**PART #2 XXX Africans forgotten continent
A worrying aspect of this current fad of globalisation is the lack of historical context and political responsibility in discussing the Third world and especially Africa. We are seen as the "problem continent", "forgotten continent", and "poor cousins of the rich north". These are the dominant imagery of Africa in the West.

Without contextualising the various conflicts on the continent, Africans have popularly become a bunch of hopeless people who cannot do anything for themselves; a continent and a people needing help, charity cases and humanitarian junkies. Yet these countries and the perennial conflicts did not just come out of the blues. What is Somalia, Liberia or Nigeria? These are artificial states created by European colonialism.

They are the result of a previous globalising mission: Globalisation of Colonialism. That was why the infamous Berlin Conference of 1884/85 was convened to rationalise European imperial greed. It was a global attempt by the dominant European powers of that time to settle the Colonial question in Africa, to reduce competition by parceling out exclusive markets and labour reserves for those powers, namely Britain, Germany, France, Portugal, Belgium and Spain.

That is why today we have 54 odd and ugly countries with arbitrary borders that should course nightmare to any sensible Cartographer. Some of the borders are straight lines drawn up by drunken colonialists and their cohorts marooned together in a do-or-die conference in Berlin with different wines competing with the odd assembly of maps, rulers and compasses.

Where straight lines won't do they compromised around principles like natural boundaries (i.e. rivers, mountains and lakes!). There are many anecdotes about the whimsical ways in which European globalising colonialists decided the borders and therefore subsequent history, culture and politics, of the colonial peoples.

Take for instance the Kilimanjaro Mountain (the highest mountain in Africa) and about one million people who live around it. It used to be part of colonial Kenya until a British Monarch who was stuck about what gift to give to a German Kaiser for a birthday celebration decided on a 'cute little mountain in Africa'. And with that the fate of the people was determined.

A decision that has a permanent socio-economic and political consequence for them. For instance, education which had till then been in English had to change to German who were then the Colonial powers in Tanganyika (since 1965 called Tanzania). Thus you cannot talk about the problems of nation building in Africa today without understanding or focusing on the way in which these borders were created for the convenience, greed and vanity of Europe's rulers.

What is new?

We do not see this globalisation as a new thing. There may indeed be a new context. But we have seen globalisation before. We have also gone through New World Orders before.

The order that has now become old that we are supposed to be burying and replacing with a newly declared World order was only declared 50 years ago. It was the result of the balance of power after the defeat of fascism in Europe in 1945, the outcome of genocide in Europe. Again, almost 50 years later (in April 1994) in the throes of another New World order we had genocide in Rwanda.

There is a wide concern that this new globalisation, as in the past, is almost inseparable from Westernisation and Americanisation. The collapse of Eastern Europe has helped to popularise this new orthodoxy that, there is no alternative (TINA) to Western capitalism, as a new global religion.

Tough regime of the market and the sanctity of capitalism are the preferred mantra. In Africa the record of capitalism does not match this myth. While people in Eastern Europe may claim that they are running away from socialism/communism (even though current developments there have tempered earlier capitalist optimism with realism), the majority of African states have never been socialist. Therefore our people cannot be running away from it. If we are running away from anything it is the brutality and mass poverty that continue to dominate our lives our lives under global capitalism.

The majority of our states remained loyal servants of the West and its markets and yet the majority of them cannot show the growth, let alone substantial development that their romance with the capitalist wolf has bought to the majority of their peoples in even the richer countries like Nigeria, Zaire, South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, etc. So this newly received wisdom about the market rings hollow in Africa's ears because the record of capitalism in our countries has neither been democratic or developmental.

However the reality is that the West/America control our economies and have politico-military hegemony over global political economy. Our subordination is supervised and guaranteed under the tight leash of allegedly multilateral institutions (controlled by the West/USA) of which we are technically and theoretically equal members such as the UN. System, the Breton Woods Institutions, World Trade Organisation, etc.

The IMF/WB are in direct control of most of the African States and spread Western economic gospels to states that cannot afford to say no. They have global solutions to all problems regardless of local specificities.

