I agree Yarrow that Stephen Lewis sees only part of the picture, and may be somewhat misinformed, however I do not doubt his sincerity and his intentions. He is operating within his own paradigm, and you in yours. Neither him, nor you or I can see the whole picture, the whole system.

I believe that foreign aid and development have a very sorry history and aren't very helpful, but are really there to ameliorate the disasterous effecs of the Western world's economic policies. From the slave trade to that evil ogre Cecil Rhodes to King Leopold of Belgium to DeBeers to Talisman Energy, the story of Africa is one of unmitigated exploitation. Western wealth was pirated from Africa, the New World and now on this era of transnational corporations there is not a corner of the planet that is not viewed as a potential generator of wealth.

Until we find a way to get out of Africa, I think it is worthwhile to pay attention to the words and ideas of Stephen Lewis. Please consider that his opinions are not set in stone, and ideas like yours Yarrow may add to his understanding of the issue.

M

Stephen Lewis's problem is not that he abhors the injustice demonstrated by the incidence of AIDS. Who doesn't?
Nor is his problem ignorance -- he would be the first to recognise that no-one has the optimum strategy in all its details.
Stephen's problem is that he would like us all to DO something about the injustice of AIDS in Africa, and start working on it rather than talking, posturing, paying lipservice, and exploiting every opportunity to piggyback contradictory agendas on the common cause (for example, US discouragment of condom use under the guise of fighting AIDS. removal of support for family health agencies which don't discourage abortions, etc.,etc.).

I agree, Mink, I think Lewis's insight should not be too easily discarded.

He has been one of the few western voices that have recognized the truly vital part African women play in the sustenance of Africa...as he has said:

...the stunning absence of emphasis on women in the official pronouncements of the G8 is an ominous omen for the delivery of committments made. You simply cannot be serious about Africa and treat women with such contempt.

The above notion ties in, I think, with your reference, Mink, "to the disastrous effects of the Western world's economic policies".

Both inside and outside Africa, the corruption that those economic policies breed and ultimately depend upon have made the social issues around which women's lives revolve seem of negligible importance, of little consequence, in comparison to the constant pumping up of the never-ending corporate quest that now consumes our world... the generation of wealth.

Our social infrastructure has been annihilated worldwide through the consequences of a very much "intended" policy of neglect.

In just my opinion, that to me, at least, is where the true radicalization of women is missing its cue...too many women are joining the corporate team, becoming enslaved to it, instead of rallying against it. The true power of women lies in the defense and upholding of the social system and... (and this is a radical opinion on my part)...on an all-out refusal to participate in a corporate system that has fatally blind-sided our social structure...not to mention the future of our children.

So, if as Lewis suggests, women must play a vital role in the economic, political, civil life of Africa ( or anywhere in this world for that matter) it must be a new role and a new vision, because the greedy, tired old...and badly failing corporate one is destroying us all.

I look forward to reading the series. I am, of course, skepical of the worth of most government aid programs because they have shown that they don't deliver many positive long-term benefits.

Too many people assert that if **we** only did more, Africa would be on the road to recovery. Unfortunately so many of Africa's tragedies, like the famine in Zimbabwe, are self-inflicted by its political despots.

