Speaking the hard truth about Africa
Posted by acorcoran on July 11, 2008
Update: You might want to see comments on Myers article at American Renaissance here.
It’s almost a year since I wrote about an article by Kevin Myers from Ireland. And, I thought about Ireland the other day when I saw a puff piece about some new batch of refugees arriving there. (I didn’t post on it because it was the same old-same old). Then today, a reader, sent me this article from Ireland’s Independent by Myers. Thanks Josh.
Myers doesn’t pull his punches does he? This is how it begins, but please read the whole article:
No. It will not do. Even as we see African states refusing to take action to restore something resembling civilisation in Zimbabwe, the begging bowl for Ethiopia is being passed around to us, yet again. It is nearly 25 years since Ethiopia’s (and Bob Geldof’s) famous Feed The World campaign, and in that time Ethiopia’s population has grown from 33.5 million to 78 million today.
So why on earth should I do anything to encourage further catastrophic demographic growth in that country? Where is the logic? There is none. To be sure, there are two things saying that logic doesn’t count.
One is my conscience, and the other is the picture, yet again, of another wide-eyed child, yet again, gazing, yet again, at the camera, which yet again, captures the tragedy of . . .
Sorry. My conscience has toured this territory on foot and financially. Unlike most of you, I have been to Ethiopia; like most of you, I have stumped up the loot to charities to stop starvation there. The wide-eyed boy-child we saved, 20 years or so ago, is now a priapic, Kalashnikov-bearing hearty, siring children whenever the whim takes him.
And then he says about Somalia:
Alas, that wretched country is not alone in its madness. Somewhere, over the rainbow, lies Somalia, another fine land of violent, Kalashnikov-toting, khat-chewing, girl-circumcising, permanently tumescent layabouts.
Indeed, we now have almost an entire continent of sexually hyperactive indigents, with tens of millions of people who only survive because of help from the outside world.
Write to Mr. Myers: kmyers@independent.ie
You may wish to write a letter to the editor at the Independent here: letters@independent.ie
See our coverage of the recent anti-immigrant riots in South Africa here. And, Somalis in America here.
15 Responses to “Speaking the hard truth about Africa”
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‘Our boys’ fighting in Somalia, give up luxuries to sacrifice for Islam « Refugee Resettlement Watch said
[...] Kind of reminds me of what Kevin Myers said in the Irish Times that brought the rath of the Multiculturalists down on him: The wide-eyed [...]
Kevin Myers’ followup to his Africa article « Refugee Resettlement Watch said
[...] by judyw on July 22, 2008 Kevin Myers reports on his previous article which Ann posted on a week or [...]
acorcoran said
Corrupt Eire, I agree completely. It was very brave of him and I wrote a letter to the Independent and said so (I am sure they never published it). We too try to speak the truth here and are not phased by charges that we are racist or bigoted. Only when those who label others with the “R” word are stared down, will we come to sensible policies regarding foreign aid and immigration.
For too long those policies have been determined by a group of people with a certain mindset who hold all the power and are loathe now to have it challenged by others.
Thank God for free speech.
Corrupt Éire said
Myers was very brave to take on this subject, especially tackling it with the venomous wit he’s famous for.
Myers isnt a racist and he isn’t a bigot, but he doesnt sugarcoat his words at all. Its his style – and perhaps its the only a subject that provokes as much sentimental unrealism as this one can be taken on with.
cearta.ie » Free Speech, even for Kevin Myers - Update said
[...] Corrupt Éire | Five Feet of Fury | Holy Coast | The Corner | Mangan’s Miscellany | Nemozen | Refugee Resettlement Watch | The Trooper’s Gal | Twisted One 151 [...]
Kevin Myers gets Steyned « Refugee Resettlement Watch said
[...] by judyw on July 18, 2008 Ann wrote about the Irish journalist Kevin Myers last week (Speaking the hard truth about Africa). He criticized western aid to Africa and had some harsh words to say about Africans. Now the [...]
acorcoran said
Here is an Irish blogger critical of Myers (probably not the only one):
http://bodhranbanger.wordpress.com/2008/07/12/why-kevin-myers-is-no-longer-a-journalist/
Notice all he does is bad mouth Myers, call names, impugn his motives and so on. That is the M.O. that has silenced most people who believe the topic that Myers addresses must be addressed and discussed. The blogger’s goal is to silence Myers and anyone else who dares question policies that have gone on for decades and are obviously failures.
africandemocrat said
No, by “tumescent” Myers means that the layabout Kalishnikov-toting males have permanent erections. His charactersiation of Africans as sexual degenerates is not uncommon, and not entirely undeserved. There certainly are cases where African males think it is their right to have as many women in one day as they can possibly manage. In South Africa, rape is an enormous problem and most women’s first sexual experience, at least in the cities, is coerced.
