Some 20 years ago, an article in
the Economist newspaper posited that
the greatest threat to world order in the late 20th and early 21st
century was migration. It is true that by 2015 we still have not seen the
apocalypse that the article predicted, but it is clear that we seem destined
for a day when millions or even billions would be on the move from areas of the
world where life is intolerable to other less blighted places. Yes,
we are no way near an apocalypse. But we are getting pretty close to a human
disaster that we seem unable or unwilling to stop. This horror is unfolding right
in front of our eyes in the region where Africa meets with a Europe that
is in no mood to accept anyone’s "...tired, poor or huddled masses, yearning to
breathe free".
 |
| Refugees at Lampedusa |
And that urge
to leave continues to this day maybe for less romantic reasons than we like to fancy. True, those
early humans who blazed the emigration trail almost certainly had no idea where
they were going. They just followed their nose and, presumably climate trends
and food opportunities, which eventually led to their populating the entire
planet and the survival of our species. And that was good.
That
same instinctual drive may be as difficult to resist in today’s Africa as it was
in the Africa of two million years ago. How else can you explain the madness of
embarking across the vastness of the Mediterranean in unseaworthy craft, without
navigation aids, safety equipment or competent mariners?
As
I write this blog, European Union leaders are being dragged kicking an screaming to a summit to consider ways of alleviating the plight of these thousands of
migrants willing to risk their lives and those of their children to cross a sea
notorious for swallowing up the unprepared. So far this year, thousands have
drowned, and in the latest casualty figures, some 800 would-be immigrants have died in the attempt to cross the sea.
So,
here on the northern pole of the continent a tragedy, most horrible is in the
process of being enacted whilst on the continent's opposite pole another
of similar horror, though not yet of the same magnitude plays out in the
rainbow Republic of South Africa, celebrated for its accommodation of
different folks with different strokes. The republic`s current imbroglio arose
after the Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini demanded that foreign workers go
home, provoking his 'subjects' (irony no doubt unappreciated in the 'republic')
to take the law into their own hands. Now, after several deaths and a short reign
of terror against fellow 'other' Africans, the king is
backpedalling, claiming that his words had been taken out of context.
What
these polarities are telling us is that there is something rotten somewhere
in the middle of the continent. As if we didn’t know that already. Not only do
we know what sickens the continent, we know also what to do about it. We just
don’t have the will.
That’s all.
Tell
Fren Tru
We are not at all convinced there is clarity or consensus as to "what sickens the continent". Africa is subject to the prescriptions of all and sundry (foreign governments, global financial institutions, well heeled philanthropists, religious "converters",10,000 & 1 NGO's and, last and least, 47 odd home-grown governments). Question is: what is the diagnosis?
ReplyDeleteIs the argument "We just don't have the will" or is there another issue at play? That you bemoan the isms that plague the continent, one might suggest there is a desire for change but like many who are also desirous for an African renaissance, we remain incarcerated by the psychosis posited in Franz Fanon's seminal works "Black Skin White Mask" and "The Wretched of the Earth". As you rightly proffered, curious Africans had always emigrated in search of God knows what but somehow our curiosity for knowledge has been eclipsed by the desire for vindication by those who left that legacy of self-loathing. Perhaps, we no longer have the capacity for self-valuation; as such, we seek to emulate alien ways of being hoping for something that is ill-defined. The attitude “we will know when we get there” becomes the vocation of those who chance the treachery of the Mediterranean Sea & the culture of scapegoatism informs the ire of a king or a parliamentarian. I agree that “Something is Rotten” but the stench seems tolerable at the moment otherwise, willful action would have removed whatever it is – A Luta Continua!!!
ReplyDeleteJust my tuppence…
J S Demba and Anonymous:
DeleteThe diagnosis is clear. African nations need to manage their resources for the benefit of their citizens. It is because the resources of a very rich continent are not properly handled that people want to leave their countries and go elsewhere. And this too, is the root cause of the civil wars that blight the continent.
We hear of all kinds of stories about leaders squirrelling away millions and billions in foreign bank accounts, money that could only have come from the resources of the country they are supposed to govern. I try to be objective about these claims because people who make the accusations do not come up with any proof. But what is telling is that when, for example, it is alleged that Goodluck Jonathan has $20 billion stashed away somewhere, and the man does not bother to deny it, it makes you wonder; or that Ernest Bai Koroma has connived with foreign companies to short-change Sierra Leone of its mineral resources and no denial comes from the Presidential office, one wonders too. These are just a couple of examples involving money. We still have not considered the political misdeeds that keep nonagenarians in power for decade after decade, for example, or of a president sacking his vice president outside constitutional limits, shenanigans that, in the end, lead to the same result of depriving the people of a say in how they manage their country’s assets.
Now, you argue that these failures in governance are due to a lack of political education. True, the best efforts of Fanon and Nkrumah seem to have missed their mark. But where are their students? Why do they not step forward? Being an acolyte is not enough. Political Science and Sociology departments have to do more than teach. We can’t be too posh to push,to use a questionable metaphor.
Thanks for your rejoinder; and forgive my seemingly belated contribution. I will draw attention to the last paragraph of your rejoinder simply because what you proffered in the preceding paragraphs are akin to my school of thought on those issues. That noted; your cogent questions on the students of Fanon & Nkrumah are very informative; and they speak to the pedagogy of [the new] African student. Critical thinking has been arrested in many African institutions and those "Liberal-Thinking" Western learning institutions do not give concentrated scholarship to the discourse of good governance on the continent of Africa. (I hasten to add, this is my assertion - based on my readings and observations; I do not know of any concentrated academic evidence to support what I have posited here.) I offer this anecdote in support of my assertion - Recently, I attended a symposium on higher education in Africa (at a university in North America); and as with many conferences and symposiums that illuminate the challenges of Africa; in attendance were the purveyors of goodwill - sounding the refrain "we know what's right for Africa" - during the Q&A, I had an opportunity to introduce a term, which seemed to baffle the learned scholars (Africans and non-Africans) - "Colonial Mentality", I explained is part of the root cause of Africa's current [deplorable] situation - when one thinks of the paradox of plenty, colonial mentality caries the blame. Invariably, my position was misinterpreted as blaming "colonization" - until, I explained that, in an effort to address "higher education" and its benefits to society, one most address early education - for when the pipeline is clogged with ill-prepared resources, the end results are bad governance, corruption and all the current social ills that current plague the continent. The students of Fanon & Nkrumah are no longer activists - they are passive scholars who pontificate on theories that lack practical application on the ground. We as Africans are "too posh to push" because we await vindication from those who are complicit in our degradation. (Colonial Mentality) If the white man does not endorse our idea, we abandon it like a child abandoning a favorite toy for a new-looking one; not realizing it is the same. The late Gil Scott Heron once said "the revolution will not be televised" - I had initially taken that term literally but as experience affords sound learning, my thinking has evolved. He was right, we do not need fanfare to affect a paradigm shift; it must be done with stealth and precision - but the quiet and resolved revolutionaries are needed. Change is needed but change must be gradual. Illness attacks the human body in stages and phases; and no treatment is immediate; as such, the current ailment of the continent happened over time - we who bemoan these ailments benefited somehow from a time when...so then, the diagnosis must be informed by consensus; and the treatment for healing must also employ different physician specialties - failure to engage in such a precise operation, we risk engaging a combative theater. We must be mindful that those we often times hesitate to hold culpable are watching and waiting to see if the surreptitious revolution is brewing somewhere - meanwhile they continue their campaign of rape and pillage. Until we wake up as a collective, we will continue to write in despair... I rest...
Delete