Africa say no to Aid from G8

[bigmouth]

Some group of Africans do not support the call for aid or debt cancellation for the poor continent. They need something different. http://www.cagintua.de

Are they sane?

[SirSpanky]

I am suspect of anything that promises as much as this does, with so very little substance and / or methods of achieving said promises.

Granted the site is relatively new. I'll stop by it once in awhile to see whats going on.

[Melanie_]

I'm also not convinced there is much of substance here, other than the call for a return to dependance on Europe (because it worked so well the first time ). I'm curious about who is behind this site, and where it is originating from. I have family in Nairobi, so I am forwarding this to them to see what they think.

[Toro]

Some group of Africans do not support the call for aid or debt cancellation for the poor continent. They need something different. http://www.cagintua.de

Are they sane?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know but their grammar and spelling is terrible.

[PocketRocket]

I don't know but their grammar and spelling is terrible.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was just about to make the same observation.

When I see "writing" of this caliber, it makes me take everything the writer is saying with a really REALLY big grain of salt.

[kimmy]

I share the misgivings about the lack of any specifics, and the poor quality of the writing on the website. Leaving that aside, though, is the overall concept *really* so bad? If not with outside assistance, then how is change to occur? All of the levers of power are in the hands of self-interested elites who would do anything to resist change to the status quo. (some would argue that the same can be said of western democracies too, but you'll concede that Joe Average in our western democracies is in a far better situation in every respect than his counterpart in most African countries.)

If not with outside assistance, what's the remedy?

Imagine, for a moment, that against all odds this "Cagintua" movement becomes wildly popular in some African nation. Imagine, for a moment, that the ruling strongman and his generals recognize that if they don't take action there is going to be massive bloodshed, and that rather than resort to senseless butchery they decide to appease this huge Cagintua movement by appealing to Europe for help in establishing a new and modern democratic government.

"You know that whole thing the US is doing in Iraq, with elections and a new government? We would like to try that in our republic too, but without the insurgents. Please come help. You won't even have to invade us. We want to do this."

And suppose the west responds by sending a contingent of experts to help create a new constitution, with that country's own representatives involved to assure the people that their interests are being represented. Laws and rules put in place to make sure that the country actually benefits from its natural resources; social programs could be put in place; money could be provided by the west to modernize infrastructure with confidence that it wouldn't be used to buy weapons or line the pockets of a dictator. International representatives would be sent to monitor elections, like in the Ukraine last winter. And western help could be provided as long as was needed to ensure things got going smoothly.

Consider that even in Iraq, despite the bloody insurgency and the ongoing sabotage of every effort to establish the new government, the majority of voters still participated in the elections. Imagine the same experiment being applied in a country that actually wanted to change, without all the geopolitical factors that are at play in Iraq. Doesn't it seem like such a movement could be success? Doesn't it at least seem better than the status quo for many African nations? Doesn't it seem like something that really could be a "beacon of hope" for neighboring countries?

Sure, the chances of something like this getting off the ground are miniscule. But is the underlying idea really so bad?

-k

[Mad_Michael]

Some group of Africans do not support the call for aid or debt cancellation for the poor continent. They need something different. http://www.cagintua.de

Are they sane?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is it possible that there may be hope for Africa?

Our "aid" is designed to keep Africa dependent. A dependent Africa is very profitable for Western and African elites.