The future of Africans
Some Critical reflections around the commemoration of the European abolition of slavery
Monday 21st May 2007

The significant amount of literature on the commemoration of the abolition of slavery in the past years is indicative of the importance of a situational assessment for the healing process in African communities abroad and on the continent.  Many essays are the expression by the descendents of former slaves of the pain still felt, carved in the memory of the successive generations, and lived through various forms of discrimination.  They are sometimes attempts of a revaluation of the former slaves, as their descendents need to come to terms with the past and take their place as valuable members of the world community they have shaped with their centuries of unpaid labour.  Some studies are more or less critical evaluations of African societies and cultures in their past and present interactions with the outside world, in search of inspiration for carrying on Africa’s reconstruction.  From a problem-solving approach, however, the reflections on the past find their value, when they are part of a process of analysis and of conceptualisation of the future.

As a matter of fact, the commemoration of the abolition of slavery brings about contradictory feelings from the various concerned stakeholder groups, as they approach the subject from different angles, depending on the role their people played in the slave trade in the past.  The first to come to mind are the descendents of slaves who suffered incommensurably physically and emotionally, and still suffer from discrimination and unfavourable living conditions notably in the Americas and Europe. 

Secondly, there are the Europeans who engineered the Europe-Africa-America triangular slave trade — parallel to a process of political and cultural destabilisation of the societies of the South through replacement of local practices, values and gods by ‘better’ i.e. European ones —, and who drew incommensurate profit from the unpaid labour of millions of enslaved Africans for over 400 years.  There lies the base for the massive accumulation of capital and the creation of large banks in Europe and America, which played a crucial role in financing the industrial revolution and both continents’ economic development.  With the commemoration of the abolition of slavery, Europe now celebrates her embrace of the new humanitarian values which characterised the post-modern era.  It is thus a celebration of herself, of her own ethical development, while enjoying the socio-economic development that slave labour bestowed upon her. 

Thirdly, at the beginning of the 15th century, the Catholic Church played a pivotal role by providing the ethical base for the enslavement of the American natives and ‘sturdier’ Africans — by stating that unlike Europeans, the former did not have a soul.

To put things into a balanced perspective, it should

also be acknowledged according to Ronald Segal’s ‘Islam’s Black Slaves’ (2001) that the Arabs practised slavery and were involved in the lucrative trade with African slaves already eight centuries before the Atlantic Trade, and continued to do so after the abolition of slavery in European controlled territories.  Records from reliable witnesses exist of the existence of slavery in many Arab states in the years 1971-1973. In other words, unaccounted generations of people of African descent have lived in slavery conditions over one millennium old tradition in many Arab societies.  Presently, the commemoration of the abolition of slavery by Europe is taken by European states as an opportunity to exert pressure on Arabic states like Mauritania to effectively stop slavery practices still existent in rural areas. 

Finally, African societies responded in diverse ways to the European pressures and aggression.  Ya Asante Waa is the object of great respect for the unequalled resistance she lead against the colonial forces and slavery squads in Ghana.  Still, many Africans, resent the fact that their societies were unable to end the shameful trade, or even tolerated the practice.  Others are uneasy because of the active participation of many tribes or chiefdoms in the process, as slavery was also a trait of these societies for a long time.

The dream of freedom

 "…Free at last, free at last!  Thank God almighty, we are free at last!"

This cry of the African-American Nobel Prize laureate, Dr. Martin Luther King, in the 1960s still echoes deeply in our hearts.  But how free are we now, 200 years after the abolition of slavery?  In reality, how free are Africans and their descendents all over the world? 

How free are African-Americans trapped in the persistent racism of the American society, between destabilised family structures, poverty, chronic unemployment, highest rate of criminality, highest incarceration rate, self-destruction patterns, evident in highest drug consumption and homicide rates, and an American dream which was created at their expense? How free are the descendents of slaves in Central and Southern America, who provide underpaid labour to the haciendas and the manufacturing industries owned by descendents of Europeans.  How free are African and Caribbean countries now, in the context of disabling debts, exploitative and unjust terms of trade imposed by the countries, which control the global market — and thus developing countries’ poverty?  How free are African countries caught between restraining and destabilising measures of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the claws of exploitative conditions of a Western-controlled ‘free’ market, resulting in systematic indebtedness and impoverishment?  How free are African societies, which because of market-engineered lack of capital to finance development, see their resources controlled by others, and the added value from their economies transferred to the foreign owners of the production systems?

