Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Perhaps my thoughts are colored by the events following September 11, or perhaps just by gaining distance as we travel.

For decades, people from Africa looked with admiration at the USA. But Africa is certainly no longer a fan of the USA. Deep feelings of sympathy on 9/11 have evaporated and anti-America sentiment has reached the deepest levels since Vietnam.

Bear with me as I explain, at least a little bit. It might not be fun to listen to criticism of the USA, but it is important. It has been quite an eye opener for us.

The USA is the undisputed leader of the world. Yet, the total absence of leadership by the USA in Africa is startling. The USA ignores brutal dictatorships (such as Idi Amin), regional conflict (such as Uganda/Rwanda), or economic development planning (such as the World Summit in Johannesburg last month). The focus of US attention is supporting despised undemocratic governments that are friendly to the USA (including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan), and maintaining and expanding US economic power and advantage. The unabashed self-first attitude of the USA (such as withdrawing from the Kyoto protocols) is widely published here. So is USA support for Israel, which is widely considered a rogue state that violates international law and human rights. Bush's cowboy style and go-it-alone strategy echoes very loud. A view that we hear repeated is that he is at least partially insane, acting like an angry out-of-control person. As the leader of the only super-power, that is very scary to the rest of the world. It is simply unfathomable to many that the USA, with a military power that dwarfs all others (some estimates say we spend more than all other countries combined), is acting scared and threatened.

The reality in Africa is very far removed from the views in the USA. Editorials still include sympathy for 9/11, but the magnitude of the suffering from terrorism is put into a different perspective when viewed against the suffering in Africa, which the USA ignores (and many say causes). The needs are desperate. Ethnic conflict, agricultural failures, infectious disease, limited education, and corruption all take a toll. Most are also fixable. For example, the major diseases in Africa have been eliminated elsewhere, but medicine and knowledge are not available in Africa due to the results of USA political or economic policy. It is clear that much of the corruption in Africa and lack of economic development could be alleviated by strong USA interest in the region.

Tanzanians we met emphasized the need for knowledge, capital, and health. The educated press argues for relief from punitive tariffs and trade restrictions (for example, Tanzania is now tearing out many of its coffee plantations, since world trade policy unfairly subsidizes Brazilian coffee). The frustration is clear, such that many (even the educated) blame the USA for anything that is wrong. While that is overly simplistic, the Bush selfish rhetoric unfortunately reinforces the image that the USA will do whatever it wants to protect its own economy and safety, and this makes him a very easy target for everything that is wrong.

Health and education seem to be the first need. Tanzania has just now been able to extend free primary education to its citizenry. Secondary (high school) is still expensive and scarce.

Ultimately, we feel unable to really express the huge gulf between the reality that Americans see on the news, and the reality in Africa. The current view of the world through the lenses of anti-terrorism is just as blinding as that of the cold war before it, if not worse. But the results may be tragic, and in fact self-fulfilling. American policy has devastating results in Africa, and recent foreign policy is building anti-American sentiment at a record rate. Someday those results will come home to roost.

Truly fighting terrorism requires that Americans get over the fear of the rest of the world, and instead step up to listening, understanding, helping and leading. Americans are way too ignorant of the rest of the world, particularly Africa, and our government enacts the will of the people which is to increase our own economic wealth without regard for others. So the solution begins with the individual citizens. Americans must know more about the rest of the world, and develop more compassion for others. For example, if we understood the people of the region then perhaps we would see that instead of fighting terrorism with offensive actions that inflame the local citizens, perhaps the best focus for fighting terrorism would be funding schools in Africa.

Many Africans previously had great admiration for the USA. The hostility is greatly increased just recently. That means that it is not yet endemic, if the USA can change course rapidly. And in a democracy, the way to effect change is to educate the people.  Since we really cannot fully express the situation in Africa, we have asked friends here to contribute to our website.  We hope they do.  And we hope that you read, study and take to heart their stories.  The suture of hundreds of millions of people depends on Americans having a better understanding of Africa..