Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Why is Africa in such a mess?

hi murenga
sorry i wasn't clear. sometimes i think everyone knows this story, but
in fact it is folks who have followed the whole sad story of the drc who
could tell you. this is not secret insider dope either, but public
record. when kabila booted out the rwandans, after they put him in power
in 96, the rwandans figured they put him in, they could put him out, so
they invaded again. i think it was 98. anyway, they marched across the
continent and practically besieged kinshasa. you might remember this was
called africa's world war since so many many surrounding states
participated. uganda and rwanda, and a bit of burundian forces, joined
by those in the drc seeking to unseat kabila; opposed by those kabila
was able to rally to his cause, most notably angola in the west, and
zimbabwe, chad and others in the east and north.
how did he pay off all those forces, having few resources himself? he
granted mining concessions to, among others, zimbabwe. this is not the
mines you are referring to , but mines in the south, i believe in
katanga. they were managed (exploited) by zimbabwean generals. and i
guess ms. mugabe had her hand in it (proxy no doubt for hubby).
those zimbabwean owners are still there, as far as i know. still getting
paid off, still exploiting the diamonds, making millions and millions.
they aren't alone: ugandans in the north, rwandans in n kivu, s kivu;
the rape of drc minerals is a general feasting, ugly in every dimension.
you don't want to know about the conditions of many of the mines; nor of
the guns trade that sustains it. nor of the conflict it continues to
feed; nor of the unbelievably high death rates, the pitifully low
incomes of congolese, the unreal rates of rape, the brutality suffered
by the women, and on and on.
i suggest you read hrw and amnesty reports if you want all the ugly
details. zimbabwe is just one ugly piece. a particularly ugly one
considering who is profiting from this.
when i alluded to these mines, it was in reference to ogugua's evocation
of the local.
i agree not all of africa, not all of the drc, is touched by these
forces that drive the minerals and guns trade. not everyone in texas
works for oil companies. but i heard 20% of the congolese economy is
generated by mines in the east; and we are talking of billions of
dollars of trade. it is only one of the more striking examples of what
globalization/neoliberalism has brought to the region.
ken

On 12/18/10 11:29 PM, chikowero@gmail.com wrote:
> Dear Ken,
>
> The last of your message is a bit confusing to those who might be
> unfamiliar with the story you refer to. Just how did Zimbabwe 'get
> those mines?' And what had the war in the DRC got to do with
> Zimbabwean diamonds?
>
> To set the record straight, the diamonds in question - in the
> newspaper report you cite - are mined in an area called Marange in
> the eastern region of Manicaland WITHIN Zimbabwe itself. The diamond
> deposits were discovered a few years ago and there has been quarrels
> about who 'owns' them with some foreign -British - companies arguing
> that they own the land on which the deposits were found. As a
> Zimbabwean, I am not excited about the possible abuse of this national
> resource but please let's not confuse matters just to bash Mugabe or
> his associates.
>
>
> Murenga J. Chikowero
>
> On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 2:15 PM, kenneth harrow<harrow@msu.edu> wrote:
>> dear ogugua
>> the countries you cite as "standing up to the U.S." have more clout; and
>> frankly i believe it a huge mistake to use the USA as a metonymy for world
>> power. i do believe US hegemony is vastly reduced, that the EU and China are
>> major powerhouses, and their interests also trump those of africa and other
>> parts of the world, whenever possible. like caribbean bananas, for instance,
>> meeting tariffs in europe, and the europeans paying more subsidies for ag
>> than the u.s. and somehow getting a by.
>> i once was on a flight with an african consultant (sounds important, hey?),
>> and i was griping about the imf and world bank screwing africa. he said,
>> yeah, yeah, but there are some countries in africa that do much better,
>> within the same constraints. i believe he mentioned mali, ghana, and
>> tanzania (not 100% sure). and those doing worse? he mentioned guinea, his
>> own country; and i think in the mix obviously was guinea bissau, and
>> probably gambia.