In Haiti, the first Black republic of the new world, 203 years after the descendents of enslaved Africans gained their independence following 15 years of armed revolt with the battle cry "freedom or death", the sequels of the racist stratification of the society are still present, which partly fuel the political instability in the country.  Considerations of the degree of metissage and of mastering the language of the former coloniser, fought by Duvalier and Aristide, still have unspoken but notable value in the society.  Another revolting issue is that of many Haitian workers held captive in slavery-like conditions on sugar cane plantations, the ‘batey’, of the Dominican Republic, the neighbouring country — despite activists pressures on both Governments.

Modern exploitation and dependency mechanisms

By virtue of their historical background, many Diasporan Africans from the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe have developed a hypersensitivity towards mechanisms of segregation and all hidden forms of enslavement.  After the enslavement of individuals and social groups, the next stage has indeed been the enslavement of communities and countries.  Enslavement mechanisms involving whole countries are exemplified in the mercantile trade system practiced from the 17th to the 20th century.  According to this system, the colonies only exist to fulfil the needs of the colonising European power.  In that line, the colonies should only produce goods, which are needed for individual consumption or for the industries in the colonising countries.  Furthermore, the processing of the produce should only happen in Europe, where know-how — acquired sometimes even in the colonies — would be further developed, employment created, and capital accumulated for further investment.

As an example, the development of the textile industry in England (in Leeds and Manchester notably), from techniques imported from India, illustrates the harshness with which this policy was applied.  Indians were forbidden to weave under the threat of hand mutilation, and had to import their clothes from England.  Understandably, one of the first actions of Mahatma Gandhi in India was to lead the fight against the weaving prohibition imposed by the British colonial powers, and to encourage local production and consumption of locally produced cloth.

In modern economic relations, mechanisms of protectionism and development of Northern markets and industries, and of exploitation and marginalisation of developing countries are still present in North-South exchange strategies.  Many mercantile elements — for instance in the form of pricing penalties discouraging access to European markets of products processed in developing countries from cocoa, coffee, groundnut — are secured in the trade agreements of Lomé and GATT.  The mechanisms through which wealth, which is generated from natural resources and labour of people from the South, and is transferred and ‘accumulated’ in the North have been examined by Samir Amin (1970).  They are part of processes of the ‘world market’ and of ‘development aid’, which all too often aim more at supporting industrial development and employment in the donors’ countries.

The unjust distribution of income from developing countries’ produces is clearly illustrated in the example of the banana.  While European consumers pay 1.99 to 2.99 Euros for one kilogramme of apples from neighbouring Italy, France and Germany, next on the supermarket counter, one kg of bananas from as far as Costa Rica, Ecuador and Ivory Cost only costs 0.99 to 1.90 Euros.  According to studies by European researchers Brunner and Pfeiffer (1999), Griesshammer and Burg (1993), however, from this reduced amount only 10 to 15% go to the producing countries — for fertiliser and transport 5%, plantation owners 5-10%, plantation workers 0.1 to 2%.  Roughly 85-90% of the shop price stays in western hands — with 25% for shipping; 35-37% for the import-export company in Hamburg, Amsterdam, Marseille, Liverpool; 6.5% for transportation in Europe; and about 14% for the shop owner.  While European Governments get 12-15% of the selling price through taxes, Governments in the producing countries earn less than 1% in tax.  Similar situations apply for agricultural goods such as coffee, tea, cocoa, groundnut, cotton, and ores like iron, copper, aluminium, gold, diamonds, and petroleum.  For coffee, tea and cocoa local small landholders get less than 10% of the selling price of the finished produce.

Picture 1:    Distribution of income from ‚Banana’ sells

Consequently, developing countries — including African countries — practically produce at Null-Tarif to satisfy needs of Western societies and to support Western economic development.  With this, southern countries are denied the chance to build the capital necessary to finance development (e.g. education, infrastructure, agriculture, industrialisation, health care, etc.).  As evidenced above, Government revenues from cash crop production are insufficient to finance basic expenditures and build urgently needed hospitals and schools.  A large number of countries thus depend on external aid to carry out alphabetisation programmes and supply drinking water to their populations.  Besides, project financing is often subject to priorities defined by donor countries rather than local organisations and institutions in charge.  The resultant impoverishment of populations, with unemployment rates of 50_60%, and the paralysy of economies are therefore programmed.

