(HERALD) Africa must shun Western aid

Africa must shun Western aid
Monday, 07 November 2011 00:00
Tendai Moyo

It seems some world leaders, though misguided, are clearly driven by archaic and racist theories propagated by discredited individuals like Charles Darwin, who centuries ago proclaimed that the white people are a superior race with the inherent responsibility to enlighten and subjugate other dark-coloured races.

This could succinctly explain recent condescending threats by British Prime Minister David Cameron to cut aid on countries that are not supportive of the indecorous homosexual rights. Surely if this is not the highest exhibition of the so-called superiority complex then what could it be?

Mr Cameron in an interview with BBC was quoted saying that, "Britain is now one of the premier aid givers in the world. We want to see countries that receive our aid adhering to proper human rights, and that includes how people treat gay and lesbian people."

He went on to say that, "British aid should have more strings attached, in terms of do you persecute people for their faith or their Christianity, or do you persecute people for their sexuality? We don't think that's acceptable."

What the British premier dismally failed to realise was that his empty threats were actually a form of persecution against those whose faith do not condone the disgusting and uncivilised practice of homosexuality.

In a way, though blurred by failed racist theories, his statements betrayed his blatant hypocrisy and disdain for other peoples' religions and beliefs. This kind of distorted thinking inordinately reveals a bigoted failure to appreciate that there are a plethora of other cultures in the world that view homosexuality as anathema.

To most Africans, the issue of homosexuality is an affront to their moral and cultural values and thus is inadmissible in their social or political discourse. It is an abomination by all standards and remains so despite the hollow threats from Cameron. Mr Cameron should also appreciate that Africa, in its plurality; also has 19 countries that have Islam as the dominant religion.

Islam strictly forbids homosexuality. A simple statement from Prophet Muhammad reinforces this belief.

It says, "When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shakes". This graphically explains why homosexuality is not tolerated in Islamic countries.

It does not matter whether Cameron withdraws his aid or not, Islamic countries will not condone his pro-homosexual mantra due to their undiluted religious faith. This is the brute reality that Mr Cameron should simply swallow. This world is constituted by a people with diverse cultural orientations and as such it is purely unfathomable for him to believe that his culture should be superimposed upon other world races.

Notwithstanding being an affront to the Africans' moral and cultural norms, the attempt to foist homosexuality on Africa evidently undermines the inviolable principle of sovereignty which categorically upholds a nation's right to determine its own policy of governance. Where is our sovereignty now if the "big brothers" of this world would like to coerce us into adopting their despicable cultural practices that are clearly averse to our cultural beliefs?

Although Cameron rightly acknowledges that we have divergent cultural backgrounds when he said, "They are in a different place from us on this issue . . ." he went on to disdainfully proclaim that, "I think these countries are all on a journey and its up to us to try and help them along on that journey."

What an insult! The British premier feels that we should get a lot of handholding for us to be delivered from our culturally informed anti-gay position. Like children, he feels westerners have the moral obligation to guide us into supporting the unnatural act of homosexuality. As usual, the imperialists think that they have been God-sent to alienate us from our culture and beliefs.

This is a brazen continuation of their previous forays during slavery and colonialism to ideologically and physically subjugate Africans for their own benefit.

The British premier's opaque thinking also opens the issue of "aid" to another trajectory of debate. The question is who benefits from this "aid"? In other words, who does the "aid" aid, the donor or the dependent?

Clearly, from Cameron's line of thinking, the "aid" is a tool created to conveniently aid the perpetuation of the supposed superiority of the Caucasians over other races. Like sanctions, it is a congenial instrument designed to cow other races into pandering to the depraved whims of the Caucasian ego.

We could put it in another way: when Cameron advocates for gay rights in Africa, in the belief that such a dispensation is superior, he gains votes because he is doing the age-old phenomenon of civilisation.

In their racist mentalities, whites believe that they are duty-bound to "civilise" lesser people. And what do we get from it? Just like the "civilising" mission of colonialism raped and underdeveloped the continent, "democratisation" and "human rights" will ultimately spell ill for Africa.

The most important point to make here is that nothing good will come out of a self-serving and Godforsaken West. So what is there for Africa to learn?
The inescapable lesson for Africans is for them to gradually wean themselves from being overly dependent on Western aid. Countries in the continent should come up with self-empowering policies that should disentangle them from the parasitic hands of Western donors. In this vein, programmes like the land reform and the indigenisation and empowerment programme should be viewed as appropriate measures to protect African identity and dignity.

The people of Zimbabwe must now rethink the ideas about foreign direct investment and jobs that are being propounded by some sections of the country. Nothing comes free: Britain and the West will tie conditions such as homosexuality for them to invest and create jobs in the country. The myopic and ultimately unhelpful ideas about jobs and investment must be rejected by all self-respecting

Zimbabweans for it opens the door for destructive western influence.

However, Zimbabwe is now practically immune from Cameron's threats because it is not currently receiving any meaningful aid from the British. In fact, it is trying to diligently harness its natural resources for the benefit of its people without any assistance from these foreigners. More importantly, recent developments have shown that these international bullies can surely be tamed. At the Commonwealth leaders' summit in Australia, the African caucus managed to put asunder Western efforts to force the group to adopt a recommendation that calls for an end to laws against homosexuality in 41 member nations.

Similarly, a caucus of African diamond producers at the recently held Kimberly Process plenary session in Kinshasa DRC also successfully stood up against spirited attempts by Western countries and their allies to block Zimbabwe from selling its diamonds from Marange without any hindrances. It is clear that if African countries stand together, they can defeat imperialism and its self arrogated superiority complex.