Bush can learn from Africa
Life in Africa
Facts about sub-Saharan Africa:
Population: 659 million
Life expectancy if born in 2000: 47 years
Under-age-5 mortality rate per 1,000: 162
Gross national income per capita: $470
Telephones per 1,000 people: 32
President Bush is about to attend a Canadian summit of industrialized
nations where development in Africa will be a central issue. Next year, he
plans to visit the continent he once called a country to further
demonstrate his interest in Africa and to burnish his image with U.S. black
voters. While both are laudable goals, neither will be easily obtained.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, Bush said Africa "doesn't fit into
the national strategic interests" of the United States. His words deepened
the divide between him and African-Americans and set off alarm bells in
African capitals.
Since taking office, Bush has pulled back from the geopolitical edge. His
administration has increased U.S. assistance to sub-Saharan African
countries, mostly to combat AIDS. Last week, Bush said he would make
available $200 million during five years to improve basic education and
teacher training in Africa.
The money Bush is putting into sub-Saharan Africa is just pocket change
compared to the region's needs. His "largess" is a classic example of his
compassionate conservatism.
Sadly, Africa is in such dire straits that it probably would benefit from
even a small dose of the president's compassionate conservatism.
But Africa is plagued by another popular elixir of conservatives: neo-
liberalism, which holds that the role of private enterprise in ensuring a
nation's wealth is greater than that of government.
"This administration is rabidly neo-liberal," Bill Fletcher, the president
of the advocacy group TransAfrica Forum, said of the Bush economic policy.
If it's good enough for the USA ...
Some people believe that neo-liberalism has brought economic and political
instability to sub-Saharan Africa. Its advocates have urged African
countries to privatize and denationalize a wide swath of government
services and industries traditionally run by the state. Opponents argue
that while such a market economy might work well here and in Europe, it is
far from a "one size fits all" solution to Africa's deeply rooted economic,
social and political woes.
Bush shouldn't arrive in Africa next year intent on persuading some of the
world's most impoverished countries that widespread privatization and
deregulation are the only medicines for what ails them. If what he sees
isn't obstructed by his conservative views, Bush might reap some political
benefit from his trip. Already, his evolving perception of Africa has won
him some surprising support.
"We've been talking to the guy for two years, and I think our advocacy
effort has helped," said Melvin Foote, the president of Constituency for
Africa, a group that is chaired by Ronald Dellums, a liberal Democrat. "I
think he has been educated about Africa and the value of African oil to the
U.S., given the problems in the Middle East. If this gets him a few more
black votes, then so be it."
Listen rather than lecture
If the goal of his African policy is to curry the support of black voters
in the United States, then Bush should listen more than he talks when he
meets African leaders during his visit to the continent. Before he urges
sub-Saharan countries to make the kind of economic changes that have
traumatized Argentina, the president should carefully assess and understand
what impact they might have on Africa.
The "experts" at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are not
the right sources for that sort of cost-benefit analysis. Instead, it
should come from Bush's own up-close look at life in sub-Saharan Africa.
Bush should visit African tribal villages as well as the continent's
bustling cities. He should talk to people who know nothing about Keynesian
economic theories as well as those who are Western-trained economists.
Most importantly, Bush should be open to the possibility that Africans know
best what it will take to make their lives better.
DeWayne Wickham writes weekly for USA TODAY.
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