BBC News: AU treads softly on Zimbabwe

It is easy to hate hate and condemn Robert Mugabe - and he deserves every bit of it. Since the last election it should be bloody obvious to anyone that he is an old tyrant clinging to power by any means necessary.

But African leaders - many of them dubious characters - don’t have the backbone to deal with this monster. Africa loves to hate Europe for it’s colonial mistakes and America for their modern imperialism. But currently it’s mostly Africans abusing other Africans.

Once again it shows that establishing "good systems" like Democracy without a supporting culture and historically grown structures simply doesn’t work.

Especially in Africa tribalism and capitalism make an explosive mixture. Tribal loyalties trump any laws or common sense. But this is also a long term consequence of all these artificial countries in Africa: Europe brutally forced many tribes into artificial "Nations" which never before existed. Many of these mixed up countries are still struggling to "function". Maybe some form of continental reshuffle would be helpful?

BBC News: Mugabe’s Zanu-PF loses majority

Hardly any politician makes my blood boil as much as Mugabe. He is the Messiah that missed his exit and totally ruined his beloved country.

Hopefully the 84 year old will finally retire peacefully?!?

How many years will it take to remove his legacy and make Zimbabwe once again a leading country in Africa? So much blood has been spilled - it will take decades to heal these wounds? And it will take also a lot of good faith and hard work to get it’s economy back on track.

Great work Robert!

Adam Curtis / documentary / ca 44 minutes

From Wikipedia:

A look at how former Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah set Africa ablaze with his vision of a new industrial and scientific age. At the heart of his dream was to be the huge Volta dam, generating enough power to transform West Africa into an advanced utopia. But as his grand experiment took shape, it brought with it dangerous forces Nkrumah couldn’t control, and he slowly watched his metropolis of science sink into corruption and debt.

More? Pandora’s Box Series

This little critter is called Elephant Shrew and was just recently discovered in Tanzania and I think they are pretty cute. Hopefully we won’t eradicate them before we have made pets out of them. I for one would trade any ol’ hamster for this bizarre bugger …

Tribal loyalties, corruption and witchcraft still reign supreme in African culture. Such blatantly rigged elections are not just an African problem - Putin’s recent reelection was as ignorant of the law and the democratic process as well.

But as long as African politicians and voters have no problem of using violence to get what they want - this sad affair of corruption and violence won’t end. Poverty, lack of education and tribal loyalties create a combustive mixture - and a life seems worth nothing.

But we also have to blame colonial powers and foreign aid money for the chaos.

Many countries were literally made up on the drawing board by colonial powers - thy often mixed tribes together, who didn’t like each other to form a ‘nation’. Many of today’s conflicts go back to these tribal roots and difference in culture.

Foreign aid is another problem, because the large sums for money are a huge temptation for fraud. Many western donators hardly care or control where the money goes and many local charities that receive the money are made up by local big wigs and fraudsters. This kind of culture is based on cheating each other - not by creating a working economy and improving the life for everyone.

2007 was a bad year for Democracy - and it looks like that 2008 will continue that trend.

China, America and Europe are trying hard to keep their influence in Africa. But the continent itself seems at war with itself. While many backwards Asian countries have made the leap into the 21st century - Africa seems plagued by it’s own old problems: superstition, backward social concepts, corruption, tribalism and slavery. Africa loved to complain about the white man fucking the continent. These days Africa abuses itself.

But cultural and political evolution is painful. It was painful for Europe and why should Africa be any different. It is of course very nauseating to watch progress from a "higher" and richer point of view.

Should richer democratic countries intervene? Or has our intervention really made a GOOD difference? To be honest - I think we should trade and deal with Africa like with any other nation, we should respect their sovereign status (as stupid and bloody as it might get with Zimbabwe, Darfur or Rwanda). Africa has to stand up for itself.

The real trick question: how do we keep others from no longer interfering? Like in the case of China and their protection of the killer government?

Thanks to edosan for sending me this one.

BBC News: China in Africa: Developing ties 

An excellent BBC article about China’s efforts in Africa. Highly recommended when you want to know why the US and Europe are loosing ground to the Chinese long term strategy.

Click image to zoom into Africa (warning this image is big).

It is scary that has less and less green spots. The Sahara is growing every year and the water is a scarce resource even in ‘green’ areas.

Africa is like South America one of our last remaining green lungs. We have to be careful or it turns into another barren land like most of Australia.

