From: pchaston (pchaston@supanet.com)
Date: Mon Jun 24 2002 - 15:42:30 MDT
[reply below]
>
>
> Samantha Atkins wrote:
> >
> > Randy wrote:
> > > On Sun, 23 Jun 2002 20:32:25 EDT, you wrote:
> > > Someone wrote:
> > >
> > >>Its government, not technology.
> > >
> > >
> > > It's (mainly) culture, not technology. After so many years, one must
> > > conclude that a govt is derived from the dominant cultures.
> >
> > It is cultural. And much of the culture keeping hundreds of
> > millions in starvation, disease and very dire poverty is Western
> > culture. As long as Western culture is fundamentally based in
> > scarcity, in the notion there is not enough for everyone, the
> > West will act to secure as much as possible for itself. The
> > best of us will believe we are doing so in order to create
> > technology that fundamentally eliminates scarcity across the
> > planet. But, in point of fact, we pour food into the ocean
> > before we will give it to hungry nations. We sell them arms
> > with far less stringent controls than we bring in food and
> > medicine. Something is a bit wacky there.
> >
>
One of the problems in examining the afflictions of post-colonial countries
is lighting upon one cause that appears to explain the situation that has
developed in Zimbabwe or Malawi or Angola.
First of all, a drought is currently taking hold in southern africa and is
tearing apart the rural economies of these nations. There is a natural
context within which this famine is developing. But these countries could
suffer droughts without having to suffer famines.
Two of the contributory factors for famine are war and maladministration, a
human element. The framework of reform, that includes adherence to the rule
of law and secure property rights is well-rehearsed, but does not address
the problem of those who are forced to live under a regime that does not
have their interests and attempts to rob, even starve them.
Usually, those people, the landless, the poor farmer or the slum dweller,
who suffer the most from the institutionalised theft of their governments,
understand and are willing to benefit from the steps required to increase
their quality of life by providing access to clean water, seed,
transportation and markets.
The application of contemporary technologies is less important than the
creation of an economic space for the African farmers to secure their land,
commercialise, and move towards an economy that immunises itself against
natural disasters.
Philip Chaston
(Post-colonial has no political connotations in a historical sense and
indicates a created sovereign polity after it has ceased to be a colony or
part of an Empire. One can question its usage when it is applied on a
cultural basis to describe dependence or inclusion within an informal Empire
viz Great Britain and Latin America in the mid C19th)
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