The United States is the world's largest economy. Though diminishing, it's also the world's only superpower. However, what the Corona virus pandemic is telling us is that China is in serious competition with the United States to be the superpower of the world.
The only advantage that the United States has is it's soft power. The world still looks to the United States because of its soft power. The United States has Hollywood. Hollywood exists for no other reason than to market the United States. It's meant to show the United States as the land of milk and honey. A place where every dream can come true. It also has education institutions such as Harvard and Yale which millions of students around the world aspire to join. So, while China is catching up with the US in the military aspects, it is still behind culturally. Isn't it any wonder that China is building Confucius Institutes all around the world and teaching Mandarin- China's most widely spoken language, to millions around the world.
How can Africa leverage on its soft power. How can we export our culture. At the moment, we seem to be importing Western culture. Our educated are a little more than Europeanised Africans. Our musicians copy the likes of Beyonce and Rihanna, and authentic African music is rarely played in our media stations. Only Nigeria's Nollywood seems to be trying to export African culture, but it is still no match for Hollywood. Maybe someday if it is supported, there could be African blockbusters that could go global. Until then, we'll become mere consumers of Western culture, and become completely subservient to them culturally.
Saturday 4 April 2020
The Western Media Must Cast Africa in Good Light.
There are thousands dying of Corona Virus in the United States, Italy, Spain and much of Europe. But have you seen any white dead body? I bet not. But just flip the script. What if it was Africans that were dying in such large numbers.
The reason is simple. A European life is treated with more dignity than an African life. If it was Africans dying in such numbers, there would be images of dead Africans all over BBC, CNN, France 24, and other Western media houses.
Africa is often pointed out as a place of war, disease, poverty and famine. There is never any good news coming out of Africa. Why doesn't CNN show the homeless whites in California
Why doesn't it show poor Americans on food stamps? Isn't this the reason why thousands of Africans are risking their life trying to cross across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe? Haven't they been fed that Europe is heaven, with overflowing milk and honey?
Going forward, Africa's media must get up and challenge these stereotypes. Too often, we have reinforced these white stereotypes in our own media stations. This needs to stop. We must learn to tell our own stories. True, we have significant challenges as Africans. However, there are also tremendous opportunities and success stories in the continent. This too needs to be highlighted. It's the only way to rise up as a people.
The reason is simple. A European life is treated with more dignity than an African life. If it was Africans dying in such numbers, there would be images of dead Africans all over BBC, CNN, France 24, and other Western media houses.
Africa is often pointed out as a place of war, disease, poverty and famine. There is never any good news coming out of Africa. Why doesn't CNN show the homeless whites in California
Why doesn't it show poor Americans on food stamps? Isn't this the reason why thousands of Africans are risking their life trying to cross across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe? Haven't they been fed that Europe is heaven, with overflowing milk and honey?
Going forward, Africa's media must get up and challenge these stereotypes. Too often, we have reinforced these white stereotypes in our own media stations. This needs to stop. We must learn to tell our own stories. True, we have significant challenges as Africans. However, there are also tremendous opportunities and success stories in the continent. This too needs to be highlighted. It's the only way to rise up as a people.
Africa has a rich history, but Europeans wouldn't want you to know.
The image that is often pointed out by Europeans is that Africa has no history. That Africa did not have any civilisation prior to the coming of the white man. However, there was a thriving African civilisation, long before the White man came.
It has been pointed out, with much evidence, that ancient Egypt was essentially an African civilisation. To hide our heritage, European archeologists usually chop off the noses of pharaohs and bleach their bodies, so as to remove any blackness from them. The Arabs only came to Egypt in 600AD, and are not true representatives of the ancient Egyptian civilisation.
It has well been documented that ancient Egypt was a thriving place of science, astronomy, trigonometry, and culture. The Greeks, whom the Western world trace their civilisation to, often came to learn and study in Egypt. Aristotle, the acclaimed Western thought leader, is one of such people that often came to learn in Egypt. Furthermore, the Yoruba, a tribe in Nigeria, had a programming language long before the modern computing languages were developed. It is time to reclaim our history. It is the only way we can rise up as a people.