Their solutions are like the ever present quack pharmacists and doctors found in our cities peddling concoctions that can cure 1000 diseases, from ant bites to high blood pressure! So the Structural Adjustment Programmes proposed by these institutions call for deregulation (read devaluation) of currency markets and the monetary system; privatisation of public enterprises; retrenchment of public employees; liberalisation of the economy; cut backs in welfare Programmes and generally a return to an atmosphere of Hobesian state of nature where human beings become predators on fellow human beings in the name of "free competition" and "survival of the fittest".

XX Part #1 &COUNTING 13

Africa and Europe have had a continuous contact of more than 400 years. It has been a relationship of domination, exploitation and oppression. Whatever happens in Europe tends to have ripple effects in Africa. Therefore any idea that has become fashionable in Europe trickles down into intellectual and political discussions/battles in Africa.


One of the key aspects of this globalisation is information. There is a sense in which the world has become a village. Thanks to CNN and the radical transformation in Satellite broadcasting, many places in Africa where it may be difficult to get a clean cup of water, you can still watch CNN.

One of the ironies of this technological advancement is that while Europeans and Americans are struggling for supremacy in space, struggling to hoist their flags and competing about who makes it in the shortest time and highest orbit, in Africa as, in many parts of the Third World, "We are still trying to get to the Village" as Prof. Ali Mazrui puts it.

Thus, while people in Europe may be obsessed by Globalisation, we are still talking of Villagisation, getting to the village where the majority of our people work and live.

The discussion on globalisation has a particular context - i.e. the collapse of the previously existing socialist block (U.S.S.R and Eastern Europe). This discourse has been ushered in by various intellectual ideas and Political conclusions drawn from them such as Samuel Huntington's CLASH OF CIVILISATION and Francis Fukuyama's END OF HISTORY.

The theory of end of Ideology has of course been with us before Fukuyama's annihilation of history and the triumphalism about the hegemony of western values, ideas and civilisation. In short, a celebration of the assumed victory of capitalism over socialism. The collapse of Eastern Europe has bought about a new arrogance by Euro-American imperialist powers, with no check from a countervailing force. Thus there is a drive to homogenize the world at all levels (economic, ideological and political) but more perniciously, at the cultural level.

Its ideologists insist that we must think the same way, organise society in the same way, not allowing any alternatives to Western values and systems of organising society. In this hegemonic scheme, the rest of us, who are actually the vast majority of humanity, are supposed to be non-starters or at best, late comers whose only destiny is to follow the lead and paths already trodden by the West. To put it more crudely: America won the cold war and the prize of that victory is for the rest of us to Americanise.

There is a saying." if two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers". But it is also true that even if two elephants make love, the grass still suffers. That is the conclusion we in the Third World can draw from Soviet collaboration with the West and the collapse of Eastern Europe.

When the USSR and the USA were at each other's throats during the Cold War, we were victims. Our political groups and movements, our governments and states were judged whether they were pro-west or pro-east. The tragic consequences of that experience can be seen today in places like Angola, Ethiopia, Somalia and Mozambique, just as they are evident in Vietnam and Cambodi

Sommet des amorces africaines à Tokyo comptant # 15 - quatre,
excursion africaine de lancements le premier ministre japonais est
arrivés en Ethiopie au début d'une visite à deux nations africaines
pendant que le Japon augmente au delà de sa diplomatie
Asie-focalisée.

Junichiro Koizumi, qui a quitté le Japon samedi, se dirigera au
Ghana après l'Ethiopie. Il est l'amorce japonaise de la première
séance pour visiter les deux pays.

"la visite japonaise du premier ministre vers Addis Ababa
souligne l'importance de l'Afrique pour l'intérêt du Japon et
du Japon en Afrique," un rapport de l'ambassade du Japon en Ethiopie
dite.

Son voyage d'une semaine vient parmi des relations tendues entre le Japon
et la Chine, qui avait recherché à augmenter sa propre influence
dans le monde en voie de développement.

l'Afrique courtisante est une partie principale de la stratégie de
Tokyo pour gagner un siège permanent sur le Conseil de sécurité des
Nations Unies - un but japonais de politique étrangère au lequel la
Chine s'est opposé.

Koizumi, premier ministre de la long-portion du Japon dans une
génération, bout a visité le continent en septembre 2002 pour un
sommet global sur le développement soutenable en Afrique du sud.

En Ethiopie il devait rencontrer Meles Zenawi, le premier ministre,
dimanche et puis lundi la tête de la commission africaine des
syndicats, l'alpha Oumar Konare, dont l'organisation est basée
dans la capitale éthiopienne.

