Staring Down the Mouth of a Gift Horse (UPDATED)

This post began as three pieces I saw of a growing sentiment around an issue I felt needed to be heard. Namely, the tendency for college-educated Western liberals to act out of pity and (let's admit it) guilt, when most of the time, the people we think we are helping would rather not be pitied, would rather make their way on their own than be the instruments by which our consciences are cleansed. Plus, throwing dollar bills or GM corn out of a plane very likely does more harm than good.

1. "For God's sake, please just stop."
James Shikwati is a 35 year old Kenyan economics expert. His interview in Der Spiegel begins thusly:

SPIEGEL: Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about to beef up the development aid for Africa...

Shikwati: ... for God's sake, please just stop.

His interviewer goes on to plead with him, half in jest (I think), saying "We just want to help!" The interviewer goes down the list: AIDS, poverty, hunger...who do we write the check to?

And Shikwati, speaking on behalf of an entire continent, says again and again, in so many words, that the artificial welfare mentality created by the NGOs and the Western development in Africa is paradoxically doing more harm than good. In example after example, he shows how compassion can kill: AIDS ("Africa's biggest business" and "a political disease here") , the United Nations World Food Program, ("a massive agency of apparatchiks" which actually puts African farmers out of business with cheap, subsidized corn), clothing (stop killing the African garment industry by sending those damn free t-shirts!), and on and on.

"These days," he says, "Africans only perceive themselves as victims..."Believe me, Africa existed before you Europeans came along. And we didn't do all that poorly either." Damn.

2. "Biogas"
I was reading Harper's and came across this item by Binyavanga Wainaina (of whom I have become a newly minted fan), excerpted from the excellent new magazine, Bidoun:

I was twelve years old, in a small public school in Nakuru.

One day, the whole school was called out of class. Some very blond and very serious people from Sweden had arrived. We were led to the round patch of grass next to the parade ground in front of the school, where the flag was. Next to the flag were two giant drums of cow shit and metal pipes and other unfamiliar accessories. We stood around, heard some burping sounds, and behold, there was light.

This is biogas, the Swedes told us. A fecal matyr. It looks like shit-it is shit-but it has given up its gas for you. With this new fuel you can light your bulbs and cook your food. You will become balanced dieted; if you are industrious perhaps you can run a small biogaspowered posho mill and engage in incomegenerating activities.

We went back to class. Very excited. Heretofore our teachers had threatened us with straightforward visions of failure. Boys would end up shining shoes; girls would end up pregnant.

Now there was a worse thing to be: a user of biogas.

3. Investment is different from aid
Here it is, phrased a little more politely to an audience of smart compassionate movers and shakers, some of whom might have been a little guilty of this mindset of victimizing Africa. Ngozi Okonji-Iweala was the first female Finance Minister in Nigeria, who fought against Nigeria's most damning stain, corruption. Here, she argues that reform is happening, and we in the west would do well to invest in Africa (rather than, say, unwittingly victimize it with "developmental aid").




4. China and Africa
"An African revolution that needs noticing: 'The Chinese are the most voracious capitalists on the continent and trade between China and Africa is doubling every year.'"
"We Love China," by Lindsey Hilsum, Granta 92: The View from Africa

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0627/p01s05-woaf.htm

5. Africa doesn't want to be "saved"

-- Uzodinma Iweala, in the Washington Post.

"It seems that these days, wracked by guilt at the humanitarian crisis it has created in the Middle East, the West has turned to Africa for redemption."

"Never mind that the stars sent to bring succor to the natives often are, willingly, as emaciated as those they want to help."

6.

Femi Kuti, in the LA TimesM:

What’s your take on Bono and concerts like Live 8 that campaign on behalf of Africa?

Bono doesn’t need to tell us that we are poor. We know we are poor. All these concerts come and go and nothing changes in Africa.