Sadly enough, 200 years after the abolition of slavery, Africa has not found peace, and most of its people live under the poverty line.  Hideous wars are tearing apart parts of the continent, pitting brothers against brothers, mutilating women and children, signs of difficulties to manage the continent’s rich ethno-cultural diversity and natural resources in the context of geopolitical interests.  Food security is often not addressed in an empowering manner.  Children and maternal mortality is still high.  A large part of the populations do not have access to sound health care.  Education levels are generally inadequate, with dropout enrolment rate of girls at school remaining a major issue.  Unemployment affects half the populations.  A typical phenomenon is the on-going migration to metropolitan areas and to Northern countries by both professionals and non-professionals alike.  

Therefore, isn’t this ‘development’ also indicative of a lack of leadership and vision?  Yet, the exploitative mechanisms demonstrate the extremely adverse situation in which African leaders have to operate in order to improve their people’s welfare.  This is unlike Western decision-makers, who got the key international institutions as well as a international trade and fiscal system which work in their favour and which they control.  In this context of entrappment of developing countries, the task of leaders looks a ‘mission impossible’.  Achieving development in such adverse context asks for uncommon leadership and innovative visions for re-assessing socioeconomic priorities and objectives, and for developing innovative appropriate solutions, which take both the extremely constraining reality of African countries as well as all available resources into account. 

Where is the future of Africans ?

Does it lie in the way of ‘Tradition’ ?

In the process of self-valuation and redefinition of their identity, many Africans in the Diaspora connect to the grandeur of African societies of the past, and dream of an ‘African Renaissance’.  In this redefinition process, old African societies are sometimes romanticised, and the value of traditions is overrated.  The fact is that many traditional practices were best-found responses to problems of the past, in the technological, economic and social context that prevailed at the time.  In this respect, traditions are also both culturally bound responses for organising society and communities, as expressed in values and behavioural practices (such as birth, marriages, passage to adulthood, death), and tools for securing the power and influence of particular social groups.  In the context of globalisation of values, ways of life, information, technological methods and markets, new approaches to new problems are obviously necessary. 

It appears unfortunately that, some people are captive of the past.  This is comfortable.  But isn’t ‘development’ fundamentally about change?  As Gouet rightfully puts it: "The only culture that does not negate itself, let itself be informed by the future; this is the culture of development".  Obviously, if you do what you have always done, you get what you always have got!  And in Africa’s case, what we have been getting is poverty and dependence, not socioeconomic development.  Should we then continue the same way?

As a matter of fact, many traditional practices need to be re-examined in the light of modern conditions and development imperatives, equity considerations in a new democratic era, and mobilisation of ‘all’ human resources, independently of ethnic/tribal belonging, gender, age or location.  One major critic-worthy practice, which could be mentioned here, is the misuse of mechanisms of mutual support and social security, as often found in what I call the ‘extended family-syndrome’, with its unfavourable consequences regarding individual initiative, personal development, savings levels and capital building.

Is it rather the way of African renewal ?

We are at the time of imported paradigms and ready-made solutions, which we are overtaking blindly.  In the search for answers to our problems, it is important to recognise, however, that most technological and financial solutions available (including trade agreements) have been developed by the rich industrialised countries, and are tailored to their cultural, social and economic context, mobilising and developing their resources (or the ones they control), for the purpose of creating wealth and welfare in their societies.  In many cases, the usual conditions of transfer of such ‘solutions’ to the South have hampered the development process and created new socio-economic problems (urban migration, slums, unemployment, urban criminality, family disintegration, etc.).  Besides, they have increased national indebtedness and the countries’ economic and cultural dependence on constant imports from industrialised societies, resulting in the systematic transfer of wealth and drainage of the countries’ financial resources, and in missed opportunities for entrepreneurial, human resources and know-how development through local production.

The search for solutions to Africa’s problems is therefore a search for alternatives, which mobilise and develop African resources.  Alternatives to unsustainable consumerist living patterns.  Alternative natural resources management strategies.  Alternatives to imported primary commodities — e.g. food, medicine, furniture, etc.  Alternative employment strategies.  Alternatives to externally controlled markets, etc.

