While two billion people begin watching the Live 8 concerts today, people in the regions of Africa which are supposedly to benefit have never even heard of Live 8. And the IMF warns that the aid is not likely to help.
Moeletsi Mbeki, brother to South African president Thabo Mbeki, argues that peasants must be allowed direct access to markets and freed from government repression in order to raise up Africa from poverty.
Economic growth in Africa, as in the rest of the world, depends on a vibrant private sector. Entrepreneurs in Africa, however, face daunting constraints. They are prevented from creating wealth by predatory political elites that control the state. African political elites use marketing boards and taxation to divert agricultural savings to finance their own consumption and to strengthen the repressive apparatus of the state. Peasants, who constitute the core of the private sector in sub-Saharan Africa, are the biggest losers. In order for Africa to prosper, peasants need to become the real owners of their primary asset — land — over which they currently have no property rights.
Peasants must also be given direct access to world markets. They must be able to auction their cash crops, including coffee, tea, cotton, sugar, cocoa, and rubber, freely rather than being forced to sell them to state-controlled marketing boards at discounted prices. In that respect, South Africa is unique in the region. The country does not have a large disenfranchised peasantry. Most of South Africa’s private sector belongs to South Africans, who also have a say in the political process. The future will show whether those factors will constrain the power of the South African political elite in a manner that is sufficient to safeguard South Africa’s growth potential. — Moeletsi Mbeki, (PDF) deputy chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs
If you really want to help out in Africa, those are the problems you must solve.
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Karl Marx would love the popular moves among politicians in various state governments and the federal government to ban so-called "junk" food in schools, and to "put healthy food in" convenience stores and on the tables of those they define as poor. It's a very elitist and arrogant mindset that promotes this ideology, and it needs to be addressed.
Ultimately, the war supporters in Congress prevailed in the vote on the resolution. Still, the vote was significant because it places every member of Congress on the record as supporting or not supporting the unconstitutional, costly, violent occupation of a country that never attacked us. This vote should serve as an important reminder to the American people of where their representatives really stand when it comes to policing the world, empire building, and war.
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Kyle
Jul 02, 2005
it will still help, of course it isn’t going to “SAVE” Africa, it takes much more. The most important thing is that people are aware and the Africa will get aid with the money earned from Live8.
Ashley
Jul 02, 2005
I agree with Kyle.. it wont save Africa but every little bit helps. If the United States was exposed to poverty, wouldn’t we want help too?
freecave
Jul 02, 2005
For kyle: There is no money being earned from Live 8, this is a free event!! The show is to pressure the G8 gov’ts to care about Africa, to spend our tax dollars on all those countries that have populations exceding what their environment can sustain. Instead of singing, they could put their hands in their pockets and pull out their collective cheque books and spend all the millions of dollars they have sitting in the bank and help Africa! Less millionaires = less poverty.
Oli Young
Jul 02, 2005
Yes, Live8 by itself is not the answer, but no-one is saying that. Live8 is one part of a larger campaign to “Make Poverty History” just as The Long Walk to Justice is another. MPH’s three major tenents are Debt Relief, More & Better Relief and Fair Trade, Live8 was simply a vehicle to get the populous tuned into this task, and it’s worked 3.5 BILLION people now know about the G8, Gleneagles, and the opportunities that must be taken. Fair Trade will not turn the situation around tomorrow, Better Aid will, Dropping the Debt will, but in the longer term Fair Trade is the only answer.
Ove Serritslev
Jul 02, 2005
“If you really want to help out in Africa, those are the problems you must solve.”
Wrong; If you really want to help out in Africa, those are the problems WE must solve.
Why distance you self from the real fact that you haven’t don anything your self to help the out poor
Nogbad
Jul 02, 2005
“In 1980 Africa had a 6% share of world trade. By 2002 this had dropped to just 2% despite the fact that Africa has 12% of the world’s population. If Africa could regain just an additional 1% share of the global trade, it would earn $70 billion more in exports each year – more than three times what the region currently receives in international assistance.” From http://www.data.org/whyafrica/whatworks/
Right now the wealthy west is giving aid so that developing countries can service debt and at the same time the donor countries are using protectionist trade agreements to stop the developing world from trading out of poverty.
“Ghana can export raw cocoa duty free to Europe, but a 25% tariff is imposed if they process that cocoa before exporting it to Europe. It is this processing (tinning, roasting, labeling) which helps a country earn more money and develop its manufacturing base – and which allows its economy to grow. While fair trade could be Africa’s ticket out of the vicious cycles of poverty, unfair trade rules like these trap Africa at the gates.” from http://www.data.org/whyafrica/issuetrade.php
Would we even be having these conversations without MPH? It matters not that someone starving in Dafur might not have heard of live8, if it saves their life they might have time to find out but right now they are too busy trying to stay alive.
Michael Hampton
Jul 02, 2005
Ove, it does no good for an African peasant to sell his crops if he can only sell them to the state at 1/10 of what they are worth. If the G8 is going to do something meaningful for the long-term, it should put pressure on these countries to allow these people to be paid fair value for their crops and other produce so that they can make a decent living.
And you have no idea what I have or have not done to help out the poor. :)
Carrie
Jul 02, 2005
I liked your post and agree with it. I am glad for Live8 however I’m not sure that it will have any influence on the G8. Let’s hope though, in terms of trade. But then they still have the government issues to deal with and that can only be helped by Africans living there.
Jul 03, 2005
Nonsense Nation
Jan 01, 2006
Why hasn’t poverty been eradicated? - Homeland Security or Homeland Stupidity
Apr 07, 2006
Lizard expert calls for 90% of people to die of Ebola - Homeland Security or Homeland Stupidity