I came across this article the other day, just wondered what you thought about it. Does he make some correct observations, or is he simplifying the problems?

 

By Kevin Myers

Thursday July 10 2008

 

No. It will not do. Even as we see African states refusing to take action to restore something resembling civilisation in Zimbabwe, the begging bowl for Ethiopia is being passed around to us, yet again. It is nearly 25 years since Ethiopia's (and Bob Geldof's) famous Feed The World campaign, and in that time Ethiopia's population has grown from 33.5 million to 78 million today.

 

So why on earth should I do anything to encourage further catastrophic demographic growth in that country? Where is the logic? There is none. To be sure, there are two things saying that logic doesn't count.

 

One is my conscience, and the other is the picture, yet again, of another wide-eyed child, yet again, gazing, yet again, at the camera, which yet again, captures the tragedy of . . .

 

Sorry. My conscience has toured this territory on foot and financially. Unlike most of you, I have been to Ethiopia; like most of you, I have stumped up the loot to charities to stop starvation there. The wide-eyed boy-child we saved, 20 years or so ago, is now a priapic, Kalashnikov-bearing hearty, siring children whenever the whim takes him.

There is, no doubt a good argument why we should prolong this predatory and dysfunctional economic, social and sexual system; but I do not know what it is. There is, on the other hand, every reason not to write a column like this.

 

It will win no friends, and will provoke the self-righteous wrath of, well, the self-righteous, letter-writing wrathful, a species which never fails to contaminate almost every debate in Irish life with its sneers and its moral superiority. It will also probably enrage some of the finest men in Irish life, like John O'Shea, of Goal; and the Finucane brothers, men whom I admire enormously. So be it.

 

But, please, please, you self-righteously wrathful, spare me mention of our own Famine, with this or that lazy analogy. There is no comparison. Within 20 years of the Famine, the Irish population was down by 30pc. Over the equivalent period, thanks to western food, the Mercedes 10-wheel truck and the Lockheed Hercules, Ethiopia's has more than doubled.

 

Alas, that wretched country is not alone in its madness. Somewhere, over the rainbow, lies Somalia, another fine land of violent, Kalashnikov-toting, khat-chewing, girl-circumcising, permanently tumescent layabouts.

 

Indeed, we now have almost an entire continent of sexually hyperactive indigents, with tens of millions of people who only survive because of help from the outside world.

 

This dependency has not stimulated political prudence or commonsense. Indeed, voodoo idiocy seems to be in the ascendant, with the next president of South Africa being a firm believer in the efficacy of a little tap water on the post-coital pen*s as a sure preventative against infection. Needless to say, poverty, hunger and societal meltdown have not prevented idiotic wars involving Tigre, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea etcetera.

 

Broad brush-strokes, to be sure. But broad brush-strokes are often the way that history paints its gaudier, if more decisive, chapters. Japan, China, Russia, Korea, Poland, Germany, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the 20th century have endured worse broad brush-strokes than almost any part of Africa.

 

They are now -- one way or another -- virtually all giving aid to or investing in Africa, whereas Africa, with its vast savannahs and its lush pastures, is giving almost nothing to anyone, apart from AIDS.

 

Meanwhile, Africa's peoples are outstripping their resources, and causing catastrophic ecological degradation. By 2050, the population of Ethiopia will be 177 million: The equivalent of France, Germany and Benelux today, but located on the parched and increasingly protein-free wastelands of the Great Rift Valley.

 

So, how much sense does it make for us actively to increase the adult population of what is already a vastly over-populated, environmentally devastated and economically dependent country?

 

How much morality is there in saving an Ethiopian child from starvation today, for it to survive to a life of brutal circumcision, poverty, hunger, violence and sexual abuse, resulting in another half-dozen such wide-eyed children, with comparably jolly little lives ahead of them? Of course, it might make you feel better, which is a prime reason for so much charity. But that is not good enough.

 

For self-serving generosity has been one of the curses of Africa. It has sustained political systems which would otherwise have collapsed.

 

It prolonged the Eritrean-Ethiopian war by nearly a decade. It is inspiring Bill Gates' programme to rid the continent of malaria, when, in the almost complete absence of personal self-discipline, that disease is one of the most efficacious forms of population-control now operating.

 

If his programme is successful, tens of millions of children who would otherwise have died in infancy will survive to adulthood, he boasts. Oh good: then what?I know. Let them all come here. Yes, that's an idea.

 

 

Source: independent.ie

tbh i think hes spot on!