I really really really don’t like cars. Never owned one, probably never will. So TV shows about cars hardly appeal to me … unless it’s done in style with that dry British humor …

In this episode our three heroes try to cross one African nation with the shabbiest and oldest second hand cars they could buy off the natives. A highly amusing adventure unfolds … enjoy!

BBC News: New eBay site helps finance poor

Microfinance is a brilliant idea - especially since it went onto the Web. So normal people in rich countries can finance with a few Dollars or Euros small business owners in developing countries.

That means you and me can help to develop local business in places that really need it. You can use websites like Kiva.org to lend some money to people who propose their projects to you. You don’t DONATE money, you LEND it. Instead of charity you get to help to develop the economy - something charity doesn’t do well.

eBay’s new site Microplace.com also allows you to invest in such business proposals in developing nations. So give it a try and get involved with maybe 20, 50 or even 100 Dollars or Euros.

But most of all: see that so called poor people really want to built their own future. They don’t want donations and poverty - they want to built their own good lives.

This old, but still tragic events at the Spanish-Moroccan border just uncover an old truth: rich countries despise economic refugees. We Europeans can only thank nature for the Mediterranean sea - otherwise we would be ‘invaded’ by a gazillion Africans and Arabs.

Europe has tried to keep these people out - because we want to enjoy our privileged lifestyle quietly. Yeah, send them some development money and blankets when another earthquake or whatever happens. And some AIDS medicine.

The tragic is, that neither Europe nor the US has done enough to develop democratic nations ‘down there’ with a working economy. But Arabs and Africans haven’t done enough either. Corruption and cronyism are not imported ‘ideas’, but local failures. It doesn’t matter if rich Arabs rather buy at Harrods or African kings another wife, they fail their own people.

So Europe simply builds higher fences and flies those poor souls back to their shit holes. Lets hope that these people find a way to make their own nations worth staying there - and let’s also hope that Europe and the US get better at ‘helping’ these nations.

So far most of the help was a failure.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz in power since 1959. Has led his country into isolation and missed the chance to open his society after the fall of communism in the late 1980’s. Although the US is also to blame for the decades of useless embargo it’s mostly Mr Castro’s fault that Cuba is such a miserable place.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe running or better ruining his country since 1980. Great work! It has fallen from being Africa’s high ranking food producer to a starving and terribly poor country. He hunted down gays, disowned white farmers and wasted huge amounts of foreign aid with his cronies.

Kim Jong-il is since 1994 continuing his fathers work of starving and killing his own people. While neighboring South Korea and China have made huge progress his country spiraled downwards. But at least he became a world famous atomic bomb salesman and movie collector. Well done little man.

Muammar al-Qaddafi - self proclaimed leader of Libya since 1969. Sponsored terror on his people and the west for decades. Although he finally succumbed to American pressure and military power his country is still in ruins. Economic reforms are badly needed although it is rich in oil. His family and cronies have a total grip on the country. The rule of his laws is harsh, there is no political culture nor any official working opposition.

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud current King of the House of Saud, which is running the richest and most depressive country in the world since 1744. The House of Saud teamed up with Wahhabism - an especially conservative brand of Islam to sanctify it’s hold on power. The country riches are mostly given to the huge royal family - according to Wikipedia around 25.000 people. The Saud tyranny and grip on power is supported by the US since 1945. Most islamic terrorism is funded with Saudi money as well as manpower. Osama bin Laden is the most prominent example. Saudi clerics are among the fiercest in the region and they can rely on the official religious police to see their rules empowered.

Did I miss anyone? I am not sure to include Iran, since it’s people to continue so much to oppress themselves. So I consider it more like a fascist state with changing players at the top. Suggestions welcomed!

BBC: Mobiles for the ‘world’s poorest’

Forget the 100 Dollar Laptop - the good old mobile phone is proving to be a techno tool for change. Cell towers are cheaper and easier to install then landlines over huge ‘empty’ areas. Cell phones themselves are easy to learn and use without much literacy and they can also recharged with solar energy or little electricity.

Most of all it simply helps people to communicate and start a business. This is especially important in rural areas in Africa were basics of simple communication and even often transportation are lacking. With a cell phone news travels fast … and some progressive speed is something Africa and the poor can use.

In that context: if you have an old cell phone or if you upgrade in the near future donate your that thing to wirelessrecycling.com. And there are many other organizations that can use your mobile for other purposes.

See also Africa’s mobile entrepreneurs