These unreported economic problems (because the chinese overreport their economic success) are one reason over a million Chinese have headed for Africa. But that place has not always been the land of opportunity. For example, Ghana recently cracked down on illegal gold mining and among the many people arrested were 134 Chinese. This was not unexpected as the Chinese are displacing Arabs as the main facilitators of illegal activities (mining, logging, poaching, smuggling, and so on) in Africa.
Saturday, June 08, 2013
China in Africa
from StrategyPage:
Sunday, June 02, 2013
Male rape and gay laws
Instapundit cluelessly suggests Obama pressure Africa to stop passing laws against Homosexuality.
Which only proves he lives in an equal society, where gay sex is assumed to be consensual between equals.
Yet in Africa (and to a lesser extent, here in the Philippines) we have a hierarchical society, where inferiors are supposed to obey superiors.
And, with tribal conflicts, rape, including homosexual rape, is a weapon of war:
So what about nowadays?
From AlJazeerah: a report on male rape in tribal conflicts.
From IRIN
Yet this is the tip of the iceburg.
So sleeping with the maids in the third world is "normal" (which is why most of our maids insist we hire them in pairs, for a chaparone), and if your employer is "gay" and you are an attractive male, well, watch your back... literally....And then there are the boarding schools and high schools, where teachers prey on their student (including pressuring girls or boys to become prostitutes).
However don't point fingers:
One of the unreported story of Africa is the sexual outlet of the "white bwanas". The Dominican sisters entered Rhodesia to nurse the first settlers. They soon were setting up schools, not just for the white students, but for the "coloured" children who quickly appeared. When the whites objected, sister said sarcastically that they were "their" children (and hinted she'd name names) so they'd better provide money...
Yet another unreported story of colonialism is that many of the white settlers (at least in British colonies) were exiled there because of their behavior: They were "gay". And of course, in Africa, your employees don't dare say no to a superior.
And gay abuse predates colonialism, as the story of the Uganda martyrs shows.
Yet colonial policies imposed taxes for money on village people, so essentially forced men to work to pay taxes, and colonial policies hired men without making accomadations for their families. Under Apartheid, where pass books were needed, this was even enforced by law.
Then you have the problem of old age: No social security, so an aging man would have to support himself or be supported by his family on his land. But in African custom, the land is owned by the tribe, so this meant you had to leave your wife at home to care for the land or the land would be given to another, meaning you would have no way to support yourself when you returned if she went with you. And although polygamy was legal, few men were rich enough to buy more than one wife.
So where did the men get sexual release? Prostitutes cost money...
Despite all the American talk of "cross cultural understanding", few medical studies of the problem seem to realize that Africans or Asians might not think the same as upper middle class white educated Americans.
Western investigations of gay identity such as this one from Princeton see the problem via western white culture.
This report also discusses MSM in South Africa but ignores the elephant in the living room: The fact that men are pressured by the system to leave their families behind while they go to work in the cities.
Teenaged boys who have sex with each other may not be gay, but merely not have access to girls: ditto for factory workers or those whose wives are at home in the villages caring for the family land. And in rural areas, if a tribe has taboos against vaginal intercourse with a pregnant or nursing wife, one would expect some MSM to be going on to relieve sexual tension (yet without putting that into context you are again missing the problem)
Then there is the problem of street children. When I adopted, we were told to assume if we adopted an older girl we should assume that they had been abused, and we were warned that many of our boys had also been abused.
One report said the MSM abuse rate was 25% among street kids in Addis Ababa
which, by the way, is the same rate as reported among inner city kids in the USA.
(in contrast, a broader survey shows that only 5% of teens admit sex below age 13, but 20 plus percent of gay kids...this does not include rape or sex under threats of violence, 10%).
What is going on in Africa is that with modernization (and the fruits of colonialism) you see a break down in tribal rules. You get chaos and all sorts of immoral behavior (not just sex but monetary corruption and violence) that were limited by tribal laws and customs in the past, but now have few ways for the community to protect itself from predators and sociopaths.