 

throwing money /aid at africa is doing nothing but increasing the problem. ethiopia has doubled its population since 'geldofs day'.. more then twice as many hungry mouths to feed, whilst civil wars and corrupt governments strip the assets for themselves.

 

tbh i dont know what the answer is, but certainly the first step would be population control. ive stopped giving to charities that feed africa, but ill support any who are trying to control births.

Yeah i completely agree. I don't think throwing money at Africa will solve anything long-term and throwing money is just "delaying" a problem that will just get worse. It needs to be sorted out internally.

 

I think it is fate that people should starve until it gets sorted on its own, because outside help is a lot less definate. I've probably worded that sentence really badly and i'm not saying that people should die, but my point is: "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime", although it is a lot more complicated than that

I agree with the writer of that article, it is throwing good money after bad, Africa is a lost cause hence why I only give to charities that deal with issues in the UK

 

The main issue for me is 2 things

 

1) crackpot dictators, these dictators syphon off the resources of the countries into their personal bank accounts, live in luscious palaces and drink the finest wines and foods and drive Mercedes' while their people starve, there is little or no democracy so things will not get better so long as those crackpots are in power

 

2) The catholic church - A succession of popes with their archaic policies on contraception have a lot of blood on their hands and are responsible largely for the population explosion, AIDS and other problems in Africa, so long as the catholic church has these views on contraception and refuses to change them the population will continue to grow in Africa and AIDS will be rife, what we need when the current dinosaur dies is a younger, forward thinking reforming pope who will change the policies on contraception

 

Africa needs sex education and it needs condoms and so long as the pope sits on his arse with his fingers in his ears shouting out "lalalalalala" when the idea of change of policy on contraception is raised Africa will just get worse and worse and worse

 

Africa needs rid of the dictators that are bleeding the continent dry, it needs democracy, it needs the catholic church to change its stance on contraception and it needs catholic church funded sex education programs, until it adopts those then the place is a lost cause not worthy of our money

I agree with the writer of that article, it is throwing good money after bad, Africa is a lost cause hence why I only give to charities that deal with issues in the UK

 

The main issue for me is 2 things

 

1) crackpot dictators, these dictators syphon off the resources of the countries into their personal bank accounts, live in luscious palaces and drink the finest wines and foods and drive Mercedes' while their people starve, there is little or no democracy so things will not get better so long as those crackpots are in power

 

2) The catholic church - A succession of popes with their archaic policies on contraception have a lot of blood on their hands and are responsible largely for the population explosion, AIDS and other problems in Africa, so long as the catholic church has these views on contraception and refuses to change them the population will continue to grow in Africa and AIDS will be rife, what we need when the current dinosaur dies is a younger, forward thinking reforming pope who will change the policies on contraception

 

Africa needs sex education and it needs condoms and so long as the pope sits on his arse with his fingers in his ears shouting out "lalalalalala" when the idea of change of policy on contraception is raised Africa will just get worse and worse and worse

 

Africa needs rid of the dictators that are bleeding the continent dry, it needs democracy, it needs the catholic church to change its stance on contraception and it needs catholic church funded sex education programs, until it adopts those then the place is a lost cause not worthy of our money

 

You missed out another problem - Multinational Corporations such as Shell, dodgy diamond merchants, and others who bribe officials and basically sh!t on the poorest Africans, exploiting them and bleeding them dry... As Mark Thomas once said, "It aint the Bribery Fairy coming along and bribing these regimes....".

 

I mean, Africa has gold, diamonds, copper, tin in absolute ABUNDANCE...... These countries should be as rich as the Arab Oil states..... Where does all the money end up..? With corrupt politicians and greedy Western Corporations..... <_<

 

1) crackpot dictators, these dictators syphon off the resources of the countries into their personal bank accounts, live in luscious palaces and drink the finest wines and foods and drive Mercedes' while their people starve, there is little or no democracy so things will not get better so long as those crackpots are in power

 

Its not really completely on topic but that is worst and best thing about politics; parts of your life is dictated or, in a good way, helped by someone you don't even know, and there is little you can do about it (other than sway the vote by 1 out of millions, and even if that succeeds it still might not happen, and thats in the best situation; a democracy), and i imagine in some countries people don't even no of due to isolation.

You missed out another problem - Multinational Corporations such as Shell, dodgy diamond merchants, and others who bribe officials and basically sh!t on the poorest Africans, exploiting them and bleeding them dry... As Mark Thomas once said, "It aint the Bribery Fairy coming along and bribing these regimes....".

