Africa has been politically backward and naïve throughout the last
century with so many atrocities, anomalies and injustices. Its children thought
that, one day, things will be better, but since the era of independence dawned
the situation has remained the same or even got worse. Ills, evils and self-destructions
of all kinds continue to plague the African continent. Africa has lost its
natural, human and material resources to wars and massacres. Coups and
counter-coups have continued to play havoc with African society. Should
confidence have been reposed in the statements of the likes of Kwameh Nkrumah,
Thomas Sankara and Patrice Lumumba, to the effect that Africa's problems will
turn to brightness? Is there any optimism for Africa? Will African children
live to see this happen?
One may ask why Africa
has remained the poorest continent the world has ever produced. The answer is
simple.
The intolerance and
lack of respect for one another among Africans combined to invite trouble in
Africa. Africans are killing each other and destroying the continent's resources
all because of these leaders' power hunger. It is enough to mention the gun
rule and slaughtering of people in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and killing of
innocent civilians in Cassamance (southern Senegal) among others. These
indicate that African leaders are themselves responsible for Africa's
underdevelopment and political mayhem. With this era of political ignorance and
naivety occupying Africa, there is more than ever need for a continent, indeed
a world, without leaders or political borders.
As we entered the
dawn of the new millennium, intellectual sycophants have started howling and
trumpeting that it will be a millennium of African peace and development. One
renowned intellectual was quoted as saying that "in the next millennium,
Europeans will come to Africa as refugees." Is it not during this prelude
stage of the millennium that floods occurred in Mozambique, killing hundreds of
people? That hunger and starvation entered Ethiopia? That thousands died in
Nigeria as a result of the religious wars? That mass religious suicide occurred
in Uganda? That the senseless land dispute heated up in Zimbabwe? And the wars
in Rwanda, Cassamance and Burundi intensified?
With
these madness’s in our midst, only the insane would predict a bright future for
Africa. Until socialist politics is introduced in Africa, the gloom of this
"Heart of Darkness" shall continue.
Historically, the
wildlife, natural resources, and culture have made Africa a highly valuable
continent to the western world. Africa has gathered the attention of western
tourists, western explorers, and western imperialists from all over. As such,
Africa has been heavily influenced over time by western interests.
The parading of
malnourished and naked African children in front of cameras and images of lions
and gorillas in the jungle, have dominated most Western media news outlets over
the past two decades. The presentation of African news by Western media
convinces the audiences in United States, Europe and other parts of the world
that the entire continent of Africa is hopeless, poverty and disease stricken.
Images of skyscrapers, well developed road networks and other manifestations of
modern development in most African countries are usually absent in the mindsets
of Western media audiences. (Ahmed Mheta, 2015).
Western Medias when
reporting tends to focus on the negative and not the positive. Bad news sells
well. People feel better about their lives when they hear others have bigger
problems than them. A European who's unhappy he can't get a mortgage, will,
however unwittingly, likely see his life in brighter lights after watching
footage of people with no electricity, no running water and little food to eat.
So when a foreign
journalist enters a space in which he speaks the formal but only understands
the informal, a great deal will necessarily be lost in translation. I believe
that it is in this space that most of the mistakes occur when writing about
Africa. I argue that most Western journalists who come to Africa believe that
they can get by because they speak English or even Swahili, but never really
get down to the essence of what it means to be a South Sudanese in war for
instance, an essence that is fundamentally related to the ability to be able to
switch between the three or four languages and their attendant identities.
(Nanjala Nyabola, 2014).
Even before the age of
exploration, countries have been acting based on their own personal interest.
It was during the late 1800s that the western world really started to explore
deeper into the heart of Africa. What the explorers found was an abundance of
land and resources. The only thing standing in their way was a group of
primitive people with spears, not guns. Through this technological advantage,
Europe was able to successfully claim Africa, its people and its resources as
its own. Seeking only to reap the economic and territorial advantages, settlers
created quick local governments and didn’t bother industrializing Africa. When
countries in Africa began to win their independence, these newly formed
countries were left hundreds of years behind the western World, with corrupt
governments in control.
African states must be
reconstructed based on African culture, history, traditions, norms, values,
priorities and needs (however these are defined by Africans). It uses history
to demonstrate that African political system radically and permanently altered
after Slavery to serve minority and western needs. To reverse this trend,
Africans must first recapture their economies such as development implies Africans’
control over the resources within their borders for the sole benefit of African
child, man and woman. African people must also realize that they have to take
ownership of their own development and democracy, based on the African context.
It is a clear testimony that western
countries and their selfish African associates like any other group protect
their own interest to the detriment of the majority of the people. The
dependency of the majority of the population on religious fatalism, corrupt
African leaders, or predatory western countries will only result in bankrupt
development.
Therefore we need to recognize that
Africa’s interest differ from those of western countries. The Africans want to
live in dignity, economic, self-determination and peace, while the Western
countries want cheap Labor who accept and inferior position in a western
dominated world and market for their goods western countries also want to
exploit African’s natural resources at their own interest. Given the nature of
the relationship between African and western states, the Africans cannot
industrialize unless the process is controlled by a small white minority.
Furthermore conflict, war disease and epidemics will depopulate the continent to such an extent that it will never be able to compete in the international economy, African countries and people will eventually self-destruct under the combined impact of war, famine and disease, acting as efficient checks on population growth.
The
west has United States of America consisting of 52 countries, they also have
the European Union, but why are they against the united states of Africa?
Because they don’t want to see Africans to speak in one voice, So that they can
make friends and enemies, because the pan African will be termed as their enemies
and the greedy, selfish and the self interested African leaders will be their
friends. On these note Africans will never surface without being united and
speak in one voice.
In conclusion, for the continent to be the united
states of Africa. African leaders must work as a team towards
accomplishing the mission and vision statement of Africa, and
Africa need to solve it own problem without the emergence of any foreign
policy, as we are independent countries.
BY:SAIDINA ALIEU JARJOU
Activist/Blogger
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