My God, even someone as well-intentioned and decent as "Mink" still believes that there has been a net transfer of funds from the West to Africa. Here's a quotation from Molly Kane, Co-chair of the Africa-Canada Forum, and a witness at last May's Canadian Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Africa: "...the net transfer of resources, when you combine aid, terms of trade, debt servicing and capital flight is actually FROM AFRICA TO INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES. Africa is subsidizing us when you look at the entire economic picture." Regarding Lewis' new-found disenchantment with celebs--as recently as a few months ago in another Tyee article he was quoted as saying, answering a query by Scott Deveau: "If you can't get your political leaders to get engaged then you get Oprah Winfrey and Bono and Clinton and Mandela and you attempt to raise the consciousness of the world by drawing on your celebrity figures." Lewis is obviously a very well-meaning but silly and naive man. If he had said this to me I would have laughed in his face. As long as we're going to continue believing all of these lies regarding Africa, there is nothing the West can do. I repeat, there has been no aid to Africa; Celebrities are ENABLERS. That is, they allow Western masses to imagine that something is being done. I will admit that Lewis in recent articles seems to be genuinely shocked. The first question to be answered regarding the West's responsibility is this: How much of Africa's tragedy has been caused by Western interference, theft of resources, supporting killers and kleptocrats, not to mention wholesale historical tormenting of Africa in the slave days and under European despots like Leopold 2, and the United States supporting of killers and thieves like Sese Seko Mobutu in Zaire, who singlehandedly stole a huge proportion of that nation's entire wealth and completely destroyed its infrastructure?

How many Canadians know, for instance, that 500,000 Ugandans tested the new polio vaccines in 1959 because Western scientists couldn't do such dangerous drug tests on "real" people--and that there's a very good, but seldom-mentioned, case to be made that mutagenesis of the simian immune virus (from an animal to animal and animal to human) to human to human was caused by using monkey and chimpanzee kidney cells in the vaccine manufacturing process because simian kidney cells are exceptionally fast in cell division? Of course, the scientists claim that the virus came from Africans eating monkeys and chimps--to which the obvious answer is that Africans have been eating monkeys and chimps for thousands of years and the virus did not jump species until Western pharmaceuticals went into Africa to test their vaccines on Africans.

That is to say HIV is merely a mutated SIV.

Usually the best way to discover the help someone needs (if he really needs it) is to ask him. Now it may be true that many African leaders are corrupt despots, but Africans hardly have a lock on corruption (one only need look at the Gomery Inquiry or at what seems to be standard practice in our neighbour to the south to confirm this).

So, if upon inquiry, an African leader, however venal, said that his country needs agricultural equipment, basic hospital equipment, training for nurses and doctors, food aid (including nutritional supplements), or drugs for HIV treatment, can we seriously say that we would doubt the truth of such a request? Particularly if we have had (perhaps through the UN) people on the ground reporting that the country there lacks food, medical infrastructure, and suffers an epidemic of HIV?

And if, given the apparent differences in health, wealth and welfare between us, and given the historically documented exploitation of Africa, we were to refuse assistance needed, does that not say more about Western priorities and moral concern than about Africa and Africans?

How can we not respond and still claim some kind of common humanity?

Well said, Birch.

Prior to European colonization, Africa had many many thriving cultures. It was never the "dark continent" The largest commodity traded in Timbuctu 500 years ago was books. We Westerners came in, exploited their resources, sent slaves all over the world, carved up their continent, left the place in a disgrace, in a ______ mess. It's the very least we in the west can do, to do something.

We have a moral obligation to give back what we have stolen in a meaningful way.

As far as I am concerned, Stephen Lewis is one of the greatest heroes of our time. He is an amazing brilliant man who has exhausted himself trying to call the attention of a selfish idiotic Western world to an enormous human tragedy. That anyone can even think of dissing him boggles my mind. He deserves the Nobel Peace prize and I hope he gets it.

Thanks for the history lesson TG. So what's your solution? According to your view, Africa would be better off without any foreign aid and I agree, we could use the money to promote local economies and foster a more local model to achieve sustainablity. But, just how do you intend to stop the global economist/colonizers from continuing their assault? Try using your consummer dollar to voice your displeasure. Don't buy anything that isn't produced locally. It's that or you are supporting the existing belief that the free market and democracy will save us all. We just need to modernize them to fit our vision. In case you didn't notice, there is plenty of unrest starting to grow here as we see what is really going on behind the scenes. Politicians and CEO's lining their pockets with your money. They tax you almost to death, then pass out some life support so as not to kill the goose then they pocket your taxes in the form of aid and sweet insider contracts. Do you get the picture yet? Perhaps some of these enablers have brought the issues into the light. Have you ever heard more than a 15 second clip from any of them on the MSM? No, because the media want you to see starving and warmongering Africans, then they quickly tell you about the evil tyrant who caused it. It takes only a few minutes of research with modern tools to find an opposing viewpoint and then you have started to think for yourself. We need to educate people to think for themselves so that they can apply that knowledge in their daily lives. Soon the local organic market would be full and SaveONFood would be empty. Personal responsibility. Another thing I'm getting tired of is the company some of you are keeping. Cozying up to the likes of Canuck 666 makes me think you may just be enablers yourselves. You are either part of the solution or you are part of the problem.

