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The 21st century was supposed to belong to Africa: it heralded the start of the “Africa Rising” era, when the continent seemed destined to enjoy an extended period of economic growth and rising incomes. Two decades later, however, that narrative no longer holds. Last month, 22 low-income nations on the continent were suffering from debt distress or at high-risk of it, while African debt repayments were at their highest level for over 20 years. As the continent entered 2023, headlines were no longer boasting of its economic promise, but rather of what mainstream economists saw as its inevitable “Year of Austerity”.
Many factors connected to the pandemic response are at the heart of Africa’s current crisis, even if many economists choose to ignore them. Some point to the fact that Africa’s long-term loans more than doubled in the 2010s, both across the continent and in specific regions such as Eastern and Southern Africa. In Nigeria, for instance, the country’s external loan value reached $28.57 billion by December 2020, meaning an extra $21.27 billion of debt had been accumulated in the five years before the pandemic.
Yet the reason for the increasing loans prior to Covid was not that the continent was already in economic difficulty. On the contrary, it was the booming nature of Africa’s macroeconomic position before Covid hit that saw it accumulate this debt. In the 2010s, as countries such as Ethiopia saw an increase in GDP of almost 30% per year at some points, economies grew and so did the capacity of African countries to take out new loans to build infrastructure.
This all amounted to fairly standard economics — until the pandemic hit, when these plans were upended almost overnight, and mainstream economists tried instead to blame the impending austerity on overextended finance. First, there was the worldwide collapse in GDP in 2020, which led to an average fall of 4-5% across the continent; while, according to the African Development Bank, one of the very few African countries to ignore WHO policy advice, Tanzania, saw its economy grow by 4.5% that year. On top of this, there was the fall in remittances from the diaspora, triggered by the collapse in service sector jobs in wealthier countries such as the UK: remittances to Africa had surpassed foreign aid in 2019, but fell by 14% in 2021.
The combined impact of these colossal declines in economic activity was catastrophic: in South Africa, 47.2% of small businesses were forced to close in 2020. Meanwhile, global lockdown policies also triggered widespread inflation which long predated the Russian war in Ukraine — even if this has also exacerbated it. All this means that while GDP has started to recover in Africa, its gains are largely wiped out by the soaring price of goods, which makes it harder to keep pace with debt repayments.
This toxic mess created a debt crisis which was predicted from the start. Emmanuel Macron initiated calls to address the debt crisis as early as April 2020, but the plans which were put together failed to address its underlying issues or the continent’s pandemic policy responses. Elsewhere, a number of African countries were wary of taking up the offers to suspend debt repayments for fear it might impact their credit ratings. And with many of the additional loans being offered by the World Bank linked to purchasing stocks of Covid vaccines, rather than anything to deal with the real debt crisis, none of this relieved any of the fundamental issues at stake.
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SubscribeI fear for the future of the west. The rot that has infected our institutions seems like the end of an empire. But our treatment of the third world is so much more despicable and enraging.
It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to realize that shutting down the global economy, disrupting supply chains and choking consumption would wreak havoc on poor nations. Crap rolls downhill and Africa is at the bottom looking up.
The myopic political elite in the west doesn’t care about their own people. Their indifference to the suffering of others shouldn’t be surprising. We see it everywhere. “Hey Africa, you need financial aid during the crisis, here’s some dough to buy our crap vaccines.”
Our self-inflicted energy crisis will have profound implications in the west, but will be devastating for Africa and Asia. Germany signs a 15-year contract for natural gas with Qatar, but Pakistan can’t find a single supplier willing to give them a long-term deal.
We can’t build new mines or energy projects so we outsource it to the third world, where working conditions can be inhuman. The environmental impact is often worse than anything we did 100 years ago.
We whine about the horrors of western colonization while sipping lattes and spewing faux outrage on Twitter from our smart phones. Meanwhile, children in the Congo are digging in toxic dirt to mine the cobalt used for our cell phone batteries.
In a twisted way, we deserve what’s coming to us. We keep voting for politicians who are clearly incapable of leading. It’s shameful and selfish to export this dysfunction to the the third world.
The problem with saying that voting choices mean those in the West deserve what is coming to them is in whether there’s any tangible way to vote against such agendas. Look at Westminster for example.
People voted for the tories, a supposedly centre-right party of low taxation and small government, and they got a globalist bureaucracy of high taxation and ever larger government that gave us hate speech laws, identity politics and carbon zero nonsense. Yet if we vote for labour, or the lib dems, or the greens in future, all we will be voting for is more globalist bureaucrats, more taxes, more identity politics, more carbon zero nonsense. We had a supposedly labour led government prior to the tories having power, yet it’s very hard to see much difference between the Blairites we voted out, and the tories we voted in, in terms of what they actually do when in power.
We also have a system of representative democracy that ensures that it is virtually impossible to vote a new party into having anything like real power, and every time we get the chance to vote, we get told that not voting means we can’t complain or that we’re enabling these kinds of politicians to retain power.
It’s hard to see how there is any tangible way of the general public voting, or not voting, their way out of this mess, which suggests that something besides voting needs to happen in order for us to change anything.
What’s a “rocket surgeon”?
It’s a commonly used (jovial) amalgamation of “rocket scientist” and “brain surgeon”.
Both of those are so commonly used that the hybrid version evolved. The meaning remains the same (used to intimate a ‘type’ of person who is super intelligent/expert).
Good for you JJ.
It’s sort of like the amalgamation “Oxbridge.”
Good for you JJ.
It’s sort of like the amalgamation “Oxbridge.”
