May 3, 2013
Why do westernized Africans think they can teach us?
by Lekan Abayomi
NewsRescue- Why do westernized Africans think they have the liberty to insult Africans to European audiences?
Laying out “pathetic” stories from an Africa they do not know, to give an idea of helplessness and need for pity from these audiences?
I listened to Patrick Awuah who had an obvious free advertisement in form of an article published on CNN, May 1st, describing him as a so called millionaire, who had decided to exit Microsoft to go to Africa to “train African leaders.”
What gives him the audacity to think he can train African leaders? Training in the United States? Experience working for western fortune 500 companies?
What irritated me the most listening to his speech is when Patrick described the need to “enlighten” African leaders. Enlighten? Is a lack of enlightenment the problem of African leaders? What does this “enlighten,” mean, “Illuminate?”
Does he not see the need to train African commoners? Why is he heading for the leaders? Do leaders make a society or does the society determine its leadership? Do leaders not emerge from commoners? When leaders are of a different strain than commoners, is this not colonization?
Is Patrick in Africa to implant a colonial mind in our new leaders to continue the Royal Niger company colonialist bargain of “development tied to European receipt of more than half of proceeds?”
After all, no one does not know of what one of their “western enlightened” peers, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf did to Liberia, sealing 100-year binding sellout resource deals with America, after to the worlds astonishment, we Africans solved their crises and restored democracy with our ECOMOG force.
Patrick gave a sentimental story about some friend of his in surgery and the power went off allegedly and there was not even a candle, lantern or flash light to continue the surgery. Going on to describe it as being pitch black in the OR with the patient crying from lack of anesthesia? Really?
How about these people come straight with their agenda and mission to Africa, to contribute a new level of cultural colonization, from top down.
A similar speech I heard, again on another of the same TED talks episode by a popular Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie, went on the same line.
Her speech, titled, “Why we all need to be feminists.” was delivered with Chimamanda dressed in a African top and a body clutching, all curve revealing pant. She definitely set out to illustrate what she wishes African new feminists wear to formal gatherings.
Chimamanda likewise gave some pathetic stories of experiences in her supposed past, to create a “aaaw,” pity reaction in her western audience.
Her dressing was no accident, the African garb upon body revealing pants. None of her white audience wore such pants to the meeting. No, it’s not formal, it’s not worn by them themselves in professional or semi-formal settings.
The typical white wife is not a feminist. She has traditional culture, she respects and values her husband. It’s the worst of the west that these people decide to bring home. To “teach,” us. Feminism is not the solution to male chauvinism. Of course not. Just as “Black racism,” if such could exist is not the answer to racism.
If Chimamanda is interested in not having men helping her open the door, carry her heavy bag… if she no longer wants ladies nights, and ladies first, and men picking the tab, let this be her choice and hers alone. In Africa, we believe women are the delicate species, the emotional species and we have decided to keep it that way. If our system did not work, the white man would have met no Africa to steal technology from and cart away slaves to build his societies.
Truth is, it is only the likes of Oprah Winfrey, the ambassador of this disorder to minorities, whose “man,” was her dog and “pet” was her man, who push the radical feminist agenda. Little surprise her old age had her set up a girls school in Africa as some sort of “family.”
So my question is, why are these people trying to export the worst from the western world to Africa?
How about bringing in what we need and not what they think they want to donate to us?
How about they first come to Africa and learn what we are about again, before they make these decisions to change and “transform,” us as Patrick put it.
Is enlightenment our problem in Africa?
Is enlightenment the reason why SAP and IMF policies create an environment of unfair trade which destroys our ability to become competitive, self sufficient and develop our industry?
Is enlightenment the reason why African and black Caribbean countries have paid the north(western nations) three times over, what we borrowed from them in IMF loans as exorbitant interest?
As French President Francois Mitterand put it in 1994:
‘Despite the considerable sums spent on bilateral and multilateral aid, the flow of capital from Africa toward the industrial countries is greater than the flow of capital from the industrial countries to the developing countries’ (see Touissaint and Comanne 1995: 10-12).
Is a lack of enlightenment the reason why western nations smuggle and sell and supply so many small arms to gangs in Africa, which are then responsible for 90% of our violence related deaths?
Was it a lack of enlightenment that enabled our best and brightest leaders, the likes of Thomos Sankara to be assassinated by suspected western organized plots?
Do we not know that western governments have just as much corruption as African have, the only difference being the western historic and continuous exploitation of African and Middle Eastern man power and resource including the new unbelievable “carbon-credits,” and brains to keep their finances up?
If we had forgotten, the recent confession by all major media, that the bloody western war against Iraq was a “war on false pretext simply for oil, big oil,” reminded us of how the western countries re-fill their economies and corrupt officials’ companies pockets by invading other “less enlightened,” nations.
My advise to all these westernized Africans is,- either come to Africa and learn who we are and what we go through, with the mind to learn from us and work with us as equal Africans, or stay where you are and deal with your social challenges, which include some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy, gun-related and adolescent violence, HIV, wealth disparity to mention a few.
Chimamanda in particular, I will advise you focus on the leading cause of death for African American women between the ages of 25-34, hopefully you know what that is. That is a worthwhile “feminist,” cause for you.
But please do not give lectures with the illusion that you are able and capable of telling us what we need to do, and do not come to Africa to “enlighten our leaders.”
