[Discussion] Why is over half of Africa so poor?

[Gein]

It has a horrible climate and terrain. The south area and south africa isnt as bad as the rest

 

[Mahesvara]

Unfortunately the U.N doesn't put in enough aid and the fact that genocide and war is constant. It's sad to think any part of this world is like that. When Naruto is done bringing peace to his world, he should stop by and do the same for us lol

 

[KcMSean]

its a good question considering the amount of fundraising and charity schemes there are for them its unbelievable to think after all these years that they still arnt better off.. it makes you think.. does the money you send actually get there ?

How many people do you think seriously aid them on a consistent basis? I dont know the exact numbers, but 30 cents a day isn't enough to push an entire continent into a healthy lifestyle. Not trying to attack you, I'm just curious. I feel like these charities do practically nothing in the long run if almost nobody cares to help them.

 

[frbro82]

Because we judge people on their weight less than you.

weight shouldn't be compared to one person because different heights have different average body weight. Plus inbreds don't exist in my country

 

[The Rower]

There are plenty recourses in Africa to feed the population and make them rich...problem is that there are not many schooled people so the west and other rich countries take advantage from that and Trade in a foul way...we give them basic needs and they give us Valuable resources.. plus there are Elites in African countries who have all the money and don't like sharing. then of course all the wars.

Islam Vs Christians
Clans Vs Clans
Cultural Vs Cultural

From all this chaos and despair many people live by there own rules the rule of the jungle. Where only the strong get stronger and survive, and the weak perish or are used in war.

 

[Made in Heaven]

White people kicked them to the dirt And then left them

 

[Reflection]

Dont blame it on the US alone its also europe and big countries in asia.

That's true, all "Super powers" benefit from this, but the West established this bank and benefit from them the most.

You must be registered for see links

This article above has very enlightening information on how African countries are screwed over by the West ultimately. Africa pays FAR more in loans than the it receives in aid from the leading countries. This is the true definition of unfair trade.

 

[Trolling King]

weight shouldn't be compared to one person because different heights have, different average body weight. Plus inbreds don't exist in my country

Ibreds exist in your species. The most distantly related person from you mathmatically is your fiftith cousin. That means if you both picked out your cousins and their cousins 25 times you would meet up with shared family.

 

[theacknowledgedone]

IMF World Bank loans and Structural Adjustment Programs imposed on them by the West.
The U.S. and the West lives prosperously off the souls of starving 3rd world children.

That's a pretty bold statement to be making about the US. Quite frankly it's not true either. Many of my friends and colleagues are there making a huge effort to provide a better life for them. Not only is it a better living, it is also sustainable where as we teach them how to utilize there resources for an effective and better way of life. Our university is not the only one involved with this. So respectively, don't go pointing the finger when you obviously have no understanding of what has been done to help them. Besides, have you done anything about it?

 

[Lucidus]

How many people do you think seriously aid them on a consistent basis? I dont know the exact numbers, but 30 cents a day isn't enough to push an entire continent into a healthy lifestyle. Not trying to attack you, I'm just curious. I feel like these charities do practically nothing in the long run if almost nobody cares to help them.

hmm i know what you mean however.. think of how many people there are in this world and how many charities around there are that continues all year round which have been going for years and i know there are a lot of people who do take charities seriously so there must be others in the world that do the same.. then you have special event charities which are huge such as children in need and raise up to a million pounds or more in some cases an this has also being going on for a good few years now and africa and other places still arnt better off?

makes you think a bit doesnt it?

 

[Da Best Ever]

Its because of the idea of one race self proclaim superiority over others. Every country in Europe has own a part of Africa at one point in time, they milked Africa of its resources and precious metals and then left it dry and left the country unstable now African's took that same philosophy and try to assert their dominance over each other which caused decades or in-wars. Its not their fault how it started but its the fault how its continued prior to being dominated and now, so African's have a naivety about them that stems from former oppression.

 

[Da Best Ever]

hmm i know what you mean however.. think of how many people there are in this world and how many charities around there are that continues all year round which have been going for years and i know there are a lot of people who do take charities seriously so there must be others in the world that do the same.. then you have special event charities which are huge such as children in need and raise up to a million pounds or more in some cases an this has also being going on for a good few years now and africa and other places still arnt better off?

makes you think a bit doesnt it?

I highly doubt the majority of those charities actually do the whole of what they say.