Well, clubofrome, I was about where Stephen Lewis is today in his disenchantment with celebrities and his accusations of the West's complicity in Africa's tragedy, in l980 when I wrote a poem about the dying African children I was seeing on television and how I understood their deaths on the plains of Africa. My cynicism stems from the fact that I just can't believe that I'm any smarter than he is. What took him so long to figure out what's really causing all of this suffering and slaughter? He was there much of the time, gainfully employed by the United Nations. I was sitting in a suite in Aldergrove. As far as what needs to be done... Well, what needs to be done will never be done because Africa just doesn't have the strategic value to the West, especially when we're beginning to get antsy regarding the new emerging powers of China and India. What we need, we can steal by supporting criminal governments--business as usual. I met a man from Nigeria. He told me that if you have money in Nigeria you are a god, and that very little business ever happens without some kind of payoff. He thought that Africa needs a million-man army to come from North America and Western Europe and overthrow all the criminals posing as politicians. That would be a good start, but of course, it will never happen. Africa looks bad today, in 10 years it will appear as a Hieronymus Bosch painting. As far as me cozying up to Canuck 666, I thought I was a bit hypocritical condemning the Airborne so easily as I've never had to put my body at risk in some armed intervention like Canadian peacekeeping forces do--sometimes in worthy causes.

I think Lynn has identified the leverage point in the system. I'm thinking of the juggernaut that is industrial civilization with all it's accompanying ills. The power of women; the power of your mom.

Gentlemen, what do we have to loose? If somehow we were end this dark age of materialistic paternalism, we could get back to fishing, playing sports, making music, creating art, playing with kids, building boats and bicycles.... This is what we were meant to do. The Estrogen Revolution has begun. Encourage it.

Mink, did I see you imply that women are less materialistic than men? Damn, I read somewhere that women are the driving force behind 80% of all purchases in Canada, but I can't give a proper source unfortunately. Anyhew, have you watched channel W on tv recently. It's all about getting, improving, renovating, and hoarding STUFF. Please,please, Mink explain why you would think such a thing. I bet channel W has done marketing research on their viewers, eh. My view is that women are at least as attached to their stuff as men, that is MATERIALISTIC, and hence no closer to, "rallying against the corporate team," as lynn claims. Or perhaps she's merely claiming that as an ideal and understands that it is not the present state of affairs.

Mr. Name Goes Here, I think you told the whole sickening story in a nutshell. You said, "We have an obligation to give back what we have stolen in a meaningful way." I think that's the most constructive comment yet on this subject. I also think its a poem.

Stephen Lewis is getting a heap of praise lately, and was on CBC last night. His disenchanment does not include all celebrities but he sure slagged Sir Bob Geldof, while giving the nod to Bono and Oprah as doers. I think Africa is just the first victim of the worlds slash and burn economy. Central and South America is next, unless they can take matters into their own hands and kick out the overlords, such as Monsanto, Bectel...
Thanks for you response. Have a nice day Truman.

Truman, I am saying exactly what I wrote... that sadly too many women are participating in corporate culture right now...it's like a bell tolling that all is just about lost.

As Africa reveals, corporate culture will destroy all the values that women once represented...the true power of women to create, nourish, sustain, educate and love. To be creative and original. What more than that is life really about?

