|
Title: The Problematic Pop-Culture Movement to 'Save' Africa Post by: Tracey on October 26, 2006, 01:40:23 PM The Problematic Pop-Culture Movement to 'Save' Africa
By G. Pascal Zachary, AlterNet. Posted October 24, 2006 Madonna, famous for going to extremes to gain attention, is reminding the world in a fresh way that Americans abroad are dangerous. A widening controversy surrounds her adoption of a one-year-old African baby from the impoverished country of Malawi. And the debacle illustrates how ham-handed, clumsy and ineffective American aid efforts can be. Stunts like Madonna's perversely tend to reinforce Americans' sense of moral superiority -- without doing much for the aid recipients themselves. The former Material Girl's misadventures in adopting the boy, David Banda, have made her the newest Ugly American -- big-footing her way through a foreign country, violating local laws and sensibilities in the name of a private agenda she calls "doing good." Now even the father of the boy says Madonna's adoption is a mistake, joining a growing number of human-rights critics is saying the entertainer should return the child. Full Article: http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/43365/ Readers Comments: "Actually, one of the first things you notice about Africa when you are there -- apart from its long list of well-known problems -- is its optimism, its dreams. Dreams are the things Africans have plenty of. They don't need to import dreams, they need to export goods and services. I have noticed over the past six years raw, elitist and aggressive hijacking of international development and poverty issues by a small elite of celebrities. This has coincided with the biggest boom in wealth for these people ever in human history. And the result has been destructive. It has commodified the struggle to reduce poverty, it has turned it into a shameless spectacle that strips the dignity away of the poor (especially with its development porn picture which always show people as weak and helpless), and it has framed ending poverty with only one concept: charity. Charity is not the way to end poverty. Today's biggest poverty fighter, China, is not using charity to end poverty. It is using solid economic development policies and education. This is what Africa needs." More Comments http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/43483/ Title: Re: The Problematic Pop-Culture Movement to 'Save' Africa Post by: three_sixty on October 26, 2006, 05:01:32 PM Quote Today's biggest poverty fighter, China, is not using charity to end poverty. It is using solid economic development policies and education. This is what Africa needs * Well, China offers these things in hopes of gaining leverage for its burgeoning economy. The great resource wars in Africa are on some levels between China and the traditional colonial powers of Europe and America. I guess the argument could be made that "what Africa needs" is a choice as to who exploits them, but it would be better if Africa could gain assistance without that being a blank check for superpowers, whether Western or Eastern to implement an agenda which favors their endeavours. Title: Re: The Problematic Pop-Culture Movement to 'Save' Africa Post by: Rootsie on October 27, 2006, 02:44:00 PM Even the very words out of a Western white's mouth---'what Africa needs'--illustrate the problem.
|