It has been pointed out, with much evidence, that ancient Egypt was essentially an African civilisation. To hide our heritage, European archeologists usually chop off the noses of pharaohs and bleach their bodies, so as to remove any blackness from them. The Arabs only came to Egypt in 600AD, and are not true representatives of the ancient Egyptian civilisation.
It has well been documented that ancient Egypt was a thriving place of science, astronomy, trigonometry, and culture. The Greeks, whom the Western world trace their civilisation to, often came to learn and study in Egypt. Aristotle, the acclaimed Western thought leader, is one of such people that often came to learn in Egypt. Furthermore, the Yoruba, a tribe in Nigeria, had a programming language long before the modern computing languages were developed. It is time to reclaim our history. It is the only way we can rise up as a people.
African Entrepreneurs Could be our Saviours
At a time when most Africans look up to their government to solve a myriad of challenges, the solutions could lie elsewhere- With our entrepreneurs. But first, we must create conducive conditions for them to thrive.
Let's avail capital to them. In this, we need to establish a venture capital scene in Africa. While banks usually lend to established businesses, they usually do not lend to businesses that are just starting off and are in the idea stage. One of the critical factors that made Silicon Valley in the US to develop is that there was readily available capital for starting businesses to tap into. Venture capitalists make their money by taking a stake in the company they are investing in in order to ward off the risk. Make no mistake, the failure rate in starting businesses is high. However, these businesses usually just need tiny amounts to start, therefore a venture capitalist can invest in many tiny startups. One of them could just prove to be a jackpot. How much do you think early investors in companies like Google and Facebook are worth? Billions of dollars. But they made losses along the way, before finding their jackpot. This is one area that African investors haven't tapped into.
Once we avail capital to businesses, we need to provide markets. This is a challenge to our African entrepreneurs. Let's not just copy paste ideas from the West. We need home grown solutions to the unique challenges that we have. African governments can also assist in this. They can close off competition. For instance, Google and Twitter are banned in China, creating space for local internet giants Baidu and Weibo respectively. We can do this in Africa.
Once we do this, there will be more large scale African businesses, providing taxes and millions of clean decent and rewarding jobs. At the moment, we limit African businesses to the low end of the value chain and this should stop if we are to emancipate the continent economically.
Let's avail capital to them. In this, we need to establish a venture capital scene in Africa. While banks usually lend to established businesses, they usually do not lend to businesses that are just starting off and are in the idea stage. One of the critical factors that made Silicon Valley in the US to develop is that there was readily available capital for starting businesses to tap into. Venture capitalists make their money by taking a stake in the company they are investing in in order to ward off the risk. Make no mistake, the failure rate in starting businesses is high. However, these businesses usually just need tiny amounts to start, therefore a venture capitalist can invest in many tiny startups. One of them could just prove to be a jackpot. How much do you think early investors in companies like Google and Facebook are worth? Billions of dollars. But they made losses along the way, before finding their jackpot. This is one area that African investors haven't tapped into.
Once we avail capital to businesses, we need to provide markets. This is a challenge to our African entrepreneurs. Let's not just copy paste ideas from the West. We need home grown solutions to the unique challenges that we have. African governments can also assist in this. They can close off competition. For instance, Google and Twitter are banned in China, creating space for local internet giants Baidu and Weibo respectively. We can do this in Africa.
Once we do this, there will be more large scale African businesses, providing taxes and millions of clean decent and rewarding jobs. At the moment, we limit African businesses to the low end of the value chain and this should stop if we are to emancipate the continent economically.
Without Africa, France would be a Third World country.
France likes to tout itself as a First World country and often derides African immigrants as coming from a God forsaken hell of a place. But did you know that without Africa, France would be a third world country?
