Stop Trying To 'Save' Africa

zwar etwas älter, aber immerhin ...

By Uzodinma Iweala

Sunday, July 15, 2007; Page B07

washingtonpost.com > Columns

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They [the celebrities] fly in for internships and fact-finding missions or to pick out children to adopt in much the same way my friends and I in New York take the subway to the pound to adopt stray dogs.
(...)
There is no African, myself included, who does not appreciate the help of the wider world, but we do question whether aid is genuine or given in the spirit of affirming one's cultural superiority. My mood is dampened every time I attend a benefit whose host runs through a litany of African disasters before presenting a (usually) wealthy, white person, who often proceeds to list the things he or she has done for the poor, starving Africans. Every time a well-meaning college student speaks of villagers dancing because they were so grateful for her help, I cringe. Every time a Hollywood director shoots a film about Africa that features a Western protagonist, I shake my head -- because Africans, real people though we may be, are used as props in the West's fantasy of itself. And not only do such depictions tend to ignore the West's prominent role in creating many of the unfortunate situations on the [African] continent, they also ignore the incredible work Africans have done and continue to do to fix those problems.
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Africa wants the world to acknowledge that through fair partnerships with other members of the global community, we ourselves are capable of unprecedented growth.

Uzodinma Iweala is the author of "Beasts of No Nation," a novel about child soldiers.

Hier noch einmal der Link zum Washington Post > Artikel

Meinungen hierzu:

> Has the Continent Benefited from the 'Awkward Embrace' of Celebrities?

> Iweala's WaPo Piece

Andrea Böhm schreibt auf ihrem > Kongo-Blog auf blog.ZEIT.de

"Wir brauchen immer noch weiße Gesichter, um Afrika zu sehen. Erst waren es die Missionare und Kolonialherren, jetzt sind es die VIP-Wohltäter. Wenn es um Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Russland, Birma oder dem Iran geht, identifizieren wir uns problemlos mit Betroffenen aus diesen Ländern, mit einer Anna Politkowskaja, einer Aung San Suu Kyi oder einer Shirin Ebadi. Das heisst: wir erkennen an, dass diese Menschen nicht nur Opfer sind, sondern auch Handelnde. Wenn es um den Kongo, um Darfur oder Malawi geht, brauchen wir Angelina Jolie, Mia Farrow oder Bono. Als ob es dort keine Aktivisten gäbe, die sich wehren, sich kümmern, sich engagieren. Als ob dort nur eine Masse der Hilf-und Wehrlosen, der Infantilen vor sich hindämmert, denen weiße Amerikaner und Europäer unter die Arme greifen müssen."