That Africa has been present in the Western imagination mainly in negative terms can hardly be disputed. That is a function of how Africa came into the modern world - slavery, colonialism, neo-colonial, the much touted globalization. Africa came into the modern world through various shades of imperialism. This Africa is that mysterious land far away where "natives" roam in the wild. It is that fanciful land far away which has many valuable natural resources that are only meant to be carted off to enrich "civilizations" far away. This Africa, is a land which helps the West counts its blessings because things could be worse. It is the place where hungry children needs to be fed, the IMF and the World Bank need to make interminable, exploitative loans for infrastructural development, and Medecins Sans Frontieres and other medical charities go to give free medical care. In short, this Africa is far away; its troubles are those of a people far away. It does not concern us here in the West. It is this perception of Africa as a far away land whose well-being does not matter to those outside the continent that has funded the various forms of exploitation visited on the continent from the West and Asia (read: China).
With the advent of Ebola, however, the logic of this far away Africa which is only to be exploited is being put to the test. This is especially so because the ease of moving from place to place, which has been accelerated especially by modern transportation systems, makes it possible for Ebola to spread to many places in a very short time. The only virus in recent memory that was as potentially as devastating as Ebola was the HIV virus. However, HIV could be said to be less virulent than Ebola because it took longer to kill its victims and it could be contained in Africa. In fact, a law was passed that no one with HIV could migrate to the United States. However, Ebola is a stealth virus that is often discovered when it is almost too late. Thus, someone may be looking strong today but tomorrow they may be down. It is a virus that can only be curtailed with carefully structured medical care. Hence the various medical groups that are rushing to the affected African countries to provide some structure to minimal medical infrastructures.
With Ebola, the presence of Africa is however becoming more immediate and intimate. Africa is right here because a deadly virus that begins there may not end there. It may not take long before the virus reaches the neighborhoods of Dallas or a city in Spain. The point of this is not that Africa's presence now is in the form of a virus - reading this post in that way would be to perpetuate an ignorant image of Africa. What is means, however, is that the Africa that is far away and which can only be exploited is no longer tenable. What Martin Luther King, Jr., said about injustice may be applicable here. He said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Translated to our purposes here, we can say that an Africa without sufficient means to care for its own is a threat to people everywhere. The exploitation of Africa by its elites and their international collaborators has led to a situation where many countries in the continent are unable to take care of themselves. Thus, when a situation like Ebola erupts, the danger to the rest of the world is palpable. However, if Liberia had good medical infrastructure to take care of its own, one of its own would not be fleeing to the United States. The presence of the Ebola virus in Dallas can be read as a function of the massive exploitation of Liberia, an exploitation partly funded by the fact that Africa is seen as a far away land whose residents are inconsequential to the life of the rest of the world - they are good only to be exploited.
However,
the world is now flat, as Tom Friedman announced a while back. In this flat world, Africa's presence is getting closer and closer and until the well-being of the people of that continent becomes important to African elites and their international collaborators who conspire to emaciate its peoples, the world can be sure that any dangerous virus that begins there will not stay there. Africa is no longer far away. In fact, she has never been far away in the modern world even though she has been spoken of mostly in her absence. The sooner her presence is taken seriously the better for everyone.