The rationale for change

In the reality of development, both the external and the internal factors — be they favourable and unfavourable — need to be considered.  But in final analysis, whatever disabling and unjust external intentions and actions, the desired socio-economic change will be done by Africans themselves, or it will not be done.

Furthermore, considering the major economic transactions of African countries, Julius Nyerere illustrated one key component behind Africa’s economic stagnation and impoverishment: 

 "Africans produce what they do not consume,

  and consume what they do not produce…". 

The catastrophic consequences of this ‘development’ for African economies are to be understood in the context of the detrimental terms for both export of goods to industrialised countries, their economic partners of predilection, — as shown above — and import of commodities for daily consumption.  Most importantly, this observation lays down the rationale for self-reliance in Africa, as it was envisioned by the remarkable PanAfricanist Kwame Nkrumah.  It is also supported by the empowerment dynamics of local production, which are reflected in employment generation, know-how development and capacity building through the job.  Since we have missed to develop centres of knowledge management and to sweat on the development of local industries — by any means necessary…—,  Africa is now becoming a prime market and source of income for the emerging Chinese and Indian industries.  Same impoverishment pattern in green …

Rethinking resources development and management —

Looking at development priorities for African countries, the Economy Professor and former State Minister under Nyerere, A. M. Babu, realised that "an economy must have an internal material basis for it to develop and then, and only then, can external causes create conditions for such development.  …Like an egg, it must have an internal basis before the incubator can turn it into a chicken.  According to Babu, "we must reorder our economic priorities and place the self-reliant satisfaction of our internal needs at the top of the list — food, clothing and shelter.  This is the real foundation of developed economies.  We must aim not at sustainable growth, but at self-sustaining development."  Babu further advocates that "we must gradually, but temporarily, retreat from the ‘world economy’, and shift economic activities away from poorly profitable trading in primary commodities which deprives us of the opportunity to accumulate and invest for growth.  Instead we must develop our ‘productive forces’ and concentrate on strengthening the internal base through what the Chinese call "readjusting, restructuring, consolidating."  Isn’t this exactly the process followed by the emerging economies such as China, India, Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia?

Obviously, we cannot escape the political and socio-economic environment in which we exist.  In the face of the difficult and critical situation, Africans (on the continent and in the Diaspora) need to reinvent themselves, building on lessons learnt, creating new visions, and mobilising and developing their own resources.  In the context of economic restructuring, strategies of vital significance refer for instance to ‘import substitution’ for reducing wealth transfer to rich countries and developing our productive forces.  This will be further supported by the intensification of inter-African cooperation and exchange in all sectors (economic, technological and academic, etc.) as already initiated in the regional coalition of African countries.  It includes the development of African regional markets for mutually supporting local industrial production and employment, and for exchanging at more favourable rates.

Developing strategies of import substitution —

Considering the above recommended focus on import substitution, the accent needs to be put on labour-intensive strategies of semi-industrial production for local consumption, and processing of local produces.  The identification of areas of interest will be drawn from the respective needs and consumption habits of the people in a given country.  For instance, food stuffs, cosmetics, clothing, furniture, household appliances, agricultural and construction tools, etc.  Industrialisation strategies should also include national Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) for developing areas identified as crucial for the economy.

Knowledge management —

In the context of industrial development or of development per se, national capacities to manage knowledge — including indigenous knowledge — need to be strongly enhanced.  In particular African universities need to develop their capacity to conduct research in identified areas of national and/or regional interest — such as natural (water and land) resources management, import substitution, semi-industrial production (e.g. processing of food and cash crops), pharmacopoeia (alternatives to expensive medicine from the pharma-industry building on local knowledge), etc.  In many countries, it will also be important to focus on vocational training for strengthening the human resource base for the development of industries.  In this respect, cooperation could be engaged with regional and foreign institutions, which have accumulated/ developed relevant knowledge in the targeted areas.

The remarkable example of Tuskegee University, founded by Booker T. Washington, a son of slave, soon after the abolition of slavery in the USA, is inspiring of the setup of an agricultural resource centre for African-American farm owners at the time.  The African-American Professor George Washington Carver from that university had identified 108 derivatives from groundnut — used in oils, beauty creams, soaps, bleach, shoe polish, etc. —, which now play a key role in the food, household and cosmetic industries.