It’s a commonly used (jovial) amalgamation of “rocket scientist” and “brain surgeon”.
Both of those are so commonly used that the hybrid version evolved. The meaning remains the same (used to intimate a ‘type’ of person who is super intelligent/expert).
Yes, this is indeed one half of the problem.
The other half is the poor governance standards of African countries themselves – without exception.
The taking advantage of the African situation by some countries for food security, raw materials, religion or ideology makes matters much worse.
The negative effects of historical Western colonisation were insignificant compared with today’s insidious exploitations and interferences by rich ‘third world’ countries.
And.. population pressures.
Well said.
However “We can’t build new mines or energy projects”.
Yes we can. At least in the UK. We simply choose not to
The problem with saying that voting choices mean those in the West deserve what is coming to them is in whether there’s any tangible way to vote against such agendas. Look at Westminster for example.
People voted for the tories, a supposedly centre-right party of low taxation and small government, and they got a globalist bureaucracy of high taxation and ever larger government that gave us hate speech laws, identity politics and carbon zero nonsense. Yet if we vote for labour, or the lib dems, or the greens in future, all we will be voting for is more globalist bureaucrats, more taxes, more identity politics, more carbon zero nonsense. We had a supposedly labour led government prior to the tories having power, yet it’s very hard to see much difference between the Blairites we voted out, and the tories we voted in, in terms of what they actually do when in power.
We also have a system of representative democracy that ensures that it is virtually impossible to vote a new party into having anything like real power, and every time we get the chance to vote, we get told that not voting means we can’t complain or that we’re enabling these kinds of politicians to retain power.
It’s hard to see how there is any tangible way of the general public voting, or not voting, their way out of this mess, which suggests that something besides voting needs to happen in order for us to change anything.
What’s a “rocket surgeon”?
Yes, this is indeed one half of the problem.
The other half is the poor governance standards of African countries themselves – without exception.
The taking advantage of the African situation by some countries for food security, raw materials, religion or ideology makes matters much worse.
The negative effects of historical Western colonisation were insignificant compared with today’s insidious exploitations and interferences by rich ‘third world’ countries.
And.. population pressures.
Well said.
However “We can’t build new mines or energy projects”.
Yes we can. At least in the UK. We simply choose not to
I fear for the future of the west. The rot that has infected our institutions seems like the end of an empire. But our treatment of the third world is so much more despicable and enraging.
It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to realize that shutting down the global economy, disrupting supply chains and choking consumption would wreak havoc on poor nations. Crap rolls downhill and Africa is at the bottom looking up.
The myopic political elite in the west doesn’t care about their own people. Their indifference to the suffering of others shouldn’t be surprising. We see it everywhere. “Hey Africa, you need financial aid during the crisis, here’s some dough to buy our crap vaccines.”
Our self-inflicted energy crisis will have profound implications in the west, but will be devastating for Africa and Asia. Germany signs a 15-year contract for natural gas with Qatar, but Pakistan can’t find a single supplier willing to give them a long-term deal.
We can’t build new mines or energy projects so we outsource it to the third world, where working conditions can be inhuman. The environmental impact is often worse than anything we did 100 years ago.
We whine about the horrors of western colonization while sipping lattes and spewing faux outrage on Twitter from our smart phones. Meanwhile, children in the Congo are digging in toxic dirt to mine the cobalt used for our cell phone batteries.
In a twisted way, we deserve what’s coming to us. We keep voting for politicians who are clearly incapable of leading. It’s shameful and selfish to export this dysfunction to the the third world.
And people (not many but we know them) below the line on Unherd argued passionately for lockdowns. Friends, friends of friends, the general public, people on social media called us granny killers, cruel people with no morals and empathy because we could actually see where all this was headed.
The poorest would pay the most and so it came to pass.
Ya. We all have friends and family who were positively giddy about lockdowns and mandates. The govt created the fear, fed the fear and used that fear to fuel their policies. The sheer volume of misinformation, lies and censorship is staggering.
I work in construction and no one I know took the vax – the people in my zone naturally loath and distrust government as being the Lefty-Liberal, anti-Christian, wasteful, anti working person, mess it is, and know inactively the vax and lockdowns were war on the citizens.
Do you really. What do you do then?
Do you really. What do you do then?
what is REALLY staggering is the lack of awareness of most of the population !! Too late to do much about that – that horse has bolted – might be a long time before the ability to critically think becomes more widespread…..
I work in construction and no one I know took the vax – the people in my zone naturally loath and distrust government as being the Lefty-Liberal, anti-Christian, wasteful, anti working person, mess it is, and know inactively the vax and lockdowns were war on the citizens.
what is REALLY staggering is the lack of awareness of most of the population !! Too late to do much about that – that horse has bolted – might be a long time before the ability to critically think becomes more widespread…..
Hi Lesley, I have been saying from the first this plandemic is a Huge crime against humanity, huge, and will reduce millions from poverty to abject poverty – as will this Insane war Biden/Boris have given the world.
”And with many of the additional loans being offered by the World Bank linked to purchasing stocks of Covid vaccines, rather than anything to deal with the real debt crisis”
I will tell you the truth as I know it, admittedly from non mainstream sources.
The West, (WEF) via their tools, the WHO, and IMF, FORCED the second and third world to lockdown and vax. They MADE them do it although they know it was pointless and vastly destructive.
They did it like this – the IMF told them to lockdown and vax or when the crunch comes they would not give them loans and money to recover the coming recession the global covid Response was spawning.
