From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Jul 21 2009 - 06:39:09 EDT
Obama Snubs Africa, Then African Americans
by Shamus Cooke
July 21, 2009
Many people believed that after Bush had left the White House, rampant
arrogance combined with stunning hypocrisy had also gone. Events have proven
otherwise. A recent speech delivered in Africa - and one later directed
specifically at African Americans - carried with them all the baggage of the
Bush years, to the extent that one could safely claim that absolutely
nothing had changed. And although Obama is able to give a more compassionate
and intelligent speech than was possible with Bush, the essence of their
policies is identical. Both Africans and African Americans can expect no
help from the U.S. government in addressing their serious and specific
grievances, themselves the result of past and current U.S. government
policy. Instead, both were given the same solution: if you want help, help
yourselves, "no excuses."
In Africa Obama gave brief mention to the Continent's tragic past in regards
to slavery and colonialism, but prescribed a cure that fell short of
inspirational, when he said, "Africa's future is up to Africans," which
essentially means not to expect too much help from the U.S. The Economist
magazine correctly noted that "there was little in the speech that could not
have been said by George Bush." (July 16, 2009).
What Obama failed to mention was the active role the U.S. government played
in ensuring that resource-rich Africa remains a continent plundered by
foreign powers. This continued ransacking happens not only through U.S.
corporations, the IMF and World Bank, but through U.S. sponsored proxy wars,
such as the current ones in Somalia and Congo, and the recent conflicts in
Kenya, Sudan, Rwanda, etc.
The successful proxy war in Sudan achieved a Bush-led plan to eventually
partition the country so that the oil-rich south could be exploited by
western corporations. The president of Sudan, Omar el-Bashir, has close
links to China, which the U.S. cannot tolerate. Bashir is therefore labeled
a war criminal for his actions against the U.S. backed militia that sought
to undermine his government.
Obama is continuing the Bush-era campaign of undermining Bashir, demanding
that he be tried for war crimes. Obama was clear in his speech: "We will
stand behind efforts to hold war criminals accountable." Obama is
hypocritically ignoring the fact that his predecessor is by far the world's
biggest war criminal; and Bush has absolutely no worries about being
prosecuted for his crimes. Interestingly, the African Union does not agree
with Obama that Bashir is a war criminal, creating the conflict that
prompted Obama's comments.
Also troubling in Obama's speech was the promise that only countries that
achieved "good governance" would receive aid from the U.S. The fact that the
most vicious dictatorship on earth - Saudi Arabia - continues under Obama to
be a "very close" U.S. ally, puts to question the definition of "good
governance." Especially since other extremely repressive governments -
Israel, Colombia, Egypt, etc. - also receive enormous sums of U.S. financial
and military aid. When applied to Africa, "good governance" refers simply to
those governments that do exactly as the U.S. wishes.
Most revealing for Obama's real plans in Africa is his support for Bush's
blueprints for AFRICOM, a planned U.S. military command specifically
dedicated to U.S. "conflicts" in Africa. One can assume that such a command
was planned with future U.S. military intervention in mind.
Although Obama is correct when he said, "I have the blood of Africa in my
veins," he unfortunately shares the political views of a conservative
Republican.
For example, when Obama gave a recent speech in front of the N.A.A.C.P, his
main message was "personal responsibility." Obama is very fond of this
catchphrase, which is in fact at the foundation of conservative philosophy.
The reason that "personal responsibility" is such a lynchpin in Conservative
thought is its implications: it strongly justifies the status quo, and those
who benefit from it. Thus, the rich deserve their place atop society, while
those at the bottom are likewise "responsible" for it.
All the factors that create generational poverty and generational wealth are
ignored, especially the fact that there exists a tiny class of people who
own the banks and other corporations, and another much larger class actually
doing the work; assuming they're lucky enough to have a job.
In making his point, Obama said that, "growing up poor can't be an excuse to
get bad grades." The many difficulties that come with being poor needn't be
"excuses," but mere facts of existence, including: demoralization, general
instability, anxiety, poor nutrition, inadequate resources, lack of safety,
no health insurance, poor public schools, etc.
Obama surely knows that economic opportunities in predominantly black
communities are more than scarce, especially given the present state of the
economy and the widespread disease of racism. If one wants to have enough
money for both food and to pay their rent, resorting to the informal economy
is often a very reasonable choice.
When it came to the issues of racism and discrimination, Obama spoke very
little: "Make no mistake, the pain of discrimination is still felt in
America." But while recognizing that these evils still exist, his solution
was to all but ignore them. "No excuses" was the mantra - the right-wing
media publications were all very impressed.
For Africans and African Americans, the especially high expectations that
came with Obama's presidency are destined to become colossal letdowns.
Correcting the past and present wrongs to Africa and African-Americans would
take great structural changes in U.S. government policy; away from
benefiting a tiny privileged elite and working towards policies that benefit
the great majority of people.
For African American communities, giant government investment is needed in
education, housing, health care, and public works so that living-wage jobs
are created that allow an actual route out of poverty. This, combined with
an increase in affirmative action programs, is a way to enact real change;
much more than Obama's encouraging words will provide.
Of course, the people who actually control the Democrats and Republicans -
the big banks, health care industry, oil companies, weapons producers, etc.
- want no such change. They greatly benefit from the cheap labor that racism
and discrimination provide them. Organizing outside of the realm of the
two-party system is therefore a necessary first step towards change in
action, not in words.
Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for
Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org). He can be reached at
shamuscook@yahoo.com
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