The Black History Museum

The problems Africa faces: a very personal view by RDN

Africa – the dark continent – has a powerful place in the imaginations of both white and black people. For the British, especially, it was where they had several of their colonies. It was where millions of black people who would become slaves were born. It is where tens of thousands of blacks died trying to keep the colonialists off their land. It is also where a good few thousand white men died in colonial service, and their number was probably well exceeded by those whites who were taking Christianity to the African.

Above all, and especially now, the whole world thinks of Africa as a continent with exceptionally high levels of poverty and violent strife. It is also a place in which religion of every kind is a matter of great importance. And there is a lot of extra-marital sex.

Africa has many features which are found anywhere in the world. There are motorbikes and mobile phones. But to a degree which shocks us, there are elements of the Stone Age about the continent. In many places farming has not advanced beyond levels of technology common thousands of years ago. In much of the violence, there is a brutality – an amount of rape and limb-chopping with machetes - which seems deeply primitive.

Alongside this is a really odd problem. Africa is unique in being a continent whose tourism industry is important but dependent on the glamour of animals rather than the glamour of humans.

And where the non-African tourist does get invited to celebrate the African person, it is most often as a member of a glamorous tribe. The art and fabric design which the tourist buys are beautiful – but they are tribal or primitive. The Maasai, in particular, are much admired by visitors. Noble, brave, swift, they are presented as prototypically African. In fact, some Maasai go to universities all over the world, and some are drawn back to the old way of life. But it as hunter-warriors that they are, well, lionised.

There is much that is attractive and good about all this. But it risks being patronising.

All this sounds negative. But the ordinary African person – the “unglamorous” farmer or urban dweller - also captures the imagination of many of the people who visit. All that is unfortunate about Africa also contributes to a level of courage, humour and stoicism amongst its people. Many poor African countries have taken in refugees from neighbouring countries with extraordinary generosity.

It is easy to sound patronising when one says so, but this experience is reflected in the comments of many non-Africans who know the continent well. To ignore their testimony would be as foolish as to ignore everything that is bleak about Africa.

No-one can really guess if and when Africa will start to do well. Some countries are making huge strides. Botswana is an obvious example, but Nigeria and South Africa are amazing too. But the gloomy facts remain, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

There are plenty of theories as to the difficulties Africa faces. Geography (dryness, poor soils and long haulage distances) all make things difficult in many places. A long tradition of looking after one’s own family and tribe in adversity has seemed to make it hard to build sophisticated societies. A deep faith in tradition may have made development harder.

And then there is the difficulty that it is tempting for Africans to blame their colonial legacy for everything which ails the place, even half a century after the colonials left.

It is tempting to argue that a politics and culture of resentment is one of the features which distinguishes Africa and Africa’s intellectuals. Resentment may be natural and justified, but it probably isn’t much use. Arguably, the next heroic quality Africans will need is to forget much of their past.