The West (WEF) had to get the globe to take this mRNA, killer – bankrupting – criminal, shot so there would be no way people could say – LOOK – the poor countries did not take it or lockdown, and they are doing Much better than us,
PLANDEMIC!
We destroyed the poor world by exporting the inflation we created (intentionally) by our covid response – forced them to vax and lockdown too – so double harm. We intentionally did all this with the vax, lockdown, IMF forcing the poor to lockdown – this will kill a billion people, it is likely the biggest crime against humanity ever done – That is what the Lockdown/mRNA vax has been. A Crime against Humanity!!!!!!! The children in the West lost school, socializing, the children in the rest of the world will starve, live in abject poverty, they can not affort state schools, this was a WAR against the global Children – and the excuse was to save granny – – haha, plandemic crime against humanity – that is what the NHS pot bangers and lockdown advocates were pushing!
Ya. We all have friends and family who were positively giddy about lockdowns and mandates. The govt created the fear, fed the fear and used that fear to fuel their policies. The sheer volume of misinformation, lies and censorship is staggering.
Hi Lesley, I have been saying from the first this plandemic is a Huge crime against humanity, huge, and will reduce millions from poverty to abject poverty – as will this Insane war Biden/Boris have given the world.
”And with many of the additional loans being offered by the World Bank linked to purchasing stocks of Covid vaccines, rather than anything to deal with the real debt crisis”
I will tell you the truth as I know it, admittedly from non mainstream sources.
The West, (WEF) via their tools, the WHO, and IMF, FORCED the second and third world to lockdown and vax. They MADE them do it although they know it was pointless and vastly destructive.
They did it like this – the IMF told them to lockdown and vax or when the crunch comes they would not give them loans and money to recover the coming recession the global covid Response was spawning.
The West (WEF) had to get the globe to take this mRNA, killer – bankrupting – criminal, shot so there would be no way people could say – LOOK – the poor countries did not take it or lockdown, and they are doing Much better than us,
PLANDEMIC!
We destroyed the poor world by exporting the inflation we created (intentionally) by our covid response – forced them to vax and lockdown too – so double harm. We intentionally did all this with the vax, lockdown, IMF forcing the poor to lockdown – this will kill a billion people, it is likely the biggest crime against humanity ever done – That is what the Lockdown/mRNA vax has been. A Crime against Humanity!!!!!!! The children in the West lost school, socializing, the children in the rest of the world will starve, live in abject poverty, they can not affort state schools, this was a WAR against the global Children – and the excuse was to save granny – – haha, plandemic crime against humanity – that is what the NHS pot bangers and lockdown advocates were pushing!
And people (not many but we know them) below the line on Unherd argued passionately for lockdowns. Friends, friends of friends, the general public, people on social media called us granny killers, cruel people with no morals and empathy because we could actually see where all this was headed.
The poorest would pay the most and so it came to pass.
While I sympathise, given that it has been over half a century since decolonisation African states and their peoples are going to have to eventually stop whining and take responsibility for themselves. As the article says, Tanzania refused to fall for the Covid madness and has been rewarded with high growth. The countries with an average age of 20 that locked down over Covid rightfully deserve the economic damage. We all make choices. As ever though, the evil white man is blamed. How tiresome.
In this case, it’s not so much the evil white man fallacy but rather the wise white man fallacy.
Most African countries saw Europe go into lockdown and assumed the Western societies know what they are doing. They were wrong.
And most western nations took their cues from the WHO and CDC.
Indeed, and these organisations were aided and abetted by the major pharmaceutical corporations and their shills amongst the science establishment (Welcome Trust, Imperial etc), politicians and across the mainstream media.
(The WHO were called out for their vulnerability to undue big pharma influence back in 2009 when the swine flu vaccine scandal broke – seems like they, the WHO and big pharma, learned a great deal from that exercise.)
It could be argued that the propagandised, nudged and terrorised people of ‘The West’ (as the vast majority fell for it sadly) are just as much victims as the people of Africa.
When will the real perpetrators be held accountable rather than spreading the blame as per usual across the generalised ‘West’ ?
True.
In a way, it’s already a large fall for the West over just a couple of decades in terms of ability as a civilization to think logically and rationally
Indeed, and these organisations were aided and abetted by the major pharmaceutical corporations and their shills amongst the science establishment (Welcome Trust, Imperial etc), politicians and across the mainstream media.
(The WHO were called out for their vulnerability to undue big pharma influence back in 2009 when the swine flu vaccine scandal broke – seems like they, the WHO and big pharma, learned a great deal from that exercise.)
It could be argued that the propagandised, nudged and terrorised people of ‘The West’ (as the vast majority fell for it sadly) are just as much victims as the people of Africa.
When will the real perpetrators be held accountable rather than spreading the blame as per usual across the generalised ‘West’ ?
True.
In a way, it’s already a large fall for the West over just a couple of decades in terms of ability as a civilization to think logically and rationally
They were Forced to lockdown to make the great lie of the plandemic look more real. They were made to destroy themselves less they be destroyed even more after by denying more loans. They would never have lockdowned and vaxed unless the WEF, West, CCP, IMF, WHO had colluded to force them to.
The plandemic was a crime.
And most western nations took their cues from the WHO and CDC.
They were Forced to lockdown to make the great lie of the plandemic look more real. They were made to destroy themselves less they be destroyed even more after by denying more loans. They would never have lockdowned and vaxed unless the WEF, West, CCP, IMF, WHO had colluded to force them to.
The plandemic was a crime.
