On the topic, read Gary Dauphin’s interesting interpretive essay on John Walker Lindh, the “American Taliban”. Also check his great blog ebogjonson.com

BOUNCEMENT 2

Featuring:

DJ /rupture (Decks n EFX)
Wayne and Wax (Beats and Rhymes)
Baltimoroder (DJ Set)
w/ DJ Flack (DJ Set)
& Daviday (DJ Set)
Visuals by Bonk & Zyler

@ Great Scott
1222 Commonwealth Ave, Allston, MA 02134
MBTA Access: Harvard Ave. Green Line “B”
Saturday July 28th, 2007 9pm-2am 21+
$5

A friend recently passed along an editorial by Nigerian-American author Uzodinma Iweala criticizing the rhetoric and ignorance of flashy “Save Africa” campaigns coming from the US. Check it here:

Perhaps most interesting is the language used to describe the Africa being saved. For example, the Keep a Child Alive/” I am African” ad campaign features portraits of primarily white, Western celebrities with painted “tribal markings” on their faces above “I AM AFRICAN” in bold letters. Below, smaller print says, “help us stop the dying.”

Such campaigns, however well intentioned, promote the stereotype of Africa as a black hole of disease and death. News reports constantly focus on the continent’s corrupt leaders, warlords, “tribal” conflicts, child laborers, and women disfigured by abuse and genital mutilation. These descriptions run under headlines like “Can Bono Save Africa?” or “Will Brangelina Save Africa?” The relationship between the West and Africa is no longer based on openly racist beliefs, but such articles are reminiscent of reports from the heyday of European colonialism, when missionaries were sent to Africa to introduce us to education, Jesus Christ and “civilization.”

It reminded me of another article I had read a year or so ago by British journalist George Monbiot investigating the Live Aid/ G8 plans for debt relief in Africa. The racist representation of the campaigns could only be matched by the totally backwards and deceitful way we actually do business with African countries:

In the United States, they have already been given control of the primary instrument of US policy towards Africa, the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The act is a fascinating compound of professed philanthropy and raw self-interest. To become eligible for help, African countries must bring about “a market-based economy that protects private property rights”, “the elimination of barriers to United States trade and investment” and a conducive environment for US “foreign policy interests”.(2) In return they will be allowed “preferential treatment” for some of their products in US markets.

The important word is “some”. Clothing factories in Africa will be allowed to sell their products to the US as long as they use “fabrics wholly formed and cut in the United States” or if they avoid direct competition with US products. The act, treading carefully around the toes of US manufacturing interests, is comically specific. Garments containing elastic strips, for example, are eligible only if the elastic is “less than 1 inch in width and used in the production of brassieres.”(3) Even so, African countries’ preferential treatment will be terminated if it results in “a surge in imports”.

It goes without saying that all this is classified as foreign aid. The act instructs the US Agency for International Development to develop “a receptive environment for trade and investment”. What is more interesting is that its implementation has been outsourced to another agency, the Corporate Council on Africa.

I don’t know what has happened since 2005, but I doubt much has changed. Definitely check up on Monbiot’s site (www.monbiot.com). He is a real muckraker and cites all of his sources, something missing in a lot of journalism on the internet.