The present initiative to set up a ‘Cotton University’ in Burkina Faso, with the purpose of enhancing the competitiveness of African cotton through improvements in technical productivity and marketing, also exemplifies such innovative strategy to manage and develop relevant knowledge for solving African problems.  The initiative is taken by the various stakeholders in the African cotton industry building a Public-Private Partnership.

Mobilisation and development of human resources —

In the context of drainage of developing countries’ resources, one needs to mention the intensified bleeding of intellectual resources or ‘brain drain’ from these countries, — as reinforced now by new unethical immigration policies of many Northern Governments, as new strategies to tap into the Third World’s human resources.  This critical issue needs to be strategically addressed by developing countries, as this brain drain disables African countries and annihilates efforts of Governments to build local capacity that should carry out the desired socio-economic development. 

In this line, the African Diaspora — I mean here both migrated Africans and people of African descendents living abroad — constitute an important pool of human resources, which could be mobilised by African countries in many ways — for instance for identifying new areas and developing strategies for economic growth, transferring knowledge, investing in local industries, etc.  Referring to knowledge management and technology transfer in this context, sponsored programmes could be developed in which dynamic individuals and institutions help raise funds for specific national undertakings.  Also highly skilled professionals and Professors living abroad could be regularly invited to lecture, lead workshops and participate in task forces in targeted areas, etc. 

As a matter of principle, education seen as strategy for the development of human resources for change, should be relevant and empowering.  In other words, academic and technical training imparted in African institutions should be relevant for African societies.  On the one hand, training should develop highly needed abilities of African students to think independently and address challenges in a problem-solving approach.  On the other hand, it should primarily target problems of the country, rather than preparing graduates to best function abroad, thus inviting them to leave — as the curriculum is more relevant for western societies, and the solutions taught mobilise resources which we do not have, therefore often making graduates ineffective here.

Mobilisation of financial resources —

Another chief area is the mobilisation of the Diaspora’s financial resources.  In this respect, the enormous role played in developing countries economies by remittances from nationals living in rich societies is well known.  They are now estimated to make out 30_60% of their GNP. This contribution is now superior to the ‘development aid’ received from the rich countries. In many countries, it is equivalent to the Government budget.  For example, it is estimated that Ghanaian nationals abroad now transfer back home the equivalent of US$ 2.4 billion every year.  In the case of Haiti, the Inter-American Development Bank reported that the country received about US$ 1.7 billion from Haitians abroad last year (2006), a huge sum for such a small economy with a population of 8 million inhabitants!  As a matter of fact, with the continuous exodus towards the North, the value of remittances is expected to steadily increase in the next years or decades.

The transferred money is generally used to subsidise living costs of the senders’ families in the country of origin, as well as for some small-scale investment in housing notably.  Taking the latter point into account, financial investments of Africans in the Diaspora could be alternatively and effectively channelled through the setup of ‘Investment Funds for African Development’, to which nationals as well as other Diaspora Africans for instance from Europe or the USA would be invited to contribute.  This represents an enormous potential for financing the economic development of African and Caribbean countries.

Additionally, small contributions — of $50 to $500 per year for instance — of Diasporan Africans to humanitarian organisations for supporting needy children in poor countries, could also be channelled into investments in new enterprises with labour-intensive production.  The employed workers would then be able to proudly care for their children themselves, and contribute to economic development through their work and as consumers, while the original investment is increasing in value.

The funds should be designed to finance a choice of business ventures in specific key development areas.  A primary conservative target of 5% of the present value of remittances would constitute a tremendous development capital for a start.  Aspects of the successful West-African practice of ‘susu’ or ‘tontines’, in which cash is pooled by many partners for performing higher expenditures (such as fixing a house, buying furniture, purchasing goods in bulk for retail, etc.) could be integrated in the concept of the funds.

Can we do it? —

Ultimately, will Africans everywhere, of every social background, of every gender, education and belief, rise to the call of cultural renewal and of socioeconomic regeneration?  In an innovatively integrated action, Africa’s rich human resources need to be extensively mobilised, drawing on the diverse experiences and personal resources of her people, towards the building of a new Africa and of a new sustainable world!  Towards a future where Africans control their lives.  Free at last… 

I think we can do it.  "Now is the time!" would insist our brother Martin Luther King.  Are we ready?