>> so i am partially conceding your point, with no rancor.
>> i would request for precision's sake that we stop using "africa" as the
>> global term that encompasses all countries. clearly shell's impact on
>> nigeria is vastly different from that of other multinationals on other
>> countries, others which are not so dependent on one resource alone, or who,
>> like senegal, have peanuts and not a whole lot more.
>> truly, i regarded all those congratulations to ghana for its oil as
>> enormously short sighted: the record from angola to nigeria to iraq or saudi
>> arabia is not a pretty one for any kind of national progressive economic
>> development or progressive politics. but we can hope that ghana will be the
>> light, will escape the horrors of the niger delta and demonstrate just
>> distribution of wealth and intelligent use of resources. if they do we will
>> have to ask what kind of magic made that possible. right now i am skeptical
>> that it will depend on the individuals in power.
>> on that note, her is a brief account from yesterday's times that reinforces
>> my notion of the relationship between international economic currents and
>> local impacts: in
>> mugabe's wife is sueing The Standard, a weekly independent newspaper. why?
>> "For reporting on the State Dept cable obtained by wikileaks. the cable
>> quoted a mining executive implicating her and the head of the Reserve Bank,
>> gideon gono, in illegally profiting from the sale of diamonds mined in
>> eastern zimbabwe. through her lawyer, she called the report false and
>> demanded damages of $15 million, The Herald, a newspaper controlled by ms.
>> mugabe, reported yesterday."
>> !!
>> (remember how zimbabwe got those mines? for shoring up kabila in the war of
>> 1998, the war that cost the drc 5.4 million lives)
>> ken
>>
>> On 12/17/10 8:26 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua wrote:
>>> "you are seeing the visible manifestation
>>> of a system whose workings are not so obviously visible."
>>>
>>> kh
>>>
>>> Please identify the invisible "manifestation ... obviously visible".
>>> The leaders of China and South Korea elect to stand up for and protect
>>> their countries' interests. The leaders of Mexico and Nigeria elect not to.
>>> Who you think, are the leaders of China and South Korea different than the
>>> leaders of Mexico and Nigeria in the definition and understanding of true
>>> service to their countries?
>>> South Korea owes its continued independent existence for the most part,
>>> to the continuing military and other support of the United States of America
>>> (U.S.A.). Her leaders still refuse to be walked over by the governments of
>>> the U.S.A. These leaders continue to protect their country's interest in
>>> bilateral trade treaties with the U.S.A. They always negotiate the best
>>> terms of trade for their country, with the U.S.A. and get away with it.
>>> Chavez and Morales of Venezuela and Bolivia respectively are today, standing
>>> up for their countries successfully just as Mahathir Mohammed did for
>>> Malaysia. What do these leaders know or have that Africa's leaders do not?
>>> What might Africa's leaders be afraid off?
>>> Some Africans' prompt readiness to blame invisible and
>>> unidentified//unidentifiable forces for Africa's problems in the 21st
>>> century, and so many years after independence, reminds one of some Africans'
>>> continuing belief that demons/evil spirits/angry dead ancestors, and not
>>> germs, cause human sickness and death. This helps to explain why African
>>> governments and some Africans, have not paid due and adequate attention to
>>> personal hygiene and lifestyles, and public health. Some Africans' belief
>>> that external agencies are sole or primary determinants and therefore
>>> solely or primarily culpable for Africa's underdevelopment is slowly
>>> morphing into the new superstition.
>>> Madiba Mandela and Mahatma Ghandhi could nhave chosen to become honorary
>>> whitemen in apartheid South Africa and British India with the attendant
>>> privilages. They chose service to their oppressed people and prevailed.
>>> I am still open to be persuaded that Africa's underdevelopment is not the
>>> choice of many of her leaders and in many cases the led.
