Africa's economic growth

"The weaker and poorer a country is, the more dangerous it is as an example. If Grenada can succeed in bringing about a better life for its people, some other place that has more resources will eventually ask, 'why not us?'" - Noam Chomsky (on the invasion of Grenada)

Oh God. You're like one of those people who complained about Al Queda in 2001 (they so bad!), whilst ignoring how they were formed, caused, armed, and how they were working in collaboration with "you" in the civil wars in Macedonia on the very day of 9/11.

No. I do not want to talk about Boko Haram and Nigeria. We already know what you're gonna blame "bad leaders" and "crazy locals". Causal factors be damned.

You cannot compare other countries to Africa.

And this is because Africa has been following the same pattern you see today for thousands and thousands of years and counting. Africa is different. They're doing everything they can to preserve their legacy of idolatry. The very thing keeping them in misery they're fighting to the death to preserve, as if it's a precious gem they can't let go of. Not all Africans are struggling to hold onto it, but still most.

No, Africa is not different. All nations, like Africa, had tribal leaders, had kings, had emperors, had dictators, had monarchs, had puppets, had prime ministers and had presidents.

All nations follow the same pattern. Africa is simply still in the grip of neo-colonialism, as are many non-African nations.

Recent report:

"Africa is losing $192 billion every year to the rest of the world through the likes of illicit financial flows, profits removed by multinational companies, debt payments, the 'brain drain' of skilled workers, illegal logging and fishing, and the costs incurred as a result of climate change, research has revealed.

The new research by 10 British and African non-governmental organisations has highlighted the huge disparity between aid and the resources leaving Africa. The organisations are calling on the UK government to reassess its focus on 'aid', which they say paints a misleading picture of Britain’s 'generosity' towards the continent. As things stand, £640 is lost for every £100 received in aid.

And they are also pressing for urgent government action to address the UK’s "responsibility" for African poverty, including the losses which occur through the network of tax havens under British jurisdiction.

According to the Overseas Development Institute, the $192bn Africa loses every year is "more than is needed annually" to eliminate hunger, provide universal primary and improved access to secondary education, affordable health coverage for a range of diseases, safe water and sanitation, and sustainable energy for everyone in the world - not just Africa.

The NGOs believe their research is the first attempt at a comprehensive comparison of the range of resource flows in and out of Africa.

Their research shows that Africa loses at least:

• $46.3bn in profits made by multinational companies.
• $21bn in debt payments, often following irresponsible loans.
• $35.3bn in illicit financial flows facilitated by the global network of tax havens.
• $23.4bn in foreign currency reserves given as loans to other governments.
• $17bn in illegal logging.
• $1.3bn in illegal fishing.
• $6bn as a result of the migration of skilled workers from Africa.


In addition to these resource flows, Africa is forced to pay a further:

• $10.6bn to adapt to the effects of climate change that it did not cause.
• $26bn to promote low carbon economic growth.


The research highlights the plight of Ghana, which had $7.4bn of debt cancelled in 2004 and 2005.

The cancellation saw the country's annual foreign debt payments fall from over 20% of government revenue to less than 5%.

It is estimated that 98% of children now complete primary school in Ghana, up from 70% in the early-2000s, before debt cancellation.

However, a boom in lending to the West African country means the government’s foreign debt repayments are predicted to reach 20% of government revenue once again in 10 years’ time.

This assumes that the economy grows by 6% a year, and that the amount collected in taxes increases even faster. If this does not happen, the debt payments will be even higher, the NGOs report claims.

Three-quarters of Ghana’s debt is owed to other governments and multilateral institutions, primarily the World Bank, African Development Bank and IMF.

Martin Drewry, director of Health Poverty Action, said: “These figures expose the gross misconceptions about aid and ‘charity'. Common understanding is the UK ‘helps’ Africa through aid, but in reality this serves as a smokescreen for the billions taken out.

"Let’s use more accurate language. It’s sustained looting – the opposite of generous giving – and we should recognise that the City of London is at the heart of the global financial system that facilitates this. As the general election approaches, all party leaders must step up and outline how they intend to take real responsibility, and stop this plundering of Africa.

"And NGOs need to change too. We need to move beyond our focus on aid levels and communicate the bigger truth – exposing the real relationship between rich and poor, and holding leaders to account.”

Sarah-Jayne Clifton, director of Jubilee Debt Campaign, said: “Tackling inequality between Africa and the rest of the world means tackling the root causes of its debt dependency, its loss of government revenue by tax dodging, and the other ways the continent is being plundered."

