AFRICAN WORTHLESSNESS

Smileyskull speaks:

I wonder if you have given any deeper thought to the fleeting references made daily to HIV-AIDS in South Africa as in my, and many people's, view this is the channel whereby the disingenuous Western governments will attempt to anchor their foothold in this continent in their relentless drive for commercial dictatorship.
These are not the ravings of some fringe group or conspiracy theorists; these are self-evident all around us on a daily basis. And although analysis of the evolving African desire for self-sufficiency is, in my view, accurate, there remains the flawed yet deeply entrenched belief within many people in this and other African countries that the American way is somehow superior to our own. This sentiment is driven aggressively into the collective psyche of nations all over the world through the constant barrage of the largely US-owned media and the perpetual assertion that the US and more specifically their implausible leader shall protect us from "invisible" threats and ultimately lead us to salvation doing things "the American way".
This so-called foreign policy has prevailed in varying dilutions through all US presidencies since the conclusion of the Second World War and the establishment of global commercial policy at Bretton Woods. Apart from a system being established which is patently geared to perpetuate the status of Third World Debt as unrepayable, the US has maintained an opportunistic presence in and around the fringes of potentially lucrative countries under the pretext of providing aid and/or protection to regions it was instrumental in destabilising in the first place.
Thanks to the inauguration of GW Bush in the White House (or should one say: "usurper" in light of the original "rigged" election circus staged in Florida), no one person has demonstrated so overtly the disingenuous nature of US foreign policy. Without Mr Bush and his bumbling ineptitude, many people around the world may have remained mindlessly oblivious to America's aspirations of ruling the world through systematic commercial coups in strategic global regions. So, thanks, George.
But just as we have teachers in the guise of dictators like Robert Mugabe and other despotic leaders, none has provided so powerful a lesson as one G W Bush in the art of "how not to do things." He has created such an awareness of the dangers of dictatorship while boldly ranting his bellicose threats against the would-be terrorists of the world - the hidden threat to world peace - consequently missing the mirror before him each time he levels such ultimata. He expounds the virtuosity of his posse of self-styled liberators crusading for democracy (whatever that is) while flagrantly ignoring the democratic requests of the UN who purportedly, at the behest of America themselves, were established to represent the majority opinion of the world.

The most disturbing thing about all of this is, of course, the fact that despite his ridiculous posturing and insincere rhetoric, he seems to be getting away with it. This at the expense of the global community and the resources of the planet itself.
And in the spirit of this policy the US and allied autocrats stand poised to inveigle their way into Africa through the agency of the so-called yet contrived AIDS pandemic here under the guise of knights in shining armour - to rescue once again the desperate and hapless natives in yet another self-inflicted debacle. Given the strength and forced repetition of US-dominated lifestyle marketing, many Africans have been duped into believing that that is exactly what they are - disempowered victims in need of redemption.
This wounded psyche is fertile ground indeed for the planting of seeds of unworthiness and what better vehicle than that of the very health of the continent? The psychological battle has been largely won - Africans believe in their inferiority (to a great degree). This is exemplified by the growing hordes who have turned this very unworthiness into a national begging industry instead of trying to improve upon their station in life. They have embraced it and who can blame them?
This sets up the platform for an impaired physiological infrastructure if one accepts that there is a sympathetic bond between the psychological functions of a human being and his physical wellbeing. Innumerable studies have, as far as most researchers are concerned, proved this relationship beyond doubt. This being the case, the ease with which one can further impair that physiology warrants no more than the lack of reasonable nutrition, the stress associated with the most fundamental survival under extreme impoverishment and a constant reinforcement that you are doomed to die if you have HIV. All of these elements represent a microcosm of the conditions prevalent on the African continent since the very first colonisation hundreds of years ago. The more westernised the continent became, the more disenfranchised the indigenous people became and through the generations that followed, the more removed they became from their unique ethnic identity only to have this supplanted with the dogma of the missionaries and the continual reinforcement that their primitive ways were savage and inferior to the new "white" systems being introduced.
Although styles and semantics may have changed, the trend continues to assail the senses of the new generations of Africans to this very day. Whether we care to admit it or not, the statistical deaths of hundreds or thousands of African people in a single swoop has become, over time, an accepted phenomenon. By extension, coupled with the assertion of lesser worth, there is a common perception among white people that a black life is still somehow less important than theirs. This may rankle the sensibilities of the reader but I have grown up in a country where this perception has been cloaked and disguised in many ways yet still pervades conversations when the speaker thinks he is in like-minded company. As long as this flawed world view persists there will always be less of an outcry at the numerous deaths of poor black people while the comfortable middle-class white liberal hangs on to the belief that he has no responsibility in this regard when in truth he continues to reinforce the imbalance by virtue of his self-serving beliefs. If it doesn't affect me then why should I be held accountable? If the situation can be further removed from the realm of responsibility with the introduction of an agency that emphasises the immoral behaviour of the black man - such as sexual promiscuity leading to the transference of the supposedly deadly HIV pathogen - then that serves the status quo even more. Even if it is a consummate fabrication which, in my opinion (after even the most cursory research), it most evidently is.
Without entering the labyrinth of half-truths, misinformation and loaded agendas that comprise the foreign AIDS business in Africa, suffice to say that this agency serves the policies of the US and her allies most admirably at the expense of African lives. The hand of friendship is allegedly extended to Africa while the other hand roots around in the soil to find the true riches of the continent. The riches that America actually wants - her minerals and natural resources as well as her strategic geographical placement in many instances. This coupled with subservient, inexpensive labour forces willing to serve their masters in return for the rape of their lands and crippling debt is an arrangement that suits only one player in the long term.

However, there are many who see beyond this ploy and recognise the urgent need for Africa to solve her own problems. Thabo Mbeki is one such man - or so it would appear. Alas, as is required in the game of leading nations, he is also political - a positional dynamic that creates its own circular debate until it disappears into its own rhetorical black hole. Or: anyone with any real integrity finds abhorrent the game of politics and yet the only way to change that dynamic is not by voting but by becoming a politician oneself.
Still, he and other like him, are embarking on NEPAD and other African initiatives that take cognisance of the legacy of colonialism and the resultant African dynamic. Mbeki does not reject it, as perhaps I would on analysis, he elects rather to optimise the benefits to be obtained from working in the global economy while setting his own African house in order - an extremely big ask. Any other approach may, in his view, be seen to be throwing the baby out with bathwater. It is more plausible to refurbish rather than start from scratch, although with the decimation of many African nations over the past few decades, reverting to grass-roots level has become a necessity rather than an option.
I only hope that a sufficient number of people recognise what is happening in their own African backyards and take the initiative to look beyond their own noses and their own neighbourhoods at the "success" US foreign policy has obtained. The Nett result has been to reveal Bush and his toadies as the despicable dictatorial despots he would have us believe he is trying to rescue us from. It has succeeded in elevating America and Americans to becoming the most despised nation in the world. It has exposed America's total disregard for foreign cultures, ethnicity and right to self-determination while displaying their blatant hypocrisy for all to see.
However, in these revelations lies a road forward and a lesson bigger than anything perhaps since the more obvious attempt at world domination by one Adolf Hitler not so very long ago. So what remains before us yet again is choice. Which route shall we choose - Uncle Sam or the poor unworthy African?
It's a no-brainer really. But will we make that choice?