>>>
>>> oa
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
>>> [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kenneth harrow
>>> [harrow@msu.edu]
>>> Sent: Friday, December 17, 2010 8:25 AM
>>> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
>>> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Why is Africa in such a mess?
>>>
>>> oa
>>> what enabled the african leaders? what were the conditions that made
>>> possible the scenario you describe?? it wasn't personality; nor was it
>>> simply the barrel of the gun. you are seeing the visible manifestation
>>> of a system whose workings are not so obviously visible. so go ahead
>>> change your leaders. tried it before? why didn't it work?
>>> what are we waiting for? god, or godot?
>>> i wonder how many people read that article in the times about the
>>> production of windmills in china. the chinese placed conditions on the
>>> utilization of manufactured parts so that the spanish manufacturers had
>>> to use chinese parts; the spanish had to show the chinese how to make
>>> the parts, hundreds of them. the chinese then built factories to make
>>> those parts, and now are producing enough windmills themselves to supply
>>> half the world. the spanish manufacturer now has access to the enormous
>>> chinese market, so they aren't complaining, but they got boxed in by the
>>> chinese.
>>> similarly when the s koreans allowed the manufacture of japanese cars in
>>> s korea, with cheaper labor, it was conditioned on the transfer of
>>> technology--something the mexicans have not done with their
>>> maquilladoras, or with the refining of oil. like nigeria, they ship the
>>> crude out, so the profits go to the refiners; transfer of technology is
>>> something the nigerians didn't do with volkswagon production.
>>> i am the first to admit i don't know a thing about economics--we have
>>> specialists on this list in everything. but it seems naive to dream that
>>> all that we need is a good leader to fix things when it is the things
>>> that are "fixing" the leaders.
>>> ken
>>>
>>> On 12/17/10 1:47 AM, Anunoby, Ogugua wrote:
>>>> At this point in time (so many years after independence) it makes some
>>>> sense to argue that Africa is in the mess that it is in, by choice.
>>>> Ethnicity, religion, and worn out cultural hold-ons remain burdens that
>>>> buffet politics in Africa and undermine development. Africa's leaders
>>>> exploit ethnicity and religion to cling to power and enrich themselves. They
>>>> claim that colonialism is the cause of their countries' failures when the
>>>> leaders of similarly colonized Asian countries have generally moved on and
>>>> are successfully transforming their countries.
>>>> The Sudan is a case in point. Ethnicity and religion are the reasons for
>>>> several avoidable wars in that country. The prediction is that the country
>>>> is likely split into an Arab Muslim North and a Christian/animist South
>>>> after her 2011 referendum in the South and that the South will leave the
>>>> Union with most of the Union's crude petroleum deposits. Cote D' Ivoire is
>>>> another example.
>>>> Why Africa is such a mess is a complex subject but there should be little
>>>> question that Africa's leaders have not made the difference in he continent
>>>> that they are well capable of.
>>>>
>>>> oa
>>>> ________________________________________
>>>> From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
>>>> [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kwame zulu shabazz
>>>> [kwameshabazz@gmail.com]
>>>> Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 8:42 PM
>>>> To: USA Africa Dialogue Series
>>>> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Why is Africa in such a mess?
>>>>
>>>> Peace All,
>>>>
>>>> Kenneth, that is great sketch of economic domination by remote
>>>> control. I am African American. My African comrades and I go back and
>>>> forth on this frequently. Whereas I tend to favor structural
>>>> explanations, many of my African comrades tend to point to what is, in
>>>> their view, corrupt African leadership. As you rightly note, all
>>>> factors must be placed on the table. That said, brother Moses didn't
>>>> dismiss structure outright. He acknowledges that its a "culprit," but
>>>> a "more distant" culprit.
>>>>
>>>> That brings up a related issue that I wanted to toss out. I think we
>>>> still have a poor grasp as to _how_ structural factors shape or
>>>> influence human action. Which is not exactly the same as understanding
>>>> how a given structure works or functions (your sketch, for example).
