We can blame colonialism, capitalism, racism the world bank , globalisation and the IMF.
But one day, we may look in the mirror and find there is no longer anyone else to blame
And only the truth shall remain
And at that moment, we may feel a range of things
Perhaps ...should feel a range of things
At least then .. we will feel...something
Naked as you were born you stand
No longer able to hide behind our ego, our fallacies, our 'trinkets of mass repulsion'..'seduction'
No longer will we devalue our diamonds, and dull our gold
Recognise humanities truth worth
So what will we feel?
Shame?
Disappointment?
Embarrassment?
Perhaps even relief
For you can be enslaved, yet never a slave
Captive, yet never in bondage
Moneyless, but never poor
Let go of your intellect and 'free your mind'
What have you done for your brother lately?
What have you called your sister lately?
Free your heart
It’s been encased for to long
* thoughts
I'm going in ..
ReplyDeleteyou must bear in mind a lot of African political institutions/governments/electorate are young compared to what is found over here and similar Western nations where this things have been around for hundreds of years. It is a very delicate balance trying to operate as a collective across competing tribal, religious and (frequently contested) geographical lines. but it's happening .. in spite of whatever negativity the media tries to paint (when they bother even reporting at all) - keep an eye on sites like voxafrica.co.uk, keep away from the BBC
mindsets are slowly changing and reference points are starting to come to fore. Ghana (the oldest and most politically mature country) is leading the way in showing that stable political structure and good accountable governance is achievable. Zambia has been doing this for sometime. Africans are starting to challenge the status quo (witness the #occupynigeria movement, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Libya). Colonial lines are being accepted as troublesome and some countries are bravely redrawing lines after decades of futile wars (witness southern Sudan's recent independence). Western corporates are being outed wikileaks style for nefarious predatory practices - God bless the internet. Even the Western governments are starting to question the wisdom of neo-liberal institutions like IMF
I don't subscribe to fairy-tale optimism but the facts on the ground says things are changing. the McKinsey report 2010 makes a good read