These countries however do have an alternative: religion.
Christianity, which for years was seen as an outside influence, is now indigenous (including many indigneous Christian churches). Even the hated "boko Haram" of Nigeria, seeking Sharia law, is more about stopping the epidemic of Nigerian corruption/bribery than about Islam per se.
The mosques and churches teach strict religious rules, and use shame to enforce them.
The breakdown of the family, a lot of which can be laid at the foot of an oppressive colonialist system that destroyed tribal ties and customs, is a major problem, and the churches are trying to solve it by preaching strict behavioral rules that encourage marriage between equals.
So the "anti gay" laws are part of a spectrum of laws trying to redevelop and heal the culture from the chaos and immorality inherited from colonial times.
And outsiders who see this as a "gay rights" problem are missing the point. It's not about two equals chosing to marry each other, even though they are the same sex. It's about trying to reestablish morality on many levels.
Westerners who assume it is about sex between equals are merely making things worse, because the average African sees this an merely another western plot against Africa.
And the revulsion against gays is visceral,
You see sex between equals, so whenwhen you say "don't make homosexual actions illegal", you are saying: "Let those born gay be able to have sex with one another as equals without punishing them".
But Africans interpret it differently: They hear: Let men rape our boys and get away with it.
Given the sex tourism with boys we see here in the Philippines, one could suggest they may have a point.
Which only proves he lives in an equal society, where gay sex is assumed to be consensual between equals.
Yet in Africa (and to a lesser extent, here in the Philippines) we have a hierarchical society, where inferiors are supposed to obey superiors.
And, with tribal conflicts, rape, including homosexual rape, is a weapon of war:
So what about nowadays?
From AlJazeerah: a report on male rape in tribal conflicts.
The use of rape as a weapon against women in Congo's many conflicts has been widely reported. However, the number of male victims is also suspected to be high. Most cases remain unknown because men, like women, are often too ashamed to come forward and talk about their ordeal.
From IRIN
CAPE TOWN, 13 October 2011 (IRIN) - Sexual violence against men, including rape, is under-reported, poorly addressed and has a severe impact on both men and their families, according to a presentation at the annual Sexual Violence and Research Initiative (SVRI), held in Cape Town, South Africa...
Male rape is here often associated with homosexuality, which in Uganda is condemned and stigmatised. Men also choose not to speak out for fear of being branded homosexuals, and victims cannot get proper support because they are accused of being gay.
Yet this is the tip of the iceburg.
So sleeping with the maids in the third world is "normal" (which is why most of our maids insist we hire them in pairs, for a chaparone), and if your employer is "gay" and you are an attractive male, well, watch your back... literally....And then there are the boarding schools and high schools, where teachers prey on their student (including pressuring girls or boys to become prostitutes).
However don't point fingers:
One of the unreported story of Africa is the sexual outlet of the "white bwanas". The Dominican sisters entered Rhodesia to nurse the first settlers. They soon were setting up schools, not just for the white students, but for the "coloured" children who quickly appeared. When the whites objected, sister said sarcastically that they were "their" children (and hinted she'd name names) so they'd better provide money...
Yet another unreported story of colonialism is that many of the white settlers (at least in British colonies) were exiled there because of their behavior: They were "gay". And of course, in Africa, your employees don't dare say no to a superior.
And gay abuse predates colonialism, as the story of the Uganda martyrs shows.
Yet colonial policies imposed taxes for money on village people, so essentially forced men to work to pay taxes, and colonial policies hired men without making accomadations for their families. Under Apartheid, where pass books were needed, this was even enforced by law.
Then you have the problem of old age: No social security, so an aging man would have to support himself or be supported by his family on his land. But in African custom, the land is owned by the tribe, so this meant you had to leave your wife at home to care for the land or the land would be given to another, meaning you would have no way to support yourself when you returned if she went with you. And although polygamy was legal, few men were rich enough to buy more than one wife.
So where did the men get sexual release? Prostitutes cost money...
Despite all the American talk of "cross cultural understanding", few medical studies of the problem seem to realize that Africans or Asians might not think the same as upper middle class white educated Americans.
