Galleh an excellent piece. Keep it up. Suntou On 20 Nov 2014 02:53, "Baba Galleh Jallow" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > *REDEFINING AFRICA* > > *What people need to know about the African condition**[1]* > > > > By Baba G. Jallow > > > > When Creighton University’s African Students Association (AFSA) approached > me to give a guest lecture at their annual banquet on the topic “Redefining > Africa”, I knew exactly where they were coming from. However, I still asked > them what they had in mind: Well, they said, we just want people to move > away from all the negative stereotypes they associate with Africa; we want > people to know that Africa is beautiful, that Africa is not all about the > wars, the poverty, the disease and despair that are the common staple of > western television and other media. We want people to know that there is > more to Africa than meets the eye; we want you to talk about the beautiful > side of Africa. > > > > My response to AFSA was that what Africa needs is not so much redefining, > but understanding. There is no denying that Africa is a conflict-ridden > continent or that Africa is a poor continent. While stereotypes like > savage, backward and uncivilized are just that – stereotypes – civil wars, > material poverty and disease are indeed rampant in Africa. What those who > equate these problems with the essence of Africa need to know is that > Africans are not poor and Africa is not experiencing conflicts because > Africans are backward savages of primitive mind, or because Africans like > killing each other, or because Africans are incapable of generating the > kinds of ideas and innovations to overcome these challenges. What these > people need to know is that the problems Africa faces today are the bitter > fruits of two phenomena. The first is the series of historical encounters > with western cultures that introduced and sustained severe socio-cultural, > economic and political distortions in the continent. The second is a tragic > failure of leadership on the part of those who took over from the colonial > authorities after independence and their successors. The challenge for all > who wish to improve the image and the condition of Africa is therefore to > understand these twin causes of Africa’s undesirable conditions and to do > what they can to ameliorate them. > > > > Africa does not need to be redefined because Africa has never been and > cannot be defined by stereotypical concepts like Dark Continent, backward > peoples, or uncivilized tribes. To define something is to state or to > describe its exact nature or scope. To stereotype, on the other hand, is to > negatively oversimplify the image of something. Stereotypes are not > definitions; they are oversimplified attempts to redefine reality to suit > perception. Thus, the stereotypical image of Africa as a Dark Continent, > while widely held, can never assume the status of a valid definition > because it does not state or describe the essence of Africa or Africans. > Conflict, poverty and disease do not define Africa because they are mere > symptoms of unfortunate historical circumstances and are alien to the true > nature of Africans, just as they are alien to the true nature of all human > beings. Like human beings everywhere, Africans do not like war; they would > rather live in peace and harmony. Like human beings everywhere, Africans do > not like disease or poverty; they would rather live healthy and prosperous > lives. Africans are not fighting wars in the two Congos, Sudan, Somalia or > Central Africa because they are bloodthirsty and backward savages who enjoy > killing each other. Africans are not struggling with epidemics of Ebola, > AIDS and persistent hunger and poverty because they are a backward people > incapable of thinking through and lifting themselves out of their miseries. > This, of course, does not mean that Africans are free of all responsibility > for their current plight. What it does mean is that the great majority of > Africans are victims of historical processes which they are still to fully > understand but whose negative consequences are by no means insurmountable. > > > > For roughly 400 years, between 1450 and 1860, Africa was ravaged by the > scourge of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The rise of the plantation > system in the New World created a labor demand that was conveniently met > through the enslavement of Africans largely through the agency of European > slave traders and their African partners. But beyond the lingering stigma > of enslavement that follows persons of African descent to this day, the > effects of the Atlantic slave trade on present day Africa are almost > negligible. Ironically, it was the end of the slave trade that ushered in > the single most devastating historical experience Africa has suffered. That > most devastating experience was colonial rule. > > > > The slave trade was ended largely because of the growth of the Industrial > Revolution in Europe. With the rise of manufacturing industries, European > businesses became more interested in raw materials than in physical human > labor. Among other factors, the need for raw materials and markets to sell > manufactured goods led to the European scramble for African colonies in the > 1880s. The scramble