I blogged about the original article back in 2006, and Binyavanga Wanaina has done a "quick response" that's a 25 minute lecture.
It's long, but it's worth listening to. Be prepared to have your preconceptions about Africa turned on their head. We get trapped into a certain method of thinking about what to do about the problems that occur in other countries, and we never really get to question our thinking, because of the mediated images we see.
On the news we see unrest, violence, and starvation, and god help you if you watch daytime TV, and those atrocious ads for self-serving Christian Organizations like "Save the Children". All we seem to think is "how can I help? What can I do?" Maybe, just maybe, we should think "How did this happen? What needs to happen to stop atrocities like this in the first place?"
An entire infrastructure of NGOs has arisen to answer the first questions. You give them money, they go there and help people. This has been the answer to the first question for fifty years, and people are slowly coming to the realization that it doesn't work.
Jeffrey Sachs, and Bono, and other Celebs have come to the conclusion that it's not working because we haven't given enough. Their conclusion is that Africa's governance is poor, because Africans are poor. He wants to throw enough money at Africa so that everyone gets a dollar a day. This is throwing money at a problem until it goes away.
This might work, but if you actually listen to africans, this is not what they're asking for. It's much more likely that it's not working because it's the wrong approach. It's not working because it's answering the wrong questions. It's answering the easy questions, and the real answers are hard.
I don't know what the right approach is, but we can only come to the right questions by listening to Africans, not by coming at it with our own ill-conceived notions and prejudices, and applying the same solutions that haven't worked for the past 50 years, except more
I tagged along on $1500 artist dinners paid for by the labels. Massive bar tabs were regularly signed away by record label employees with company cards. You got used to people billing as many expenses back to the record company as they could. I met the type of jive, middle-aged, blazer-wearing, coke-snorting, cartoon character label bigwigs who you'd think were too cliche to exist outside the confines of Spinal Tap. It was all strange and exciting, but one thing that always resonated with me was the sheer volume of money that seemed to be spent without any great deal of concern. Whether it was excessive production budgets or "business lunches" that had nothing to do with business, one of my first reactions to it all was, "so this is why CDs cost $18..." An industry of excess. But that's kind of what you expected from the music business, right? It's where rock stars are made. It's where you get stretch limos with hot tubs in the back, where you get private jets and cocaine parties. Growing up in the '80's, with pop royalty and hair metal bands, you were kind of led to think, of course record labels blow money left and right - there's just so much of it to go around! Well, you know what they say: The bigger they are...
Bradburn and I have been dominating the conversation in the africa topics on the well these days, as his parents live in Kenya, and my parents lived in kenya, and are hoping to move back soon. Naturally, we've been feeding each other stuff, and he just posted this, which is from a blog comment thread. It's amazing.
Anonymous said...
My fellow Kenyans,
I am a kenyan, one who has had the privilege of living with the
Luo, the Kalenjin, the Kisii, and others. I am Kikuyu. I have read all
the above dialogue with much sadness. It is clear from it what is
eating our nation: Ignorance. As a Kikuyu, I know, as any half brained
Kenyan does, that the election had some serious problems. But really,
Odinga or Kibaki, the end result would have been the same: The pooir
people of Kenya would have remained what they have always been: Hard
working, honest, hopeful, suffering, and poor. On that note, we all
need to wake up and realize one thing. In Kenya there are ACTUALLY ONLY
TWO TRIBES: The politicians, and the rest of us. ON that note, Kibaki,
Raila, Ruto, and the other parliamentarians are one tribe. Real
brothers. They live in palatial homes, with guards at the gate. They go
to Europe for medical treatment, and they would not even take their
cow to Kenyatta hospital, Kisumu Provincial, or any hospital in Kenya.
They travel in government maintained cars, and they enjoy fat salaries.
ALL OF THEM. Presently, the population in KIbera has destroyed two kms
of railway line. I have travelled that line to the rift valley, and I
have been out all the way to Kitale, Kisumu, etc. It is an important
line for the common KEnyan (the second tribe, the rest of us). Now that
it is destroyed, the poor Luo who was hoping for pricews to stay down
and the price of malariaquin to stabilize will suffer this coming rainy
season. So will the Kikuyu who lives in Kisumu, and the Luhya who
lives in BUtere. But Kibaki, Ruto and Raila will never mourn the
railway line. They never use it. Raila flies to Kisumu. Kibaki has a
government jet. Ruto can fly to Eldoret.
When I lived IN kericho, I (kikuyu) visited many Kalenjin homes. I
am of the opinion that the most generous, givng people in Kenya are
Kalenjins and Muslims. When I went to High school, I shared cofee and
toothpaste with some Luos. We drank tea from the same cups, and we
huddled togetherer for the same cup of coffee which we passed on from
person to person. We had little, very little. As far as life in Kenya
goes, these luos, Kalenjins and some Luhyas we shared the dormitory
with were my brothers.
