| February 2005 archived edition | | Coverstory |
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Africa
Why does nobody care about blacks?
Some of our readers may find the title on the cover of New African this month too provocative. In a change to the normal format of the magazine, we have invited three writers to cast their very different and contrasting opinions on the world’s attitude towards Africa. We ask why the international community does not respond with the same urgency to the on-going humanitarian emergencies in Africa, to the recent Indian Ocean tsunami disaster?
Because British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) Gordon Brown have been using Africa as one of the “weapons” in their inglorious, undeclared battle for the leadership of the ruling Labour Party, Africa has been caught in the flack of a media blitz created by their rivalry. This has had some positive results in that even media organs that normally do not acknowledge Africa’s existence have suddenly begun to take note of what Blair and Brown are saying about the continent.
The two men’s suggestion that a sort of “Marshall Plan” should be devised to pull Africa out of poverty - in the same way that the Marshall Plan enabled Europe to resurrect its industrial strength after the Second World War - has received a lot of interest in the British media. But is that interest of any use to anyone?
Unfortunately, not always. For instance, on 8 January, Radio 4, the BBC’s top political and current affairs station mounted a very interesting discussion in Talking Politics, which led to some provocative statements about the state of Africa by Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of the South African President. But the producers could not conceive of the idea of finding out what other African thinkers would make of Mbeki’s rather pessimistic perspective. Instead, it was three Westerners who were hauled in to discuss the issues involved.
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