Say NO to SAPs in Africa!

It is refreshing to read African perspectives on the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) imposed on African countries by Bretton Woods institutions, as is the case in Our Continent Our Future: African Perspectives on Structural Adjustment. Such a view is not often heard, as reports of failures, deficits, and continued underdevelopment in Africa made by mainly Western sources is what reaches media outlets. Authors Thandika Mkandawire and Charles C. Soludo weave together evidence from 30 different individual studies, 25 of which are done by Africans themselves, in an attempt to summarize an African perspective on the poor economic state of African countries and the systemic policies and programs that continue to inhibit their growth. Not only do they describe Africa’s economic problems due to SAPs and their continued failure to bring about positive growth, but they propose alternatives (or ‘policy prescriptions’) that move away from structural adjustment policy and toward ‘broadening and developing fundamentals’ in a number of economic development sectors, including socio-politics and sustainable development of which I will focus exclusively. Progress in this sector, Mkandawire and Soludo argue, is vital to the development prospects of African countries and to Africa as a whole.

Africa, in the Ages of Development and Structural Adjustment

Africa wasn’t always in the poor economic state that it is now. After the majority of African countries gained their independents after the 1960s, Africa was on its way to becoming a developed continent. According to Mkandawire and Soludo, by the mid-1970s, many African countries were progressing in economic and social development as “[s]ome level of industrialization had been initiated, levels of school enrolment had increased, new roads had been constructed, [and] the indigenization of the civil service had advanced…” (20). Even so these economies were still extremely underdeveloped because of their recent history of colonialism and colonial exploitation of economic means. In an attempt to better develop their states, African countries turned to Bretton Woods institutions for loans. When these countries found that they could not repay the loans, loaning institutions such as the World Bank began to impose Structural Adjustment Programs on them in order to open up their economies and leave room for economic growth. Three major policy actions that were central to these growth-oriented programs were “(a) more suitable exchange-rate policies; (b) increased efficiency of resources use in the public sector; and (c) improvement in agricultural policies” (Mkandawire and Soludo 42). These policies were implemented as short to medium terns macroeconomic stabilization measures to restore the balances of countries both internally and externally. Various reforms were implemented such as industrial policy, agricultural, financial, trade, labor market, education, and administrative reforms (Mkandawire and Soludo 42-8). Several countries, such as Ghana, had effective implementation up until 1994 but then suddenly dropped and were replaced by new ones such as Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Uganda (Mkandawire and Soludo 84). This pattern of growth and then relapse continues to occur today, and for the large part SAPs have failed in most African countries. Many are wondering, what are the reasons for this?

Arguments for the Effectiveness/Ineffectiveness of SAPs

Mkandawire and Soludo explore a few on both sides of the spectrum. Some argue that is the fault of the African countries, that African societies are too unstable to handle reforms, that money is being misused, or some other kind of corruption is taking place. Explanatory variables blame Africa for trade restrictions such as the lack of openness to trade, lack of financial depth, deficient public service and infrastructural provision, lack of social capital, high macroeconomic volatility and uncertainty, terms-of-trade shocks, drought, offsetting effects of aid, and external debt-burden (Mkandawire and Soludo 82). Others argue that is the staunch and unfamiliar policies of primarily Western nations being out of place in African societies, and that BWIs take little care to incorporate policies that are in accordance with the specific histories African countries and that is has nothing to do with the inherent characteristics of African countries. In any case, the fact of the matter is that Bretton Woods institutions are failing to effectively implement their programs. It is time to move onto something else, argues Mkandawire and Soludo, toward something they term as ‘broadening and developing fundamentals’ in African countries. What they mean is simply that when creating effective policies, the following issues must be addressed: equity, economic growth, economic stability, and political legitimacy. Emphasis must be put on not only economic growth in areas of GDP or trade, but equal attention and investment must be put on the social and infrastructural development, something SAPs have tended to ignore in the past. One area in which the fundamentals need to be strengthened are in the realms of socio-political and sustainable development.

Socio-political and Sustainable Development:
The Push for Capacity Building and Democratization

Areas in which need attention are those in which “social capital,” “social capability,” and “social structure of accumulation” can be achieved (Mkandawire and Soludo 124). This would prepare Africans for the task of controlling their own countries and in turn controlling their own fates. Africans need to gain the technical skills to deal with what Mkandawire and Soludo call the “physical hardware of investment,” along with organizational skills, the skills to govern markets, workplace management skills, the ability to form labor relations, state-society relationships, and the freedom to participate in ideological, social, and cultural consumption patterns that correspond with class, gender, and ethnic lines (124). In order for such a society to be possible, economic policy must be compatible with the process of democratization.