Western investigations of gay identity such as this one from Princeton see the problem via western white culture.
This report also discusses MSM in South Africa but ignores the elephant in the living room: The fact that men are pressured by the system to leave their families behind while they go to work in the cities.
Teenaged boys who have sex with each other may not be gay, but merely not have access to girls: ditto for factory workers or those whose wives are at home in the villages caring for the family land. And in rural areas, if a tribe has taboos against vaginal intercourse with a pregnant or nursing wife, one would expect some MSM to be going on to relieve sexual tension (yet without putting that into context you are again missing the problem)
Then there is the problem of street children. When I adopted, we were told to assume if we adopted an older girl we should assume that they had been abused, and we were warned that many of our boys had also been abused.
One report said the MSM abuse rate was 25% among street kids in Addis Ababa
which, by the way, is the same rate as reported among inner city kids in the USA.
(in contrast, a broader survey shows that only 5% of teens admit sex below age 13, but 20 plus percent of gay kids...this does not include rape or sex under threats of violence, 10%).
What is going on in Africa is that with modernization (and the fruits of colonialism) you see a break down in tribal rules. You get chaos and all sorts of immoral behavior (not just sex but monetary corruption and violence) that were limited by tribal laws and customs in the past, but now have few ways for the community to protect itself from predators and sociopaths.
These countries however do have an alternative: religion.
Christianity, which for years was seen as an outside influence, is now indigenous (including many indigneous Christian churches). Even the hated "boko Haram" of Nigeria, seeking Sharia law, is more about stopping the epidemic of Nigerian corruption/bribery than about Islam per se.
The mosques and churches teach strict religious rules, and use shame to enforce them.
The breakdown of the family, a lot of which can be laid at the foot of an oppressive colonialist system that destroyed tribal ties and customs, is a major problem, and the churches are trying to solve it by preaching strict behavioral rules that encourage marriage between equals.
So the "anti gay" laws are part of a spectrum of laws trying to redevelop and heal the culture from the chaos and immorality inherited from colonial times.
And outsiders who see this as a "gay rights" problem are missing the point. It's not about two equals chosing to marry each other, even though they are the same sex. It's about trying to reestablish morality on many levels.
Westerners who assume it is about sex between equals are merely making things worse, because the average African sees this an merely another western plot against Africa.
And the revulsion against gays is visceral,
You see sex between equals, so whenwhen you say "don't make homosexual actions illegal", you are saying: "Let those born gay be able to have sex with one another as equals without punishing them".
But Africans interpret it differently: They hear: Let men rape our boys and get away with it.
Given the sex tourism with boys we see here in the Philippines, one could suggest they may have a point.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Zimbabwe's new constitution
From aljazeerah.
VIDEO
VIDEO
Approved overwhelmingly in a referendum in March this year, the constitution clips the powers of the president, limits presidential tenures to two five-year terms and does away with the post of prime minister.
However, it does not apply retroactively so the 89-year-old Mugabe could technically extend his three decades in office by another 10 years.
"This day is an historic day, it's about the future," Eric Matinenga, the Constitutional Affairs Minister said at the signing ceremony.
"I can assure you that this document which is before us is a good document."
A new constitution is one of the pre-conditions for elections to pick a successor to the shaky compromise government Mugabe formed four years ago with Tsvangirai.
Monday, May 06, 2013
Kony update
Strategypage reports he is hiding out in the disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan.
April 27, 2013: New reports claim that LRA commander Joseph Kony is hiding out in the Kafia Kingi region of Sudan. Kafia Kingi is a territory claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan. The enclave is (from South Sudan’s perspective) at the very western edge of South Sudan’s Western Bahr al-Ghazal state. Sudan currently occupies the enclave. Human rights organizations and the Ugandan government have frequently claimed that Sudanese military has provided the LRA with weapons, equipment, and money. The new reports (based on statements made by LRA defectors) claim that the Sudanese Army has given Kony safe haven. Kony may have used Kafia Kingi as a hideout in 2010. There are reports that he returned to the area briefly in 2011 and 2012.