Le seul l'autre amorce japonaise de séance à aller en Afrique était
le prédécesseur Yoshiro Mori de Koizumi, qui a voyagé au Kenya,
au Nigéria et les Sud Afrique en 2001.

Concurrence

Le Japon, l'économie en second lieu la plus grande du monde
et un donateur important d'aide, dans 1993 ont lancé une initiative
pour battre du tambour vers le haut du soutien international de
l'Afrique.

À un sommet des amorces africaines à Tokyo en 2003, le Japon a
offert à $1 milliards à l'excédent de continent les cinq années
suivantes, alors que Koizumi se vouait à tripler l'aide en Afrique
en trois ans au groupe de l'année dernière du sommet huit.

Néanmoins, l'année dernière la proposition commune du Japon avec le
Brésil, l'Allemagne et l'Inde pour agrandir le Conseil de sécurité
a terminé en vain après qu'ils n'aient pas gagné le plein support
de l'union de l'Africain 53-member.

Richesse et influence

D'autres pays asiatiques également essayent de forger des
cravates plus fortes avec l'Afrique, qui souffre toujours de la
pauvreté et des conflits civils mais ont les ressources naturelles
riches et tiennent souvent des voix de bâti aux conférences
internationales.

Hu Jintao, président chinois, Maroc visité, Nigéria et Kenya en
avril après MOO-Hyun de Roh, président coréen du sud,
est allé en Egypte, au Nigéria et en Algérie en mars.

Hu Jintao est bien accueilli dans Rabat Chine, le consommateur
d'énergie du nombre-deux du monde après les USA, avait emballé pour
fixer des sources sûres d'énergie pour alimenter son rapidement
économie en expansion.

Pékin a dessiné la critique pour investir au Soudan en dépit
du resserrement pro-gouvernmental des milices dans la province de Darfur. En
février, l'Angola, qui a également apprécié une attention chinoise
principale, a censément complété l'Arabie Saoudite en tant que
principal fournisseur du pétrole de la Chine.

Dans une offre pour prendre l'avantage par rapport à ses rivaux
asiatiques, le Japon a indiqué qu'il décale la destination de son
aide étrangère "des pays pauvres justes" à des associés plus
stratégiques.

Le Japon, dont l'aide s'était concentrée sur l'Asie, projette
terminer l'aide financière en Chine avant que des Jeux Olympiques
2008 de Pékin au symbolise l'apparition du pays.

En revanche, l'aide du Japon vers l'Afrique augmente. La subvention du
Japon vers l'Afrique pendant l'année à mars 2005 a monté 13.5% de
l'année précédente à 45 milliards de Yens ($390 millions).

Les prêts, cependant, sont demeurés extrêmement minces car le Japon
est hésitant de prêter l'argent aux pays en voie de développement
à la suite d'une série de levées de dette exigées par elles, des
nations notamment africaines.

Counting # 15 - Three, launches African tour
The Japanese prime minister has arrived in Ethiopia at the start of a visit to two African nations as Japan expands beyond its Asia-focused diplomacy.

Junichiro Koizumi, who left Japan on Saturday, will head to Ghana after Ethiopia. He is the first sitting Japanese leader to visit the two countries.

"The Japanese prime minister's visit to Addis Ababa underlines the importance of Africa for Japan and Japan's interest in Africa," a statement from Japan's embassy in Ethiopia said.

His week-long trip comes amid strained relations between Japan and China, which has been seeking to increase its own influence in the developing world.

Wooing Africa is a key part of Tokyo's strategy to win a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council - a Japanese foreign policy goal that China has opposed.

Koizumi, Japan's longest-serving premier in a generation, last visited the continent in September 2002 for a global summit on sustainable development in South Africa.

In Ethiopia he was to meet Meles Zenawi, the prime minister, on Sunday and then on Monday the head of the African Union commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, whose organisation is based in the Ethiopian capital.

The only other sitting Japanese leader to go to Africa was Koizumi's predecessor Yoshiro Mori, who travelled to Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa in 2001.

Competition

Japan, the world's second largest economy and a major aid donor, in 1993 launched an initiative to drum up international support for Africa.

At a summit of African leaders in Tokyo in 2003, Japan offered $1 billion to the continent over the following five years, while Koizumi vowed to triple aid to Africa in three years at last year's Group of Eight summit.