This is an unfair fight between Trinidady and Patty cake . Pattycake taking a knife to a gunfight . A primary school dropout against a university  graduate.
Trinidady  has comprehensively dissected and obliterated all her arguments and exposed her for the fool that she is . '
Patty cake do not ever engage with your intellectual superiors  and chalk this  up to lesson learned

No...

Africa is hung up on idolatry. More so than all other nations, and why Yakub came forward and ended it with lighter ethnic groups.

A good way to analyze what I'm saying is observing the behavior of Africans who come to visit. I discovered way back in the day that there's no love in the heart of Africans for trans-Atlantic blacks. They come over to the states with a royal get down on your knees and kiss my butt attitude. They expect us to treat them special because they're from Africa and no other reason. They look down on us and expect to be treated royal. They're f****** crazy Trini.

For instance,

I was introduced by my cousin at her birthday party to this African guy, and the guy was all over me, led me to a vacant apartment and expected me to lay on the floor and get laid. He was stupid to think that somebody he don't even know is that kind of person, point one, and point two, he did it with the attitude that he's a god and I'm supposed to demoralize myself and be honored to do so. I explained to him nicely that I'm not that kind of person and left and went back to the party.

Okay, and he was very articulate and intelligent so I let that go and didn't judge him or hold a grudge. But he didn't give up trying to downsize me as his willing slave, and resorted to playing the gentlemen who knows how to treat a lady act. Which I discovered was a trap that his father set for me. Now here's how the trap went... I invited him to come visit me and he refused. He didn't come right out and say no, but this how he did it. He said that he have to go and he'll get back to me, and then next thing I knew, my cousin called me and invited me to Atlantic City at his expense to get me to come running to him instead. And I fell for it because the father used my family to get to me, he offered to take all of us, and I didn't pick up on the sequence of events. I never seen a man willing to put out money for idolatry. But he was literally buying slaves.

So I traveled from NYC to Jersey to meet him, and found that he didn't show. The tickets were paid for in advance so my family went but without him. I saw his father standing outside the bus, and I asked my cousin where is the guy and why he's not here, and she said that she don't know. So after we got back from Atlantic City, I found out why when he called me shouting about not picking him up. Okay, the fact that I traveled from NY to Jersey meant nothing. I was supposed to show up at his doorstep too. He couldn't even see meeting me half way because it was all about idolatry and his ass being kissed. So he blessed me out about not giving him the idolatry he needed and paid money for. 

Then still, I overlooked that because I didn't even get it yet, and gave him another chance to become my friend. And I saw him on that same day when my cousin brought me over to his house. One word led to another, and he started talking about legal citizenship. Asking me if I will help him. And I said: "How?" And said you marry me. Will you marry me?

Okay, and that's when I finally got it! The whole s*** clicked in!

And I said to him: "Wow... It's like that? Do Africans understand anything besides using people?"

And he said: "I don't understand why you're attacking me."

And I said: "I'm not attacking you, I'm trying to understand you." "I'm trying to understand African customs." "I get that you look down on us, you see yourself as better than African Americans, you first lead me to a floor to lay on right after meeting me, then you invite me and my family to a retreat and stood us up because I didn't come to your doorstep and cussed me out about it, and now you want to marry somebody you don't even know for citizenship." Why use people like that? " " Do you have any idea how vile that is?" "I need to ask you something, was Atlantic City your father's idea?" "Did he tell you not to go?"

And he just stood there in silence with a grin on his face, so I figured that I hit the nails on the head and finally said: "Your father is teaching you tyranny?" "How to control people?" "No offense, but I can see now why Africa is in the shape it's in and why you want to come here."

And he said: "I have the right to be here! My forefathers built this country! And I have the right to be here!"

And I said: "Excuse me, but your forefathers didn't build anything. It was my forefathers who built this country and your forefathers who sold us out and why I'm here. When you sell a human life you can no longer claim it to be your forefather. When you sell a human life you're saying f*** you! You mean nothing. Which is what you're showing me right now. We meant nothing to Africans then and you're showing me that we mean nothing to you now. And you don't have any right to be here without legal citizenship."

And again, he just stood there in silence with a grin on his face because he knew I was right. What the f*** did he have to say after that? NOTHING.... Because he didn't know that any black in America had that much sense.

I was shocked by his arrogance, and saw a live demonstration of how the Atlantic Slave Trade began. What I realized for the first time is how African males are strung out on idolatry. Which is why other countries have to support them. They need slaves to treat them like gods, and somebody else has to supply them their living needs. I picked up on this same pattern reading Francis Bok's book Escape From Slavery. Over in Sudan, they pretend that they don't have slavery anymore because of sanctions placed on them for foreign aid, so they put up a front to collect the aid and carry on with it.

I'm sorry Trini...

