Africa: Death or Development

The disbanding of USAID and the reduction in aid given by the United Kingdom and Germany to the rest of the world should serve as a miner’s canary for African and Caribbean nations, warning that the age of freeloading and sponging off other nations is all but over. President Trump not only wants to make ‘America Great Again’ but he also wants to make ‘America Rich Again.’ Translated into political policy, these two maxims strongly support the notion that the US is aggressively pursuing the path of lifeboat ethics.

For those unfamiliar with the concept of lifeboat ethics, imagine a lifeboat adrift in shark infested water filled with people all trying to get on to the lifeboat. Since the lifeboat lacks an infinite capacity to take on board people, there must come a point where the lifeboat will have to leave people in the water to either drown or be eaten by the sharks. President Trump is giving the world the finger as he builds his literal and figurative walls around Lifeboat USA.

After dispatching most of the First Citizens of the US, White, Anglo-Saxons, Protestants mainly of the male persuasion set up a government in America which was of, by, and for White people. The survivors from the First Citizen genocide were corralled into reservation camps until something valuable was found on the reservation land or the land was needed by the expanding White settler community.

Blacks, who had been hauled screaming and shouting from the African continent, were settled on the numerous concentration camps euphemistically called plantations, where, they were allowed to eke out a miserable existence that was on par with that of the domesticated animals in the concentration camps. Neither First Citizens nor Blacks were given the time of day or anything else except under the direst of circumstances.

The US, Europe, and their surrogates treated the rest of the world like hacked ATM machines. Caucasians simply took what they wanted from the rest of the world and cracked the skulls of any of the indigenous who had the testicular fortitude to protest the daylight robbery that was taking place. This barbarism continued for centuries until Adolf Hitler held up a mirror before the Caucasian world by giving Europeans a taste of what they had been dishing out to the rest of the world.

The US, Europe, and their surrogates suddenly developed a conscience (well, sort of). The US, as the last man standing after the guns went silent signaling the end of the European tribal war we call World War II, enforced a new economic order on the rest of the world. Europeans were cajoled into playing nice resulting in the quasi-independence movements in Africa and the Caribbean. To facilitate global trade, the US agreed to become the policeman of the oceans to make international shipping safe. The US also opened its markets to goods from all over the world.

The US benefited handsomely from the new economic order that was established after World War II. Much of international trading was conducted in US dollars which meant that nations wishing to cash in on the new trading opportunities made possible by the US had to acquire US dollars. As this new system evolved the US and her allies were able to exert almost irresistible influence globally. Any nation that refused to play ball was simply locked out of the new global trading system and their deposits in US dollars frozen.

The new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration is a clear signal that the US is no longer interested in bankrolling the development of either friends or foes. The US under President Trump is laser focused on American problems and finding solutions to these problems. Africa, the Caribbean and the rest of the world are being told in no uncertain terms that the time has come for everyone to paddle their own canoe.

African and Caribbean nations that have relied on foreign aid have been put on notice that the days of American and other foreign aid are over bar the shouting. American intransigence is forcing countries in the developed world to face up to responsibility of providing for their own defense. As American intransigence deepens, European aid dollars to the rest of the world will dwindle. Perhaps for the first time since Africans and Caribbean islanders sewed our flags together and composed our national anthems we will be forced to act like independent people.

Now, for the really bad part of this article. Historically African and Caribbean politicians have relied on aid from the US Europe and other nations. The modest infrastructure evident on the African continent begs the question of what has happened to the billions of dollars in aid sent to Africa. This naturally raises the issue of political corruption and outright theft from the national treasuries in many African countries.

White elephant projects and bursting Swiss bank accounts bearing the names of former African heads of state suggest that a sizable portion of the aid sent to Africa was mismanaged, wasted, or surreptitiously misappropriated (stolen) by African politicians. Compounding the problem for African people is the failure of the campaign to silence the guns on the African continent.

As I write the civil war in Sudan rages. South Sudan is perilously close to slipping back into chaos and carnage. Nigeria is witnessing an upsurge in ethnic conflict. The Democratic Republic of Congo continues to be the wild, wild west of the African continent with numerous armed factions fighting it out among themselves with some support from neighboring African nations.

As more developed nations begin to experience their own existential threats to survival it is predictable that the lifeboat ethics being practiced by the Trump administration will expand across the developed world. Africa with its exploding population will be forced to choose between development or death. African countries will have to decide whether they want to use scarce resources to wage war or use the same resources to provide a lifeline for their burgeoning populations.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka is the Founder of Afro-Caribbean Spiritual Teaching Center and the author of The Black Paradigm: New Thinking for a New Age.