Even so, last year Japan's joint proposal with Brazil, Germany and India to enlarge the Security Council ended in vain after they failed to win full backing from the 53-member African Union.

Wealth and influence

Other Asian countries are also attempting to forge stronger ties with Africa, which still suffers from poverty and civil conflicts but has rich natural resources and often holds casting votes at international conferences.

Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, visited Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya in late April after Roh Moo-Hyun, the South Korean president, went to Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria in March.

Hu Jintao is welcomed in Rabat
China, the world's number-two energy consumer after the US, has been racing to secure dependable sources of energy to feed its rapidly expanding economy.

Beijing has drawn criticism for investing in Sudan despite pro-government militias' crackdown in Darfur province. In February, Angola, which has also enjoyed major Chinese attention, reportedly topped Saudi Arabia as China's leading oil supplier.

In a bid to take the lead over its Asian rivals, Japan has said it is shifting the destination of its foreign assistance from "just poor countries" to more strategic partners.

Japan, whose aid had focused on Asia, plans to terminate financial assistance to China by the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to symbolise the country's emergence.

In contrast, Japan's aid to Africa is increasing. Japan's grant-in-aid to Africa for the year to March 2005 rose 13.5% from the previous year to 45 billion yen ($390 million).

Loans, however, have remained extremely thin as Japan is hesitant to lend money to developing countries in the wake of a series of debt waivers demanded by them, notably African nations.

Counting # 15 - Two, launches African tour
The Japanese prime minister has arrived in Ethiopia at the start of a visit to two African nations as Japan expands beyond its Asia-focused diplomacy.

Junichiro Koizumi, who left Japan on Saturday, will head to Ghana after Ethiopia. He is the first sitting Japanese leader to visit the two countries.

"The Japanese prime minister's visit to Addis Ababa underlines the importance of Africa for Japan and Japan's interest in Africa," a statement from Japan's embassy in Ethiopia said.

His week-long trip comes amid strained relations between Japan and China, which has been seeking to increase its own influence in the developing world.

Wooing Africa is a key part of Tokyo's strategy to win a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council - a Japanese foreign policy goal that China has opposed.

Koizumi, Japan's longest-serving premier in a generation, last visited the continent in September 2002 for a global summit on sustainable development in South Africa.

In Ethiopia he was to meet Meles Zenawi, the prime minister, on Sunday and then on Monday the head of the African Union commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, whose organisation is based in the Ethiopian capital.

The only other sitting Japanese leader to go to Africa was Koizumi's predecessor Yoshiro Mori, who travelled to Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa in 2001.

Competition

Japan, the world's second largest economy and a major aid donor, in 1993 launched an initiative to drum up international support for Africa.

At a summit of African leaders in Tokyo in 2003, Japan offered $1 billion to the continent over the following five years, while Koizumi vowed to triple aid to Africa in three years at last year's Group of Eight summit.

Even so, last year Japan's joint proposal with Brazil, Germany and India to enlarge the Security Council ended in vain after they failed to win full backing from the 53-member African Union.

Wealth and influence

Other Asian countries are also attempting to forge stronger ties with Africa, which still suffers from poverty and civil conflicts but has rich natural resources and often holds casting votes at international conferences.

Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, visited Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya in late April after Roh Moo-Hyun, the South Korean president, went to Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria in March.

Hu Jintao is welcomed in Rabat
China, the world's number-two energy consumer after the US, has been racing to secure dependable sources of energy to feed its rapidly expanding economy.

Beijing has drawn criticism for investing in Sudan despite pro-government militias' crackdown in Darfur province. In February, Angola, which has also enjoyed major Chinese attention, reportedly topped Saudi Arabia as China's leading oil supplier.

In a bid to take the lead over its Asian rivals, Japan has said it is shifting the destination of its foreign assistance from "just poor countries" to more strategic partners.

Japan, whose aid had focused on Asia, plans to terminate financial assistance to China by the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to symbolise the country's emergence.

In contrast, Japan's aid to Africa is increasing. Japan's grant-in-aid to Africa for the year to March 2005 rose 13.5% from the previous year to 45 billion yen ($390 million).

Loans, however, have remained extremely thin as Japan is hesitant to lend money to developing countries in the wake of a series of debt waivers demanded by them, notably African nations.