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most people underestimate just how big africa and those numbers are. no offense, but this looks exactly like any other mega development projects put on by whit
by pinaceae 12y ago
most people underestimate just how big africa and those numbers are.
no offense, but this looks exactly like any other mega development projects put on by white people - see for the road the world food programme has been building from the sea to central congo.
super ideas on paper, complete madness on site. most of that money will evaporate, most of the countries along the line are mere shapes on a map, drawn by white people, but reflecting any functioning structures.
when the europeans abandoned the colonies they failed to do one, crucial thing - they should have taken everything they brought to africa back with them. borders, names, government structures and yes, most "modern" infrastructure (railway, paved roads, water lines). all that crap left behind now gives western whites the illusion of a transaction between peers when they pour money into africa.
this is slowly happening now anyhow, tribal warfare is turning time backwards. from eritrea to sudan, to congo, to nigeria, etc etc etc. tribes that never belonged within one set of borders, drawn up by the english, french, belgians, germans, portuguese.
it would be actually much better if the west stopped pouring money into a region were most of it will end up fueling war. more people have died in the so called african world war than in all other conflicts since ww2 - combined. despite white people's guilt projects.
- brrt 12y agoI'm not sure how this is the top comment. Or people are really cynical these days. Anyway, this is really about stopping desert expansion, something brought on - as far as I know - mostly by climate change. Of course whatever faults the people of Africa may have, causing global climate change isn't one of them?
- beat 12y agoStupid and problematic as the post-colonial national borders of Africa are, the world is largely stuck with them. Actually changing borders is tremendously difficult diplomatically, no matter how much justice is involved. Opening that can of worms can open up WWIII. Building the green wall can prevent a lot of war, and solve problems that affect the entire planet, not just Africa.
- IkmoIkmo 12y agoYour post to me is uch a mixed bag of both truths and some weird conclusions. The one crucial thing they failed to do? Not taking the water lines and railways etc, is the one crucial failure of colonialism in Africa? Talk about ignorant, with all due respect. As for the connection between the west pouring in money and millions of deaths, as if the west funded the second Congo war... It's ridiculous. And please don't even try conflating legitimate FDI in tens of countries with procurement conflict minerals in Congo. I won't even mention the standard 'africa is not a country' stuff. Although you'll obviously be aware of that, stating that the west shouldn't invest in Africa because of atrocities in Congo is saying the US shouldn't do business with France, because of the situation in the Ukraine. It's completely ridiculous. Just look at plans like these, large solar energy infrastructure projects with European money, in part for the European market: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Morocco#/media/File:DESERTEC-Map_large.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Morocco#/media/F... and tell me this project shouldn't happen, because it fuels war. If anything, it'd bring Morocco and Algeria closer together through economic cooperation and interdependence for mutual benefit. Note that these are the exact same founding principles that largely initiated the European Union, a set of countries that waged brutal war for centuries yet have seen only peaceful cooperation between its members since its inception. I guess as you said, most people do underestimate how big Africa is, and how diverse its political landscape.