 

I mean, Africa has gold, diamonds, copper, tin in absolute ABUNDANCE...... These countries should be as rich as the Arab Oil states..... Where does all the money end up..? With corrupt politicians and greedy Western Corporations..... <_<

 

yeah I would lump that in with "Dictators" as that includes their cronies and officials

 

But that does not explain the population explosion in Africa and AIDS and the blame for that largely falls at the feet of the catholic church

yeah I would lump that in with "Dictators" as that includes their cronies and officials

 

But that does not explain the population explosion in Africa and AIDS and the blame for that largely falls at the feet of the catholic church

 

 

I don't think you can put the whole blame on the Catholic church specifically in Ethiopia, only about 1% are catholic. The majority are either muslim, Ethiopian Orthodox and protestant. More and more parts of Africa are becoming muslim. Islam does not condone birth control either so they are equally guilty. Is it not in poor countries the ideology is to have lots of children to help look after the families as a substitute for social security. I agree birth control is the only way, but how can you force it on people who don't want it.

I don't think you can put the whole blame on the Catholic church specifically in Ethiopia, only about 1% are catholic. The majority are either muslim, Ethiopian Orthodox and protestant. More and more parts of Africa are becoming muslim. Islam does not condone birth control either so they are equally guilty. Is it not in poor countries the ideology is to have lots of children to help look after the families as a substitute for social security. I agree birth control is the only way, but how can you force it on people who don't want it.

 

If most of Africa's considerable mineral wealth actually bloody well STAYED IN AFRICA in order to provide investement for infrastructure, instead of being syphoned off by Politicians and Corporations from former Imperialist states and the US, then it would hardly matter how many kids people were having would it....? Not to mention the fact that if Africa were richer, then people would tend to stay there and not migrate to find a better life.... And let's not forget the legacy of Colonialism either, like the author of this rather one-sided article seems to have done, these people were never educated in how to run their own affairs properly, we built up armies instead of building schools, colleges, a civil service or hospitals and we kept them ignorant and at each other's throats - "divide and conquer". When your only powerful state structure is an army as opposed to a civilian infrastructure, that's just asking for trouble, the army will always take precedence.... It also makes it incredibly easy for Catholicism and Islam to come in and take over.... In Europe we've built up powerful civilian and state infrastructures over CENTURIES to kick out Religiosity, in Africa, no such thing has ever happened, because WE didn't allow it to happen... An educated, happy and politically empowered bunch of Africans would've been a damn sight harder for us to control.... The likes of Mugabe are merely carrying on the traditions we set up.... Mandela similarly allowed the architects of Apartheid off the hook as well and did a deal with them which still sees the tiny white minority in charge of the majority South Africa's considerable wealth, South Africa merely has a shiny new Black Corporate logo, but essentially still the same "board of directors" as it were, in the background...

 

Yes, the author says one or two true things about religion, politics and birth control, but tends to leave out the bigger picture - that of Western corporate greed and the legacy of Colonialism, at the end of the day, the wealth of ordinary Africans is being stolen from them by us lot here in the West (and yep, that includes you and me folks. How many of you "happy couples" out there getting married and engaged are actually thinking about where your nice engagement and wedding rings are coming from...?), things really haven't changed that much since Colonialism, Imperialism just got replaced by the Corporations....

 

Thing is though, you talke about Islam being "equally guilty", but is it not the fact that many of the more well-off and politically stable African states are actually the Islamic ones in the North - Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, etc.... Sure, there are problems within these countries, but compared to Sierra Leone, Somalia, etc....

So, I think that the author of this article is a fukkin' liar (insofar as how he's chosen to title his article at any rate..), or at the very least a complete distorter/oversimplifyer of the facts....Perhaps some low-level journo looking to make a name for themselves by making a sensationalist pronouncement...? :thinking: Africa is giving the West pretty much ALL its gold, diamonds, tin, copper, etc..... And really getting pretty much fukk all in return for it (in comparison to what the oil rich sheikhdoms get for their oil)..... Not to mention the fact that if you go into any Supermarket and start looking at the origins of a lot of the stuff on sale in the fruit and veg section, you'll see AFRICAN countries in a lot of cases on the labels..... So, now we have the irony that the Third World is feeding US instead of its own...... -_- Nah, I can shoot down this bloke's central argument in flames all day tbh.... The one or two truths that emerge from this article hardly makes up for the plethora of equally important stuff he's just blithely ignoring to try and support his pretty rocky "theory".... The problems of Africa are WAY more complex than this bloke is making out....

 

The absolute BEST thing that Africa could do is to mobilise itself and do something similar to OPEC or the EU.... After all, NO ONE takes the p!ss out of the Arab Oil States do they......?