Trade, not Aid

I read an interesting TIME article (that was also old, thanks to the waiting room at the doctor’s) whose main premise was that the new way to look at Africa is to do business with them and forget the charity: trade, not aid. Their words.

I haven’t done too much research or thought very hard about this myself, so I can’t say I’m behind the idea, but on some level–and perhaps only in the imaginary world of ideals–it must ring true.

Sometimes, I wonder if those of us who have money, ever think about how the people we are donating money to feel about receiving our charity. There’s a book out there called Dead Aid that speaks about this very issue: aid needs to stop, business is the way to go, and the book has caused a huge wave of support, and quite lot of backlash. But the fact that it has generated such support means something; some Africans, on some level, are tired of being viewed treated as people who must be subject to the charity of other. It’s humiliating, annoying, and to some truth, downright doesn’t work.

So it doesn’t surprise me, that of all countries, China is the one that is pouring investment into the region, building infrastructure, and establishing trade agreements. Yes, it is in China’s interests, Africa is rich in natural resources, but it also illuminates a core belief of Chinese culture: saving face.

China understands that charity can be humiliating, that it makes you look like you cannot do things by yourself, that somehow, your life is worthless and at its core, simply requires you to live off of others.*  China also doesn’t enlist the superstars like Bono or depend on the soundbites of their president to be the face of Africa to their people.

Sometimes we get caught up in the idea of charity so much, we care more about charity on our end of the stick. Do we ever ask, how does the person I’m giving this to feel? If it makes them worse, then what’s the point? You’re just giving them money to feel better ourselves.

I don’t have any answers about Africa, and I’m sure that aid is still very much necessary (probably more so on the NGO level). But there’s the old Chinese*2 saying:  give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

What does that look like in a real-world context? What does it mean to “teach Africa to fish?” We can keep giving them aid; we can also start trading with them, have them build their own businesses and companies, and treat them with some real respect.

We all need help sometimes; we all also need to believe in ourselves. Healthy balance is key, and somewhere along the way, I think with regards to Africa, we fell a bit off center.

* – Sometimes in life, this is true; you do need the help of others. China gets this too, and you don’t need to look further than the 5/12 earthquake of last year to see that.

*2 – Again, another reason why China at least understands this conundrum better than we do. Whether or not what they’re doing is making it better, well we’ll see.

Today, Nobody is Actually Racist

Well, I take that back. There are a few people that genuinely hate people based on the tone of their skin.

But I would argue, that for the most part, most people don’t care what skin color you have. In that respect, they’re not racist. However, I would say that most people something else: cultural-ist.

In other words, they hate people not for their outward appearance; they hate them for what that outward appearance implies. While years ago, people saw Africans and immediately knew they were of a lower class, nowadays the stereotypical mid-western white man sees a black man and hates that he brings a poisonous culture to his children by means of rap music, sagging jeans and the thugs and gangsters.

It is the slightest of semantics, a remote shade in the gradient of social discourse, but I think it’s one of the most important distinctions we can make. Because once we recognize the problem isn’t with our refusal to accept people who look different, we realize just how insecure we are with others who act differently than we do.

And correctly diagnosing the problem, puts us on a better path to finding a long lasting solution.

Dehumanizer

You know what’s the best way to train a soldier? Drill into his head the fact that his enemy, is just that–an enemy; not a living, breathing human with a backstory, relationships and dreams.

You also want to know what’s the best way to feel good about putting a murderer in the chamber or on the chair? Tell yourself, and everyone else that he’s a cold-blooded killer.

The best way to rile up morale against those who want to have an abortion? Tell the world that they are nothing more than baby killers.

The best way to deal with people with that strange attraction towards others of the same sex? Call them names.

How about the best way to dismiss someone else’s choice for president? Explain away that said person is a liberal. Or a conservative. Or tag them with whatever social consciousness you want to group them with.

You want to know what’s the best way to deal with a living, breathing, tied to family members and friends, person with a unique set of beliefs that simply don’t align with yours?

Box them in. Make them concrete. Tag them with names.

Make them the enemy. They might as well not be people anyway.