Contemporary Globalization in Africa - Essay Example

Contemporary Globalization in Africa Africa, also known as the Dark Continent, represents a special locus to analyze how contemporary globalization has affected the state sovereignty. Globalization has engulfed it and people are seeing rapid changes in their lives. Old form of globalization was ‘colonialism’ (Kieh 98), and it was just one dimension of the whole globalization ‘agenda’. Just with any new way of life or doing business, the new wave of globalization has brought good and bad things with it. Parenti’s account of the ‘criminal intentions’ in globalization start in his book with the chapter explaining how a farmer gets shot in Africa by a gunman of another tribe, for his cattle herd, and any other resources that he might be keeping. Overview of Contemporary Globalization Globalization is driven by economic motives, economic globalization is the largest aspect of the entire globalization phenomenon. Trans-nationalized capital goods, services IT and manufacturing, all are governed by the economics of globalization. And throughout history, economic globalization has been mainly driven by four major factors (Aina, Chachage & Yao 18), the collapse of social regimes all over the world, hyperactivity of Multinational Corporations (MNCS), the IT revolution, and market reforms (Aina, Chachage & Yao 18). The market reforms were set in the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP) background, especially designed for the third world countries. The main agenda was to ensure the state decontrol over the economic resources and social policy space (Aina, Chachage & Yao 24). Such were the main aspects of economic integration and globalization in the 90s. Africa is the poorest continent in terms of providing social services (Aina, Chachage & Yao 30). Education and social security aside, situation in many African countries is worse; to this day, Africa is still deprived of basic necessities of life like clean water and food. Post-colonial Africa strives for better living standards, life security is one of them. Tribal wars and killings, regional mafias and their merciless armies pose a serious threat to the prosperity of the African nation. The 2006 movie Blood Diamond by Edward Zwick is a fantasy movie based on facts. The blood diamonds in the movie refer to the diamonds that are illegally sold in the market. The labor that finds them is enslaved, and they work day in day out with the fear that if they don’t work, they will be put to the most brutal punishments. I find it relevant to mention the movie as it depicts the darkest side of Africa and it does show how modern globalization acts like a parasite sucking the blood of this beautiful continent. The land is full of precious jungles and earth that is full of minerals, the natural resources of Africa alone would be more than sufficient to feed the Africans and enable them to get back up on their feet and play an active role in international business and politics, but the ‘neo-colonialism’ still haunts this continent. Africa is special case as the effects of globalization can be observed vividly, in the past, present and unfortunately, in the future. All of which does cast ominous shadows on the overall modern globalization. Another thing that makes Africa a special case for contemporary globalization is the fact that many of the African states have never really enjoyed sovereignty (Kieh 98). The term Parenti uses relentlessly in his book is ‘catastrophic convergence’, and it similar to the tactics that were used in 1984 in India. Allegedly, the deliberate leakage of MIC from an American pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, left almost half a million people dead. There are rumors that it was a done on purpose to make people leave the freshly ‘contaminated’ place. Coming back to Africa, the countries of this continent are the victims of ‘new globalization’. For Africa to be free from the wave of contemporary globalization, the journey from heteronomy to autonomy needs to be made (Kieh 98). The fallout of colonialism and globalization has deeply affected the political, socio-economic and civil arrangements of rural life in Africa (Falola & Salm 203). And the effects can be seen even today, to disentangle from the aftermaths of such deeply rooted system won’t be easy. The whole debate of globalization so far would probably be putting doubts in the minds of people who generally consider globalization as a business opportunity for everyone. In theory it is a doorway to enter the international market to sell the goods. The benefit to a common man can be seen with the scenario; at a certain time, the regional markets might not want a farmer’s wheat or it might be saturated, but the same wheat might be needed in a neighboring country, island or continent; sounds alright if the idea is discussed. However, in practice, it is hardly the case. Big players (big businessmen, countries, banks) exploit the opportunity and in fact take over the local markets of a country, or in case of Africa, almost the whole continent. Globalization doesn’t address the issues of inequality and injustice prevalent in post-colonial African states, in fact globalization can strengthen human discrepancies (Prempeh et al. 79). The term ‘post-colonialism’ is probably misleading in case of Africa. It gives the impression that Africa is somehow free from colonialism, which is not correct. To put things in perspective, Africa had suffered for over a century under the colonialism rule, after that came the phase of so called ‘freedom’, which is nothing but ‘neo-colonialism’, where the imperial powers that sucked the African nations dry played their own power politics and took care of their own interests through locals. Contemporary globalization manifested itself this way, it was just another way of expanding interests and business in Africa by the colonial powers, and that had a direct impact on the African education system. The main schooling structure in Africa was established by Christian missionaries. These missionaries were under the direct dictation of their colonial masters (Abdi, Puplampu & Dei 57). These missionaries took dictation from colonial powers regarding the school structure, curriculum design, aim of education, the nature of subjects to be taught at schools (Abdi, Puplampu & Dei 57). In post-colonial Africa, the schooling system has been restructured according to western schooling system, and there is considerable flavor of globalization; “internationalization and marketization