SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, 13 September (IPS) – After a quarter-century of economic stagnation, Africa’s economic recovery at the turn of the 21st century was already under great pressure even before the pandemic, due to agreements new trade agreements, falling commodity prices and severe environmental stress.
Europe competes for AfricaAfrican border was attracted by the European powers, especially after their ‘Scramble for Africa’ from 1881 ended by World War I. Cultural, linguistic and religious ‘ethnic’ groups were forced together to colonize, which later became postcolonial ‘nations’.
Europeans came to Africa in search of slaves and minerals, later building colonial empires. America participated in 1884 Berlin Parliament, division of Africa among the European powers. ‘Lastcomers’ are not colonial Germany South West Africa and Tanganyika, now Namibia and mainland Tanzania respectively.
The Herero and Nama peoples of Namibia rebelled against the German occupation in 1904. General Lothar von Trotha then ordered “”every Herero… shot“. Four-fifths of Herero and half of Nama are dead!
Communities were besieged, with many people killed. Others were incarcerated, with many dying in concentration camps, or driven into the desert to die of starvation. In 1984, the United Nations Whitaker Report concluded brutality was one of the worst genocides of the 20th century.
Asymmetric interdependence?
Europe’s post-World War II recovery benefited greatly from its major commodity-exporting colonies. After wartime devastation, the European powers relied on colonial monetary arrangement for precious foreign exchange.
Imperial power also ensured the captive colonial market for postwar European manufacturers was uncompetitive. The recovery and competition have depressed commodity prices, especially after Korean War broke out. For more than a century, such prices have fallen relative to manufacturers’ prices.
As decolonization became inevitable, French politicians promoted the concept of ‘Eurafrica‘, imitating America The Monroe DoctrineLatin American claim. The discourse of the French elite insists that Africa’s independence should be defined by (asymmetry) ‘interdependence’, not ‘sovereignty’.
Although Germany had lost some of its colonies in Africa after losing the First World War, the influential West German newspaper Die Welt wondered wistfully in 1960, “Is Africa far from Europe?? ”
From Decolonization to the Cold War
The United States was the first country to recognize Belgian King Leopold II’s personal claim to the Congo River basin in 1884. When Leopold’s atrocities and his territorial exploitation of the Congo Free State privatized the Congo River basin. His people, killing millions, can no longer be denied, other European powers have forced Belgium to directly colonize the country!
Since then, the US has shaped the destiny of the Congo. America is very interested in its huge mineral resources. Congolese uranium, the richest in the world, was used in the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But Washington will not allow the Africans to control their strategic materials.
Patrice Lumumba became the first elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). An advocate of pan-African economic independence, the desire for true independence and sovereign control of the resources of the DRC threatened powerful interests.
Lumumba was brutally humiliated, tortured, and murdered in January 1961. The shameful assassination involved both the United States and Belgian governments. co-operate with Lumumba’s Congolese rivals.
Struggling to stand up
Pan-Africanism leader Kwame Nkrumah wants independent Ghana to chart a path of ‘anti-imperialist’, non-alignment during the Cold War. He wants to dams to promote Ghana’s industrial progress, starting by smelting the country’s bauxite to develop the aluminum value chain.
The US, UK and the World Bank have agreed to finance the Akosombo Dam, on condition that it provides cheap energy to a Kaiser Aluminum subsidiary to process alumina for export to Kaiser. The deal was only rescinded decades later, early this century.
implemented by Ghana technical cooperation agreement together with the Czech Republic and the Soviet Union to build two other dams. But both ended after Nkrumah overthrown in a military coup aided by Washington in February 1966. Thus, Nkrumah’s growth ambitions for Ghana have been killed.
A miniature Bui dam was finally built by Chinese contractors decades later. Nkrumah’s 1965 book, New Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialismmaybe the last straw to shame the West.
Elsewhere, Ujamaa by Julius Nyerere of TanzaniaAfrican Socialism‘ focus on growing village and food security. Opposing the West guarantee the defeat of Ujamaawhile his efforts were harshly condemned to prevent other Africans from trying to chart their own path.
Meanwhile, Nyerere’s Western contemporaries were supported by the West. Such countries, for example, neighboring Kenya and Uganda, receive more Western aid despite their development records. nothing better.
A continuum luta
At the time of independence, Zambia had no university, with only 0.5% completing primary education. The country’s copper mines were mostly in British hands. Most people survive on limited land for villagers, without electricity and other amenities.
Being supported by racist countries in the West, President Kenneth Kaunda – a devout Christian – sought help from abroad to overcome hostile South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to change the fate of the landlocked nation.
After the United States and the World Bank refused to help, he turned to the Soviet bloc and China. China to build a $500 million railway link between Zambia and the Indian Ocean through Tanzania.
Côte d’Ivoire has long been a major producer of cocoa and coffee. But three decades of missteps by the pro-Western founding father, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, led to endemic poverty and severe inequality, leading to civil war.
By 2020, nearly 40% of people here live in ‘extreme poverty’. In 2019, the human development index score of the middle-income country was at a low level 0.538, down to 0.346, when adjusted for inequality.
Both Kaunda and Houphouet-Boigny subsequently abandoned their original, more neo-colonial policies. Zambia nationalizes copper mines, hoping to improve living conditions, rather than enriching foreign investors.
Meanwhile, Ivory cocoa is kept to secure better prices. But both attempts failed, because copper and cocoa price fall. As a result, both countries were severely punished for trying to ameliorate their fate.
No best alignment
During the First Cold War, the West’s hostility to the aspirations of Africans forced many to turn to the ‘socialist side’ to build infrastructure and develop human resources. Washington then interested in economic interests as against the ‘Red Devils’.
The Kennedy administration ramped up foreign aid, urging allies to do the same. But instead of supporting African aspirations, the West pursued its own economic interests while claiming to support postcolonial aspirations.
The growing indebtedness of African governments during the 1970s forced many to accept the policy conditions of structural adjustment programs imposed by international financial institutions since the 1980s. However, developing countries subject to the rules of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have become the darling of the West.
Nyerere Was observed: “The IMF… sets the terms and says, ‘if you follow these examples, your economy will improve’. But what are examples of economies that boomed in the Third World because they accepted the terms of the IMF? “
Cold War considerations have also meant that America’s interest in Africa has dwindled and waned. Now, the West warns of impending Chinese and Russian nefarious designs. China seems more interested in financing and building infrastructure, while Putin promotes Russian exports.
Abandoned by the US after the first Cold War until their 21st century Africa initiatives, including AfricomAfrican nations increasingly welcome alternatives to the West, albeit somewhat cautiously.
Together, the world can help Africa progress. But if support for the mercilessly exploited continent remains hostage to new Cold War considerations, the Africans will choose accordingly. No alignment is now the choice of Africans.
IPS UN Office
By @IPSNewsUNBureau
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© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