>>>> And because we don't fully understand how structure constricts and
>>>> induces action, we tend to conceptualize structure, spatially, as
>>>> "distant." Last, I wanted to note that structural arguments push
>>>> against our commonsensical ideas of self-actualizing autonomous human
>>>> beings--that are actions are fully voluntary and self-actuated. So-
>>>> called "free will" or what liberal academics call "agency." kzs
>>>>
>>>> On Dec 15, 6:10 pm, kenneth harrow<har...@msu.edu> wrote:
>>>>> moses
>>>>> while i agree largely with your careful reasoning, there is one point
>>>>> where i stopped. see it below.
>>>>> ok, you are a farmer: you are growing a crop that was introduced to your
>>>>> region during the colonial period. call it, oh, cotton. why not.
>>>>> the u.s. subsidizes cotton, thus enabling it to undersell mali. even in
>>>>> the poorest and most dispossessed region, cotton is affected since the
>>>>> malians cannot put up protective tariffs thanks to the stupid neoliberal
>>>>> rules that govern the imf. and just in case we forgot, european
>>>>> subsidies exceed, in percentage, u.s. subsidies, and both the eu and usa
>>>>> are excempt from imf rules against erecting tariffs.
>>>>> you live, let us say, in e congo where tin is mined. tin goes out, guns
>>>>> go in, militias, uganda elites, rwandan generals, all get rich
>>>>> you live, where? in senegal where those trawlers have harvested all
>>>>> the damn fish in the ocean, driving thousands to take piroques north,
>>>>> endangering themselves and drowning, only to get to a xenophobic europe
>>>>> ready to lynch them en mass, especially in italy which is ruled by a
>>>>> rightwing maniac.
>>>>> should i go on? where is that corner, moses, where this economic order
>>>>> does not matter??
>>>>> please. i know the leadership works hand in glove with the corporations
>>>>> that buy the diamonds, with the gun runners that sell the armaments. i
>>>>> know the chinese stepped into s sudan oil fields when the westerners
>>>>> moved out. please, where is this remote untouched corner?
>>>>> i know, it is in the sahara. wait, what is africom surveilling? why are
>>>>> they expending millions to expend rule over mauretania, why did the
>>>>> chinese build a superhighway in mauretania. oh, oil. need i go on.
>>>>> the order that is decimating africa reaches from elite to elite, and the
>>>>> rest of us, trawled up by those inhumane monsters, are left to cheer on
>>>>> bono.
>>>>> we have to recognize ALL these forces if we are to establish a coherent
>>>>> policy for change. i would very very willingly start with the bottom up
>>>>> that you evoke, the subalterns that reach in peculiar ways across
>>>>> countries. all countries, integrated now more than ever into mechanisms
>>>>> of exploitation of resources and labor.
>>>>> ken
>>>>>
>>>>> On 12/15/10 11:53 AM, Moses Ebe Ochonu wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> it is my view that for most peoples of the South and the North who are
>>>>>> poor and dispossessed, the global neoliberal order is a more distant
>>>>>> culprit in their predicament than are their proximate leaders and
>>>>>> political actors.
>>>>> --
>>>>> kenneth w. harrow
>>>>> distinguished professor of english
>>>>> michigan state university
>>>>> ph. 517 803 8839
>>>>> har...@msu.edu
>>>> --
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>>> --
>>> kenneth w. harrow
>>> distinguished professor of english
>>> michigan state university
>>> ph. 517 803 8839
>>> harrow@msu.edu
>>>
>>> --
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>> --
>> kenneth w. harrow
>> distinguished professor of english
>> michigan state university
>> ph. 517 803 8839
>> harrow@msu.edu
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa
>> Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
>> For current archives, visit
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>
>

--
kenneth w. harrow
distinguished professor of english
michigan state university
ph. 517 803 8839
harrow@msu.edu

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