Earth Hour took place today (Sat. March 28 09) from 8:30pm-9:30pm ET all over the globe. Check out a CNN article at http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/03/28/earth.hour/index.html . The world is beginning to think green more in all areas of life. What are developing countries doing? African countries? It's the next big thing!!
Here's the first video about the Circumspect Web Series. I'll do more work on it Summer '09 Inshallah.
Video on Mount Holyoke College's African-Caribbean Day 2009. Held by MHACASA and featuring yours truly.
Why women's issues and things considered to be "little" matter in the long-run
More of the amazing TED Talks!
Innovative Health Care
Investment in Africa
So about a year ago, I came across this series of talks called TED (www.ted.com) and its a conference series where the world's most innovative actors, thinkers, leaders etc in all sectors discuss ideas for the future, share their experiences etc. Anyway, I just checked out a couple more videos and decided to post them here because they are insightful, informative and interesting. I'll probably discuss some of the ideas and opinions at a later date. For now, I should get a-studying. Lol. Enjoy!
Humanity
Foreign Aid in Africa
African Attitudes + Impressions
Innovation, Leadership + Drive
The subject of colonization is one that many people would rather avoid. To some, its occurrence was a necessary evil; one that propelled the now-developed world to the heights it has achieved. To others, it's a thing apart in itself; something ancient that took place under a different set of circumstances and with a different generation of individuals. Others consider colonization and the accompanying slave trade as one of the worst injustices served to humanity. Whether colonization is openly acknowledged or not, there is no doubt that it has played, and continues to play, a huge part in the state of the global community. Although the physical manifestations of colonization, like the loss of natural and human resources are recognized and considered in the development discourse, the unseen psychological effects of colonization are not given the attention due. These unseen effects translate into sovereignty issues which eventually show up on the development platform, and are longer-lasting and more disastrous than they might seem.
Over the past two decades, economists have contemplated the inability of sub-Saharan to develop despite intensified efforts on both the local and global levels. A comparison is often made between the developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and those in Asia. The poorest economies can be found in these two regions, but while many Asian developing economies like India and China have made great strides in advancing their development efforts, sub-Saharan Africa remains the world's poorest and least developed region to date. Many historians link Africa's current struggle for development to its experience of colonization. Although colonization took place in both Asia and Africa, the structure of colonization in these two regions was vastly different. While the inhabitants of the Asian colonies were, to some degree, allowed to take up leadership positions and essentially handle the affairs of their respective states, their African counterparts were not given that liberty. Instead, the traditional African governance structures and ethnic groupings were destroyed; their once revered chiefs were reduced to obsolete chess pieces and worse still, the notion that Africans and Blacks in general were an inferior group was drummed home to them in the most gruesome ways possible. Consequently, African nations were set on a spiral of inferiority complex that is in motion even today.
In many African nations, there is the general notion that "foreign or white is better." Many Africans will bend over backwards to help a foreigner, but find it hard to even grant audience to a fellow African who might have a new idea. At first glance this phenomenon might seem innocent and harmless. But in societies where communal values formed the foundation of their existence, the current contempt and disregard for contributions from fellow Africans holds grave significance. As the Pulitzer Award winner, writer and historian Will Durant noted, "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within." The "divide and conquer" tactics used by the colonists during the "Scramble for Africa" in the 1800s is one that literally played with the minds of its victim countries and has left them confused ever since. The level of contempt that many Africans hold for their own people has increased to the point where it is even labeled the 'Pull Him Down' syndrome. Countries like Ghana are known for being very hospitable and welcoming to foreigners. But does this hospitality translate onto the local scene? Does it make Ghana's tourism industry one of the most dynamic? Does it in any way improve the development prospects of the nation? The answer to all these questions is no. Although development opportunities in African nations have increased over the course of time, the struggles continue because of this inferiority complex. African governments would rather grant contracts and make risky concessions to foreigners than give a citizen the opportunity to prove him or herself. The main argument given for this reluctance is the relative lack of experience on the part of the citizen. Even if this might be the case, how are individuals expected to garner any experience in their respective fields without being given a first chance?