According to Mkandawire and Soludo, SAPs have affected democratization of African countries in three ways. SAPs relate to a growing private space, which ends up informalizing economic life and marginalizing large parts of the population. SAPs have also affected the political legitimacy of post-colonial governments by affecting its ability to implement its own policies. Finally, SAPs have interfered with the process of policy making by leaving little room for countries to make their own policy choices (75-6). Mkandawire and Soludo believe that in order to have enough strength to carry out effective policy dealing with technical capacity, political legitimacy, and social welfare, and due to the extensive history of social pluralism and the artificiality of national borders, democracy is the only way to carry out the necessary programs (125). Moving toward amore democratic governance would take reforming civil service sectors, generating programs for capacity building on both the micro and macroeconomic level—only then can the fiscal capacity of the state be effectively reformed.

Conclusion

I completely agree with Mkandawire and Soludo that only through democracy is the kind of change necessary able to be implemented. No economic policy can flourish if the political system of the country is on the verge of collapse. Thus far, Bretton Woods Institutions have failed to take into account pre-existing factors such as social pluralism and arbitrarily drawn national borders of African countries, and they have tried to impose a foreign, Western culture through their policies and programs. This naturally creates resistance, and the SAPs have failed to significantly increase growth in all sectors of African countries. Socio-political strength is necessary for African people to make choices that correspond with African ways of life. If Africans were given more say in how SAPs were implemented in their countries, and then were allowed to be agents of change, perhaps more structural adjustment would be affective. I believe this is the message that Mkandawire and Soludo have been trying to get across in their book, and that this is the only way Africa will be able to catch up in the world of development. Any time wasted due to pride, stubbornness, economic exploitation or misunderstanding on the part of the Bretton Woods institutions means more suffering for individual African people. The children and future leaders of African countries face a future of concentrated poverty, unemployment, lack of access to health care, income and housing disparities, insufficient educational systems, unattainable higher education, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic among countless others ills that come with economic underdevelopment. If this is to change, the African people cannot afford to wait any longer. Structural Adjustment Programs must attempt to meet African people halfway, or there will be no more Africa to speak of to develop.

Works Cited

Thandika, Mkandawire and Charles C. Soludo. Our Continent Our Future: African Perspectives on Structural Adjustment. Trenton: African World Press, Inc, 1999.

The Language of Oppression: the degradation of Black languge in the USA and South Africa

I know about structural racism …. Racial oppression through entrenched systems in society through various public bodies, laws, corporations, the prison system, universities...you name it. But when the idea of racial oppression through use of language was introduced to me, I was suddenly taken aback. I had never though about it before-- was there such a thing as a linguistic hierarchy? After making some connections in my mind, I came to conclude that this is so. For the sake of making this blog entry brief, I will say that English is at the top of this hierarchy. I come to this conclusion because it seems like everywhere you go, you can find some sort of evidence that English is spoken there.

In a world where global politics are becoming more important than ever, how will people continue to communicate with one another? Will people continue to place an emphasis on learning to speak English as a common language, or will they attempt to broaden their horizons and learn to speak the language of others?

Some more things to ponder:

Have you ever stopped to think about the words you are using, or the way you are speaking in order to express yourself? How does your language or diction differ from that of other surrounding you? Do you think you speak "better" English than others?

Picture this scenario. It’s a stereotypical one at best, but it speaks to my point. An African-American child grows up in the ghetto where she learns to speak a form of colloquial English known to some as "Ebonics," or in more technical terms, Black Vernacular English. She grows up in a community where this is the dominant form of languages spoken. She doesn't think anything is wrong with the way she talks, it's just how she grew up. However, the outside world of "proper English speakers" would tend to disagree. The way she speaks is unacceptable and crude. She is accused of sounding ignorant and stupid because of the way she speaks and misses out on many opportunities in life such as being considered for job, housing, etc. How is this fair? Why isn't it OK for her to express herself in a way that feels comfortable for her? Why must she conform to certain standards of language in order to be taken seriously?

Geneva Smitherman, a university distinguished professor at Michigan State University, explores such oppressive parallels between the Black speech communities in both the United States of America (USA) and the Republic of South Africa (RSA). Though the culture, history, demography, legal structure, and other important elements of both countries have significant differences, there is a basis for comparing the Black politics in both countries as it relates to language (316).

Both the RSA and USA are attempting to adopt policies centered around the creation of the English language as an official and premier language of the country. In the RSA this would be a policy of “English Plus,” and in the USA “English Only” (316). This presents fundamental problems for all linguistic minorities, including those who speak African or Pidgin Languages in the RSA or Black Vernacular English (Ebonics) in the USA (317).

