Africa, as I see it E-Book

Stephen Ekokobe Awung

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 43

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

I was inspired to write this note from the questions I receive from state and none state actors in my duty as a community organiser in Germany. This note will help people who want to understand the socio-economic and political affairs of Africa and also the challenges faced by African immigrants living abroad from an African perspective. Africa, as I see it is a personal but objective view on the underdevelopment of Africa by Africans and the West.

Leseprobe

Table of Content

Inspiration

Acknowledgment

Introduction

The state in Africa

Factors responsible for Africa's underdevelopment

Corruption

Politics and bad leadership

Africans and the church

The African Diaspora

4.1. The integration of African Diaspora

Africa and its international partners

Africa's wealth

African integration

7.1. Intra African trade

7.1. The African woman

Poems about Africa's plight

8.1. Home Sweet Home

8.2. Bread

8.3. The dictator's dilemma

About the author

Inspiration

I was inspired to write this note from the questions I receive from state and none state actors in my duty as a community organiser in Germany. This note will help people who want to understand the socio-economic and political affairs of Africa and also the challenges faced by African immigrants living abroad from an African perspective. Africa, as I see it is a personal but objective view on the underdevelopment of Africa by Africans and the West.

Dedication

This note is affectionately dedicated to my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Awung, my wife, Mrs. Cecilia Bechemnze Awung and our kids, Leke and Emi. Your unending love is a great inspiration to me.

Acknowledgment

My sincere gratitude goes to my siblings, Mr. Awung Wilfred, Mrs. Walburger Awung, Mrs. Vivian Folefac, and Miss. Regina Nju Awung for the fruitful discussions and debates we held about the role of Africans in the underdevelopment of their continent. I must mention the advice of Miss. Regina Awung who insisted that I explain the role played by the west to make Africa permanently weak and depended in order for them to exploit the natural resources endowed in the continent, which was not my original objective.

My profound gratitude also goes to my good friend, Mrs. Bunny Seidel for reading the script and making meaningful recommendations. I owe a debt of gratitude to Mrs. Cecilia Bechemnze Awung, Mr. Awung Nicholas, Mr. Awung Louis, Mrs. Joan Foretia, Miss. Celine Achea, Mr. Balogun Momodu, Ekamdim Marica Egbe Eyong Nkongoh, Mrs. Renate Brethauer, Mr. Jan Benedix, Mrs. Elfriede Schäth, Mr. Vincent Onais and Mr. Simon Ndoh for their encouragements. I thank the Almighty God for the gift of life and all the members of the African People's Convention for their support.

1. Introduction

The African continent is made up of 54 countries with diverse cultures and people. The continent is richly endowed with natural and human resources like oil, diamond, timber, gold, bauxite, etc. Despite these natural resources, the continent is underdeveloped and the masses suffer from abject poverty. The main causes responsible for this situation are corruption, slavery, religion, incompetence, colonisation, power politics of the national middle-class bourgeoisie, ethnicity and the way in which the international system is organised just to name but these. Some analysts will argue that Africa as a continent lacks both the soft and hard powers as coined by Joseph Nye, an American political scientist but although this assertion may be partly responsible for Africa's misery, I hold the view that Africa's catastrophic state goes beyond diplomacy and military might but the inability of the Africans to effectively manage their resources and socio-political affairs.

It must be noted that some western policies are intended to keep Africa political and economically weak in order to prevent Africa from building the strength and capacity that may be used to challenge them in the future. In order for countries to boast of their successes, they have to be able to point to other countries failure. The west has a responsibility in Africa's current predicaments; they want Africa to remain a source of cheap raw material for their industries and a dumping ground for their unwanted products. Dependency theory posits that the wealth and prosperity of the hegemonic powers in Europe, America, and Asia are depended on the poverty of the rest of the world. The policy of protectionism (including subsidies) practiced by these superpowers deters Africa's economic progress which they ironically pretend to promote. International trade is not free and fair. However, Africa's responsibility will be the core of our discussion.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonisation and globalisation are said to have adverse effects on Africa's development but I think it's high time for Africans to stop the blame game and ponder on how to solve the continent's many ills in order to improve the lives of their citizens. The term "Africa" is associated globally with misery and dejection. Dejection from its citizens who have been dying in their numbers in the Mediterranean Sea trying to cross over to nearby Europe in search of bread or greener pasture. We have seen videos of young Africans who flew to Asia for voluntary slavery due to the hopelessness at home. The greatest mistake we can make is for us to be indifference amidst inhumanity and barbarism. Sometimes it is difficult for me to understand why a little thing like the keeping