========= Let your voice be heard! =========
Don't blame it all on the West
By W F Deedes
(Filed: 01/06/2005)
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As Bob Geldof and his supporters seek to raise our
feelings for Africa with a march on the G8 summit and a second Live Aid concert, it is relevant to recall how he sprang to fame.
He inspired the first concert 20 years ago on behalf of Ethiopians starving to death under the rule of a tyrant. Ethiopia was an independent state, never a colony, which had been governed in feudal style by Emperor Haile Selassie. It was plundered by Mussolini in 1935-36 and recovered by British and Commonwealth forces early in the Second World War and restored to the emperor. He was deposed and murdered by a Marxist revolutionary, Col Haile Mengistu, under whose harsh rule the people starved.
Why is all this worth recording? Because it is a reminder that not all African woes can be attributed to neglect by the West. That claim raises the temperature, sets people marching to attack greedy nations that misruled Africans in the past and now turn a cold shoulder to their needs. It also falsifies history. I have always conceded that we granted independence to Africa on the tail of Harold Macmillan's "wind of change" too precipitately. No administrative framework was in place. The countries hastily granted independence were up for grabs.
By contrast, Southern Rhodesia was put on the road to freedom by Margaret Thatcher and with an orderly election. And who won? Mugabe, of whose misrule we still read most days of the week. There is no sensible way forward for Africa until we recognise the extent to which African rulers rather than the West are so heavily responsible for its plight.
Have Geldof and his friends any idea how much African nations spend on armies and arms? The total in any one year, if we ever knew it, would astound the world. Guilty men such as Mugabe and those who hold sway over Sudan from Khartoum spend a lot of money defending their backs, against enemies real and imaginary.
Is it any wonder that budgets for health and education suffer? What always distresses me most is that in countries such as Sudan, the Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Liberia, all of them laid low by internal conflict, restoration will be in the hands of Africans who have been denied education.
Then look towards Kenya, a potentially prosperous country so racked by corruption that it yields a fraction of its potential.
I once asked a leading African why so many of his continent's rulers felt the need to acquire colossal wealth, spend much of it extravagantly and place the remainder in Swiss banks.
"In Africa," he replied, "great wealth is the measurement of a top man. And when he acquires power he is surprised by the number of relatives who expect to share the spoils. Then when he falls to a coup, it is expensive to go into exile with an entourage and guard."
I am as sympathetic as Geldof to the long-suffering African people who endure so much, expect so little and I accept that the West could give a helping hand over trade and debt.
But I also have a clear impression of our limitations and, when I hear President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa defending Mugabe and ticking us off for failing to understand him, I recognise what those limitations are.
It is my conviction that little will change in Africa until its women have a bigger say in running their own lives and Africa's affairs. The dominant male has much to answer for: the proneness to fight, the promiscuity that speeds Aids, the enslavement of so many women.
So have a good concert, Bob, but change that great lyric about Christmas: "Don't they know how much more they must do for themselves?"
Hopes for a continent
From a post on the Elton John newsgroup:
Re: "If there's a God in Heaven, what He waiting for"?
Someone was shocked that a person wrote to Elton John privately, for financial help.
I replied:
** Why not? Everyone else does! I'm sure that just about every charity in the world asks Elton for help. If not financially, then by playing for free at some concert. Well, it's not just huge charities worldwide who need help, but individuals and I would think it would take a lot of desperation (or stupid immaturity) to have to resort to asking a famous person for help.
I'm sure Elton doesn't just assist large charities, or other famous people, in his life, but also some private individuals who he thinks might benefit from his help. (but it may be that he gets thousands of individual requests each day!:( ~ can't help the entire world!!!
What Elton could do though,is to have a word with someone in power, who could help. If, say, a lady in Brazil writes to Elton to say how poverty is causing her two virgin daughters to become prostitutes, in order to feed the family, then Elton could have a word with the Ambassador to Brazil and perhaps push it out there, in the public eye. There's so many needs in the world, that I would imagine Elton would feel "the weight of the world" on his back. Too much for any one individual to deal with, on his own.
Yes, Elton wastes a lot of money, and overspends, (we all have our needs and his are on a grand scale;-) but he does as much as he can for millions in the world, and can't deal with the thousands who beg him for help each day.
Which reminds me ~ I did a website about charity and Elton some time ago, with a great newspaper photo of Elton giving some money to a homeless person in London. I'll see if I can dig it up. Everywhere Elton goes people are asking something of him.
(I recall being at his rehearsals, in 1975,and sitting outside in the sun, during a break, talking to a roadie, when a guy walked up to him and asked him about Elton employing his artistic talent for some of his album covers, or advertisements, (He had a studio on the set, I think ~ an out of work TV production artist?) but the roadie said he should talk to Elton's management staff, and made a point of saying he should NOT approach Elton about it, at these rehearsals. (which I presume meant, even if they bump into each other on the lot) (That's what put me right off from simply chatting to Elton as an ordinary Englishman, of the same age and background. He was made to seem like he was too high up to approach.:(
This also reminds me of that sketch from the comedy show Little Britain, where a couple write to a famous celebrity about their sick child in hospital, and how a visit from them could well help their condition, but when the star arrives, he finds they are just fans who wanted to get to meet him personally, and are not even concerned about their dying child! ~ especially when another star arrives at the same time, after his appealing letter for help. Both were being used for private gratification, and not for the reason they were told. (there's a lot of phonies out there:(
"if someone else is suffering enough to write it down...."
how can you ignore them? ~ Just give all such charity appeals to the *office* staff to deal with? Don't get involved?
I would also like to point out ~ and perhaps this person who begged Elton for help should know, that Elton's own half-brother was living in a garden shed, once, while his half sibling had three mansions!! (don't know the whole story, butit was on TV, and didn't make Elton look good:(
Perhaps Elton just doesn't know what it's like f or some people. ~ but he now sure knows how they live in Africa ~ having been to their tin huts in blaizing heat!:(
Poverty and suffering is everywhere ~ and Elton just can't deal with all of it. Who knows how much influence he has on those who do, but it seems Geldoff is a prime mover in the most recent charity appeal. Only hope it helps. Money and medicines is not the answer, but how to be in tune with the Spirit of God, so we know where to go to get it! Nature provides a lot of natural medicines, but man is destroying some of the natural things which used to grow in abundance. Lands used to be fertile and rich in providing for people, but global warming is destroying the natural weather patterns.
All sorts of things need to be looked at! Ideologies, beliefs, customs, traditions, ignorance, etc.etc.
These are ways people can help, besides just handing over money to them.
Help them help themselves.
In Love,
Brenda
https://www.angelfire.com/in2/Elton/Live8.html
Links (more to add)
AIDS, poverty and ignorance
Poverty on our doorsteps
Changing faces of Elton John
AIDS IN AFRICA
Witchcraft in Africa
