Comments on: Africans Denounce Media Bias

By: McGehee

McGehee — Fri, 27 May 2005 12:40:04 +0000

HIV is busily erasing the educated classes of several countries in subsaharan africa.

If so, one wonders how educated they really are.

By: Arbuticus Notley

Arbuticus Notley — Fri, 27 May 2005 12:23:12 +0000

Looking at "growth" in africa as a whole is insanely stupid. You have to look at individual countries and examine the particulars of growth in each one.

HIV is busily erasing the educated classes of several countries in subsaharan africa. This combined with the expulsion of East Indians, Lebanese, white farmers, and other settlers from the outside has decimated the economies of most of these countries. Zimbabwe is importing Chinese to run the economy under Mugabe's supervision. Other nations may be forced to take similar action.

By: lgude

lgude — Fri, 27 May 2005 06:09:52 +0000

Barclay's investment in South Africa is interesting because I have been of the belief that Mbeke is damaging the SA economy pretty steadily so it is nice to read that a conservative organization like Barclay's thinks otherwise. Its alright with me if SA succeeds. I think that there has to be healthy business for real economic growth and that seems to be happening outside the oil...like the EU and US trade figures. I'm siting here in Australia in an Eddie Bauer teeshirt made in Zimbabwe several years ago...don't know if that is still happening but other African countries do seem to be increasingly participating in the global economy.

By: TJ Jackson

TJ Jackson — Fri, 27 May 2005 04:29:35 +0000

Anyone who believes Africa is making a progress may be interested in my wonderful beachfront property in death valley. Rampant crime, unstable governments, no rule of law, government by assassination, education slightly better than San Francisco, tribal hatreds equaled only by people forced to eat anchovies on their pizza.

Anyone who has been there, isn't going back voluntarily unless money is involved.

By: Jake

Jake — Fri, 27 May 2005 04:05:05 +0000

We should hear some more news period from Africa. But the race monger Charles Stith's comments are way off mark. It's usually the pro-Africa types that are the ones who bombard us with one catastrophe story after another in order to get more money and attention from the west. Real racists don't give a hoot about Africa period.

By: PAXALLES

PAXALLES — Fri, 27 May 2005 03:36:37 +0000

Racism Influence Bleak Coverage of Routinely Coined "Dark Continent"? Love Me If You Will, Hate Me If You Must, But Don't Ignore Me? Racism Influence Bleak Coverage of Routinely Coined

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 27 May 2005 01:45:29 +0000

I think William was right - the positive statistics seem to be skewed by a single country's newfound oil wealth:

http://www.cominganarchy.com/archives/2005/05/27/africa-still-in-doldrums/

By: David Aitken

David Aitken — Fri, 27 May 2005 01:21:46 +0000

China gets 7 percent of its oil imports from Sudan, which is one reason they're blocking the UN Security Council from doing anything about Darfur.

By: triticale

triticale — Thu, 26 May 2005 22:41:13 +0000

It would appear from the emails I'm getting that much of that oil wealth is going to leave Africa for investment in the United States as soon as they find reliable contacts to facilitate the transactions....

By: bryan

bryan — Thu, 26 May 2005 21:30:07 +0000

Of course, no one in Africa has nuclear weapons. As soon as one of them gets the "nucular" option, I guarantee they'll get more coverage.

By: William

William — Thu, 26 May 2005 21:26:02 +0000

This sounds great, although beware the oil-based growth. The extra money can be used to build sustainable economies, or it can allow governments to delay reforms, which can lead to spectacular crashes if the oil price were to drop.

By: rjschwarz

rjschwarz — Thu, 26 May 2005 21:06:06 +0000

The descrimination angle is way off mark. If someone looks at a loser for decade after decade they assume they stop paying attention after awhile. It's as simple as that. Nobody pays much attention to Central Asia either. Even Latin America barely churns up much interest these days.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Thu, 26 May 2005 20:56:05 +0000

Wow, I hadn't heard any of that. I guess I just kind of assumed that sub-saharan africa was all going down the tubes along with Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, since that's all I've heard in the news for the last few years.

So, anyone have any recommendations for a broader coverage of african affairs? Any bloggers or news sites that cover more than the horror stories?

By: Non-Fat Latte Liberal

Non-Fat Latte Liberal — Thu, 26 May 2005 20:30:12 +0000

Neglected is right, discriminated against is wrong, good post.

By: chaika

chaika — Thu, 26 May 2005 20:00:35 +0000

That was good to see. Nice to know they're making progress in other areas besides email scams.