Malawi, EAC, Nigeria

Hi,
Today we want to discuss Malawi, the new EAC trade agreement and the Nigerian oil dilemma. Here goes...

MALAWI FEEDING ITS NEIGHBOURS
Malawi recorded a bumper harvest this year, because of a decision by the government to subsidize its farmers. They did this despite opposition from the World Bank and other development partners, who for long have been pushing policies that have been detrimental to the African nations food security.

Should other African states follow suite and move away from policies pushed by the IMF and World Bank that are harmful to their economies? What reaction can this produce from the Bretton Woods organizations, and should threats of a possible backlash deter developing nations from adopting other development models?

Read the story here: Malawi

Post your comments below

NEW EAC TRADE PACT
The East African Community-EAC (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi) has just signed a new controversial trade agreement with the EU. This agreement will allow European produce to move freely into the region. Critics argue that the deal could damage developing economies by cutting their customs revenue and making it harder for local businesses to compete with larger foreign rivals. What are your thoughts on this new deal?

Read the story here: EAC Trade Pact

Post your comments below

NIGERIAN DILEMMA
With the largest oil reserves in Africa, the biggest and arguably the most educated population, why is Nigeria so poor and underdeveloped? Can anything be done to remedy the situation? Is Nigeria like Ashif Hanan calls it, ‘a basket case’?

Read the story here: Nigeria burning

Post your comments below

Have an intellectual day.

Mark Gaya

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Lefties Are Still lefties

Hey Kagenza...I also miss our ideologies class! Just one thing, it's OYOO, not OLOO! My name is a major part of my identity since it was my great-great-grandfather's, so I tend to be rather fascist about people getting it right:-)!

I stand by my opinion that extreme leftist thought has a ring of class structure to it, the idea that a better-placed individual-in terms of education perhaps? Enlighten me- has the duty of showing the lost sheep-I think I might be included by some in that category no doubt-the right path to socialism, an ideology that has definitely outlived its usefulness.

Your response brought out a lot of factors that really need to be explored and it has taken me much time and effort to reflect on.The gloves are off, yeah, just like old times buddy, we are allowed to get personal because this is healthy and I really take no offense. I am sure that when when I 'sit around my European/American (white) girlfriends and boyfriends, I bathe in their reassurances that 'you are one of us'. Most of my friends (brown, black, white, yellow, pink, blue, whatever) are Baha'is, and that is a comforting reassurance. Out in the world there are people who share the same aspirations for the human family as I do and are heavily committed to demonstrating in in the totality of their lives. That is a very comfortable situation for me, don't you think? The fact that we all feel thoroughly connected, not because of race, nor class, nor taste in music and other ephemeral objects, we identify a silver thread that runs through all of us: a principally spiritual identity. There is absolutely no harm in talking 'about western fashion, western music, western concepts of life, western cuisine, and all other things that excite white Europeans/Americans.' I know several other brown, yellow and black people combined who have an interest in a plethora of similar ideas and things. Since when was one's taste dictated by one's race? I find that idea completely unacceptable and to be quite honest, extremely bizarre. Aren't you a socialist who delves into the works of Chomsky and neo-Marxist critical thinkers? I find it very paradoxical then that you'd highlight my interests in a way that makes them seem so frivolous! Sackcloth has never appealed to me and never will! Are you proposing that I run to USIU from the ends of the earth each day and then run back home? That I walk to a river thousands of miles away to get washed? That I wear skins or leaves? I don't know about you but my skin is prone to bursts of allergic reactions when it comes into contact with wild plants. Maybe you should put that to the test and tell us how it goes. Western technology makes our lives easier, doesn't it, otherwise we wouldn't be blogging (and doing so in English, a language that has clearly demonstrated man's ability to unite).The 'real' Africans out there will think of us as being very stupid and privileged young men with lots of free time to talk about life and identity when they are thinking about where their next meal is coming from. Kagenza read your submissions: the reality you complain and castigate is your reality. You are a product of 'factories' as much as I am!

