My journeys through Africa always conjure up a mélange of
random thoughts and an incessant supply of sighs that accompany the several
incidents of infrastructural failures and civil disorders.
The West African region has always been subjected to travel
advisories by hyper sensitive foreign missions and buckled up military attaches
– exotic dangerous zones that are on the wish list of every adrenaline junkie.
From bicycle world wanderers to war zone contractors, some of these countries
still boast of regions that have barely tasted the first dew drops of 21st
century civilization ( of course, barring the Indian Gujaratis & the
Lebanese businessmen – who inhibit these lands for not the rush or the
exoticism but purely for money, such embarrassing pussies..Fuck).
Understanding the colonial past, the current political
disarray and the systematic breakdown of development efforts would clearly make
it easy for any outsider to realize why everyone from your average taxi driver to
the uninterested restaurant server looks visibly upset and frustrated.
Most of the low rung able bodied male workforce you come
across has served in the military, the rebel
militia, as an armed criminal or
just as an angry violent man protecting his family and property. Well, there is
no sequence or pattern to those tenures and chances are that he has served both
as Military and rebel at different stages. (Well, whoever pays on time gets his
loyalty for sure!)
Ok, you have to give it to the Belgians and the French that
they taught their subjects how to bake some good fuckin bread and come up with some
great results from the oven. The beers aren’t bad too !
Having said that, they murdered and brutalized their ‘black
slaves’ with such ease and comfort that it would make Adolf Hitler turn in his
grave and feel bad about being soft on his concentration camp tenants. The
standing instruction for the Belgian & French colonists was to kill any
ethnic subject on the first instance of disobedience. Non compliance was
subjective and something as small as refusing to do the dishes on the master’s
command was a good enough reason to land up in the pit with a bloody hole to
the chest.
Since this is not a history lesson and the world has moved
on – let’s get the shit straight here – West African colonies had their fair
share of brutality, subjugation and humiliation at the hands of their masters.
This history of torture and colonization can be a major production mill for
frustration when countries like DRC are plush with natural resources and have
no reason to experience poverty or to have its citizens treated like dirt
worldwide. (Till early 2000s, people used to randomly stumble upon diamonds
while walking along the Congo river in the capital city Kinshasa – that does say
SOMETHING about their mineral wealth abundance).
The world changes and so do the methods and ploys that the
sinister human brain comes up with. The new colonists don’t swear by the gun
(the US failed in Iraq/Afghanistan) but rather by carving up an intricate and
complex economic web of bribing the fat cats- aid grants- technology dependence
and a fair bit of surrogate arm twisting in the political arena.
Taking the example of the Democratic Republic of Congo here
– apart from being well endowed, the men here are also known to be trigger
happy and extremely violent. Studies and historical memoirs prove it was not
like that in the beginning. The inhabitants of the region were the standard Hollywood
variety jungle people who would welcome
all- lets wear leaves around our ass and dance in a circle –happy go lucky
tribals who got tricked by the cap wearing white explorers and later on by the innocent
looking cross wielding missionaries.
On a side note, I always like the mystery
around the nuns - I mean the missionaries have a sex position named after them,
but anyway, back to the Africa analysis.
The DRC of today is a country plagued with rampant
corruption, infrastructure breakdown (or the lack of it), abject poverty and a
violent civil war that has claimed the most lives after the 2nd
world war.
But these guys aren’t Muslims and they are black – There
will be no Muslim groups crying for them like they whine about Palestine all
the time. The West doesn’t give a fuck either, and the Asians – well let’s just
say the Asians are the new Jews. In all this chaos, it’s the Chinese (and to
some extent the Indians) who feel it’s their turn to suck the juices of bliss
in this otherwise supposedly god forsaken land.
At the peak of the civil war in the 90s that lasted about 8
years, there were close to 10,000 casualties a day in Congo alone. Final
casualty figures cross the 5 million mark. A million Hutu civilians died in
Rwanda as well. The civil war still rages in the country’s restive eastern part
as of 2013.
But hey! The world’s a crazy place, shit happens all the
time, you can’t just hold on to some statistical numbers and get all
melodramatic about it. There is Swine flu and I-phone 6 to worry about. (not to
mention Argo beat Lincoln at the Oscars, Go Argo !)
Today’s West Africa needs international intervention – the
western arms industry has been fuelling the civil wars here to keep their
weapons business greased up with fresh supply orders. Sponsoring a dictator and
then instigating his rival to throw the first one off the grid has become a
morbid fun game for some of the western countries who see it in their best
interest to keep Africa under-developed. The international intervention we are
talking about involves stopping undue interventions in someone else’s mess. Let
them fight it out, figure it out, learn to evolve and handle their own mess.
Some critics might disagree with me and claim that whatever
little sanity or civilized lifestyle that was imparted in Africa, was indeed a
blessing to those inhabitants. Well, Ethiopia stands out as a clear example of
a country that staved off the colonial powers and has now turned out to be a
pretty decent place – the people are warm, welcoming and anything but violent.
But all my thoughts about the situation perhaps seem to be
an implausible vile rambling of a rabid uncouth South Asian. After all, where
else can the Americans adopt cute black babies from without much paperwork –
they make such adorable pets. The game safaris, the exorbitant per diem
payments for the contract work to build temporary ‘bus sheds’ and the great
employment opportunities that come with development work in these countries. I
have honestly met so many white ‘advisors and contractors’ that advise and consult
on ridiculous projects. That money could have probably fed thousands of
starving IDPs (Internally displaced refugees).
But looking at it, paying $600/day to an American consultant
at the Health Ministry who adds value to the society by training people on the
benefits of using soap properly after taking a dump is a much bigger priority
than feeding let’s say a bunch of dying infants in a refugee camp. WHAT IF
someone handled their powdered milk jar with unwashed hands, that would be so
uncool.
A great continent that once had its own thing going on – the
rich cultural heritage, the vast expanses of pristine virgin natural wonders, music-tribal
arts and tradition - will only move in the direction of mayhem in the
foreseeable future.
Its inhabitants who could have been suave and educated will
forever be condemned and be looked upon suspiciously for their aggressive
demeanor and their tendency to rob you at the first available instance. Guess
what, it is the outsiders who taught them this violence and the art of robbery
– and now, they should forever be destined to live-thrive-survive-connive on
the Dark Continent.