According to Smitherman, such impositions can be though of as modern day “internal colonialism” in both countries, similar to the extermination of Native Americans from the USA, the introduction of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to the global market, and the conquest of South Africa by the Netherlands and later Great Britain (317-18). Such internal colonialism is not just a polarization between and oppressor nation and a colonized people but an entrenched system of “racial capitalism” where Europeans are socially constructed as the “superior” race with superior qualities and characteristics (318). In order to do this, the Europeans created elaborate systems of law, education, politics, customs, and cultural belief sets to support the economic exploitation of the indigenous peoples (318). One can see how the European claim of superior language could greatly affect each one of these systems.

Linguistic colonialism in both the RSA and USA negatively affects the Black populations. The colonizers’ languages, English and Afrikaans in the RSA and English in the USA are considered to be much more prestigious than African languages or Ebonics. Such imposition of language makes it impossible for Africans and African Americans to experience life and learning, as they are forced to use a language that makes it impossible to properly reflect the real life of Black communities (320). Though Blacks share this major similarity, they do experiences some differences as well in their experience.

Africans brought to the USA as slaves were almost completely stripped of their native languages while Africans were allowed to keep their languages in the RSA. However, the British policy in the RSA regulated other African languages in the RSA as having a lower status by considering them “dialects” instead of “languages” (321). Africans who learned to speak English were given rewards by the British in form of allowing them to become part of a class of Black elite with special economic and social privileges.
On the other hand, African Americans developed a form of pidgin English in order to communicate with their masters as well as other Blacks who were brought to the USA as slaves. Their masters often mixed slaves who spoke different languages and came from different parts of West Africa together, and they developed their own forms of communication as a survival mechanism (322-3).

Presently in both the USA and RSA the legacy of internal colonialism continues to connect to Black language politics and pose barriers to moving toward a linguistic democracy. Blacks who speak primarily Ebonics or an African English are scrutinized for not speaking “good” English and award social and economic benefits such as jobs and mobility to those who can speak English properly (340). Language is being used to divide the Black community into groups competing with one another for material and social wealth, making it that much more impossible for Black people across the globe to stand in solidarity against the capitalist systems that continue to oppress them. At the end of the article Smitherman pushes for the Black community to unite and pressure the dominate white elite toward linguistic democratization (341).

One thing is for certain—these languages with their variations, history, and cultural influence aren’t going away any time soon. Both sides need to develop a way to make room for the diversity of people within them and the way in which they express themselves. If some happy medium can't be reached, future generations of Black people will be both physically and psychologically damaged by the internal colonialism of language heiarchy and its practices.

Another thing that certain-- respect should be given to all people, regardless of what words they choose to use. All language is sacred; it brings dreams and ideas to life, sharing the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of humans to the rest of the world.

Works Cited:

Smitherman, Geneva. “Language and Democracy in the USA and the RSA.” Ed. Roseanne Dueñas González and Ildikó Melis. Language Ideologies: Critical Perspectives on the Official English Movement. Lawrence Elbaum Associates, 2001. 316-344.

Putting a human face on AIDS statistics in Africa

It is easy to take the statistics, even one of an epidemic,
and never fully understand them as anything else other than numbers. No emotion
goes into reading numbers, no humanity is necessary to analyze graphs, charts,
or percentages. But there is some emotional baggage that comes with hearing the
stories of those individual people who are affected by something like HIV AIDS.
There is something deafening, something biting, something ultimately
frustrating and scary that comes with choosing to take a walk on the human side
of a figure like: "Some 15 million children under age 18 have lost one or
both parents to AIDS," or "...new projections that expanded access to
prevention could avert approximately 30 million of the 60 million HIV
infections expected to occur by 2015" (statistics can be found at
UNAIDS.org). What does 15, or even 30 million people look like? How many tears
shed, how many hearts breaking, how many homes lost, how many and lives
destroyed does that amount to? How do you measure the social stigma-the
loneliness, feelings of despair and helplessness-or the excruciating pain that
comes with those vast numbers of people affected by the HIV AIDS virus?

These were things I tried desperately to grapple with as I
began to study the history and current consequences of AIDS. What I found is
that the issue is much greater than I had ever thought. AIDS is not just a
disease that coincidentally happens to affect mainly poor, southern Africans,
the majority of which are women and children. There are real systematic,
institutional, social, and economic factors that add up to the highest rates of
HIV AIDS infection rates being concentrated among poor, southern Africans.
These factors together are what Dr. Paul Farmer has termed "structural
violence." Structural violence is "historically given" and often
"economically driven" factors that conspire through "routine,
ritual...[and] the hard surfaces" to constrain the lives, well being, and
mobility of people. Examples can include but are not limited to racism, sexism,
political violence, and poverty (Patholgies of Power, Farmer, 2005). The
majority of structural violence is aimed toward the poorer peoples of their
earth, as they are easy to exploit due to their lack of socio-economic voice. I
plan on posting more with specific examples of these structural problems in a
few days, as I am researching this further for a paper, so don't kill me for
leaving off here for now!

