On pessimists vs. apologists
Westerners' perception of Africa
By Brian Farenell
(c) 1998
Many people ask me what Africa is like. Although I only spent two years in Africa and set foot in but two countries, I guess I am considered an expert on the entire continent. Alas, I am little more knowledgable of the domestic squabbles of Swaziland or the Comoros than I am of Uruguay or Laos. I might be able to name the head of state and a few things about the country, but that's pretty much it. In any case, I am frequently asked to comment on this or that piece of news emminating from the continent. And as you know, most news coming out of the continent is bad.
The fact that nearly all the news coming out of the continent is bad (at least as reported by the North American media) should never cause you to infer that nearly everything that occurs on the continent is bad. The North American media reports mostly bad news, whether it's about Burundi, Indonesia or Jonesboro, Arkansas. That's the unfortunate reality. But because we live in America, we know that not everything that happens in America is bad, not everything is like what is presented in the television news (yes, that phrase might seem like an oxymoron). By merely living here, we also witness the good things. The friends helping friends. The entrepreneurship. The vaunted American spirit. We don't deny that parts of America are torn by violence, drugs, gangs and guns, but our own experiences tell us that this is only a small part of the story.
We don't have the benefit of that experience when forming our opinions ofAfrica. We see pictures of starving children in Sudan and Somalia or mutiliated bodies in Liberia and Rwanda; these pictures alone shape our impression of Africa and Africans. We don't see picture of villagers welcoming complete strangers like a brother. We don't see villagers doing all they can to make sure that as long as there is enough food, no one starves, family member or not. We don't see the absolute top priority that most African cultures place on the family; that in non-war devasted societies, the western concept of orphanhood doesn't really exist, because "orphans" are simply absorbed into the larger family structure. All those things are realities, but they are not realities presented to us on tv nor or they part of most of our experiences.
As I said, I am often asked what I think of this or that piece of news. Usually the person asking has his or her own pre-conceived opinion which they'd like me to confirm. There tend to be two camps: the pessimists and the apologists.
The pessimists are those who think Africa is beyond hope. According to them, it is infested by corrupt, despotic dictators running regimes where nepotism and theft are the only values. In some countries, different ethnic groups have been at each others' throats "since time immemorial." Every Rwanda and Liberia merely confirms their biases, while not bothering to consider (or choosing to ignore) the Botswanas and Namibias. Those are the Afro-pessimists.
The apologists, on the other hand, blame the west for everything from poverty to bad weather.
If it's bad and it occured in Africa now or at some point in history, it was caused by European and American influence. There was no crime in Africa before the colonial period, no repression, no slavery, no exploitation, no wars. Everything was pure and fine and perfectly peaceful before the white man arrived. All the terrible inhumanities commited against Africans date from Henry Stanley's explorations. According to the apologists, Africa was a paradise, a veritable Garden of Eden, before western contamination.
One can not deny that colonialism brought repression to a much higher level (due to the mere fact of the gun), nor can one allege that the white man killed 800,000 Rwandans in 100 days in 1994. But both the apologists and the pessimists make one fatal error: the assumption of Africa as a monolithic entity. It's a simple assumption, but one that requires little effort nor does it demostrate a true desire to understand the situation.
The continent is approximately three times larger than the continental United States. The mainland stretches across roughly 70 degrees of latitude and 70 degrees of longitude. Morocco is far closer to New York city that to South Africa. Africa is the second largest continent in the world. Thousands of different ethnic groups speaking thousands of different languages live there, mostly in peace. How anyone can make such broad and sweeping generalizations about something so massive and still pretend to be accurate is completely beyond me.
North Africa is as different from central Africa as the Yukon Territory is from the Brazilian rainforest; no one would lump together the latter two just because they are both parg of the Americas.
There are many problems in Africa caused by domestic mismanagement, corruption and repression. There are also other problems caused by western and international interference, sometimes well-intentioned, often not. There is also the reality that much of Africa is covered by harsh climates and unpleasant terrains, not always the best for farming or even for mass human habitation. These are all factors (although certainly not an exhaustive list) that contribute to the African conditions. Anybody wanting to make a FAIR assessment of the various situations on the continent should take all of these into account. It's a diverse continent which has complex realities. While it's very easy to be a pessimist or an apologist, that would be a cop-out; fair analysis does not make use of trite explanations.
As for the Rwandas and Algerias, 99% of Africans are just as horrified by the bloodshed as westerners and are just as incapable of comprehending WHY. I spent two years in a village in the west African country of Guinea, where there is no war, no famine, no holocaust, no drought; and also where the more than half-dozen ethnic groups live side-by-side in peace, as they have for generations. That's the part of Africa we don't hear much about... but should.
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Page last updated: 29 November '98, 2310 EST
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