Today I will allow my newly found companion, along with his
wit, Chinweizu, share some of his insights with us through his book,
The West and the Rest of Us, then I’ll
enter into dialogue with him, and encourage you to as well.
Chinweizu posits that western agenda, propagated into our
African system through the big rigs like USAID, World Bank and concepts like
foreign aid & Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are disguised clothes for
imperialism, also termed as neocolonialism. Furthermore he says, “For black
Africa to constitute on such powerful and autonomous unit, what Africa needs to
do is to create a highly productive and autonomous economy, one responsive to
the needs of and under the thorough control of, the people of Africa”.
As I read part of his book, Condoleezza Rice flashed through
my mind. I remember her emphatically saying that U.S. agenda must be pushed in
the world, or else there’ll be void of leadership and Vladamir Putin or
subsequent Russian leadership would inevitably fill the void and no country can
afford that. Her definition of U.S. leadership entails not exclusively policing
the world, but taking the lead on building collaborative efforts towards dire
situations across the globe. The greatest power diplomacy has is sitting across
from someone, looking them dead in the eye as you seek compliance and
ultimately place them in subjugation to your agenda. With your all-powerful
military force sitting behind you with unspoken promise of violence, they
answer the question, ‘or else’. Diplomacy at its finest, I suppose. This is the
same woman who later confessed that there is no sure thing as the international
community; rather the world is comprised of individual countries with intention
to propagate their agenda. I must interject here by saying that the U.S. by no
means hides its intentions. These realities and confined truths are explicitly
drafted in the National Security Act. Is this a negative thing? Truthfully I am
unsure. Chinweizu would say, U.S. stay the hell away from African affairs and
especially its political and economical endeavors. I say, anyone is ‘free’ to push an agenda, and those upon whom it’s
pushed are also ‘free’ to say, NO flippin’ way OR ok but we have comparative
advantage so you do things on our terms. Chinweizu, I’m not so sure the problem
is neocolonialism rather Africa’s inability to say no to stipulations put
against them, stipulations which are costly on our finances, human capital and
most especially senses. I think if we cower down before the big guys and say
yes sah yes sah, do we expect a different result? I mean, seriously! One man’s
definition of insanity is doing the same thing time and again and expecting a
different result.
When I spent a summer in the beautiful hillside of Kigali
Rwanda, my fierce female students said President Kagame should occupy his
residential seat beyond his constitutionally appropriated terms, because Rwanda
still needed him. But this goes against all things democratic, doesn’t it? I
refuted their point of view by saying it was imperative he stepped down,
because as a father of the freshly renewed nation, the onus was on him to
properly groom his children (people of Rwanda) to take his place, because one
can put to flight a thousand, but two ten thousand. In other words there’s only
so much Kagame can do for Rwanda, and the next generation should stand on his
shoulders to further their investments. Recently he has declared that if the
people want him to stay, the West should stay out of their business and let
Africans deal with Africa’s business. Maybe he’s right, maybe it’s an excuse.
Either way, he seems to be doing something good for his people to love him so.
So, what am I saying through all this?
Story time- when a baby elephant was born, it was tied to a
tree, and whenever the elephant wanted to freely roam, it encountered the
restriction of the length of the rope, so it wandered nowhere unable to
overpower the strength of the tree. This elephant grew into a mature one and beyond
comprehension stayed within the boundaries the length of the rope offered.
Little did it know that it had acquired massive strength over time, and without
exerting much effort, could pull down that tree in no time and freely wander
and actually be an elephant.
Bottom line is there will always be implications for power dynamics
in this world. Beyond money, the rich also possess power to oppress the
oppressable. At some point the oppressable may one day wake up and realize that
it has always been an elephant. Africa, WAKE UP OOOOO.