Now that I better understand what's going on...what do I
plan to do about it? The last thing I want to do is sit around and do nothing,
theorize and criticize the situation without getting my hands dirty and trying
to fix it. So this summer, I'm forsaking the beach, the movies, the vacations,
TV, internet, shopping, and whatever else people do for fun in the summer to
have what I'm sure will be the experience of a lifetime. I'm going to Africa.

During the upcoming summer, it is my intention to take my
newfound AIDS prevention knowledge and put it into practice. I will complete an
internship at the VumundzukuBya-Vana Youth
Center in Zonkizizwe, South Africa.
Zonki, as they call it, is an extremely isolated village south of Johannesburg. I'll be
there anywhere between 10-14 weeks, depending on the cost of travel and
obligations back in the States. This youth center's purpose is to provide
physical, emotional, and social support for children and youth made susceptible
by HIV AIDS. Many of the children living in the area have lost a family member
or friend to the virus, and some may be infected themselves. Some of the
children live in youth headed households, or are being raised by someone other
than their natural parents. As an intern at the Youth Center,
I would be responsible for planning after school activities for the children
living in Zonkizizwe. These activities include providing health and nutritional
education, promoting academic progress, self expression, social responsibility,
and communication as well as problem solving skills. Educational programming
would specifically focus on addressing high risk behaviors in the environment
that many children in South
Africa experience daily: teen pregnancy,
unprotected sex, drug and alcohol abuse, crime, illiteracy, and poverty. I
would not be leading these activities by myself, however, as I would have the
pleasure of working with and helping the existing native staff at the facility
to undertake these responsibilities.

Getting to know the staff and experiencing life in
Zonkizizwe like they do is one of the things I am most looking forward to. I
also absolutely cannot wait to interact with the children! I realize that many
of them are not proficient in English, but that's OK. I know about two words of
Zulu, the language primarily spoken in the area, so we'll be even. Finding ways
of communicating with each other should be very interesting, and I'm up for the
challenge. Plus, the older kids will be able help me out. My primary reason for
this trip has always been then children...they are the ones that suffer the
most with no voice.

I have chosen this internship because as a Social Relations
and Policy student with a Black American and Diasporic Studies (BADS)
specialization at Michigan
State University,
I am interested in how policies affect the social development of people. I am
especially interested in learning about educational policies and how they
affect the physical, emotional, and social development of Black children across
the globe. I have participated in a mentoring program called My Brother's
Keeper (a program through Malcolm X Academy in Detroit) to understand how post-
Brown v. Board of Education educational policies have affected children of
color in the United States, and now I wish to experience these affects in the
greater African Diaspora. I would like experience first hand how post-Apartheid
educational policies are affecting black children in South Africa. It is my wish to
compare and contrast the experiences of Black children in the educational
system across the Diaspora, and potentially expand my study into a dissertation
topic on my road to earning a PhD in African American and African Studies. If I
don't decide to go into academia, and go in the direction my heart truly lies--
non-profit work-then I'll have some great experiences under my belt to get me
ready for the rest of my life. I know that if I truly wanted, I could do both.
There is nothing stopping me other than financial burden, but even then I know
that where the will's strong enough to do something, there will be ways to make
it happen. I have that will, that drive, and that passion to help others. I
recognize as an outsider my role is not to come in and play the savior to any
group of people, but to listen to their concerns, needs, and cares. From there
I will work with them, to meet the needs in the best way possible, for that is
all I can really do as a human being. I will fill in the blanks and teach
others what I know for the sake of progress, but otherwise I am happy to be a
servant.

I know throughout the course of the summer, my heart will
break and the tears will flow, but I will move on. We cannot stop and grieve
for the sorry state of the poor in this world. There is a time for sadness, frustration,
and anger, but it must lead us to action rather than to apathy. If you have
time to be angry about something, if you have time to cry, then you have time
to love and time to labor toward bettering it. This is what I plan to do for
the rest of my life, no matter how much it hurts.

Call for Papers - Articulate.

Got an exciting term paper? Wish you were published? Looking for a way to get your arguments heard?

S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A., in conjunction with Michigan State University's African Studies Center and Office of International Development, invites you to submit a manuscript to Articulate: Undergraduate Scholarship Applied to International Development.

Articulate is a new undergraduate scholarly journal that publishes academic papers and writings (research papers, field work, interviews, etc.) on issues in international development, focusing primarily on African studies and healthcare issues. Articulate seeks to educate, motivate, and activate the public about its mission and vision working towards solutions for Africa's healthcare crisis.