My thoughts exactly. The nations that make up the African continent, a land of enormous, rich natural resources, are run by by kleptocrats who squander ship-loads of aid money from all over the world on their own luxuries whilst their people live a squalid subsistence. The West should stop “imposing” its money, technology, health and education innovations and let Africa get on with growing into the 21st Century.
In Africas case its actually very much between the rich white man and the rich Asian man. The DRC has massive lithium, cobalt, copper etc resources. There is a proxy war between the US and China over many things. It has pulled in a number of neighbouring countries including Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.
Quote:
As the US intensifies its efforts to cut China off from advanced semiconductors, it is also making a run at the world’s most important source of minerals used in tech: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The DRC is sometimes called the “the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age” because it produces roughly 70 percent of the world’s cobalt, which is a key component in the production of lithium-ion batteries that power phones, computers, and electric vehicles. Electric vehicle sales are predicted to grow from 6.5 million in 2021 to 66 million in 2040.
The DRC is also Africa’s largest copper producer with some of the mines estimated to contain grades above 3 percent, significantly higher than the global average of 0.6 – 0.8 percent. It also has 70 percent of the world’s coltan, which is also critical to cell phone and computer manufacturing. All in all, it is estimated that the DRC has $24 trillion worth of untapped mineral resources.
On Dec.13, the US signed deals with the DRC and Zambia (the world’s sixth-largest copper producer and second-largest cobalt producer in Africa) that will see the US support the two countries in developing an electric vehicle value chain. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US Export-Import Bank and the International Development Finance Corporation will explore financing and support mechanisms, and the US Agency for International Development, commerce department and Trade and Development Agency will provide technical assistance.
Aside from a Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates-backed copper-cobalt mine in northern Zambia, details are sparse, but it does mark a major turning point for the DRC.
For more than a decade, Chinese companies have spent billions of dollars buying out U.S. and European miners in the DRC’s Cobalt belt, leading to control of 15 of 19 of the primary cobalt mines in the country.
China sources 60 percent of its cobalt needs from the DRC, and about 80 percent of the world’s cobalt processing occurs in China before being incorporated into lithium-ion batteries.The DRC-China relationship is on the rocks, however, and Chinese mining is starting to encounter an increasing amount of bumps in the road.
In July the DRC halted exports from the world’s second biggest cobalt mine amid an ongoing dispute between the Chinese mining company and the DRC state mining company. (China Molybdenum bought the controlling stake in the project in 2016 from US company Freeport-McMoRan.)
More info, Source: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-US-And-China-Are-Rushing-To-Secure-Resources-In-DR-Congo.html
”. The countries with an average age of 20 that locked down over Covid rightfully deserve the economic damage. We all make choices.”
This is the most wicked post I have ever seen. You saying the children starving, and within a year hundreds of millions will starve horribly – you say they deserve that? Ever seen babies starving? I have – it is weird to see – not fun, but there it, you see it – babies starving and dieing of the simplest want… And you say they deserve it…… wow.
The IMF Forced them to lockdown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They know it was bad – they did not worry about a couple percent of the people dieing – better 0.2% die than all reduced to abject poverty… BUT the wicked IMF told them lockdown or no more cheap money for you. Told them the coming disaster the West was causing with its Plandemic, and join in the farce, or pay the price after of being locked out of loans they would need to survive.- so they locked down and are destroyed.
For Shame – all you who upvoted that comment!
I assume that you are being facetious, but if not; know that am I referring to the states, not the population of those states. The average Nigerian or Angolan didn’t get a say in things.
I assume that you are being facetious, but if not; know that am I referring to the states, not the population of those states. The average Nigerian or Angolan didn’t get a say in things.
In this case, it’s not so much the evil white man fallacy but rather the wise white man fallacy.
Most African countries saw Europe go into lockdown and assumed the Western societies know what they are doing. They were wrong.
My thoughts exactly. The nations that make up the African continent, a land of enormous, rich natural resources, are run by by kleptocrats who squander ship-loads of aid money from all over the world on their own luxuries whilst their people live a squalid subsistence. The West should stop “imposing” its money, technology, health and education innovations and let Africa get on with growing into the 21st Century.
In Africas case its actually very much between the rich white man and the rich Asian man. The DRC has massive lithium, cobalt, copper etc resources. There is a proxy war between the US and China over many things. It has pulled in a number of neighbouring countries including Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.
Quote:
As the US intensifies its efforts to cut China off from advanced semiconductors, it is also making a run at the world’s most important source of minerals used in tech: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The DRC is sometimes called the “the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age” because it produces roughly 70 percent of the world’s cobalt, which is a key component in the production of lithium-ion batteries that power phones, computers, and electric vehicles. Electric vehicle sales are predicted to grow from 6.5 million in 2021 to 66 million in 2040.
The DRC is also Africa’s largest copper producer with some of the mines estimated to contain grades above 3 percent, significantly higher than the global average of 0.6 – 0.8 percent. It also has 70 percent of the world’s coltan, which is also critical to cell phone and computer manufacturing. All in all, it is estimated that the DRC has $24 trillion worth of untapped mineral resources.
On Dec.13, the US signed deals with the DRC and Zambia (the world’s sixth-largest copper producer and second-largest cobalt producer in Africa) that will see the US support the two countries in developing an electric vehicle value chain. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US Export-Import Bank and the International Development Finance Corporation will explore financing and support mechanisms, and the US Agency for International Development, commerce department and Trade and Development Agency will provide technical assistance.
Aside from a Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates-backed copper-cobalt mine in northern Zambia, details are sparse, but it does mark a major turning point for the DRC.
