A speaker argues that Africa's appeal to global powers from China to Germany repeats a centuries-old pattern of exploitation, from slavery through colonialism to today's market deals. He cites Julius Nyerere's boxing analogy: a $15 trillion US economy and a $2 billion Lesotho cannot play by the same rules. When African markets opened, textile factories in Kaduna collapsed and cotton sectors died.
Chapters
Africa remains attractive. Why is Africa so attractive? Throughout the ages, it has always been attractive. It was attractive to the Portuguese and the Spaniards, but I'm not going to say that. It was attractive to the Arabs, but I'm not going to say that. It was attractive to the Jews, but I will not say that. Yes, it was. What I am going to say that is attractive again. It is so attractive that every two years the Japanese call our leaders to Japan. That is how attractive Africa is. They call them to Japan in order to discuss how Japan is going to work with Africa. For the benefit of Africa, I do not believe it. It must be for the benefit of Japan. It is so attractive that the Chinese leaders call Africans to Beijing every year. The 54 of them, they call them to Beijing and they say this is how China is going to work for the benefit of Africa. I refuse to believe them. It must be that there is something that is being done for the benefit of Beijing. Because if I was Chinese, I would do that which is in my best interest, not in the best interest of Africans. It is so attractive that the Russians called our leaders only a few months ago in Sochi. And when they invite you, they invite you to the best places. Amen. It is so interesting, so that the Russians can work with Africa for the benefit of Africa. That is how attractive Africa is. It is so attractive that the Germans also invited our leaders to Berlin. It is so attractive that even the Arabs are inviting them to Doha. And that is how attractive it is. Have you ever heard the Latin Americans being invited? No. No, I did not hear. Have you ever heard the Arabs being invited? No, it is only Africans who are invited. That is how attractive Africa is. Is it a bad thing? Depending on what you think. We can use it to our own advantage, or we can allow them to use it to their advantage. You know, when I look at Africa and I look at her in the continent, in the context of how attractive she is, another word comes to my mind called globalization. When we talk about globalization, you talk about globalization as if it were a new word. It is not. Africans were once globalized as a commodity in the slave market. We were sold everywhere in the world. That was globalization. That was globalization. Then we were globalized again through colonization. Then we were globalized again through neocolonization. Now we are being globalized in the context of opening our markets. It is Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere who, in one of his many enlightened moments, said When I hear the Europeans saying that we should open our markets in the name of globalization, and they say that the rules are the same, I laugh, Mwalimu said. And he said, it is like a boxing match. The rules are the same, but you don't put a heavyweight boxer and a lightweight boxer and say the rules are the same. It is murder. Allow me to be melodramatic. dramatic. You imagine the United States of America with a GDP of anything between $14 trillion and $15 trillion is now entering into a bilateral arrangement with Lesotho, whose GDP is $2 billion, and you say the rules are the same. It is a joke. It is murder because the revenue that is generated by the city of Los Angeles alone in one day is more than the GDP of Lesotho. So we are being told to open our markets, and when we opened our market, you saw what happened. Our textile industries died. The large textile industries that we knew about in Kaduna In Nigeria died. Our cotton industries died. Our sugarcane industries died. Our waters, even water nowadays, water, water, water, water.
