Let's End the Year With Music!

Let's end the year with music, to capture the African spirit of hope and joy. The music below is from Nigeria and it is sung in Pidgin English. The musicians are called P' Square and they are the craze of many young people in Africa today. The words capture our time.Once again, happy New Year!

Happy New Year To FlourishingAfrica Readers!

We at FlourishingAfrica wish a happy New Year to our readers all over the world. Since the beginning of this blog two years ago, our readership has spanned India and China, Russia, the United States, Europe, Australia, and countries all over Africa. In short, we are being read all over the world. Our goal has been to monitor developments on the continent of Africa and around the world, pointing out whether these developments have positive or negative effects on the lives of Africans. Like many regions around the world, this year has brought successes and setbacks to Africans around the world. While HIV and AIDS infections continue to fall, increasing attention is being paid to the development of science and technology. While the politics in many parts of the continent, from Cape to Cairo, have been encouraging, there are a few countries that continue to know violent unrest - Libya, Mali, Somalia, the Congo, CAR, Nigeria. Even though violent conflicts have reduced on the continent, they continue to be a disturbing trend on the continent. In all this, however, Africans around the world continue to maintain a very optimistic spirit. May this optimism spur us to continue to care for our own and others so that Africa may continue to flourish. May this coming year bring increasing peace and prosperity.

Controversy Over Smartphone And Tablet In Africa

There is currently an apparent controversy over the production of a smartphone and tablet in Africa. This is apparently due to the fact that Africans have begun to develop a liking for products made in the continent rather than elsewhere. Thus, it appears that companies are scrambling to claim that their products are made in Africa in order to gain authenticity. It is for this reason that a smartphone and tablet apparently "designed and engineered" in the Congo but "manufactured in China" is being pushed as an authentic African product that responds to the needs of Africans. The entrepreneur responsible for the development of the product even insisted that "Only Africans can know what Africa needs."
The story of the development of these products is just a technological version of a cultural story which Africans have been told for much of the recent history of the continent. This is clear when the company responsible for the development of the products responded to challenges to its African authenticity by saying that those who are mounting such challenges could be Afro-pessimists who hold that nothing good could come out of Africa. All of this begs the question of what an authentic African product should be or whether we can even talk of an authentically African product?
First, is there such a thing as an authentically African product? If there is to be such a thing, it should simply be a product that is invented and made in its entirety by Africans and in Africa, period. While the intrepeneur responsible for the development of the smartphone and tablet in the Congo must be greatly praised for his efforts, going by the definition of African authenticity above, his product is not authentically African. In fact, it is not clear to me why the product should specifically be associated with Africa apart from the fact that part of it was done in Africa. Whenever we say that a product is an African product, we should clearly define what we mean.
Second, should we talk of an African product? Well, like the language of cultural authenticity, the language of African product is motivated by the politics of cultural difference and marketing. The distinctiveness of the African is often seen as a plus in African cultural politics. This distinctiveness, taken to its extreme, has led the developer of this smartphone and tablet to make the erroneous claim that only Africans know what Africans need. This is a baffling claim because the smartphone and the tablet were not made for Africans. In fact, many of the products which Africans now use were not made specifically for Africans. The telephone itself is a good example. It is therefore possible that non-Africans can know what Africans need, especially given the fact that Africans are now falling in a big way for the smartphone and the tablet.
Still, the question remains -  should we talk of an African product? It is not clear to me whether we should or not. I can only say that Africans should not be making only African products - whatever that means. The technology developed in Africa should be universally valid technology. This means that African technology should not only respond to the needs of Africans. Any technology that is designed to respond to the needs of Africans should also be able to respond to the needs of people in other places around the world. Africans are not special - they are not better or worse than any other people around the world. Even though a particular technology may be invented and manufactured in Africa and for Africans, it should also have universal appeal. The product should be marketed around the world as simply a good product rather than as an African product. Samsung products, for example, are not sold around the world as Japanese products; they are simply sold as good products that people need. That is the direction African inventors, engineers, and entrepreneurs should be taking. We should stop fighting over African authenticity; that is a politics that limits our imagination. Let's just make good products rather than "African" products.