For more than a decade, Chinese companies have spent billions of dollars buying out U.S. and European miners in the DRC’s Cobalt belt, leading to control of 15 of 19 of the primary cobalt mines in the country.
China sources 60 percent of its cobalt needs from the DRC, and about 80 percent of the world’s cobalt processing occurs in China before being incorporated into lithium-ion batteries.The DRC-China relationship is on the rocks, however, and Chinese mining is starting to encounter an increasing amount of bumps in the road.
In July the DRC halted exports from the world’s second biggest cobalt mine amid an ongoing dispute between the Chinese mining company and the DRC state mining company. (China Molybdenum bought the controlling stake in the project in 2016 from US company Freeport-McMoRan.)
More info, Source: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-US-And-China-Are-Rushing-To-Secure-Resources-In-DR-Congo.html
”. The countries with an average age of 20 that locked down over Covid rightfully deserve the economic damage. We all make choices.”
This is the most wicked post I have ever seen. You saying the children starving, and within a year hundreds of millions will starve horribly – you say they deserve that? Ever seen babies starving? I have – it is weird to see – not fun, but there it, you see it – babies starving and dieing of the simplest want… And you say they deserve it…… wow.
The IMF Forced them to lockdown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They know it was bad – they did not worry about a couple percent of the people dieing – better 0.2% die than all reduced to abject poverty… BUT the wicked IMF told them lockdown or no more cheap money for you. Told them the coming disaster the West was causing with its Plandemic, and join in the farce, or pay the price after of being locked out of loans they would need to survive.- so they locked down and are destroyed.
For Shame – all you who upvoted that comment!
While I sympathise, given that it has been over half a century since decolonisation African states and their peoples are going to have to eventually stop whining and take responsibility for themselves. As the article says, Tanzania refused to fall for the Covid madness and has been rewarded with high growth. The countries with an average age of 20 that locked down over Covid rightfully deserve the economic damage. We all make choices. As ever though, the evil white man is blamed. How tiresome.
This sounds a bit too much like a variation on the theme of “the Western Bogeyman”.
I don’t dispute that the various insane lockdowns that happened in 2021/2022 were a downward pull on many African economies.
But it is quite another thing to argue that many of these countries’ problems (ie most or all of them) are rooted in such lockdowns.
The reality is that most of these countries experiencing difficulties were in difficulties long before Covid. South Africa has been in free fall for decades. The most recent case of organised criminal cartels trying to assassinate the Eskom power utility guy sent in to stamp out corruption is the real story there.
Zimbabwe and Zambia are both massively in debt because of profligate spending and theft.
Malawi is, and always has been, a dystopian hellscape.
Each country is in its state primarily because of its leadership and its populace, not because of outside bogeymen.
This idea that the West (what a blunt, meaningless term) has largely caused these issues is plainly wrong.
Hear! Hear!
The West didn’t cause these issues, but our desire to step in and save them from themselves doesn’t tend to help either. Afghanistan is a great example of this from outside of Africa.
When it was first “liberated” from the Taliban, there seemed to be an assumption that if they were given a Western example to follow and some money to improve their infrastructure that they would magically be able to sustain that even after withdrawal.
Of course, as we are witnessing right now, 20 years of occupation changed nothing because it merely reinforced the infantilisation of the populace that had been ingrained long before, it taught them to switch their dependence from the Taliban to the forces that occupied it, but didn’t teach them how to stand on their own two feet, hence why they rolled over and let the Taliban sweep back into power the moment that the west got distracted.
All that the vast amounts of aid we send, or any kind of occupation or colonialisation, seems to do is inhibit their development by incentivising them to remain in an infantilised state rather than go through the painful process of growth, and provides them with a ready supply of external scapegoats they can blame for their issues rather than forcing them to look within to the root causes of their dysfunction.
The West much to blame – you have no idea how the world works – now the CCP is in there doing even weirder stuff. This was not Africa’s Destiny – it did not have to be like this. I really think FDR set the path, and it may have been OK motives – but the path to here was set by him – read your history – I could talk hours on it – but then I guess the agenda story is very hard to get past, but nothing is as it seems.
Hear! Hear!
The West didn’t cause these issues, but our desire to step in and save them from themselves doesn’t tend to help either. Afghanistan is a great example of this from outside of Africa.
When it was first “liberated” from the Taliban, there seemed to be an assumption that if they were given a Western example to follow and some money to improve their infrastructure that they would magically be able to sustain that even after withdrawal.
Of course, as we are witnessing right now, 20 years of occupation changed nothing because it merely reinforced the infantilisation of the populace that had been ingrained long before, it taught them to switch their dependence from the Taliban to the forces that occupied it, but didn’t teach them how to stand on their own two feet, hence why they rolled over and let the Taliban sweep back into power the moment that the west got distracted.
All that the vast amounts of aid we send, or any kind of occupation or colonialisation, seems to do is inhibit their development by incentivising them to remain in an infantilised state rather than go through the painful process of growth, and provides them with a ready supply of external scapegoats they can blame for their issues rather than forcing them to look within to the root causes of their dysfunction.
The West much to blame – you have no idea how the world works – now the CCP is in there doing even weirder stuff. This was not Africa’s Destiny – it did not have to be like this. I really think FDR set the path, and it may have been OK motives – but the path to here was set by him – read your history – I could talk hours on it – but then I guess the agenda story is very hard to get past, but nothing is as it seems.
This sounds a bit too much like a variation on the theme of “the Western Bogeyman”.
I don’t dispute that the various insane lockdowns that happened in 2021/2022 were a downward pull on many African economies.
But it is quite another thing to argue that many of these countries’ problems (ie most or all of them) are rooted in such lockdowns.
