by Wilson Idahosa Aiwuyor
A young girl was walking along a beach. To her amazement she came upon thousands of starfish. Washed ashore by a storm, they were dying in the sun. The girl began to toss starfish back into the sea, one by one. After a while, a man approached her. 'Little girl,' he asked, 'why are you doing this? There are thousands of starfish on the beach. You cannot possibly hope to make a difference!' The girl was discouraged…. But moments later, she bent down, picked up the starfish again and tossed it as far as she could into the sea. She turned back to the man. Smiling brightly, she said, 'I made a difference to that one!' Inspired, he joined her. A crowd gathered, and soon others joined in. Before long, there were hundreds of people tossing starfish Back into the sea and calling out, 'I made a difference to that one!' After a while, their calls subsided. The girl looked up, and to her amazement, she saw no starfish on the beach. Each one had been tossed back into the sea. *
Many people around the world see Africa through the lens of disaster pornography. Disaster pornography refers to the foreign media coverage, in Africa, of mainly disastrous incidents such as conflicts, wars, poverty, disease, political corruption/poor governance and underdevelopment. It is true that there are myriads of problems in Africa, but that is not all about the continent. Disaster pornography hardly shows the opportunities that exist and efforts that are being made on the continent to confront the root causes of Africa’s challenges. Responses to disaster pornography produce and perpetuate two major notions about Africa. First, there is the portrayal of Africa as an object of global humanitarianism. Second, there is a feeling of Afro-pessimism, which is related to the idea that nothing good can come out of Africa. As a counter to these notions, there is an understanding among some people, albeit few and unpopular, that in the midst of the challenges, there are realistic opportunities to sincerely engage Africa and its peoples for a continent-wide reconstruction and transformation. The question is: how do we strengthen the latter view and translate it into action for Africa’s rebirth in the 21st century?
To solve a problem, there has to be a considerable understanding of its primary causes and its manifestations. There also has to be knowledge of potentially workable options available. Disaster pornography bombards people with the raw manifestations of Africa’s problems, but leaves them in the dark about the root causes of the problems and credible options available for solving them. Consequently, many people join the bandwagon of those who want to “save Africa” through humanitarianism. Hence there is a deviation or rather distraction from the goal of attending to the underlying causes of the problems.
Predominantly, humanitarianism for Africa is like an industry of its own, an industry that has to stay in business. Most often than not, those in the African humanitarian industry work for their own interest, and even end up, through deliberate or indirect means, perpetuating the disastrous political and economic situation which they were supposed to alleviate. They prey on Africa’s problems for their own selfish ends (see The Road to Hell by Michael Maren). In this cycle, they are complicit in the perpetuation of disaster pornography because to gain empathy and raise funds, they have to portray the continent or their areas of operation in the bleakest light and make the case that their solutions are the way out, thus diverting popular attention from other options that could attend to the root causes of the problems. (However, I would like to acknowledge the fact that though few, there are some humanitarian organizations that are exceptions to this norm).
Another aspect of the notion of helping Africa is aid from multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This aspect deserves a separate analysis. But I would like to quickly add here that, as already observed by former insiders of these institutions, including the former director of World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz (see Globalization and its Discontents), aid and solutions from multilateral institutions have not been effective at solving the problems chiefly because they were not designed to do so. They have been designed to serve the interests of the donors and control Africa through the imposition of neo-imperialistic conditionality.
The monumental outlook of Africa’s political and socio-economic problems combined with the failure of the pseudo-solution of humanitarianism, among others, have made many to give up on the continent, believing that nothing good can come out of the “Dark Continent.” There are many implications of this view. First, those that belong to this school of thought knowingly or unknowingly internalize the view that has for more than five centuries portrayed the black personhood in terms of biological determinism. Biological determinism (in this context) is related to the idea that black people are innately intellectually inferior, anthropologically backward, and incapable of producing a harmonious and prosperous society. Unfortunately, this was the same ideology employed by the imperialist to morally and intellectually justify the reduction of the black person to sub-humans during such eras of exploitation and dehumanization as slavery, imperialism/colonialism, and apartheid. Many of Africa’s present problems have their roots in these eras and in the stranglehold of neo-imperialism. I make this assertion without, however, downplaying the fact that Africa’s leaders have also contributed to the woes of the continent. Essentially, by giving up on Africa, Afro-pessimists implicitly subscribe to the notion that Africans are incapable of making a break with the present forms of dehumanization that confront them.
One thing that must be made clear to the Afro-pessimist is that, since Africa’s problems accumulated over centuries, we cannot solve them overnight by mere act of humanitarianism. We must look beyond disaster pornography and this placebo called humanitarianism. There must be a sincere intention for sustained engagement to reconstruct the continent. And in this process, we must confront the internal leadership problems in Africa, as well as challenge current realities of globalization which make it increasingly difficult for Africa to solve its problems. We must look into Africa for opportunities and thriving initiatives. We also have to engage with civil society/grassroots and women and youth organizations. We cannot ignore a serious engagement with the governments to ensure that their citizens are empowered to claim ownership of governance. We must devise a strategy to confront leaders who oppress and dehumanize their citizens while hiding under the cloak of fighting neo-imperialism.
The problems are monumental, and yet must be solved. To confront them, we must understand them. Then we must have a strategic plan, a vision, and the resolve/will power like the young girl in the excerpt at opening of this essay. We must engage, engage, and engage the problems until we succeed.
*The short story in italics is an excerpt from Beverly Daniel Tatum’s Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
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Wilson Idahosa Aiwuyor is a student of International Relations. He is a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University. He could be reached at aiwudaho@gmail.com.
