The Elephant Africa

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.