of education” (Abdi, Puplampu & Dei 57), can be seen today in the African education system. As a result of ‘injecting’ western styled education system and school structure in Africa, today there exists a state of conflict between the indigenous knowledge and the neo-liberal globalized form of education (Kapoor 14). But there is hardly any doubt as to which side has the upper hand. The subjects like science and technology are completely an ‘imported’ form of education and they enjoy the dominant status in Southern Africa. Indigenous knowledge base has become colonial captives; the so called modern education system in Africa almost completely ignores the indigenous philosophies, as if they are somewhat detrimental to the contemporary society (Kapoor 24). It makes sense because controlling the version of knowledge lets the rulers control the thoughts. They can expect the ‘kind’ of people to graduate from such education system. In Parneti’s book the sound of globalization is drenched in blood, spilled by the British in colonial states. Divide and rule policy wasn’t hugely successful without shedding blood and setting up battlefields for the locals to engage into. The tribes of Africa would not have been fighting with each other if it had not been for the British invaders, who saw the opportunity in creating polarization among African nations (mostly tribes). Uganda and Kenya would have been one country, the border line was drawn by the British raj, so they could create false identities, galvanize and weaken the Africans through creating artificial inner conflicts. Ethnicities and ethnic boundaries in Africa were never a real concern for the colonial powers; they divided the African territories with considering the local social dynamics, linguistic and cultural composition of the society, the colonial rule was only concerned with the material interests of their empire (Abdi, Puplampu & Dei 57). Probably it is really easy to exploit human psychology as to why humans fight. The Brit’s “scramble for Africa” wasn’t just an impulse, it was calculate, methodical and based on exploitation. Just like with other colonies of the world, the intruders saw an opportunity to exploit. People of Africa, with little or no education, couldn’t see what was coming at them and they fell for the ‘fanciness’ of globalization; which really meant; to become slaves of the colonial powers, fuel their economic engines and produce goods for them. This included losing identities and groupings based on linguistics, culture and history, the entire social fabric of the continent was destroyed. Boundaries were drawn between tribes, and the division was based on interests of the foreign powers; a perfect recipe for disaster of African countries. There is no surprise that African countries like Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda are considered the worst places to live in in terms of standard of living and life security. To generalize what is going on in many of the African countries, a parallel can be drawn with Afghanistan, the way Parenti does in the book. Afghanistan is not a failed state for any other reason, it is because of colonialism; by the British, then the Russians and at present, US soldier troop around in Afghanistan. Why wouldn’t the Afghanis grow poppy and sell it? It is the easiest thing to grow in Afghanistan, to fight against starvation, I would deem it legal to sell poppy. Moreover what the African states are facing in terms of climate change are frequent droughts – one of the many gifts of globalization. Droughts in Africa have left the Africans countries crippled, and they are fighting with tribes that possess land, food and water. Its kill or be killed in many regions in Africa. Parenti quotes in his book, an account of a Kenyan veterinarian “In the past we used to have regular 10-year climatic cycles which were always followed by a major drought. In the 1970s, we started having droughts every seven years; in the 1980s they came about every five years and in the 1990s we were getting droughts and dry spells almost every two or three years. Since 2000 we have had three major droughts and several dry spells. Now they are coming almost every year, right across the country.” (Parenti 40) Neoliberalism, imperialism and capitalism are probably hidden in the cloak of contemporary globalization. Parenti takes a shot at all of them in his book, and tells it how it has ruined the lives of nations. It is the reason why the third world is still the third world. Hope for Africa The damage to the African states in the aftermath of colonialism and now, contemporary globalization is huge, and certainly not irreversible; it would be extremely hard to think that African states would erase the unjust boundary lines created between countries. New generations have been born in these artificial states. But there is hope, Africa can move forward despite all the challenges and can definitely use modern globalization to its own advantage. It will require reconstruction at a massive level, re-examination of citizenship, and re-conceptualization of pan-territorial and pan-African perspective (Aina, Chachage & Yao 18). Redefining borders by taking people into consideration and building a grand consensus would definitely help toward this. May be the process of reversing the economic damage to the continent will take years and what the global industrialization has done to the climate even more, but the first step needs to be taken, the sooner the better. Source Abdi, Ali A., Korbla P. Puplampu, and George J. Sefa Dei. African Education and Globalization: Critical Perspectives. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2006. Print. Aina, Tade Akin., C. S. L. Chachage, and Elisabeth Annan-Yao. Globalization and Social Policy in Africa. Dakar, Senegal: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, 2004. Print. Falola, Toyin, and Steven J. Salm. Globalization and Urbanization in Africa. Trenton, NJ: Africa World, 2004. Print. Kapoor, Dip. Critical Perspectives on Neoliberal Globalization, Development and Education in Africa and Asia. Rotterdam: Sense, 2011. Print. Kieh, George Klay. Africa and the New Globalization. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Pub., 2008. Print. Parenti, Christian. Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence. New York: Nation, 2011. Print. Prempeh, E. Osei Kwadwo, Joseph Mensah, and Senyo B-S. K. Adjibolosoo. Globalization and the Human Factor: Critical Insights. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate, 2004. Print. Read More