That aside, Myers fails to mention that most of Africa’s problems are caused by the G8 countries that are forever promising aid but not actually delivering on their promises. During the Cold War era, the G8 countries were responsible for the rise of the likes of Idi Amin and Moubuto Sese Seko. They then loaned them large amounts of money to buy their support.
Until the 1980s, most Africa countries had growing economies. Per-capita income was on the increase. Industries thrived on import-replacement strategies. Then along came the “experts” from the World Bank and IMF who forced the indebted nations of Africa to adopt Milton Friedman’s economic twaddle. The value of African currencies plummeted and so did per-capita income.
To add insult to injury, the food aid that the US in particular so “generously” gives to Africa distorts the prices of locally grown crops and thus destroys the agricultural sector in Africa. Instead of the Mercedes trucks and Lockheed aircraft that Myers wrote about, foreign aid donors should provide hard cash so that aid agencies can purchase food grown in Africa. That will stimulate the agricultural sector in Africa and help Africa toward becoming self-sufficient.
Furthermore, the G8 countries must unconditionally cancel Africa’s foriegn debt. Most African countries spend the majority of their budgets on debt repayment. The original debts have been repaid many times over, and what is now happening is pure extortion.
Once African countries are able to spend their entire budgets on their own people and trade-distorting agricultural subsidies are removed, we will not need the self-serving “aid” that Myers wrote about.
Congress to authorize $50 billion for disease programs, allow immigrants with HIV to enter US « Refugee Resettlement Watch said
[...] Speaking the hard truth about Africa [...]
acorcoran said
Thanks to Richard at Blue Ridge Forum http://blueridgeforum.com/ here is a Congressional Budget Office report on how much we will spend to fight diseases like HIV and TB around the world and among immigrants in coming years. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/91xx/doc9126/s2731.pdf
This is a very important report and I’ll post on it later today.
acorcoran said
See this Irish blog entitled Hibernia Girl: http://hiberniagirl.blogspot.com/
Mark said
Well, I don’t agree that we should pour any aid into regimes that are kleptocracies. That is money down the hole. But they’re not all that way. As a country we also have little interest in investing economically in Africa, as the profits are not as high or assured as in other places. The Chinese on the other hand have invested heavily in economic projects in Africa. It seems to paying off well for them and their African partners (the oil out of Sudan is another story). I guess the Chinese don’t mind working a little harder at it.
I would help the Africans solve entrenched problems that keep them down, e.g. societies don’t function well that have chronic health problems. We are now realizing that just providing simple mosquito nets can greatly protect Africans from chronic malaria. We could put a little more funding into stopping the spread of AIDS. It takes out the whole working/provider generation and leaves the elderly to care for the orphaned children. Those societies will destabilize and be ripe for any scourge, e.g. become failed states and terrorist breeding grounds.
Josh said
If we really want to help, we should begin educating the people of Africa. We can’t save every poor person in the world and nor should we. It does sound cold at first, but the current policy is only spreading the suffering to more and more people. It is also destroying our planet. The truth hurts but we must take our heads out of the sand.
acorcoran said
Hi Mark, I don’t know that you can deny Mr. Myers observations on the state of Africa. We continue to pour aid money into the continent and I don’t think anyone can point to a bright spot–anywhere! South Africa, originally was thought to be a beacon of hope, but that myth has exploded with the recent immigrant riots.
As for Somalis in the US and elsewhere, I am sure there are some decent people working hard to have a better life, but this website has chronicled one example after another of Somalis who are not willing to change to fit into our culture and who in fact are arrogant—heck, arrogant towards other blacks as well!
And finally as I read Mr.Myers article, I wondered in light of the preponderance of evidence, what does one do for Africa? What would you do? Do you really see any hope? What if one could scoop up all the needy Africans and bring them here, isn’t it evident that we too would sink—culturally, economically, environmentally?
I know its sounds completely heartless, but what hope is there?
Mark said
Mr. Myers describes Somalis as violent and permanently tumescent layabouts? I guess we should assume by “tumescent” that he means pompous and pretentious.
This doesn’t match my experience with these people. The discussion here is only about negative criticism and ignores Somalis’ positive traits. I don’t think we get any accurate view by only concentrating on an ethnic group’s (or for that matter a single person’s) negative traits, or just their positive traits.
My experience with their negative traits would give a notion, or first impression, that they are clannish, heavily focused on their religion rather than being terribly interested in other culture’s values, don’t have a practice saying “thank you” as we do, and are too willing to fight among themselves according to clan hostilities. On the positive side they appear pious, rule-respecting, respectful of others, and law-abiding.
Cross-cultural appearances can sometimes be deceiving. Even intercultural ones can be. Have you ever been judged by your look, or one action, or one statement, and the person’s judgment was completely wrong? What would people of other countries make of us if they had only come here and observed us during our civil war in the 1860’s? Violent, gun-toting, hostile, and brutal?