This is a follow-up to last week’s instalment where, I argued Africa needs to redefine its culture in order to beat poverty.
My arguments were based on the mental damage caused by both slave trade and colonialism which has for over a century abrogated the African race into second-class human beings.
Yes, the colonial system made Africans servants of any system foreign to the continent. The look West or East policies and some of the funny trade and labour laws which favour foreign investors are among the myriad of examples.
Even when surrounded by rich natural resources, we do not encourage our people to look inside. In fact a Chinese investor in Africa is allowed to abuse African labour with impunity which an African can not do in China.
Colonialism stole African confidence, a foundation which gives people the power to take charge of their destiny. Walter Rodney the author of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa argues: “The decisiveness of the short period of colonialism and its negative consequences for Africa spring mainly from the fact that Africa lost power.
Power is the ultimate determinant in human society, being basic to the relations within any group and between groups. It implies the ability to defend one’s interests and if necessary to impose one’s will by any means available.
In relations between peoples, the question of power determines maneuverability in bargaining, the extent to which a people survive as a physical and cultural entity.
When one society finds itself forced to relinquish power entirely to another society, that in itself is a form of underdevelopment.”
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To demonstrate the lack of confidence, I also argued that even if the equivalent of what was stolen or taken from Africa plus interest is returned to Africa in monetary terms, the continent would still remain poor.
Half a decade ago, it was estimated over 50% of Africa’s income (except South Africa) was saved outside the continent which suggests that the same money would still find its way back to Western banks simply because we don’t have confidence in ourselves.
I harbour no qualms with borrowing new ideas from other countries or cultures for as long as we are in charge of our own ways of doing things. This doesn’t only give people confidence to innovate and explore new ideas, but it also minimises dependence and promotes pride in identity.
And this is different from a situation where a system is coercively imposed on people completely obliterating their culture rendering them knowledgeless and powerless.
One Newsday reader argued it may take at least three centuries for African mindset to develop to the level of the current Asian. And I don’t quite agree with that on the basis it is only over a century after the Scramble for Africa, and in less than two decades the colonialists were already facing resistance.
That was the first sign of a change in mindset – to liberate self.
What did the Asian do to change the course of their fortunes? Firstly Asians are known for their loyalty to their cultures and traditions. That is why the world today is forced to learn Mandarin instead of the Chinese learning English or French.
Secondly, most Asian countries believe in home-grown development initiatives even if they borrow ideas, they implement them in their countries and they can give anything to achieve that.
Thirdly, over the last three decades Asian countries have colossally invested in the aggressive transfer of knowledge and technology from the West both legally and illegally. And this has seen a massive growth in research and development which has been the mainstay of the Asian economic boom, outstripping that of industrialised countries.
All this is being done, owned and driven by the Asian minds in their Asian countries and within their Asian cultural set-up.
They have synthesised their ideas and those borrowed from other countries into a hybrid toppling the superior know-how which used to give the West a leading edge. Dambisa Moyo in How the West Was Lost adds: “. . . thanks to a long embedded perception of its own cultural superiority, the West viewed these (Asian) countries as essentially backward, simple and rural; certainly not unlikely to ever become serious economic competitors”.
This is the same way Africa is viewed today and yet we have failed to swing the balance of power despite being among the leading global supplier of resources.
So who is to blame for Africa’s economic trailer position and its Lazarus mentality? The answer is broad and it includes everyone and everything domicile in the African echelons of power and policy-making processes. Africa can not look for answers elsewhere outside itself.
The Asian experience teaches us that you can not develop without a locally owned and culturally embedded power of knowledge. For as long we depend on external knowledge, we will forever be prone to manipulation, theft and economic subservience.
And in order to generate knowledge, it is vital for African cultural institutions to look beyond producing human beings for labour. The education systems for example, must look beyond just literacy, but instead invest more in research and development.
Most African country education systems are limited to producing literate and skilled labour to support existing, but shrinking labour markets. And there is very little attention on producing thinkers, inventors and innovators to such an extent most graduates are nothing more than soliloquies of century old theories and models when addressing today’s problems.
Some African academics even boast of being educated when their lot is to just parrot other people’s theories and philosophies as if it is illegal to develop new ones.
We are not short of brains, resources, direction, but we just lack the confidence to mix the brains and resources in the right proportion.