Aid Industry Cannot Fix Africa's Negative Image

Even though many countries in Africa have seen significant improvement in their politics and standards of living, the negative image of the continent seared in the minds of many around the world by the media and the aid industry has persisted. For many, the whole continent is painted in one broad stroke of despair, even though this is not the reality on the ground. The story of poverty, malnutrition, war, HIV and AIDS, and others, have been the mainstay of an aid industry that cares more about its survival than the interests of the people on the continent. And now, Oxfam seems to be having the epiphany that the story of Africa is not only one of despair but also one of remarkable prosperity. The call that Africa should be seen as characterized by both hope and despair, like any other place around the world, has largely fallen on deaf ears as many still continue (perhaps out of ignorance or malice or both) to paint the continent only in negative images. In every single African country, like in all countries around the world, there are those who are poor and those who are rich; there are those who exploit and those who are exploited; the are those who go hungry and those who are well fed; there are those who are homeless and those who live in mansions; there are those who live to ripe old age and those who die young. However, the patronizing attitude which the media and the aid industry maintains towards the continent continues to paint the continent as only one thing. The point is not to deny the challenges of the continent but rather to insist that the complexity of the continent must be at the forefront of how people view the continent.
There is significant poverty and malnutrition in China and India, for example, but that is not what is being talked about today. In the case of China, for example, the government does not welcome aid groups because it knows that aid groups do not build the image of a people. However, because aid groups are allowed to have their way with Africa, they drive the image of the continent which they want and that image persists around the world even in the midst of a remarkably diverse continent.
Without actually traveling to places like east Texas, Lousiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, one would hardly know that there are many people in the United states who do not have indoor plumbing but rather rely on pit latrines. These places are simply hidden from the view of the media but accentuated in the case of Africa. It is hardly popularized that millions of children go to bed hungry every day in America, however, that is often the story that emerges from Africa. Stories that are hidden elsewhere in the world are usually the stories that are accentuated in the case of Africa. This is a despicable state of affairs that simply needs to stop. However, as long as the aid industry is allowed to define how Africa is seen around the world, this negative image will persist because that is how the aid industry makes its living. Africans must constantly challenge this image wherever and whenever it raises its ugly head.

Arguments Against Santa With All Kinds Of Implications

I was scavenging the net today when I found this interesting opinion piece from Dante Chinni at Washington Post. Its arguments against Santa, I think, are just a thinly disguised argument against much of religion. It is interesting how one apparently limited argument could have wider implications. We may think that the belief about Santa is a child's play; however, it is rooted in our deeper religious imagination. I think it is important to ponder some of the questions raised in this piece especially from the social justice perspective.

Ben Ali's Wealth II: An African President's Thievery

See below the shiny objects of the former president of Tunisia, Ben Ali.

This Man Is Wanted In Nigeria!!!

Do you this man? Have you seen him anywhere? He is a former governor currently wanted by the Nigerian government. The Nigerian government would love to have him in custody for embezzlement.

All Russians Should Be Ashamed Of Zenit Fans' Racism

Considering that some of the best soccer players in world are black, one would think that fans would want their team to procure talent rather than race. In Russia, however, some fans of one of the leading teams in the country have opted for race rather than talent. This is only the latest manifestation of the rabid racism which is eating at the heart of Russia, in spite of the increasing proximity of racial and cultural diversity around the world. All Russians must denounce soccer fans who manifested what the coach of the team concerned described as "stupidity".

Virulent Chinese Racism No Different From Western Racism

Foreign Policy is running a piece that questions whether Chinese racism against Africans would hamper China-Africa relations. While this is a distinct possibility, Chinese racism should not be depicted as somehow different from Western racism. Powerful countries that deal with Africa have often done so not because they cherish their relationship with the continent but rather because the continent has certain things they would like to exploit. That was the case with Western incursion into Africa and it is currently the case with Chinese rampaging of the continent. These powerful countries generally hold Africa and Africans in contempt. Chinese contempt for Africans is just as deep as Western contempt for the continent. If Western racism did not diminish Western exploitation of the continent neither will Chinese racism diminish their exploitation  of the continent. In fact, the continent can only be rabidly exploited if it is held in contempt at the same time. Racism is the very reason why the continent is exploited. If China is to exploit Africa, China needs to be racist. The kind of exploitation which is visited on Africa by these imperialist powers cannot be done unless the African people are debased. Why would anyone exploit other people who are seen as equals?
Now that China is establishing a newspaper in an African country is there any similar African newspaper established in China? A relationship among equals can only exist if an African country can also establish its own newspaper in China to promote understanding among Africans and Chinese. African elites may want us to believe that China respects Africans but that is not true. These elites are now selling the African peoples to Chinese interests just as they sold us to Western interests. It is a shame.

Is Lionel Messi Highest Goal Scorer? Not So Fast!

With his magical dexterity at dribbling and goal scoring, Fifa seems poised to crown Lionel Messi of Barcelona as the highest goal scorer in a single season, ever. Messi apparently has 88 goals to his credit this season. However, soccer fans in Brazil and Zambia are saying that soccer stars in their respective countries scored more than that - 89 in Brazil and 107 in Zambia. If these claims are correct, then Messi still has ways to go! At the time of globalization, people can easily check the records so that new discoveries, inventions, and records are not falsely made.

Why Is Chevron Using African Women To Sell Gas In America?

Why is the commercial below running in America rather than in Africa? Does Chevron not contribute to fighting AIDS in America? Why are only African women used in the ad even though AIDS affects men also? With this ad Chevron continues the portrayal of Africans as helpless, a picture that sells well in America. If it is true that AIDS affects us all, as the ad claims, why are people all over the world not used in it? This ad is so insensitive that Chevron should be ashamed of itself and pull it off the air.

How Mohammed Mursi Became A Dictator

The above caption will be the title of the book detailing the tenure of the current president of Egypt, Mohammed Mursi, when his tenure is done. The story will include the deception of the Muslim Brotherhood, his political party, indicating how they promised not to field a candidate for the presidency and ended up reneging on that promise. It will include the power grab which the man is now orchestrating and how he is sending out tanks against his own people. It will be concluded that Mohammed Mursi never became different from Hosni Mubarak whom the people overthrew. It will be shown that Egypt deserved better.