The reality is that most of these countries experiencing difficulties were in difficulties long before Covid. South Africa has been in free fall for decades. The most recent case of organised criminal cartels trying to assassinate the Eskom power utility guy sent in to stamp out corruption is the real story there.
Zimbabwe and Zambia are both massively in debt because of profligate spending and theft.
Malawi is, and always has been, a dystopian hellscape.
Each country is in its state primarily because of its leadership and its populace, not because of outside bogeymen.
This idea that the West (what a blunt, meaningless term) has largely caused these issues is plainly wrong.
Africa’s ‘liberation’ commenced with the independence of Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) in 1966, well over half a century ago. Since then, countless trillions in foreign aid have been poured into Africa by Western nations – worth far more relatively than the billions invested in Europe under the Marshall Plan following WW2. Despite this vast investment, Africa is in a far worse state since independence than it was during colonial rule. While legitimate criticism may be levelled against the West (propelled by the United Nations whose principal policy objective was decolonisation) for so rapidly throwing off its colonial responsibilities and links before African nations were ready to assume modern governance, it is the Africans themselves, specifically their leaders and political systems, who are to blame for the grotesque poverty, corruption and violence, not to mention sheer incompetence, that is endemic south of the Sahara.
Read Martin Meredith’s book (2021 edition or earlier): The state of Africa: A history of the continent since independence. Simon & Schuster: London & New York. [https://www.amazon.co.uk/State-Africa-History-Continent-Independence/dp/1471196410/ref=asc_df_1471196410/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=606569409565&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8010765718975330489&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9041106&hvtargid=pla-949102230208&psc=1&th=1&psc=1]
The South African economy and standard of living, once the strongest on the continent, has been wrecked, since independence in 1994, by the same destructive forces that have plundered and raped the rest of the continent since 1957. There’s nowhere left on the continent to ravage any longer.
African leaders aren’t exactly exemplary; they’ve demonstrated that they are fully capable of big time grifting. Corruption is an enormous problem.
I got the Ghana independence date wrong – sorry. It should be 1957 – 66 years ago (spot the clue to the mistake!).
“Africa is in a far worse state since independence than it was during colonial rule.”
I would rather not express my opinion on this statement, as I’m not sure I could make that opinion polite enough for the forum like this. Not sure if you are aware of everything going on during the ‘good old times’ of colonial rule. Perhaps you should read up on Africa before independence as well.
African leaders aren’t exactly exemplary; they’ve demonstrated that they are fully capable of big time grifting. Corruption is an enormous problem.
I got the Ghana independence date wrong – sorry. It should be 1957 – 66 years ago (spot the clue to the mistake!).
“Africa is in a far worse state since independence than it was during colonial rule.”
I would rather not express my opinion on this statement, as I’m not sure I could make that opinion polite enough for the forum like this. Not sure if you are aware of everything going on during the ‘good old times’ of colonial rule. Perhaps you should read up on Africa before independence as well.
Africa’s ‘liberation’ commenced with the independence of Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) in 1966, well over half a century ago. Since then, countless trillions in foreign aid have been poured into Africa by Western nations – worth far more relatively than the billions invested in Europe under the Marshall Plan following WW2. Despite this vast investment, Africa is in a far worse state since independence than it was during colonial rule. While legitimate criticism may be levelled against the West (propelled by the United Nations whose principal policy objective was decolonisation) for so rapidly throwing off its colonial responsibilities and links before African nations were ready to assume modern governance, it is the Africans themselves, specifically their leaders and political systems, who are to blame for the grotesque poverty, corruption and violence, not to mention sheer incompetence, that is endemic south of the Sahara.
Read Martin Meredith’s book (2021 edition or earlier): The state of Africa: A history of the continent since independence. Simon & Schuster: London & New York. [https://www.amazon.co.uk/State-Africa-History-Continent-Independence/dp/1471196410/ref=asc_df_1471196410/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=606569409565&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8010765718975330489&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9041106&hvtargid=pla-949102230208&psc=1&th=1&psc=1]
The South African economy and standard of living, once the strongest on the continent, has been wrecked, since independence in 1994, by the same destructive forces that have plundered and raped the rest of the continent since 1957. There’s nowhere left on the continent to ravage any longer.
Why is it such a dreaded and unspoken ” evil” for anyone to actually tell an obvious truth that Africa and its peoples are in some cases 2000 years behind the advanced world in every aspect? It hardly helps Africa’s quest to reach the 19th let alone 20th century?
“…an obvious truth that Africa and its peoples are in some cases 2000 years behind the advanced world in every aspect?”
I have impression that most African people are ahead of yourself in one important aspect at least.
What is happening with this place? People like your comment? Have you been to Africa? You think you are advanced compare to African people in every aspect? Really?
Corruption is horrible thing, but people there are just as talented, intelligent, kind or cruel and in every other ‘aspect’ like any other group of people.
“…an obvious truth that Africa and its peoples are in some cases 2000 years behind the advanced world in every aspect?”
I have impression that most African people are ahead of yourself in one important aspect at least.
What is happening with this place? People like your comment? Have you been to Africa? You think you are advanced compare to African people in every aspect? Really?
Corruption is horrible thing, but people there are just as talented, intelligent, kind or cruel and in every other ‘aspect’ like any other group of people.
Why is it such a dreaded and unspoken ” evil” for anyone to actually tell an obvious truth that Africa and its peoples are in some cases 2000 years behind the advanced world in every aspect? It hardly helps Africa’s quest to reach the 19th let alone 20th century?
