Saturday, May 07, 2005

Disaster Africa

Africa...

The continent haunted by famine, corruption, disease, dictatorship, failed economies, wars and genocide. It seems that there is no hope for this continent and its inhabitants. Very often, this misery is blamed on the west, the "white settlers" and "colonialists" that inhabit some of these African countries. However, this can not be true, for one simple reason... these problems existed, were just as bad (if not worse), before Europeans set foot on this continent.

Racism and the term "racism" itself has been used, and are still being used, for the political gain of not only politicians outside of the U.S. but also by African politicians ("African", not meaning black but rather "from Africa"). What is especially alarming is the extent of control that some political organisations have over not ony information entering Africa, but also information exiting Africa, thus creating a "information void" between Africa and the rest of the world. A clear example of this would be Robert Mugabe, who shut down several news-institutes in Zimbabwe and banned reporters from outside the country.

It seems that in order to form more informed opinions of Africa, the "Information void" between Africa and the rest of the world needs to be filled. Thus was born: "Disaster Africa".