threatened war among the European powers and resulted > in the convening of the Berlin Conference of November 1884 – January 1885 > where European countries laid down rules for the peaceful partition and > colonization of Africa. Between 1885 and 1900, almost the entire landmass > of sub-Saharan Africa had been divided and occupied by European colonial > powers. > > > > Colonialism not only imposed alien rule on African societies but divided > Africa into territories that were either too small to ever become viable > nation states or too large to be effectively controlled by a central > government without adequate infrastructures in place. Thus, we have tiny > countries like Gambia with less than two million inhabitants and no natural > resources and monster countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo with > over 75, 000, 000 people and a weak central government. In addition to > breaking up the continent into these geographical anomalies, colonialism > disrupted African cultures and traditions, introduced harsh taxation > regimes and cash economies that created conditions of extreme poverty, and > instituted autocratic regimes whose cultures of oppression and exploitation > remain more or less in place to this day. It is perhaps the culture of > political impunity and oppression introduced and nurtured by colonial > governments and perpetuated by Africa’s post-colonial leadership that > represents the single most devastating cause of Africa’s current crises. > > > > Instances of authoritarian leadership pre-dated colonialism in Africa. > However, in most African societies, authoritarian leaders could be censured > or even removed from power if they broke certain ethical rules of > leadership. Colonial rule changed this traditional African leader-led > dynamic by shifting the source of political legitimacy and sovereignty from > the people to the state and altering the traditional uses of political > authority. Colonial administrations claimed “the power to tax, the power to > legislate, the power to administer justice, the power to appoint and to > dismiss officials, the power to regulate the economy, the power to command > labor,” and the power to enforce their will without question (Davis 1987: > 267). However, beyond the immediate area of the capital cities, colonial > administrations could only survive by depending on the power of the chiefs > they tolerated or invented. With the explicit or implicit backing of their > colonial masters, some African chiefs gathered unto themselves all moments > of power and juridical authority, becoming miniature exceptions within the > larger colonial exception to which they were beholden. While maintaining > the autocratic aspects of precolonial leadership practices, some > colonial-era chiefs – especially in British Africa - abandoned those > aspects of African leadership cultures that rendered them accountable to > their peoples. Little has changed with time. > > > > The metaphor of new wine in old bottles adequately captures the paradox of > the African nation state at independence: western political structures and > institutions were super-imposed on African political cultures characterized > by notions and perceptions of leadership at complete odds with the new > political dispensation. The immediate post-colonial situation demanded a > transformation of the authoritarian culture of the colonial state into a > political culture of tolerance, inclusiveness and collective responsibility > for the new nations. The situation also demanded a transformative-servant > leadership that empowered the citizens of the new nations, encouraged them > to actively question their government’s policies and actions, motivated > them to assume leadership of the national project, and allowed them to > contribute ideas towards the development of their countries. Unfortunately, > most African leaders misread or deliberately ignored the demands of the > post-colonial situation and did little to change the autocratic colonial > political culture within which their new nation states were forged. Having > justified their struggles against colonialism by appealing to rights of > political inclusion, human rights, the rule of law, freedom of expression, > and freedom of association, Africa’s new leaders now branded these values > and practices vestiges of colonialism and symbols of neocolonialism that > were unsuitable for African conditions. Draconian colonial laws were > resuscitated and redeployed to muzzle the freedoms Africans struggled for > and to perpetuate the injustices they struggled against. What were expected > to be spaces of freedom during the anticolonial struggle morphed into > spaces of oppression and fear policed by independent regimes often more > tyrannical than the departed colonialists. > > > > Colonial despotism morphed into post-colonial despotism after > independence. For this reason, the intellectual energy and the ideas needed > to develop Africa and deal with her many challenges were excluded. The > leadership and political aspirations of citizens were delegitimized; > unquestioning subjecthood was routinized; citizens were denied the right to > question the actions of their government or to freely support the political > movements of their choice. Oppression became the preferred mode of > governance. An imposed political uniformity smothered constructive dissent, > stifled political creativity and generated a culture of silent cynicism or > intellectual defection of knowledgeable and creative Africans into other > parts of the world – the now notorious brain-drain syndrome. Africa’s > nation states are failing because the doctrines of citizen rights and > obligations binding leaders and followers that characterize the western > nation-state system have no comparable presence in Africa. Among other > damaging consequences, this doctrinal absence and its attendant imposed > uniformity in African politics leads to the eruption of civil conflicts and > instabilities – military coups, assassinations and assassination attempts, > and in some cases, bloody civil wars that continue to exact heavy tolls on > the continent’s human and material resources, and helps perpetuate the > stereotype of Africa as a continent of wild savages. To parody J. F. > Kennedy’s famous dictum, by making peaceful change impossible, African > leaders made violent change inevitable. > > > > Before wrapping up this conversation, I would like to highlight another > damaging historical experience whose consequences were as devastating as > the consequences of colonial rule. African countries gained independence > just as the ideological cold war between western capitalism and eastern > communism was heating up. Within the context of the cold war, Africa was a > proxy battleground. The priorities of the United States and her capitalist > allies on the one hand and the former Soviet Union and her communist allies > on the other did not include the prevention of dictatorship or the > promotion of human rights. Their chief priority was to keep enemy ideology > from spreading into what they considered their spheres of influence. The > west conducted a war against communism; the east conducted a war against > capitalism. Whichever African government or leader supported one ideology > or the other received the blanket support of that ideology’s patron. Thus, > the United States and her western allies supported the brutal Apartheid > regime in South Africa from 1948 until the middle of the 1980s; they also > supported kleptocrats like Mobutu of the former Belgian Congo, bloody > despots like Samuel Doe of Liberia and so-called single party democracies > in Gambia, the Ivory Coast, Kenya and Uganda in the name of the war against > communism. In Somalia, the so-called super powers supported the notoriously > brutal regime of Mohamed Siad Barre, thus laying the groundwork for the > brutal and almost intractable civil war that has afflicted that country for > two decades now. In Ethiopia, the communists engineered the overthrow of > western ally Emperor Haile Selassie and propped up the brutal military > despotism of Mengistu Haile Mariam, who then proceeded to execute what has > gone down in Ethiopian history as the “Red Terror”. Both ideological camps > supplied their African puppets with money and arms which they used to > oppress and kill their peoples, plunder their countries’ human and material > resources and prevent the growth of an enlightened citizenry that could > hold its leaders accountable and participate in the constructive > transformations of their nations into viable political, economic and social > entities. In essence, lack of political empowerment explains why Africa and > Africans remain prostrate at the foot of the ladder of development, however > defined. > > > > In conclusion, I would just repeat that Africa is not defined by poverty > and conflict. European colonizers and writers tried to redefine Africa as a > dark continent because they mistook difference for inferiority. Africa is > not conflict-ridden or poor because Africans are incapable of enlightened > thought and constructive action. The African condition is a consequence of > a series of unfortunate historical encounters with western and eastern > imperialism whose negative consequences are perpetuated by a history of bad > and irresponsible leadership. In spite of all of the wars and diseases and > poverty however, Africans remain a beautiful and happy people. Those in > this audience who have visited the continent can attest to the fact that > Africans are generally a happy people. Perhaps because of the limited > intrusion of capitalism and its tendency to dehumanize, Africans remain > connected to their humanity. The damaging culture of extreme individualism > characteristic of western societies is alien to African societies. Yes in > Africa, people are poor; but yes, in Africa people are also happy. So what > Africa needs is not redefinition but understanding. > > > > ------------------------------ > > [1] A version of this paper was delivered as a guest lecture at the > annual banquet of the Creighton University African Students Association > (AFSA) in March 2014. > > > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To > unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web > interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html > > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: > http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the > List Management, please send an e-mail to: > [log in to unmask] > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