Friday, April 05, 2013
speaking English
From the African Executive:
But if you speak English, it opens you to the world of ideas (and jobs in other countries where you can live in comfort and send money home to support the family). In grade schools, local books will be available, but if you want to get more information, you need English.
This is similar to Latin in the Middle Ages: it was the language of scholarship that enabled educated men to talk to each other.
The polyglot of western Europe started with Dante, and was accelerated with the Protestant revolt against the Catholic church, when Protestants decided to translate their version of the bible into the venacular for ordinary folks to read (and alas interpret wrongly due to lack of scholarship, but that's another argument altogether).
I don't think wanting to learn English is the problem. The real problem is that local goods tend to be shoddy, mainly due to corruption. I am aghast at how things here in the Philippines stop working quickly, because they are made locally, or more commonly, in China . So a Filipino can work in a Korean factory and make high quality goods, but here the same item is poor quality, and everyone knows it.
My husband even refused to buy a cheaper European make car (BMW) that was made in the Philippines, even though the Germans kept an eye on the place for quality control.
Prefering "european" (or here, Korean or Japanese or American) goods may not be from low self esteem, but because they usually are better.
Yes, it is a problem here in the Philippines too. Which is why Filipino ("tagalog") is the official langauge.
The fact that we still shun that which is clearly local and homegrown is a manifestation of the low regard we have for ourselves and one another. We prefer to use firms with English sounding names rather than vernacular ones and we associate Western or “white” tastes and ideas with superior quality. In what other country would a Shona-speaking mother and a Shona-speaking father produce an English-speaking child? Where does this low self image come from? Is it a result of being disappointed one too many times by some of our own? Is it a product of our early experiences which inform our foundational beliefs about ourselves?
But if you speak English, it opens you to the world of ideas (and jobs in other countries where you can live in comfort and send money home to support the family). In grade schools, local books will be available, but if you want to get more information, you need English.
This is similar to Latin in the Middle Ages: it was the language of scholarship that enabled educated men to talk to each other.
The polyglot of western Europe started with Dante, and was accelerated with the Protestant revolt against the Catholic church, when Protestants decided to translate their version of the bible into the venacular for ordinary folks to read (and alas interpret wrongly due to lack of scholarship, but that's another argument altogether).
I don't think wanting to learn English is the problem. The real problem is that local goods tend to be shoddy, mainly due to corruption. I am aghast at how things here in the Philippines stop working quickly, because they are made locally, or more commonly, in China . So a Filipino can work in a Korean factory and make high quality goods, but here the same item is poor quality, and everyone knows it.
My husband even refused to buy a cheaper European make car (BMW) that was made in the Philippines, even though the Germans kept an eye on the place for quality control.
Prefering "european" (or here, Korean or Japanese or American) goods may not be from low self esteem, but because they usually are better.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Africa to pass the Middle East in prosperity?
TPMBarnett's blog keeps an eye on globalization, and in an article about the Middle East he includes this comment:
The Arab world has an enormous amount of catching up to do WRT globalization, and it will be awful in execution (and with Africa leaping ahead on many fronts, the Middle East and North Africa - or large portions of it - risk becoming globalization's long-term basket case).
Police seizing radios in Zim
also from the BBC:
She and two other villagers were made to identify their neighbours who had radios, capable of picking up FM, AM and shortwave signals, which had recently been handed out by a small non-government youth organisation that had been in the area building a road and some community toilets."They took my cell phones and demanded to know the identity of people in my phone," she said, explaining how bedrooms and kitchens were thoroughly inspected.
"A lot of people were taken to the police station and we were warned that those that would be found with the radios [in future] will disappear."
The confiscations have left some people fearing that in the run-up to elections, the free media guarantees in the newly approved constitution will not be respected.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Guess who got arrested?
From AlJazeerah:
Zimbabwe police arrest PM's aides
Top lawyer and four officials from prime minister Tsvangirai's party detained, a day after constitutional referendum.
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