Al Jazeera English: Why Africa depends on handouts

[SealLion]

This is an editorial on Al Jazeera English which I found to fairly interesting and I do believe has a hint of truth to it.

Read the first bit:

Barack Obama, the charismatic US president............spoke of Africa's need for self-determination. This was part of his message: "Governments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, more stable and more successful than governments that do not ... This is about more than holding elections - it's also about what happens between them. ....."Repression takes many forms, and too many nations are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery.

So right.


Here's the link:

Al Jazeera English - Focus - Why Africa depends on handouts

I believe that SouthAfrica is one of the very few countries on that continent that is actually prospering as opposed to the rest of the African States, yes??

[CS Curse]

I believe that SouthAfrica is one of the very few countries on that continent that is actually prospering as opposed to the rest of the African States, yes??

May be, but they still aren't close to the prosperity of the US or Europe for example. They still have a long way to go. I think the problm in Afrika is, that there are to much people. The earth isn't furtile enough to provide food for everyone. But that problem can't be solved easily. You can't send them all to less populated places, so I think the povertyproblem will persist.

[suroyo]

Africa has received around ~$600 billion in foreign aid over the past 45 years and what has changed ? Much of the money given to help Africans has been stolen by corrupt African leaders and helps keep such leaders in power and the fact that aid that does get to the people undermines their ability to fend for themselves.

I think what Africans need is behavioral change, and so I agree with what Obama stated. I understand what the author is getting at but I think that even if the northern markets were to open up, the problems in Africa would still persist, regardless of the opportunities for agriculture - because the underlying system of government itself is undependable.

For anyone interested , Aid Watch is a blog by William Easterly, a US development economist, which mostly argues on the uselessness of aid and criticism of foreign aid policies. Very interesting.

[slikrapid]

Barack Obama, the LOL US president............spoke of Africa's need for self-determination. This was part of his message: "Governments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, more stable and more successful than governments that do not ...

on paper every government does this, but in reality it is quite a different story

"Repression takes many forms, and too many nations are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery.

well, obama describes the situation in his own country perfectly, too bad people are blinded by his appearance ie. 'the what should be' talks, let me quote a movie character: 'big talk...small action'

I believe that SouthAfrica is one of the very few countries on that continent that is actually prospering as opposed to the rest of the African States,

could it, by any chance, have something to do with a previous 'white' population dominance & mandela's strong charisma

They still have a long way to go. I think the problm in Afrika is, that there are to much people. The earth isn't furtile enough to provide food for everyone.

the problem with africa lies partly within themselves as they still don't have a strong sense or will to improve their countries & societies (the individual will to prosper on the other hand is there) and partly because the 'western' world needs underdeveloped countries to whom they can sell their overpriced products and prosper even more - if there was a relative equality in economic strength throughout the world, there would be no excessive wealth acquiring possibilities

as for eath fertility - there is plenty to go around - did you notice that in africa they are only treating the hunger/health problems, no one seems to treat the, for example, irrigation problem (yet, middle eastern countries have working desalinization plants) - seems to me there is no real intention to fix the origin of africa's problems - africans better wake up while they still have some natural resources left unexploited by the western 'charity concerned' companies

Much of the money given to help Africans has been stolen by corrupt African leaders and helps keep such leaders in power

ever wondered why the usa doesn't intervene on behalf of the usurped people? because they profit from such constellation of power - its all a big game of global interests

I think what Africans need is behavioral change,

exactly, they need to think long term and be concerned about their own community and their own national interests, instead of buying all that foreign sweet talk about getting rich if being cooperative - only individuals will get rich, the country will still be underdeveloped, crying out for help

all i can say is shame on the rest of the world for turning the blind eye on africa's suffering (even more shame on the exploiters & profiteers ) - giving money is not enough, you have to know exactly where it goes