Women hold the potential and the power of offering a refuge, "a life to be lived fully" in a more natural world...a life distinctly removed from the mechanical, rigidly conformist, industrialized world...instead they are becoming more and more entrenched in it...too many dream of briefcases, high heels, high finance and the world of money, 9-5, and endless things. So goes the world...

I agree, makes for a more interesting man and a more interesting life...for all. Not that women couldn't build boats and bicycles, too :-)

It's a very short time we have on this earth...I'm not spending my time here helping to make dick Cheney and Bush Co. even richer.

Look u gotta start somewhere and what I have been doing is organizing and cooking a community dinner here in Toronto in an area close to Moss Park that has lots of blacks from North Africa. I make them feel at home and welcome. That's a start u have to contribute to a person's personal sense of worth and happiness - do something here.

p.s. I notice that u and Mr. Lewis met in a really simple, cheap eatery, eh?

Good on you, pevanchuk for trying to do something real. I was totally pissed off too, that this interview came from the Vancouver Hotel. Tenove quotes Lewis as asking, "I don't understand it. Why is there any resistance to plunging in and attempting to save peoples' lives?" Imagine asking this sitting in the Hotel Vancouver! Well one of the reasons for resistance, is that most Canadians think that the West has already given huge amounts to Africa. They don't understand that we've given far less than we've taken. Westerners just haven't grasped the degree of theft that has gone on. And they probably don't even realize that Canada stipulates that all funds given to foreign governments must be used to purchase foodstuffs and materials from Canadian companies, and that most of the aid is, in effect, actually subsidizing CANADIAN COMPANIES, and most of the materials are actually surpluses. They don't even know that during the 60's when the colonizers (that is, thieves) finally were evicted from their former African slave states, the West refused to include the new nations in the world market. I remember, as a third-year student at UBC, reading a primary source regarding Kenya. It was written by a young soldier in the British army who was writing home to his mother. It went something like this, "Well, mother, we just killed about eight hundred nigs yesterday. They're stacked up in piles all over the place. Maybe now we'll get some peace and quiet around here." That's generally how the West has behaved in Africa. When the Portuguese, finally cut and ran from Angola and Mosambique for instance, they tried to destroy the infrastructure before they left How much of this story has Stephen Lewis ever told? His method seems to be to appeal to people's consciences. There has been a massive crime committed. Unfortunately the criminal Western states which perpetrated it are the only ones now in a position to correct it. Yeah, a million-man army to destroy the dictators, and about a trillion dollars in real aid would be a good start. Other than that, it's more "bull----" and speaking and book tours.

HEY CLUBNUT!!

You talking shit about me here too??

Do I have to expose you as the nutty zealot that you are yet AGAIN????

Leave Truman alone...he made a valid point, and that's the end of it. Seems you go WAY off the deep end, if any of these fine folks so much as agree with ANYTHING I've said.

Good. Keep it up.

Because you'll find that'll be happening a lot from now on, ya nutjob.

Canuck1
(A.K.A. MR. Devil Spawn, author of "The Liquidation Manifesto")

Don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but foreign aid can often compund the corruption. Although it has become jingoism, 'trade not aid' still holds significance. Oxfam notes that "for every dollar we give in aid two are stolen through unfair trade". If Africa were to increase its trade exports by just 1% "it would generate over $100 billion - five times what the continent receives in aid and debt relief." This is prevented by the G8 and their corporate allies by:
However, rich world hypocrisy and double standards stop this from happening. The G8 countries (especially US, EU, Canada and Japan) and big corporations rig the rules by:

* Subsidizing agribusiness to the tune of $1.5 billion a day. Surpluses are dumped onto world markets, depressing prices and destroying local markets in poor countries.
* Using the IMF and World Bank to pry open poor countries' markets with little regard to social consequences.
* Taxing goods from poor countries at four times the rate of goods from rich countries.
* Profiteering off falling commodity prices that condemn many poor economies to failure.
* Allowing corporations to ride roughshod over internationally recognized workers rights.

Go to http://www.maketradefair.com/en/index.htm for more info.