Originally Posted by
Mark O'Neill
An article of half truths and skewed factoids - not really that different from the folks he is having a go at.
I believe that Africa's problems, much like those of COIN, are complex and not amenable to reductionism and sound bite solutions from people stuck firmly in their Western 21st Century paradigms.
I would find Blair, Bono, Oprah, the LA time commentator and the plethora of other folks who comment on Africa far more believable if they:
a. lived in sub-Saharan Africa for more than five minutes;
b. stayed somewhere other than the Mt Nelson hotel, Sun City or the Sabi Sands when they visited; and
c. had met, talked to, and shared time with some African's other than Nelson Mandela ( This is not a criticism of Mandela - he is probably the most amazing bloke I have ever met).
I have lived in Africa for a while over my career - good places and 'bad'. To my experience, it defies the trivial categorisation offered by either the LA times piece or the celebrity do gooders.
It does deserve 'better' - I think the best place we can start is learning more, and displacing the developed world's profound ignorance of the continent.
Cheers,
Mark
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