Every year, France requires that it's 14 African former colonies bank 500 billion dollars in it's Central Bank. What's more when these countries want to use that money, they have to get exclusive permission from the French government. Isn't it a surprise then that former French President Jacques Chirac said that without Africa, France would be a third world country.
This doesn't end there. French businesses are to get exclusive preference in government procurement. This is why Francophone Africa is such an unstable region. There are always coups and counter coups.
For instance, the visionary Thomas Sankara was rapidly overthrown after attempting to wean his country, Burkina Faso, off dependence on France. He was overthrown and assassinated by his friend and compatriot, Blaise Compaore, of course with the help of the French government. Time to stop the French exploitation of Africa must surely come to a stop.
Every year, France requires that it's 14 African former colonies bank 500 billion dollars in it's Central Bank. What's more when these countries want to use that money, they have to get exclusive permission from the French government. Isn't it a surprise then that former French President Jacques Chirac said that without Africa, France would be a third world country.
This doesn't end there. French businesses are to get exclusive preference in government procurement. This is why Francophone Africa is such an unstable region. There are always coups and counter coups.
For instance, the visionary Thomas Sankara was rapidly overthrown after attempting to wean his country, Burkina Faso, off dependence on France. He was overthrown and assassinated by his friend and compatriot, Blaise Compaore, of course with the help of the French government. Time to stop the French exploitation of Africa must surely come to a stop.
Time for IMF and World Bank to stop exploitation of Africa.
If we are to achieve some success as a continent, then we must achieve financial independence. The IMF and World Bank, and lately China, will not help us.
The IMF and World Bank were formed just after the second world war. There aim was simple. To reconstruct Europe and avoid Europe falling into the hands of the Soviet Union. To this end, Europe was lent 15 billion dollars( 100 billion dollars in today's value). To this day, the chief of the IMF is chosen from Europe, while the World Bank President is American.
When the IMF and World Bank extend a loan to us, it comes with conditions, which most Africans are not aware of. For instance, during the 1990s, the IMF and World Bank required that African countries lay off public servants like teachers and doctors. This as they termed, was to reduce the wage bill, which they claimed was stifling African economies. This had dire consequences. There were not enough doctors and nurses in our hospitals. Patients were dying. Pupils were not being taught. The illeteracy rates were going up instead of down. As any economist will tell you, economic growth rate of a country has a direct proportion with the literacy rates.
What's more, African governments were asked to privatise key sectors like energy and mining, leading to wealth concentration in a few hands. This was a bleeding ground for corruption of well connected government officials.
What we need is to self finance mega projects. We need a road highway from Cape to Cairo. We need the River Congo to power the whole of Africa with electricity. We can only do this if we self finance, not rely on the World Bank and IMF.
The IMF and World Bank were formed just after the second world war. There aim was simple. To reconstruct Europe and avoid Europe falling into the hands of the Soviet Union. To this end, Europe was lent 15 billion dollars( 100 billion dollars in today's value). To this day, the chief of the IMF is chosen from Europe, while the World Bank President is American.
When the IMF and World Bank extend a loan to us, it comes with conditions, which most Africans are not aware of. For instance, during the 1990s, the IMF and World Bank required that African countries lay off public servants like teachers and doctors. This as they termed, was to reduce the wage bill, which they claimed was stifling African economies. This had dire consequences. There were not enough doctors and nurses in our hospitals. Patients were dying. Pupils were not being taught. The illeteracy rates were going up instead of down. As any economist will tell you, economic growth rate of a country has a direct proportion with the literacy rates.
What's more, African governments were asked to privatise key sectors like energy and mining, leading to wealth concentration in a few hands. This was a bleeding ground for corruption of well connected government officials.
What we need is to self finance mega projects. We need a road highway from Cape to Cairo. We need the River Congo to power the whole of Africa with electricity. We can only do this if we self finance, not rely on the World Bank and IMF.
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