I understand that you don't want to face the truth about blacks in Africa. But what is is what is. Idolatry and violence is what's keeping Africa down. And bad Africans are looking to bring more money into Africa, and by any means necessary, not to change their idolatrous traditions. And they're very good at fraud and funneling American money into Africa. I stay away from those people because they're on another planet. Back in the day, African men got next to American sisters coming down black men, about how no good and trifling they are, and some of us fell for that s***, but then discovered that African men are tenfold worse. American brothers may have their social problems, but I'll take them any day over an African brother. I'll stand up in any court and testify that African American men are better than African men. 

You believe a scientist called Yakub created white people?

That's a big generalization. Some Africans don't like African Americans, viewing them as being "impure", "inferior" or "descendents from slaves". Some African Americans, meanwhile, dislike Africans; they deem Africans to be "backwards". These prejudices will hopefully eventually fade.

Sounds like a sexist, misogynist and generally someone who holds women in low esteem.

But remember, the Third World is still strongly patriarchal. They've had no major women's rights, liberal or even civil rights movements yet. And when these movements do arise, we in the West crush them (like we've recently helped the theocratic regimes of Saudi Arabia to crush actual democratic movements). Places like India and Iran are only now witnessing strong waves of feminism. This has not happened in Africa yet.

But the West itself only started the process of admitting systemic racism and sexism roughly 40-60 years ago. Those movements for racial and gender equality were bitterly resisted by people in power at the time.

The point is, the kinds of problems you accuse Africa of having are the kinds of problems faced by all nations and all ethnic groups. As late as the early 20th century, places like America and the UK were still using child labour, had 20 hour work days, and still viewed lower class Irish, American, Chinese, black and Scottish workers as "animals", nevermind women. The poor and the marginalized were treated like animals and so behaved as they were treated. 

You cannot judge Africa, which is still undergoing neo-Colonialism, by the standards of contemporary First World nations. Those nations took centuries to make those developments, and they did so with access to slavery, colonialism and massive forms of exploitation. Africa is making these transitions in much shorter time, all the while whilst being plundered. Comparatively, it is advancing faster, not slower.

All cultures progress and develop. But development needs a reasonable amount of stability and autonomy. For us in the West, an Africa with worker rights, no control of its land, resources, governments or financial institutions, is in our best interest. And our interests have a knock on effect on their cultural development at the local, grass-roots level. You are right to condemn "sexism", "homophobia" and so forth in Africa, but you cannot condemn Africa with one hand without acknowleding that you are meddling in it with the other. That's counterproductive and condescending.

Look at Afghanistan in the early half of the century:

www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/10/10/afghani...hotos_n_4078132.html

She was a modern democracy with women's rights better than the US at the time (it even had more female politicians; America had none), and with an advanced, educated muslim and secular population. Today's its a barbaric, reactionary hellhole. Would it have been this way unless we armed and funded the equivalent of 17th century madmen to take over the country? No.

It's the same case with many countries in Africa.


I think a better word for this is "male chauvinism". He thinks he's better than you. He thinks you're inferior. This is horrible, not representative of all blacks, not limited to blacks and not "caused" by "being black", but by complex historical forces.

I think your experiences with him left you scarred and with strong feelings about certain types of men.

In otherwords, a bad African man treated you badly, and so you believe that all Africans abuse their power, have entitlement issues, and sit back and expect others to "give them things for free".


Translation: a black man shipped to America via the slave trade is better than a black African. Therefore the slave trade made Africans better. This kind of thinking reminds me of a joke CLR James made decades ago: give Africa 100 million foreign slaves for 200 years, and she will show you culture, civilization and peace.

pattacake is big on Yakub whom happens to be the name of my Halal butcher  ::LOL::

Yep. American brothers are better than African brothers. American brothers sill have idolatry problems and want black women to kiss their butt, but it's nowhere near as bad as with African brothers. Man... Those guys are gone. African Kings did us a favor to trade us to the white man.  ::LOL::


And it's not just bad African men Trini. It's really not, because through some research into African studies, I found that the sweetest of Africans are also strung out on idolatry. In the friendly parts of Africa, the males buy wives in exchange for a cow. And Francis Bok, after all he been through with slavery and is now a free man living in Connecticut, he still feels that African men need to preserve the custom of buying wives in exchange for cows. Why? Because that's idolatry. Rich or poor, the males need slaves in order to feel a sense of significance. Bok can't see that buying wives is the reason he was kidnapped into slavery as a small child and that life is always gonna continue for as long as they need idolatry. The women cannot be slaves to the men and all of them not be subject to slavery.


Patriarchy in Africa has to die, and it's only women who can destroy it. It's the only way idolatry and violence is gonna stop.

African cattle is over rated !  :-[