Our journal focuses on relationships between development, foreign aid, health care and Africa. Articulate is a forum for students to contribute to, as well as make, the debates in international development. Undergraduate students remain a vital, untapped force that can bring new ideas, perspectives, and concepts into the development dialogue. Our goal is to spark, share, and spread knowledge to create innovative change now.

Articulate is peer-reviewed by an editorial committee consisting of undergraduates and a faculty advisor. Editorial decisions are based on relevance, quality, and originality. We ask for submissions that are roughly 10-15 pages long, preferably in Chicago Manual Style. In addition, we ask that the author's name, major, college, and university appear on a separate cover sheet, with no reference to the author within the manuscript.

Potential topics, include, but are not limited to:
The effectiveness of foreign aid
Intersections of gender, ethnicity, and sexuality in African development
Comparative studies of healthcare systems
Ethics and development in African countries
Land rights reform/redistribution as a development policy
Historical analyses of development programs in Africa
Politics of water in Africa
The role of African youth in development programs and projects
Effects of conflict and forced migration on healthcare and development

Deadline for submission: February 29th @ 5pm. For submissions or more information, please contact the editor in chief, Monica Mukerjee at banana@scoutbanana.org. For more information on S.C.O.U.T.B.A.N.A.N.A., check out www.scoutbanana.org

From blog|S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A..

chinese exodus of influence

In the early days of African discovery soldiers, missionaries, and explorers led the way towards the attempted understanding of and preceding conquest of Africa. This push came from the world powers of the day in Western Europe - now we see a new wave of settlers moving in on the African continent. However, this exodus should not be a surprise. Lured by the increase in wealth, property, and life style, Chinese migrants are starting new lives in Africa. Approved by the Beijing government, the migrants are involved in agriculture reform, construction (which is a huge Chinese business in Africa), and trade.

The Chinese relationship with Africa is strong and this new development should not come as a surprise. "To build a unified front against imperialism," was the Chinese goal in the 1950s. This involved supporting the growing African decolonization, nationalist movements, and revolutions. There is a strong history of economic ties between China and Africa. We can see this in Chinese blue and white porcelain found at African gravesites from the expeditions of Zheng He. Zheng He left the Cape of Good Hope with the gift of a giraffe. Trade relations with China only increased from there.

China began its first bilateral agreements in 1956 with Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, and Guinea. China had been in agreement with the Soviet Union in supporting African revolutions, but China became more interested in providing financial and military support for nationalist movements. In the 1960s there were nineteen African countries with official ties to Beijing. The recent wave of nearly 750,000 Chinese migrants are not the first. In the 1960s Mao Zedong sent people to forge political ties with the continent. This newest wave or Chinese people is to strengthen the Chinese claims over raw materials and markets. The head of the China Export-Import Bank has said that he will support this migration with "investment, project development, and help with the sale of products." Mr. Li says,"There's no harm in allowing [Chinese] farmers to leave the country to become farm owners [in Africa]," he added.

Mission of the China Export-Import Bank:

The main mandate of the Bank is to implement the state policies in industry, foreign trade and economy and finance to provide policy financial support so as to promote the export of Chinese mechanical and electronic products and high- and new-tech products, to support Chinese companies with comparative advantages to "go global" for offshore construction contracts and overseas investment projects, to develop and strengthen relations with foreign countries, and to enhance Sino-foreign economic and technological cooperation and exchanges.

Beyond the trade relations that are now ever growing, the political ties have been and remain strong. During the 1960s China provided military and financial to nationalist movements as well as increasing development dollars - $100 million. They also sent 150,000 technicians to implement projects in agriculture, transport, and infrastructure development. China was involved in numerous independence movements. In the build-up to democracy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China was providing financial support, but it wasn't enough. After Lumumba was assassinated by the efforts of the CIA, the Chinese demonstrated en masse. Millions gathered in Peking, 400,000 in Shanghai which solidified the Chinese influence and support for further revolutionary movements. A new regime was supported in Tanzania (1964) until Nyerere took power. Nyerere even adopted the Mao-style uniform. Chinese engineers built a railroad from Zambia to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania showing the Chinese economic might and proving that China was serious in Africa. China supported many nationalist and revolutionary movements (see map) with arms, money, medical supplies, scholarships, and guerrilla trainings and camps.

In 1971 China received 76 votes for a permanent UN Security Council seat. Of those votes 26 were from African countries and by the 1980s fourty-four African countries had established diplomatic ties with Beijing. These ties soon faded out, but have recently been rekindled in the 1990s and more recently in 2006. In the third China-Africa forum 48 African countries were represented. China now represents the leading Asian developing giant, above India, Singapore, and Thailand. China now rivals OECD countries or the developed West in providing foreign aid (rogue aid). China now outbids the World Bank and in 2006-2008 provided over $10 billion in loans to African countries.