Well if we had more NGO ladies sitting round the pool in the capital city everything would be cool.
Well if we had more NGO ladies sitting round the pool in the capital city everything would be cool.
We lent money to countries to buy vaccines!!?? WTF. What is wrong with us? We should simply have given them vaccines for free as it is in our interests that Africans do not have economies that go into more debt crisis. I seem to recall that the U.S. and Europe said they were giving vaccines for free.
There was no mention of climate change in this piece. Across Africa, especially in countries like Nigeria, millions are dependent on diesel generators to provide electricity for their homes. The only way these can be supplanted is via building wind turbines and, above everything, the construction of solar farms on a huge scale.
If the ‘West’ provides funds for that about 75% will disappear into corrupt pockets while increasing the debt burden; on the other hand if we provided this for ‘free’ and kept tight control on building and installation then that would result in increased income and employment for companies in that field, while lowering global costs.Reliable access to electricity across the whole of the African continent would hugely increase their economic output which would enable them to pay their debts and help decarbonise the planet. Surely that would be in what used to be termed our “enlightened self-interest”.
We lent money to countries to buy vaccines!!?? WTF. What is wrong with us? We should simply have given them vaccines for free as it is in our interests that Africans do not have economies that go into more debt crisis. I seem to recall that the U.S. and Europe said they were giving vaccines for free.
There was no mention of climate change in this piece. Across Africa, especially in countries like Nigeria, millions are dependent on diesel generators to provide electricity for their homes. The only way these can be supplanted is via building wind turbines and, above everything, the construction of solar farms on a huge scale.
If the ‘West’ provides funds for that about 75% will disappear into corrupt pockets while increasing the debt burden; on the other hand if we provided this for ‘free’ and kept tight control on building and installation then that would result in increased income and employment for companies in that field, while lowering global costs.Reliable access to electricity across the whole of the African continent would hugely increase their economic output which would enable them to pay their debts and help decarbonise the planet. Surely that would be in what used to be termed our “enlightened self-interest”.
As many commentators below observe Africa is the bottom rung in a kick down kiss up economy. Sure covid didn’t help but debt-slavery has been IMF and WB policy since the cold war and largely worked: Only Libya and Angola really guzzled the USSR kool-aid, the ANC paid lip service but until they got hold of the exchequer. The loans went into the pockets of the Big Men in power, their friends and western suppliers so everyone (except the local workers) got a cut. What really grates is people like “Prince” Harry and some posh surfer on Netlfix going on and on about slavery and imperialism 1-200 years ago but are keeping shtum about the current debt-bondage arrangements and the antics of Oxfam for example. Surf guy’s thing is called “Brilliant Corners” and its a great look at parts of the world not normally shown in western media. The woke droning grates but overall a good watch and he is a brilliant surfer as good as any pro and respecting of the locals if a little “colonial” in his interactions.
Good post Otter – you are one of the sharper commenters here.
Good post Otter – you are one of the sharper commenters here.
As many commentators below observe Africa is the bottom rung in a kick down kiss up economy. Sure covid didn’t help but debt-slavery has been IMF and WB policy since the cold war and largely worked: Only Libya and Angola really guzzled the USSR kool-aid, the ANC paid lip service but until they got hold of the exchequer. The loans went into the pockets of the Big Men in power, their friends and western suppliers so everyone (except the local workers) got a cut. What really grates is people like “Prince” Harry and some posh surfer on Netlfix going on and on about slavery and imperialism 1-200 years ago but are keeping shtum about the current debt-bondage arrangements and the antics of Oxfam for example. Surf guy’s thing is called “Brilliant Corners” and its a great look at parts of the world not normally shown in western media. The woke droning grates but overall a good watch and he is a brilliant surfer as good as any pro and respecting of the locals if a little “colonial” in his interactions.
We are told ”Mankind began/came out of Africa” – is that really true? if so, why is it that Africa (which is a continent not a country) in the parlous state? it has been in since the beginnign of time – and everyone else that ”fled” Africa (as clearly they must have done) has seemed to have made a better go of it.
Interesting.
North and Southern Africa have totally different trajectories. Egypt was one of the bedrocks of civilisation. Morrocco is where the Italian mathematician, Fibonacci, allegedly obtained the numerals that went on to underpin Western mathematics for the next 800 years. Moors were more technology advanced for a long time, one reason why Barbary coast slavery was so rife: Europeans simply didn’t have the firepower or technology to stave off Moorish invaders until the 1600s.
Sub Saharan Africa, in contrast, didn’t have the written word when it was colonised and was firmly in the early stages of the iron age.
The article was very clearly about “Africa” – no one needs to split hairs to try and make a “valid” point about issues that were not part of the article – as such I will not be drawn into them
The article was very clearly about “Africa” – no one needs to split hairs to try and make a “valid” point about issues that were not part of the article – as such I will not be drawn into them
In 2017 the UK ‘Daily Telegraph’ published a piece by its Science Editor, Sarah Knapton, under the headline: “Europe was the birthplace of mankind, not Africa, scientists find.”
It reported that “two fossils of an ape-like creature which had human-like teeth have been found in Bulgaria and Greece, dating to 7.2 million years ago … The discovery of the creature, named Graecopithecus freybergi … proves our ancestors were already starting to evolve in Europe 200,000 years before the earliest African hominid.”
