Pambazuka Blog Review – March 5, 2009

Kimacho argues Western aid does not help Africa:

“Aid had done nothing but simply cripple the growth of Africa. Which country, which continent has ever grown rich from aid? I’m beginning to think that the world and even the people who think they are helping Africa are hell bent on ensuring that Africa does not make any head way.
If Africa was to improve in any way or form, imagine the people who will be out of jobs. All the NGOs, all the International organisations. Maybe that is why to some degree all the solutions that are given to us , simply seem to work on paper, because implementation of these solutions that people come up with, sure never seems to work. We sing, we raise money, yet no improvement… in the end I honestly believe the solution has to come from us, we have to say enough is enough.”

Rosebell’s Blog complains about the coverage of the LRA by the Ugandan media:

“Since the beginning of the joint operation against LRA in the DRC by Ugandan army, SPLM and Congolese Army, the information we have got is mainly from the army in Uganda. Usually the army in the past takes journalists at least from the government owned media to cover the wars but not this time. All information regarding the wounded, the captured, the ones about to surrender has been from the army spokesperson based in Dungu. While we can’t ignore the war, we must question the information and as journalists must not be trapped in the propaganda.
…
This kind of media coverage of events that affect thousands of families in the country reminds of the coverage of the war in Iraq from the beginning. It was good guy against bad guy but not much about what Iraqis wanted or were going through.”

Africaphonie is of the opinion that Africans should harness the power of telefilms to tell their own stories:

“The rampant closure of cinemas in most cities in Africa today… may open a window of opportunity to the new wave of television films (telefilms) now becoming a permanent feature in our cultural landscape…
With the waning interest in a reading culture, telefilms are now bound to play the role African Writers Series played in the wake of Independence by showcasing the values and virtues, lores and mores as well as the aesthetic diversity of traditional Africa.
With our educational system alienated from the lessons of our own tangible and intangible cultural heritage, telefilms have a great challenge to correct more than five decades of ahistorical dialogue and pervaded ideological interpretations…”

Scribbles from the Den traces Cameroon’s socio-economic and political problems to a gerontocracy which is systematically sidelining younger individuals who are better equipped to lead the country:

“In a recent interview with Eden Newspaper, Chris Fomunyoh of the NDIIA explained why leadership renewal is critical:

‘It is extremely important to frequently renew political leadership in every country so new leaders can bring a fresh perspective to global trends and developments, and help move their countries in ways that may differ from previously long held typical and traditional approaches.’

Cameroon has, unfortunately, not learned this lesson. The result, as we have seen, is political sclerosis, economic stagnation and rising insecurity within the country and at its borders. Today, Cameroon’s gerontocracy has not just sidelined an entire generation of active Cameroonians willing and able to contribute their quota to national development, but is dragging the country back into the 19th century. Making the leap back into the 21st may soon become a virtually impossible task if nothing is done to rectify the situation.”

Tim Hartman, a PCV in Cameroon explains how the West feeds on stereotypes about Africa, and argues that the deck is heavily stacked against Africa on a Eurocentric world stage:

“I occasionally hear some conspiracy theories about the white man trying to keep Africa down. I couldn’t disagree more with them, but we have to admit that we’re not playing on an even playing field. It is suited to those that are already ‘developed.’ We might not be cheating, but we did create the game. The idea of a capitalistic democracy was created by the West because it fit really well with our independent culture. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with it, but it is much harder to adapt, for example, in a collective culture like Cameroon’s. And now there is no longer a choice of whether or not to adapt it. It was decided by colonizing forces long ago and it is too late to go back. We’re stuck in this strange quandary with one puzzle piece left that doesn’t fit no matter how you force it. Cameroon and the rest of Africa, without outside influences, would have eventually developed into their own unique first-world identities. Sadly, we’ll never know what that image of Africa would have looked like.”

Jeremy Weate, a British expat in Nigeria writes about the “hideous conservatism” of Nigerian youths:

“The assumption in the West is that youth culture is all about rebellion, resistance and challenging the status quo set by the previous generation. Henceforth, irruptions of angst, malcontent, anger, extreme fun and quirkiness are expected in the music, art and words of the 18-30's. In Nigeria, things are quite different. Young people are often more conservative and prudish than their parents, avoiding any kind of experiment with life, whether it be sexual, hallucinogenic, expressive or otherwise, spending their free time in the church or the mosque or 'gisting'. How is a society expected to challenge its own assumptions without a Rocknrolla spirit amongst the youth? Fundamentalism and intolerance for difference takes root more readily in a soil that is both young and conservative. Who is there to challenge the elders and ask questions of what they have done?”

* Dibussi Tande, a writer and activist from Cameroon, produces the blog Scribbles from the Den

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