China has regained its strong influence in African countries. Their power is unmatched and their recent wave of settlement unprecedented. This is a point of contention for both Western powers who may be afraid of the growing Chinese power and the people of African countries who should be wary of another exploiter. The Chinese may have a history of support, development, and influence, but that does not justify current action.

From the When not in Africa. . . blog.

Previously posted on the Young People For Blog.

kenya's political history of turmoil

If it happens in Africa it must just be the primal instinct based in tribalism. The mass media has been covering the situation in Kenya as a near exclusive tribal and ethnic conflict without accounting for the history of Kenya's political turmoil and where ethnicity is put into a colonial context. The crisis in Kenya is not solely ethnic and tribal. It is a crisis based on democracy and fueled by past divisions created by British colonial rule.

What we have seen recently is a devolution of 'democratic' elections into ethnic conflict. The Presidential incumbent, Mwai Kibaki, was made President in previous elections as the opposition candidate was declared unable to run by the constitution. Moving into the most recent elections Kibaki did not have the majority support. However, in the end tallies of votes Kibaki came out ahead of the opposition candidate, Raila Odinga. Odinga was running with his Orange Democratic Movement behind him. European Union observers declared Kibaki's second term as stolen when the national vote counts came back different than the district vote counts, putting Kibaki as the winner. What we then saw was a devolution of a 'stable democracy' in to "tribal" conflict. But, before we can even begin to grasp what this means in Kenya we have to examine and understand Kenya's history of colonial violence and created ethnic tension.

In 1888, the British took over the area known as Kenya as part of the 1885 Berlin Conference that divided the land area of Africa between the major European powers. The Germans formerly controlled the land. The colony known as British East Africa remained uninvolved in World War I. By the twentieth century 30,000 white British settlers began establishing themselves in the fertile highlands growing coffee and tea and commanding unjust political and economic power in the country. The highlands had traditionally been home to the Kikuyu people, who were forced off of their land and had to then seek jobs on their own former land under the employ of white settler farmers for a meager wage of newly imposed British currency. This injustice set off the start of the Mau-Mau rebellion lead by the Kikuyu people and the Land and Army Freedom movement in 1952. The country was placed under martial-rule. The British Long Rifles, the Home Guard (Kenyan soldiers), and the British army backed by Winston Churchill's command came together strongly against the movement and killed 42% of the rebel fighters. The capture and execution of Dedan Kimathi in 1956, the Mau Mau leader, essentially ended the rebellion. The Kikuyu rebellion was destroyed. The British consciously divided the Kikuyu and Luo people for fear that they would be too strong of a unifying force against their colonial empire. The Kenyan elites were able to take power with the election of the Kikuyu elite, Jomo Kenyatta.

The first elections in Kenya were in 1957. To the dismay of the British, the election was won by Kenyatta backed by his Kenya African National Union (KANU) party instead of the 'moderate' Africans the British had hoped for, but this was their own product of favoring the Kikuyu. Upon Kenyatta's death Daniel arap-Moi took power, stepping up from his Vice Presidential role. His succession to president was strongly opposed by the Kikuyu elite, known as the Kiambu Mafia. He held power in uncontested single-party elections from 1978 until 2002. Moi dismissed political opponents and consolidated his power. He put down Kikuyu coup attempts through execution of coup leaders. Moi was central in the perpetuating Kenyatta's single-party state, reflected in the constitution. In his 2002 and 2007 election wins, Moi exploited the mixed ethnic composition of Kenya and with a divided opposition of smaller tribes - Moi won. Moi represented an ethnic minority, the Kalenjin, that kept the Kikuyu out of power for many years. I am not sure if we are to assume the role of Moi as Vice President to Kenyatta was to appease the ethnic minority, but the Kikuyu's role as a benefiting elite was lost with Moi's succession.

Kenya's 36 million people are divided among more than 40 ethnic groups, each with its own identity, cultural traditions and practices, and separate language. The main groups are Kikuyu (22%), Luhya (14%), Luo (13%), Kalenjin (12%) and Kamba (11%), according to government figures. Now we see the colonial policy of "divide and conquer" lives on. The tradition of corruption in Kenyan politics continues and Kikuyu is pitted against the various ethnic groups. However, this is a created ethnic conflict in a country where ethnicity and politics are conjoined. Kenyatta was a Kikuyu elite created by the British colonialism, Moi was essentially a dictator for 30 years, and Kibaki undemocratically stole power and now for a second time. Instead of a conflict rooted in tribalism this conflict, "suggests that the undemocratic historical trajectory that Kenya has been moving along was launched at the inception of British colonial rule more than a century ago." What is most surprising is not that there is now an ethnic conflict in Kenya, but that it did not happen sooner.

Surprisingly, CNN acknowledged the roots of Kenya's ethnic political troubles. Neither candidate in Kenya's elections really represented the people or true democracy. Odinga's (Luo) Orange Democratic Movement was supported by Luhya and he promised to appoint a Luhya deputy if elected. Kibaki's government has had troubles and scandals dealing with corruption and graft since beginning in 2002. The BBC also gives a more accurate account of the conflict in Kenya. They suggest that the headlines talking of tribalism should better read: "Tribal differences in Kenya, normally accepted peacefully, are exploited by politicians hungry for power who can manipulate poverty-stricken population." But no one wants to read that. The main stream media has decided to final cover Africa as a front page story only because it provides a striking headline. As Kikuyu flee, the news wants to make Kenya out to be another Rwanda, but I wouldn't venture so far to say that it has become that terrible. This sentiment of violence influences writers at every level. One student writer can only focus on the violence in her article.

The US has condemned the violence in Kenya. "We condemn the violence that occurred in Kenya as its citizens await these election results, and call on all Kenyans to remain calm while the vote tabulation process is concluded," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in a statement. The US would like to say how terrible it is that Kenyans have been denied democracy. However, I am not sure how we can claim to know democracy. Just as Kenyans, we too have never known real democracy in this two-party system full of government control and corruption. My swahili professor is from western Kenya, he is a Luo. The other day I asked him if his family was safe. He said they were, they had fled soon enough to miss the violence. I asked him about the history of ethnic favoring in Kenya and he said that it all started with Kenyatta. While this all goes on - colonial legacies of ethnic tension, stolen democracy, and a fear of continued turmoil, the US presidential primaries plug along. We as US citizens can only dream of democracy. While Obama, with Kenyan descent, gains popularity and primaries his family in Kenya watches. Will there be democracy gained anywhere? Will stolen votes bring conflict in the US too or maybe we do not have a knowledgeable enough electorate to protest.

From theWhen not in Africa. . . blog.

the continuous scramble for africa

From the so called great scramble to the new scramble, I believe that there never really is any difference or change in scrambling. The imperialist tendencies and actions towards Africa have been concentrated in one continuous scramble - for resources: land, people, minerals, diamonds, timber, markets, etc. A continuous scramble and a systematic exploitation and looting of the African continent. Globalization and the global political economy are generally not looked at through the African perspective. While I can hardly offer that perspective, I work to understand.

For a long while many people, non-Africans, Europeans and African alike have understood the systematic destruction of Africa. Quoted in an article in Alternatives: A book written by Walter Rodney in the 1970s was titled "how Europe underdeveloped Africa" and Karl Marx noted in his Critique of the Political Economy that the "hunt for black skins" signaled the dawn of capitalism. It seems the African continent may have been doomed from the birth of the capitalist dream.

The Scramble for Africa began long before the Berlin Conference of 1884-5, when the African cake was divided by European powers for land claims and resources (slave trade). The scramble, however, did not end after that conference. The European powers were not appeased with just staking claim to the land. Oppressive and brutal remained in control and increased their thirst for more, and more. The Alternatives article notes that there now exists NEPAD, the WTO, EU, AGOA, EPA, and I think you could place any international agreement that places the wants of those in power over the long exploited African people.

The article also notes the increase and spread of the Chinese influence in African markets seeking to gain access to fossil fuels and resources. There is now considerable critique into the effects and practices of the Chinese (I have been part of this). However, this makes the practices of the EU and the USA almost completely fall from the picture. Well the Chinese may be pursuing extremely detrimental practices in Africa they cannot be left as the scapegoat for why Africa is "under-developed," exploited and robbed of resources to spur growth. The European powers and the USA need to be exposed and the ills of their actions need to be dissected and understood as well. These "historically-structurally disadvantaged societies" need leaders who will place the interests of their country-people above their own advancement. A lot needs to happen if the scramble is to end, but that requires a recognition to the problem and a plan to empower local communities. Resources do not have to be the downfall of a country. As long as the resources are used properly and agreements are in place so that the benefit reaches the people resource can be a positive. It is my opinion that African countries need to adopt a near protectionist policy in regards to socio-economic matters if the scramble and following exploit is to stop.

China is pouring money into Africa for "development" flooding markets and building infrastructure with money that will flow right back into China, the US is militarizing the continent at a frightening rate (nothing new) to "fight terrorism" and gain access to resources in their "triangle of interest," Brazil, India, Russia, and countless other countries are positioning themselves to yet again eat from the African cake. This competition can work as a positive for Africa, but only as long as the minority of elites need to recognize the great need of their people.

From the When not in Africa. . . blog.

Previously posted on the Young People For Blog.

water is a human right, why is it so elusive?

