Feb 7, 2021
Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship
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Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship
I’m not usually given to libertarian arguments since I fear their oversimplification, but…
I’m not usually given to libertarian arguments since I fear their oversimplification, but this one is a gem: “George Ayittey: The Failure of African Socialism “.
Warning: it’s dated, being from 1989 (it’s from before the abolishment of apartheid in South Africa), but don’t let that dissuade you.
Choice quotes:
(anecdotally from a minister in the Mugabe government (deja vu?)): “Socialism means…
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The only good dictator is a dead one.
George Ayittey at the #ISFLC
Oslo Freedom Forum 2011: George Ayittey speaks on defeating dictators.
To be sure, the West’s relationship with Africa was built on a history of oppression, exploitation, slavery, etc. and African leaders have exploited Western guilt and milked this iniquitous relationship to the hilt in demanding more foreign aid and concessions from the West. More than $700 billion in aid has been pumped into African since 1960.
However, the fact that we were oppressed, exploited and enslaved by the West in the past gives no African leader or government the right to oppress, exploit or enslave his own citizens. Nor does it provide any African government with an excuse for failing to provide basic social services — clean water, electricity, education, health care, etc. — for its citizens.The anti-US or anti-West has now been pushed beyond the absurd by some African leaders and their intellectual cheer-leaders. And if you disagree with them, then you are a “lover of the West,” a “traitor,” an “imperialist lackey,: an “apologist for neo-colonialism,” or worse. It has gotten so bad that they can no longer tell what is right or wrong. Nor can they tell what is good or bad for Africa because, in their scheme of things, anything that is BAD for the U.S. or the West, must be good for Africa. So they must oppose anything – just anything – the U.S. or the West says or seeks to do in Africa.
Tell me this: What crisis has the African Union been able to resolve? The Somali crisis? The Congo crisis of 1998? Darfur crisis in 2005? The Ivorian crisis of 2010? The Libyan crisis of 2011? The answer is NONE!
Each time a crisis erupts in Africa, the instinctive reaction of African leaders is to look for a neo-colonial finger-print and appeal, appeal, appeal to the international community for assistance. But the moment the U.S. or the West gets involved, BUEEEEI! All hell breaks loose. “It is a cover for a mad grab of Africa’s resources,” “The U.S. covets Libyan oil,” “It is another episode of neo-colonialism,” etc.
The most classic case is the indictment of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto by the ICC for crimes against humanity for their role in the perpetration of political violence that claimed over 1,400 people and rendered oer 640,000 homeless after the Dec 2007 elections. The Kenyan government, of which Kenyatta and Ruto were part of, was given ample time and urged to set up a local tribunal to try these butchers. But it did the Moi “Nyayo massamba” and scuttled the idea. The case then was referred to the ICC. The moment the ICC became involved BUEEEEI! It was an insidious Western plot to deny Kenyatta – son of Kenya’s liberation hero, Jomo Kenyatta – the presidency.
Indeed, Kenya and Ruto hatched an alliance of convenience and contested the March 4 presidential elections on a virulent anti-West and anti-neocolonial platform. The alleged “win” by them has been seized and interpreted as a “rejection of the West in favor of Kenyan sovereignty,” “a slap in the face of the West,” “Kenya says No to Western neo-colonialism,” etc. A petition challenging the results has been filed by Raila Odinga before Kenya’s Supreme Court. Naturally, Odinga is being dismissed as a “neo-colonial stooge.”
All this brouhaha presupposes that Africa has no value system or sense of justice. That Africa on her own cannot determine what is right or wrong or what is good for herself and that what is bad for the West must be good for Africa. Look, in Africa’s traditional system, butchers don’t get away with murder – whether they are pro or anti-US. Furthermore, if you do not want neo-colonialists or imperialists to be involved in solving your crisis, then solve the damn problem yourself. Africans are fed up with never-ending excuses for incompetence and mismanagement.. ..
Rawlings Was Not Good For Ghana, Says Prof. Ayittey
To Nigerians who hold a romantic view of the military adventures of Jerry Rawlings in Ghana, Ghanaian-born Prof. George Ayittey said Rawlings was not good for Ghana. He made the assertion in an interview with SaharaTV over the weekend.
READ MORE…
Former President of Ghana John Kufuor Caves In To Pressure Over Controversial Equatorial Guinea Summit
John Kufuor and Hope Sullivan-Masters at her home in the DC area-Photo credit: African Sun Times
By SaharaReporters, New York
George Ayittey, influential Ghanaian economist and professor, is reporting that Former President of Ghana John Kufuor is still wavering over whether to attend the controversial Leon H. Sullivan Foundation 'Africa Rising' Summit to be held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on August 20th-24th. READ MORE...
The "Cheetah Generation," is a new breed of Africans, taking their futures into their own hands, instead of waiting for politicians to empower them. The compared to the previous "Hippo Generation," who are lazily stuck complaining about colonialism, yet doing nothing to change the status quo.
George Ayittey