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From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Jul 21, 2007 9:31 AM
Subject: [TheBlackList] Stop Trying To 'Save' Africa!
To: [log in to unmask]

Stop Trying To 'Save' Africa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071301714.html?sub=AR
By Uzodinma Iweala
Sunday, July 15, 2007; Page B07

Last fall, shortly after I returned from Nigeria, I was accosted by a perky
blond college student whose blue eyes seemed to match the "African" beads
around her wrists.

"Save Darfur!" she shouted from behind a table covered with pamphlets urging
students to TAKE ACTION NOW! STOP GENOCIDE IN DARFUR!

My aversion to college kids jumping onto fashionable social causes nearly
caused me to walk on, but her next shout stopped me.

"Don't you want to help us save Africa?" she yelled.

It seems that these days, wracked by guilt at the humanitarian crisis it has
created in the Middle East, the West has turned to Africa for redemption.
Idealistic college students, celebrities such as Bob Geldof and politicians
such as Tony Blair have all made bringing light to the dark continent their
mission. They fly in for internships and fact-finding missions or to pick
out children to adopt in much the same way my friends and I in New York take
the subway to the pound to adopt stray dogs.

This is the West's new image of itself: a sexy, politically active
generation whose preferred means of spreading the word are magazine spreads
with celebrities pictured in the foreground, forlorn Africans in the back.
Never mind that the stars sent to bring succor to the natives often are,
willingly, as emaciated as those they want to help.

Perhaps most interesting is the language used to describe the Africa being
saved. For example, the Keep a Child Alive/" I am African" ad campaign
features portraits of primarily white, Western celebrities with painted
"tribal markings" on their faces above "I AM AFRICAN" in bold letters.
Below, smaller print says, "help us stop the dying."

Such campaigns, however well intentioned, promote the stereotype of Africa
as a black hole of disease and death. News reports constantly focus on the
continent's corrupt leaders, warlords, "tribal" conflicts, child laborers,
and women disfigured by abuse and genital mutilation. These descriptions run
under headlines like "Can Bono Save Africa?" or "Will Brangelina Save
Africa?" The relationship between the West and Africa is no longer based on
openly racist beliefs, but such articles are reminiscent of reports from the
heyday of European colonialism, when missionaries were sent to Africa to
introduce us to education, Jesus Christ and "civilization."

There is no African, myself included, who does not appreciate the help of
the wider world, but we do question whether aid is genuine or given in the
spirit of affirming one's cultural superiority. My mood is dampened every
time I attend a benefit whose host runs through a litany of African
disasters before presenting a (usually) wealthy, white person, who often
proceeds to list the things he or she has done for the poor, starving
Africans. Every time a well-meaning college student speaks of villagers
dancing because they were so grateful for her help, I cringe. Every time a
Hollywood director shoots a film about Africa that features a Western
protagonist, I shake my head -- because Africans, real people though we may
be, are used as props in the West's fantasy of itself. And not only do such
depictions tend to ignore the West's prominent role in creating many of the
unfortunate situations on the continent, they also ignore the incredible
work Africans have done and continue to do to fix those problems.

Why do the media frequently refer to African countries as having been
"granted independence from their colonial masters," as opposed to having
fought and shed blood for their freedom? Why do Angelina Jolie and Bono
receive overwhelming attention for their work in Africa while Nwankwo Kanu
or Dikembe Mutombo, Africans both, are hardly ever mentioned? How is it that
a former mid-level U.S. diplomat receives more attention for his cowboy
antics in Sudan than do the numerous African Union countries that have sent
food and troops and spent countless hours trying to negotiate a settlement
among all parties in that crisis?

Two years ago I worked in a camp for internally displaced people in Nigeria,
survivors of an uprising that killed about 1,000 people and displaced
200,000. True to form, the Western media reported on the violence but not on
the humanitarian work the state and local governments -- without much
international help -- did for the survivors. Social workers spent their time
and in many cases their own salaries to care for their compatriots. These
are the people saving Africa, and others like them across the continent get
no credit for their work.

Last month the Group of Eight industrialized nations and a host of
celebrities met in Germany to discuss, among other things, how to save
Africa. Before the next such summit, I hope people will realize Africa
doesn't want to be saved. Africa wants the world to acknowledge that through
fair partnerships with other members of the global community, we ourselves
are capable of unprecedented growth.

Uzodinma Iweala is the author of "Beasts of No Nation," a novel about child
soldiers.

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