities behind the scenes. Check out the Special Coverage section for blogposts ordered by major news events such as the 27th Annual AIDS Conference or the global food crisis. Or just peruse the links, roundups and featured stories from Cape Verde to Lesotho in the sub-Saharan Africa section.

Global Voices is a project of the Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research think-tank concerned with the relationship between cyberspace and civic activity.

As South African Politics Blaze in Controversy, Zimbabwe Drops From Western Spotlight

A common critique of South Africa’s relations with its southern African neighbors has been its tendency to monopolize the attention of the international community. Since even well before 1994, South Africa’s politics, economics, and societal progress have dominated the scant Western news coverage of the African continent. The momentous events that have rocked South Africa's political sphere this past week are well worthy of coverage. Indeed, without the U.S. presidential election circus and financial crisis, they probably would be more prominent.  The small Western appetite for African affairs however, seems to have settled on the Mbeki drama as its sole sustenance. Zimbabwe's landmark power-sharing deal has been swept off the headlines.

South Africa was widely criticized by Western commentators for its silence on the on-going crisis in Zimbabwe, and President Thabo Mbeki took the brunt of it for his so called "silent diplomacy" policy when it comes to Zanu-PF's violent repression of political opposition. Yet despite the ANC's apparent policy of denial, Mbeki was appointed by the Southern African Development Community to facilitate a resolution that would end the violence in March 2007. Since then he made several fruitless visits to Zimbabwe attempting to facilitate a compromise between the long standing president, Robert Mugabe of Zanu-PF, and MDC opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Mbeki came to Harare after the presidential runoff that was widely condemned locally and internationally as unfair, to head the Southern African Development Community (SADC) sponsored power-sharing talks in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare.