Say what you will, it's not working
The economy of Africa comprises approximately 887 million people as of July 2005 living in 54 different states. Africa is by far the world's poorest inhabited continent, and it is, on average, poorer than it was 25 years ago.
The United Nations' Human Development Report 2003 (of 175 countries) found that positions 151 (Gambia) to 175 (Sierra Leone) were taken up entirely by African nations.
It has had (and in some ways is still having) a shaky and uncertain transition from colonialism, with the ensuing Cold War and increases in corruption and despotism being major contributing factors to its poor economic situation. In contrast to the rapid growth in China and India, and moderate growth in South America, which has lifted millions beyond subsistence living, Africa has stagnated. It has even gone backwards in terms of foreign trade, investment, and per capita income. This poverty has widespread effects, including low life expectancy, violence, and instability - factors intertwined with the continent's poverty. Over the decades there have been many attempts to improve the economy of Africa with very little success. Much of the continent is still very poor.
Africa was hit hard by the world economic decline of the 1970s, rising oil prices, corruption, and political instability; and in subsequent decades Africa has steadily become poorer compared to the rest of the world. Africa stands in stark contrast to the solid growth in South America and the spectacular growth of East Asia over that same period. In 1970, according to the World Economic Forum, ten percent of the world's poor were in Africa; by 2000, half of them were. From 1974 to 2000 the average income declined by $200. Beginning in 1976, the Lomé agreements and Cotonou agreement between the EU and ACP countries (including Sub-Saharan Africa) have structured economic relations between the two areas.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Africa
Great Zimbabwe is the name given to the remains, sometimes referred to as the Great Zimbabwe Ruins, of an ancient Southern African city, located at 20°16′S 30°54′E in present-day Zimbabwe which was once the centre of a vast empire known as the Munhumutapa Empire (also called Monomotapa Empire). This empire ruled territory now falling within the modern states of Zimbabwe (which took its name from this city) and Mozambique.
Despite this evidence, the official line in colonial Rhodesia was that the structures were built by non-blacks. Paul Sinclair wrote in None But Ourselves [1]:
"I was the archaeologist stationed at Great Zimbabwe. I was told by the then-director of the Museums and Monuments organization to be extremely careful about talking to the press about the origins of the [Great] Zimbabwe state. I was told that the museum service was in a difficult situation, that the government was pressurizing them to withhold the correct information. Censorship of guidebooks, museum displays, school textbooks, radio programmes, newspapers and films was a daily occurrence. Once a member of the Museum Board of Trustees threatened me with losing my job if I said publicly that blacks had built Zimbabwe. He said it was okay to say the yellow people had built it, but I wasn't allowed to mention radio carbon dates... It was the first time since Germany in the thirties that archaeology has been so directly censored."
To black anti-colonialist groups, Great Zimbabwe became an important symbol of achievement by black Africans. Reclaiming its history was a major aim for those wanting independence. In 1980 the newly independent country was renamed for the site, and its famous soapstone bird carvings became a national symbol, depicted in the country's flag.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe
In 1991, amid international pressure and short on hard currency, Zimbabwe embarked on a neoliberal austerity program, but the International Monetary Fund suspended aid, claiming that the reforms were "not on track."
He pursued a "moral campaign" against homosexuality, making what he deemed "unnatural sex acts" illegal with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. This included the arrest of his predecessor as President of Zimbabwe, Canaan Banana, who was convicted of gay sex offences.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe
But Canaan Banana was no innocent. After all, he impinged on the most sacred of freedoms:
Under the new constitution Banana became the first president in 1980. In 1982 a law was passed forbidding citizens from making jokes about his name. In 1987 his post was taken over by Mugabe, who made himself executive president. Banana became a diplomat for the Organisation of African Unity and head of the religious department at the University of Zimbabwe.
In 1996 he was arrested in Zimbabwe on charges of sodomy, following accusations made during the murder trial of his former bodyguard, Jefta Dube. Banana was found guilty of eleven charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy and indecent assault
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan_Banana
The United Nations' Human Development Report 2003 (of 175 countries) found that positions 151 (Gambia) to 175 (Sierra Leone) were taken up entirely by African nations.
It has had (and in some ways is still having) a shaky and uncertain transition from colonialism, with the ensuing Cold War and increases in corruption and despotism being major contributing factors to its poor economic situation. In contrast to the rapid growth in China and India, and moderate growth in South America, which has lifted millions beyond subsistence living, Africa has stagnated. It has even gone backwards in terms of foreign trade, investment, and per capita income. This poverty has widespread effects, including low life expectancy, violence, and instability - factors intertwined with the continent's poverty. Over the decades there have been many attempts to improve the economy of Africa with very little success. Much of the continent is still very poor.
Africa was hit hard by the world economic decline of the 1970s, rising oil prices, corruption, and political instability; and in subsequent decades Africa has steadily become poorer compared to the rest of the world. Africa stands in stark contrast to the solid growth in South America and the spectacular growth of East Asia over that same period. In 1970, according to the World Economic Forum, ten percent of the world's poor were in Africa; by 2000, half of them were. From 1974 to 2000 the average income declined by $200. Beginning in 1976, the Lomé agreements and Cotonou agreement between the EU and ACP countries (including Sub-Saharan Africa) have structured economic relations between the two areas.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Africa
Great Zimbabwe is the name given to the remains, sometimes referred to as the Great Zimbabwe Ruins, of an ancient Southern African city, located at 20°16′S 30°54′E in present-day Zimbabwe which was once the centre of a vast empire known as the Munhumutapa Empire (also called Monomotapa Empire). This empire ruled territory now falling within the modern states of Zimbabwe (which took its name from this city) and Mozambique.
Despite this evidence, the official line in colonial Rhodesia was that the structures were built by non-blacks. Paul Sinclair wrote in None But Ourselves [1]:
"I was the archaeologist stationed at Great Zimbabwe. I was told by the then-director of the Museums and Monuments organization to be extremely careful about talking to the press about the origins of the [Great] Zimbabwe state. I was told that the museum service was in a difficult situation, that the government was pressurizing them to withhold the correct information. Censorship of guidebooks, museum displays, school textbooks, radio programmes, newspapers and films was a daily occurrence. Once a member of the Museum Board of Trustees threatened me with losing my job if I said publicly that blacks had built Zimbabwe. He said it was okay to say the yellow people had built it, but I wasn't allowed to mention radio carbon dates... It was the first time since Germany in the thirties that archaeology has been so directly censored."
To black anti-colonialist groups, Great Zimbabwe became an important symbol of achievement by black Africans. Reclaiming its history was a major aim for those wanting independence. In 1980 the newly independent country was renamed for the site, and its famous soapstone bird carvings became a national symbol, depicted in the country's flag.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe
In 1991, amid international pressure and short on hard currency, Zimbabwe embarked on a neoliberal austerity program, but the International Monetary Fund suspended aid, claiming that the reforms were "not on track."
He pursued a "moral campaign" against homosexuality, making what he deemed "unnatural sex acts" illegal with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. This included the arrest of his predecessor as President of Zimbabwe, Canaan Banana, who was convicted of gay sex offences.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe
But Canaan Banana was no innocent. After all, he impinged on the most sacred of freedoms:
Under the new constitution Banana became the first president in 1980. In 1982 a law was passed forbidding citizens from making jokes about his name. In 1987 his post was taken over by Mugabe, who made himself executive president. Banana became a diplomat for the Organisation of African Unity and head of the religious department at the University of Zimbabwe.
In 1996 he was arrested in Zimbabwe on charges of sodomy, following accusations made during the murder trial of his former bodyguard, Jefta Dube. Banana was found guilty of eleven charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy and indecent assault
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan_Banana
posted by Tristan Tzara at 3:07 AM
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