[See also, for example: (https://www.sci.news/othersciences/anthropology/graecopithecus-freybergi-hominin-04888.html%5Dhttps://novoscriptorium.com/2019/06/25/the-graecopithecus-freybergi-hominin-the-oldest-human-ancestor/
https://novoscriptorium.com/2019/06/25/the-graecopithecus-freybergi-hominin-the-oldest-human-ancestor/
This led to informed speculation in scientific publications that this might be evidence of a separate, parallel hominid evolutionary line in the European temperate zones. This idea challenges the accepted ‘Out of Africa’ [OOA] theory. However, since that initial flurry of interest and publication there has been nothing more on the subject of which I am aware, even if to debunk the concept on the basis of evidence from the fossil and DNA record. I wonder why? It is possibly that such a radical proposition is wholly unacceptable to the Woking Class keepers of the archaeological and anthropological disciplines who have therefore suppressed any dissent from the OOA orthodoxy. In these awful times when free speech and democratic principles have been destroyed by these elites, it is a valid question to ask! If anyone can point me towards any latest publications in respect of this issue I would be grateful.
North and Southern Africa have totally different trajectories. Egypt was one of the bedrocks of civilisation. Morrocco is where the Italian mathematician, Fibonacci, allegedly obtained the numerals that went on to underpin Western mathematics for the next 800 years. Moors were more technology advanced for a long time, one reason why Barbary coast slavery was so rife: Europeans simply didn’t have the firepower or technology to stave off Moorish invaders until the 1600s.
Sub Saharan Africa, in contrast, didn’t have the written word when it was colonised and was firmly in the early stages of the iron age.
In 2017 the UK ‘Daily Telegraph’ published a piece by its Science Editor, Sarah Knapton, under the headline: “Europe was the birthplace of mankind, not Africa, scientists find.”
It reported that “two fossils of an ape-like creature which had human-like teeth have been found in Bulgaria and Greece, dating to 7.2 million years ago … The discovery of the creature, named Graecopithecus freybergi … proves our ancestors were already starting to evolve in Europe 200,000 years before the earliest African hominid.”
[See also, for example: (https://www.sci.news/othersciences/anthropology/graecopithecus-freybergi-hominin-04888.html%5Dhttps://novoscriptorium.com/2019/06/25/the-graecopithecus-freybergi-hominin-the-oldest-human-ancestor/
https://novoscriptorium.com/2019/06/25/the-graecopithecus-freybergi-hominin-the-oldest-human-ancestor/
This led to informed speculation in scientific publications that this might be evidence of a separate, parallel hominid evolutionary line in the European temperate zones. This idea challenges the accepted ‘Out of Africa’ [OOA] theory. However, since that initial flurry of interest and publication there has been nothing more on the subject of which I am aware, even if to debunk the concept on the basis of evidence from the fossil and DNA record. I wonder why? It is possibly that such a radical proposition is wholly unacceptable to the Woking Class keepers of the archaeological and anthropological disciplines who have therefore suppressed any dissent from the OOA orthodoxy. In these awful times when free speech and democratic principles have been destroyed by these elites, it is a valid question to ask! If anyone can point me towards any latest publications in respect of this issue I would be grateful.
We are told ”Mankind began/came out of Africa” – is that really true? if so, why is it that Africa (which is a continent not a country) in the parlous state? it has been in since the beginnign of time – and everyone else that ”fled” Africa (as clearly they must have done) has seemed to have made a better go of it.
Interesting.
There was another article a few weeks back about how America was the only ‘winner’ in the Ukraine war, what with them finally accomplishing their longstanding goal of driving a wedge between Russia and Europe and getting Russian gas out of Europe in favor of American gas and/or ‘green’ technologies. Now we have another article pointing out how international economic factors are being leveraged to benefit America at someone else’s expense. Anyone else see the pattern here? As an American, let me once again warn everyone across the pond that our leadership’s primary fear at this moment is populist revolution in the form of Trump or some other more competent figure. The powers that be can and will hang anyone and everyone else out to dry and/or rob them blind to enrich and pacify America, particularly the middle class because the ‘rules based international order’, a euphemism for the globalist oligarchy of super elite davos types and megacorporations depends on American military superiority and support for international organizations like the UN, the WTO, and on down the line. This is how empires work. In good times they dole out boons left and right. In tough times they squeeze their vassals for the sake of maintaining the empire.
There was another article a few weeks back about how America was the only ‘winner’ in the Ukraine war, what with them finally accomplishing their longstanding goal of driving a wedge between Russia and Europe and getting Russian gas out of Europe in favor of American gas and/or ‘green’ technologies. Now we have another article pointing out how international economic factors are being leveraged to benefit America at someone else’s expense. Anyone else see the pattern here? As an American, let me once again warn everyone across the pond that our leadership’s primary fear at this moment is populist revolution in the form of Trump or some other more competent figure. The powers that be can and will hang anyone and everyone else out to dry and/or rob them blind to enrich and pacify America, particularly the middle class because the ‘rules based international order’, a euphemism for the globalist oligarchy of super elite davos types and megacorporations depends on American military superiority and support for international organizations like the UN, the WTO, and on down the line. This is how empires work. In good times they dole out boons left and right. In tough times they squeeze their vassals for the sake of maintaining the empire.
I think everybody below is right: No doubt Africans have mostly themselves to blame for most of what ails them, but whitey’s predatory ‘loans’ are disgusting just the same. And the fact is that we put down the white man’s burden to soon.
I think everybody below is right: No doubt Africans have mostly themselves to blame for most of what ails them, but whitey’s predatory ‘loans’ are disgusting just the same. And the fact is that we put down the white man’s burden to soon.
If only someone like the late Fran Hoskins was around to expose the cunning, venal sadism of the IMF and the World Bank with her International Network News.