posted
Kay folks, put yer thinking/feeling caps on. I'd like some feedback on this.
The Canadian media has be literally bursting with stories about the recent tsunami disaster in south Asia. Stories about the huge donations, orphans, Tamil Tigers, US aid in Muslim-heavy Indonesia, etc. It's hard to take in ANY form of media here (paper, radio, tv, news and net) without current death tolls and ads begging me to give to help relief efforts in southern Asian countries affected by the disaster.
This Christmas also marked the 11 year anniversary of events leading up to the 100 day Rwandan genocide that saw 800,000 Rwandans killed. (The Genocide itself started in April of 1994). That's 5 times the current death estimate for south Asia. And that's only the begining. For years afterwards, destabilization in the Congo region of Africa, fed by rage and atrocities in Rwanda, lead to death, violence and famine on a scale not seen since WWII Europe. We saw snippits on the news, radio programs would mention it a few times a week, a few netizens were outraged. But NOTHING happened. The UN couldn't even get member nations to back up thier troop commitments to UNAMIR (The UN mission to Rwanda). NO ONE threw money at it. NO ONE pumped it down our throats 24/7 in the media, NO ONE seemed to care.
Why am I so upset about this? Obviously the international community has learned its lesson, they get the picture now, and they're banding together to help our south Asia, right?
How many times has Somalia been listed as a country in need of tsunami aid? How many Western journalists are in Somalia showing us the damage to families and the economy and asking for our help? How many 1st world leaders are touring the washed out villages of costal Africa?
*sigh*
Okay, I'm done ranting. But I've been thinking about this ever since the media started bragging about the enormous amounts of money and aid being sent to south Asia. I honestly wonder - what does south Asia have that Africa doesn't? Why is the world so eager to help there?
Woof.
(Oh, and I apologize in advance for bad spelling/grammar. It's late, and I'm web developing, looking for a break.)
posted
No offense to Somalia, but something around 3 people dead, and a destroyed fishing fleet doesn't really compare to the hundred thousand dead and devastation that Indonesia is in the middle of. Or the damage that happened in Thailand (especially Phuket) or in Sri Lanka, or in India. I feel for them, and they will get aid, but the aid need of others is far far greater if they don't want a tragedy to turn into an epidemic.
As for the general lack of help to Africa. I don't know, but I am just as frustrated. A better example for you to use is Darfur. They are in the middle of a huge crisis, one that has been going on for sometime now, but other than empty threats and toothless demands, the world community has done nothing. The AU is FINALLY stepping in and doing something, but they don't really have the money or the man power to send in a peacekeeping mission when so many of the members of that body have trouble keeping the peace in their own borders.
I don't know what it will take to get the world community involved with peacekeeping and aid in Africa. The big problem is simply no one cares. We don't really have any vested interest in the continent, so we don't feel like sending too much aid there when we won't get anything out of it. I disagree with this principle, but that's the way America tends to look at things. I'm glad we send so much AIDS relief there, but even that is tied up in Bush's abstinance plans and what not. Beides, most AIDS drugs won't even work on Africans because the majority of them aren't educated enough.
Trying to fix Africa in tiny pieces is a lot like trying to win World War Two by sending soldiers in one at a time. Sure that one soldier will do some damage, but he gets picked off so fast he can't do enough. Until you send in an army, no big strides will ever be made.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
You have a point about Somalia - the death/destruction reported there is not on the same scale as what's happend to Indonesia, India, Thialand, etc...
I guess one of the underlying feelings I have is confusion over the turmoiled hell that is Africa. I know this is childish, but it bugs me all the more because most of the Africans I've met (Ghanan's, Afrikaners, etc.) are incredibly awesome people. I imagine things that have happened in Africa happening here and I want to cry and scream in rage at the same time. Heck, the more I learn about recent African history, the more I want to cry and scream.
I didn't use Darfur as an example because I don't know many of the details... care to fill me in?
I can see why nations would give preferential treatment to areas they have vested interest in... but what exactly is the international community's vested interest in south Asia? Besides tourism... why does the 1st world care so much?
I agree that African problems have no borders - can't be fixed in pieces. But you have some great pro-African individuals in the UN, a struggling-but-hopeful AU, and European powers with heavy influence in areas - and it seems that for every step forward, there are 3 body-bags back. Do you think Africa could be intentionally being abused/kept down by Western powers? Or is it just a pathetic lack of caring?
Posts: 353 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Here's a little overview on African issues in general: African Union Summit
quote: The 53-member AU is striving to show that it is serious about putting the continent firmly on a peace and development path and is not the talking shop its predecessor -- the Organization of African Unity -- was often accused of being.
But an AU spokesman said the organization, which has sent some 1,200 soldiers to Darfur in its most prominent deployment to date, needed more international support.
"We are mindful of our incapacity to sustain troops in any country for too long. The AU can never be a replacement for the U.N. but rather a complementary partner," said Desmond Orjiako.
The AU complains it lacks the funding, logistics and personnel for complex and extended peacekeeping missions.
I don't think nations are trying on purpose to keep Africa down. On the contrary, if we could raise Africa up, they could be willing consumers for all the crap we make. It's a continent full of people who would love to buy American cars and eat American Big Macs, so on and so forth. There's just too much apathy.
As far as Darfur more specifically:
quote: Fighting there has uprooted more than 1.6 million people and an estimated 70,000 have died mainly of hunger and disease. Cease-fire accords have been signed only to be broken, and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday the kind of violence that Washington last year called genocide continues.
It's on the scale of the Tsunami disaster, and it doesn't have an end in sight, even after the Sudanese government and the rebels signed the peace agreement (which we'll have to wait and see to know if it actually holds). We have a lot of money tied up in Southeast Asia, a lot. But not really all that much in Africa. Europe is more guilty than America in this, their colonization efforts there have created half the problems we see there today, but they have gotten really good at blaming the United States for not fixing those problems. They'd probably get more help if they owned up to their mistakes.
I don't know how to fix the problem as a whole. If the media would cover Africa like it covers the tsunami, then yes, I think the public would care more. But until the people care, the governments that run those peoples will do nothing.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
We actually already had a thread very recently that touches on some of this. Unfortunately, I can't find it. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
There's a few Darfur threads from a couple months ago that came up when I searched Darfur. I didn't see any on Western aid to Africa in general, though I DO remember talking about it on the Tsunami thread.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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But it was never really the center of the conversation. This is the first thread I remember (in my glorious week and a half or so here) that deals specifically with African aid and crisis.
Edit: Fixed the link, sorry bout that. Second Edit: I just looked through the thread and couldn't find anything on Africa. But I swear it was on one of those Tsunami threads.
posted
Lyrhawn, your linky has a double http:// and is sending me to Micro$lop's home page. Correct for sanity reasons, please.
And I'll check out that thread. It's the only one I didn't look in. I didn't think it belonged there, so I didn't bother. My own sanity is in question. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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