Privatizing water has taken the world by storm. How many people would rather pay for cases of bottled water than take it from their tap? How many communities are deprived of water because a corporation moves in to contain and sell their water? The situations are similar to what happens here in the US and what is happening across Africa. The greatest new commodity essential to life in the world is a bottle of water. This is no more evident in the US where we are so caught up in the corporate farce that we prefer the tastes of different waters - or so we think. Here is also comes with the idea that it is safer, cleaner, and healthier to drink bottled water as opposed to tap water. ABC news presented a special on the myths of bottled water. The leading expert, used by the bottled water companies, said that there was no reason to say either tap or bottled water was better than the other. The also conducted a taste test with NYC tap water and five other bottled waters, including the top selling, french Evian. Tap water ranked fairly high at #3 with a bottled water and Evian ranked at the very bottom as the least good tasting water sample.

What is wrong with this picture? In the US we would rather pay five dollars for a gallon of water than drink the great tap water that is virtually free? How can this happen when there is such a huge scarcity of water in the world. Over 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean, safe water to drink. We are talking about any drinkable water at all - but we would rather complain about taste and healthiness. In 2002, the Copenhagen Consensus determined that it was a government's responsibility to ensure the right to water for all citizens. Sadly this has not been the case in far too many developing countries. So if the public sector fails to ensure the right to water, can the private sector fill the gap?

From Reason Magazine: "Contractors often drive tankers to poor districts, selling water by the can, in which case the very poorest of the world's inhabitants are already exposed to market forces but on very unfair terms, because water obtained like this is on average twelve times more expensive than water from regular water mains, and often still more expensive than that." Many times whole water supply and treatment systems are sold to private corporations. However, well many times privatization creates a price increase for a minority of people already connected to an ineffective government water system, a greater number of people without access to water are served. There are plenty of examples to argue both for and against water privatization. In the long-term, as with most development policies, when privatization is implemented correctly with the majority of people in focus then it works as a positive. Many activists de-cry water privatization as an evil and it can be. The new fear is the great "corporate water grab." Just as with oil, policies need to be created to make sure the needs of people are met, not just business interests. In many African countries it is too late and privatization has taken a negative toll on the poor's ability to access water.

As far as bottled water, just stop buying it. This drives up the cost of water and its increased privatization as well as created more pollution. Re-use a water container and drink the beautiful water from your tap.

From the When not in Africa. . . blog.

security is better with south africans

An interesting topic that I came to by way of my African Studies professor. In a meeting of the Michigan Action Network on Africa (MANA), he was listing off a number of woes for Africa and among that list was a quick comment about many South Africans working in the controversial security firm Blackwater USA. I could hardly believe it. Could the US security firms really be recruiting from South Africa? I then caught an article in glancing and noticed that foreign diplomats believed that the best security personnel were the South Africans. I had to look into it further. While I could not find the article again I have found a few others that were just as helpful in my knowledge search.

Being involved in the private military or security business is not something to let everyone know. When Mrs. Durant's husband was kidnapped in an ambush in Iraq she had no support group of weeping war wives to turn to. All she had was her silence. What the Chicago Times called South Africa's silent war in Iraq has been a very vocal war in the US especially with the controversy over Blackwater's killing of Iraqi civilians. However, former military and police in South Africa are not new to harsh conflict. In the 1990s thousands of white military personnel left with the apartheid transition. Many of those unemployed officers and soldiers join private security firms and became involved in wars all across Africa, including Sierra Leone and Angola. So it is not surprising that working in a private security firm is something that is not talked about in South Africa. I am sure it holds a very sore spot in the country's history.

It seems that Blackwater will search every inch of the earth to find good mecenaries. From Chile to Brazil and now South Africa. The UN recently reported that South Africa is one of the
top three suppliers for security personnel in Iraq. One South African security company received a multi-million dollar contract to train military recruits in Iraq. There are almost 43,000 South African private security personnel working in Iraq. The Institute for Security Studies wrote and article and in it mentioned the story of a doctoral student heading to Iraq to do research and a friend told him to make sure he was placed with the South African security because they were the best.

This may not mean much for South Africa because this is a practice that is not publicized. If you are involved in private security then it is best not to let that be known. You will not be welcomed home as a hero. Many note that after the 'troop' surge (or private security surge?) that South Africans will be again be out of security jobs, but maybe the Iraqi government will sign them on after to continue helping at oil stations. At any rate this becomes a larger issue for the US. How can the US government, using private security firms, allow security and war to be outsourced even more? How can there be any more accountability if they are signing on former, white army officers who supported apartheid? It can't be long before people get fed up with outsourcing in the war-industry, especially the lesser paid and trained soldiers on the ground. It is a very worrisome topic for both the US and South Africa. South Africa seems to have an influx of military personnel, who gained no further skills after apartheid. The US looks to have an issue of controlling said security firms in their actions.

From the When not in Africa blog.

Previously posted on the Young People For Blog.