From: pmmst8+@pitt.edu (Paul M Mweene)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: Re: Article: 'Africa's dysfunctional politics'
Date: 12 Jan 93 04:11:13 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article (Bill Ross) writes:

Since you posted it, you are responsible for it. Clear the time and trouble
it too k you post show that you feel it was well worth it. Please I hope you
will take time to respond to what I have to say or better still, extend it
to Robert Kaplan..

>        Africa's dysfunctional politics

     mmh,.... politics or ecomics? 

>        Robert D. Kaplan , _New Republic_, Dec 28 1992

  Please desist from quoting this ill informed racist Jewish magazine here.
  We are well aware that Israel built the South African nuclear industry, and
  even more callously sold SA steel tipped whipped to corral demonstrators..

>Summarized/excerpted by Bill Ross

Obviously you bear responsibility for this since you posted what you considered
the relevant points...

>  [In 1915 U.S. marines occupied Haiti at a point of complete anarchy
>after 102 revolutions & coups in the previous 72 years. They left in
>1934 after the modernizing the infrastructure: roads, health, civil
>service, national guard & more.]

This is a self serving statement. We need to discuss this issue later on..

 "Within a few years the political
>situation had deteriorated again to the point where Haitian doctors
>sold off the drugs & supplies of the health service in one huge scam.
>By the 1950s Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier had begun his climb to
>power, and Haiti prepared for new levels of barbarism.

And who put and kept Duvalier in power?
>
>  " ... Somalia and Liberia are only the first of many African nations
>doomed to go over the edge into anarchy and destitution for the same
>reasons Haiti has ..."

And whats the hand of the USA in either country? It might be pointed that
the USA owned the firestone rubber company which forms the backbone of the
liberian economy. what is more the USA endorsed and maintanined Samuel Doe.
Similarly the USA had the Somali economy tethered to it hand outs. Siad Barre
was the American representative in Somalia.... And we know what happened when
when the USA  abruptly and capriciously discarded him?

>
>  [Political correctness keeps us from discussing how the African ethnic
>and national cultures contribute to the problems. In contrast,] "To say
>that there is something wrong with Bosnian Serb culture would elicit a
>yawn at this point."

No PC attempts to cover up the role of western imperialism in the malaise
and the bad fortune of Africa..

>  [North African Arab cultures are omitted from what follows for a variety
>of reasons; mainly, they are better organized.]

And they are also white(sh) and have some  oil...

>  "The rest of Africa is a pastiche of different cultures, values, and
>national styles.

unlike America which is made of one tribe and has exactly one culture, yes
go on.....

 Cultures like the Yoruba in Nigeria and the Amhara in
>Ethiopia have rich, written traditions going back to antiquity. But,
>as in any part of the world, generalities can be made [sic], and in
>Africa's case, they are not always pleasant."

No doubt the ancient history of the norwegians and the swedes is as grand
and glorious as that of the Romans and the ancient greeks. And anyway which
history is relevant to Africa. Also the spanish inquisition of course has
to be one of the most delightful periods of human history...

 [One must compare Africa
>with other regions if only to understand business investment decisions.
>In the world business perspective, in contrast to Africa,]

It is quite a jump form ancient history to mordern buisness. Surely Africans
did not disappear in the intervening period....

 "The Balkans,
>on the other hand, despite the fighting, figure prominently as lucrative
>market of the future. The Balkans, which have much higher rates of
>literacy and industrialization, can be discussed honestly by business
>and political types.

Market cars made of African minerals? who are you fooling?


 If the same honesty is applied to Africa, the
>charge is racism. So discussion is immobilized, [[sound familiar?]],
>people get fed up, and they apply their energies and investment skills
>elsewhere."

Aah, first disarm the defences then commit the crime....

>  [The more successful African countries depend on the former colonist
>nationalities and Asians; when they are driven out things go downhill.]

This is nonsense, the "succesful" nations in Africa are Botswana and Gabon
which depend on diamonds and oil respectively. It seems that the colonialists
and/or the Asians must have put these in minerals in the ground. Secondly,
in how many African countries have Asians been driven out? The statement in
parenththesis is your own and based on innuendo. Kenya depends on foreign
AID which underwrites one third of its bugdet...Africa is in trouble precisely
because of conniving foreigners, eg, mozambique, angola, zimbabwe etc...

>  [Next category: post-colonial rule by "Big Men:" violent (Amin, Obote,
>Mobutu, Doe, Barre, Mengistu)

And what is the connection of these to former colonial nationalities? Who has
twice saved mobutu?


 or economic crackpot (Nyere, Kuanda).]

These two helped liberate southern africa and paid for it.....period. Further
more no African country has any economy any one can exercise meaningful contr
ol on.


 ">All
>contributed to polities that have become barren ground for any democratic
>or even barely functioning political future."

what ribbish is this?
>  "These iniquities are themselves being overshadowed by the rapid
>advance of AIDS, which is undeniably reflective of a deeper societal
>chaos:

This is the most ridiculous of the things you have said. Excerpt in Uganda be
cause of the war, the AIDS myth has been exploded. AIDS is far less serious
than all these people hope. The unreliablity of the elizer test which indicates
an immunosuppressed condition as an hiv case led to ridiculous highs. Eg in 1986according to these tests (which were mostly not performed), 96% of the Zambia
army was hiv+! If these statistics were to be believed, all central Africans would be dead.


 specifically a family structure under attack by the rush of
>African men to the cities in search of work.

This is waffling. The family is the most intact aspect of African family life.
The only place where it is in trouble is in the USA where two homosexuals or
lesbians can adopt children and have a family. Little wonder "family values"
was a main issue in the US election.


 The tradition of polygamy,
>coupled with the long periods of tim,e men stay away from their villages,
>helps create a situation whereby it is common for men to have multiple
>female partners. Then, of course, there is tribalism, or ethnic conflict,
>which is the real cause of famines. ...

Polygamy has saved many men and staves off the large promiscuity that leads 
American men to indulge in such unnatural acts as sodomy. It recognises the
natural truth that males (at leat virile men like African are) are naturally
poilygamous. Consequently, prostitution is less of a problem than in the USA.
Secondly, you should stop relying on disgruntled former colonialists for your
information. The colonial laws which forced Africans to leave their wives in
the village have been repealed and men travel freely with their families.
How ethnicism bring about famines? Somalia is homogenous, Ethiopian and
mozamibican ethnic groups do not control the rain.


> >  "My fear is that what lies beyond the stabilizing presence of the last
>Big Men is nothing, simply nothing, and that Somalia and Liberia are
>merely the first to fall. ..."

A wish rather than a fact. Africa is unstable because it is poor. Africa is
poor because it does not set the prices of the goods it sells. Also, Africa
is divided along illogical political boundaries...

>
i> african culture is disfunctioanl;

>
what do you propose? that we also legalise sodomy?


You have written a long and irrelevant treatise. Tell  me where do the words
Colonialisn, neo-colonialism and slave trade fit in?


makala