The problem now is that Ruto and Kibaki and Moi and Odinga would
have us believe if one of them is in power, that tribe eats. I can go
to a court of law to defend many kikuyus because when Kenyatta was
president, many of us did not eat. The eaters were Kenyatta, Moi,
Odinga Snr (I personally have a lot of respect for Jaramogi Oginga
Odinga, and I believe he should be more prominet in Kenya's history
books than he is now), Kibaki, etc. But all ppoliticians who were anti
Kenyatta told their tribes the Kikuyu were eating. All I remember
during KEnyatta's time were the many days I was home without school
fees. During MOi's reign, I lived in Kericho. Although I live out of
the country now, I still visit Kericho when I go home. It is my second
home in Kenya, although I have no land there. I love the town, and the
community around it. Anyone who thinks the Kalenjins were eating during
Moi's time should go see how hard working the Kalenjin community is,
and how many of them I saw could not buy sugar. I met many a Kalenjin
during the Moi era who were without. I saw many die at the little
equipped Kericho hospital, which Moi never visited (or any other
politician except maybe the local politicians). But when Moi and
Kibakin travelled in the Kericho and Nyanza area, they stayed at the
Highland hotel. You have to be one of this tribe to afford it.
The Luos and the Kikuyus now living and dying in Kibera are
rothers. and their relatives are in Mathari. Here, they live on 100
shillings a day--when they get it. When Omolo's son gets sick, they ask
Kamau's wife to lend them 50 shillings. KIbaki and Odinga are usually
at the Intercontinental, paying sh300 for a soda. Now that tribe wants
Kenyans to get up and fight, and on this blog, that is what you are
doing, my brothers. If you are LUo, you are as much my brother as the
Kalenjin or Nandi in the Rift valley. If you don't believe it, go to
Kenyatta hospital. Your mother and my mother will be lying in
neighboring beds, dying without medicine. You and I will have left our
children at home, to come to the hospital to care for our parents. ON
the bed across the isle will be Mama Choge, dying also, without
medicine. the pain, frustration, fear, hand hopelessness on thier faces
will know no tribe. It will be our mothers, one dying as surely as if
she was the other, dying under the same system of operation. If you get
to the hospital before I do, please prop our mothers up for comfort. I
will do the same when I get there. Kibaki, Odinga, and Ruto will not
be there. Their tribe will be in another hospital, or at the
intercontinental, waiting for us to get home and fight to secure their
comfort. So, what tribe are you now?
January 27, 2008 2:25 AM
I was up late (or early, actually I had slept earlier that night) at Burning Man, guarding the temple of Hope and Fear. The guys from Disorient had brought out their bus with the Massive PA system, and there was a rave going on all night behind us. In the middle of it, I heard this tune, which was remixed from this poem.
Jane Sibbery is one of the nicest musicians I've ever had the privilege to meet. She asked me to be her roadie at one point. In 1996, she'd decided to get the rights back to all the songs that she could, and release them on her own record label. Just recently, she decided to change her pricing policy on her online record store. She calls it "self-determined pricing"
Roian Atwood from American Apparel had a lot to say about the garment industry and their successful bucking of the trends. America's textile industry is dead--98% of clothes sold in America are foreign-made, and of course tales of sweatshops are infamous. But American Apparel makes all of their clothes in the US, from materials almost entirely grown/made in the US, and pays their factory workers $13 - $20 an hour plus benefits. Far from struggling along for the sake of a mission, they're growing wildly. They're a vertically integrated company, from farm to store, and at present their main obstacle to offering more organics is the lack of spinning mills left in the country, which makes it difficult to specialize. And for those that haven't already heard, they don't use models for their ads--they're workers from the company or anyone off the street, with no airbrushing and minimal makeup. Their much-lauded practice of having no logos on anything was actually an outgrowth of the fact that they started as wholesale suppliers of "blanks" which brand-name companies printed their logos on--when American Apparel started retailing for themselves, they didn't want to compete with their existing customers.
It doesn't make sense, but it does. If you want to stop DMCA style legislation in Canada, go sign the online petition at Online Rights Canada. A joint venture by the EFF and CIPPIC.
This is the email they wanted me to send out to up to 5 friends, but instead of spamming you, I'll just put it here
.
Check out Online Rights Canada's petition asking politicians to swear off money from big copyright holders:http://www.OnlineRights.ca/getactive/copyrightpledge_petition/email.php
They have 103 signatures, and they're trying to get as many as possible before the election.
I've mentioned Jon Carroll, from the SF Chron numerous times before, and I've also mentioned Fafblog numerous times. In this column, JRC imitates Fafblog.
I bring you greetings from the hundreds of thousands of Open Source Software developers around the world. We embody many of the goals of the United Nations: we are a community without borders, a global network that shares knowledge, a social movement that produces real products available equally to the rich or poor, an economic reality that has engaged the world's largest companies and talented individuals in a collaboration of equals. Our work facilitates global e-inclusion and a sustainable infrastructure for technology and innovation in developing nations. Millions of people use our software to create global markets for local business through the Internet.
We create wealth for all. Our work, by metrics for conventional software creation, is valued in the billions of dollars. For our reward we ask only that you use our software. If you find it effective, perhaps you will join us in augmenting it.
Others offer developing nations charity and a relationship as vassals, captive markets and providers of labor at a salary the developed world would not accept. Open Source offers developing nations technological empowerment, control of their own infrastructure, and an equal technological partnership with developed nations.
This brings up the question: Why the hell aren't more people talking about this? All the pieces are in place, and have been for some time now. Extremely low cost computers are there. Open Source IS easy to use, if you're not used to windows. This is not only a great opportunity for Africa and the rest of the Developing world to get into ICT on a level playing field with the Developed world, but it is also a HUGE opportunity for Linux and other Open Source projects to gain true "World Domination," not just the domination of the small percentage of the world's population that already uses computers