We are so good at faulty generalisation. I have to admit that I'm guilty of that cardinal sin given that 'lefties are blahblahblah'. I actually do find it hysterically funny that my friends have 'accepted me because I don't talk about racism'. I have to admit I hardly dwell on issues that just seem to hit a brick wall. And no, I am not so ignorant about 400 years of slavery! I spend too much time with my nose down history books to be that ignorant. Maybe I'm too unsentimental, a tad bit cynical and certainly cold (that's just life), I just think that revisiting the sins of the past purely as an exercise in pointing fingers is retarded and futile. What do we hope to achieve by talking about this day in, day out? Slavery was horrendous and we all know that, but somehow I don't seem to know anyone who has people picking cotton on their fields. We can't keep blaming people fore the sins of their forefathers! What about the future? What do we intend to do about that? Complaining about the past with no concrete plans of action to improve the situation is quite worrying!

My reaction when Morales came to power was 'hmmmmmmmm....unacceptable'. This is just my opinion. The so-called socialist revolution in South America is purely a reaction to the political realities north of the border, which will certainly change after liberals take the White House next year. There is also the fact that the Revolution's great leader Castro (am man I detest along with his poodle Chavez who just needs to be shot-yes Pat Robertson and I finally have something to agree on) is ailing (probably a corpse for all we know). I have to agree with Margaret Thatcher that 'Capitalism has finally triumphed over Communism'. Nationalisation of industries is an extremely stupid move that will cost Bolivia and the rest of South America dearly. It makes no economic sense to block liberalism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I believe in equality, but you can't have a properly functioning society if everyone exists on the same plane and earns the same! Basics have to be met but we STILL NEED ORDER! I can just see you wincing at my "elitist sentiments" but I assure you that isn't really the case. What we need to be working towards is finding a solution to extremes of poverty.Maybe I am too preoccupied with the future to commiserate on sad events that happened centuries ago.

I set down the rules when it comes to my identity, and that identify is multifaceted. I am different things to different people and there is not phony about that! I am a Baha'i, African, Kenyan, Luo, Nairobian, a photographer, a blogger, a writer, a student at one of those 'factories'(where I often sit not too far from the well poised, eloquent and strikingly handsome Afro-Centrist typing away on his laptop), an environmentalist, a civil liberties activist, an art lover, a liberal when it comes to social matters, a fiscal conservative. The list goes on and it tells me that I have a multitude of identities, not a confused personality. I am more than my race or cultural background and I tend to think that everyone else is pretty much the same. I don;t limit myself to lesser identities! Being a minority within a minority is not very easy, and I have learned to straddle all my worlds carefully without offending anyone, not because I am afraid of what they would think, but because I don't particularly enjoy making people uncomfortable due to the fact that I don't take too kindly to being made uncomfortable.

Because of you my very dear friend, I have been going on shopping sprees buying everything I can get my hands on by Noam Chomsky. Isn't that the same Western philosophical thought that you are eloquently denigrating?Well, my 'so called Liberals are merely a bouquet of pussyfooters who would never loudly go against the status quo because they don't want to step on anybody's toes'. Well I tend to think that I really do fight the status quo, particularly in my personal life. I have surrounded myself with people I accept and people who accept me, not for any of the reasons you have so beautifully elaborated on. Many of my friends, lovers and I are on opposite sides of the political or philosophical (or even artistic) spectrum and I definitely see you as being a friend who pushes me to think beyond my preferences and ideologies, getting me out of my comfort zone which is healthy for growth. It makes life interesting because one finds that one is constantly pushing oneself to learn.

I've probably been going on and on about nothing but I will answer your question. My centre is my identity as a Baha'i, my centre is 6 billion souls, my centre is the tiny contribution I can make towards the betterment of the entire human race. 'Let no man glory in this: that he loveth his country, let him rather glory in this: that he loveth his kind.' I do love my kind and the fact that all of us human beings are so different.

Patrick Oyoo