There are many other scenarios in which this inferiority complex has played out. In 1998 then-U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Ghana for seven hours. He was scheduled to spend his visit in the capital city,Accra. I vividly remember the hurried efforts on the part of the government to ensure that Accra was clean and renovated enough to receive its distinguished visitor. This brought to question not only the priorities of the government, but also the view of Ghanaians as undeserving or unimportant enough to live in a clean environment. Instead, they had to wait for a foreigner to visit in order to enjoy a couple of hours of cleanliness. During Obama's presidential campaign, a Nigeria-based group known as Africans for Obama held a fund-raising gala in support of Obama and proceeded to offer the Obama campaign $630,000. In a continent where poverty and health issues abound, one might wonder why the members of the group did not channel their efforts to solve the many problems in their own country, but instead jumped at the opportunity to raise funds for Obama. In Oct. 2007, the Nobel Prize-winning DNA pioneer James Watson made controversial comments claiming that blacks are less intelligent than whites. Although his comments bring a lot to question, they do raise the question of whether Africa's struggle with development is as much a psychological one as a resource and technological struggle. In order for African and low-income countries to make headway in their development efforts, a change in mentality concerning their own people is necessary. As the famous Bob Marley says in his Uprising album track "Redemption Song," the emancipation of a people and nation starts with breaking the chains of mental slavery.
*This article was written by Jemila Abdulai and published in the Mount Holyoke News
**Photo Source: http://www.mentalslavery.com/archives/mental-slavery-t-shirts
Adding a pinch of salt to a meal can make all the difference. It usually boils down to a number of things; whether you like the meal or not, whether you’re willing to continue eating the food, and whether you’re ready to go back for more. There’s something so universal about the use of salt in kitchens across the globe, that one cannot ignore the immense impact of those tiny crystals on human life. Unfortunately, the impact is not always positive. The human rights abuses that result from the involvement of salt and other food products in the so-called free trade system often go ignored and are in most cases unheard of.
On the pages of a travel brochure about Senegal, you are bound to see a photo or two of the beautiful Pink Lake, or ‘Le Lac Rose’ as it is known in the francophone West-African country. The lake derives its name from its spectacular pink appearance. The phenomenon behind the famous and interesting appearance of the lake can be traced to those same crystals which constitute salt. On an ideal day with the right combination of sunshine and wind, the salt crystals and microorganisms in the depths of the Pink Lake are reflected and voila, the lake is pink. With less than ideal conditions, the lake might take on an orange or grey appearance. The extraordinary nature of the lake draws in many of tourists year-round, and is a source of income to the people who live in the lake area. However, tourism is not the main source of living for the people of the Pink Lake area. Salt production is.
In July 2008, I had the opportunity to interact with some of the salt workers on a field trip to the Pink Lake with the Young Women’s Knowledge and Leadership Institute. Being an economics and French student, I was very excited about the opportunity to practice my French and relate economic theory to reality. I was soon forced to put away my textbook notions of economics and French. For one thing, the workers didn’t speak any French at all, but instead spoke the local Senegalese language Wolof. The only way I was able to communicate with them was through the help of some of the Senegalese participants at the institute, who spoke both French and Wolof. As we interviewed the workers, I discovered another farce about my knowledge of economics. Economic theories and textbooks are exactly what they say they are; just text and theory.
According to economic theory, the free market eventually handles its own problems. In a country where basic economic infrastructure and essential labor and trade mechanisms are put in place, this might be true. But on the banks of the Pink Lake and in many other developing countries, other forces dictate life. Both men and women work at the Pink Lake. The men are generally concentrated in the decision-making process of salt production and negotiate prices with rich businessmen from local and international companies. Since the Senegalese government is not directly involved with proceedings at the lake, a cycle of exploitation has been built. The businessmen exploit the male workers who have little or no knowledge about the industry’s labor and trade policies, and offer them low prices for the salt under the guise of making it more “competitive” on the global market. The male workers in turn hire women to empty salt-filled canoes by carrying basins of salt on their head, with each basin weighing about 60 kilograms. The women, who are also the breadwinners, make an average of 50 trips to transport the salt from a single canoe to the shore. They wear no protective clothing and are vulnerable to many skin diseases and health problems. At the end of the day, these women are paid a daily wage of about $2, which is not only below the minimum daily wage of $3, but is eight times less than the $16 wage their male counterparts receive.
The notion of fairness in global trade is based on the premise of a level-playing field. This premise has been criticized by many economists and human rights activists since the very realities of high and low-income countries suggest that they operate on entirely different levels. Free trade also aims at making its participants relatively well-off by encouraging each participant to focus on the production of the good in which it has a comparative advantage. Not only has the system failed to meet its key objective, it has succeeded in leaving a string of human rights abuses in its wake. So long as the global trade system continues to steal from the poor to feed the rich, the idea of fair trade is one which should be taken with a little more than a pinch of salt.
*This article was written by Jemila Abdulai and published in the Mount Holyoke News.