 

[Reflection]

How many people do you think seriously aid them on a consistent basis? I dont know the exact numbers, but 30 cents a day isn't enough to push an entire continent into a healthy lifestyle. Not trying to attack you, I'm just curious. I feel like these charities do practically nothing in the long run if almost nobody cares to help them.

This is a quote from the French president, Francois Mitterand in 1994:
‘Despite the considerable sums spent on bilateral and multilateral aid, the flow of capital from Africa toward the industrial countries is greater than the flow of capital from the industrial countries to the developing countries’ (see Touissaint and Comanne 1995: 10-12).

The West receives far more from Africa than it receives in aid. Plus, with the Structural Adjustment Programs imposed on these poor people, their markets have been privatized by the United States, U.K., and other leading countries.

 

[Jiraiyathesannin]

Were saskumo and might dai rivals?

 

[Forest]

IMF World Bank loans and Structural Adjustment Programs imposed on them by the West.
The U.S. and the West lives prosperously off the souls of starving 3rd world children.

Imperialism

The fact that they were, and are still abused, by Europe as well as their neighboring countries is a huge reason. What can you do when everyone is looking to exploit you, even the people who share the continent with you?

Oh boy this is a huge topic. I'll give a quick answer. Africa was isolated from Europe for a long time. During that time Africa (with the exception of East Africa and North Africa) developed little technology. The Europeans set up colonies in Africa to get diamonds, ivory, spices, gold, etc. Finally the Europeans decided to leave, but before they did they set up "countries". No thought was given to the demographics of these countries. Different tribes that had historically never gotten along were no within the same border. This lead to civil wars and genocides with the most famous being Rwanda. Also the governments were/are corrupt so most of the aid money stays with the leadership. Thus poverty.

Because nearly all of the african countries were colonized and strip mined for resources to send to European colonists.

Because colonial Europe and growing America robbed them blind back in the day. Now China is repeating old practices.

Plus Islam and Christianity have evidently had adverse affects, but it's minor in comparison.

wow its good to see the base has people that actually know a thing or two about history

 

[Da Best Ever]

That's a pretty bold statement to be making about the US. Quite frankly it's not true either. Many of my friends and colleagues are there making a huge effort to provide a better life for them. Not only is it a better living, it is also sustainable where as we teach them how to utilize there resources for an effective and better way of life. Our university is not the only one involved with this. So respectively, don't go pointing the finger when you obviously have no understanding of what has been done to help them. Besides, have you done anything about it?

You and your friends still have a long way to go to see Africa flourish as it should. What you and your friends are doing is valiant but minuscule in the grand scheme of things. Former oppression hurt their society big time. Also America did not care or want to help Africa American's for a long time and still a lot of discrimination and hate exists today so what makes you think America would care about an entire Continent of African's they once persecuted?

 

[Ciao]

When the Europeans left everything went to hell.

 

[Infinite Yaoi Emperor]

During the Imperialistic Era in the 1800s, the majors powers of Europe diced up Africa amongst themselves and took it over. Among the nations that did this were England, France, and Belgium. They were the big three. France took over the upper part of Africa, which is why educated people in that area speak French instead of a native language. The Begians took central africa, and the English took the southern. The English were the best when it came to colonial rule. They set up local governemnts of the indigenous people, and only demnaded taxes in the form of goods and wealth in return. Granted; it was still colonialism and wrong, but it was a far cry from the other two. France and Belgium took a more direct route. They both sent their prestigious citizens over to be local rulers. The French, like the English, tried to "civilize" the Africians, which means rob them of their culture and replace it with Eurpoean culture. While this is cruel, it is a far cry from the Belgians. They were so brutal that it makes American slavery look tame in comparison. That's why the central parts of Africa are the most ****ed up. Egypt and the northermost part of Africa was under the control of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, which was bassed in the middle east, so they were largely unaffected by colonialism and are considered part of the Arab world to this day, even after the Ottomans fell.

Each of the countries divided up the parts of Africa in a way that made it easier for them to manage. They ignored the old tribal boarders. This will come into play later. Most modern African countries were shaped during this era. What ensued was a century and a half long vampirism. The European powers sucked Africa dry and barely gave anything in return. What little "civilization" was brought to Africa was little compensation for the damage that was done.

Then, in a 50 year period lasting from about 1900 to 1950, the various African colonies organized an rebelled, throwing out their European oppressors. But with their common enemy gone, they divided again into their old tribes. Now come the borders that the Europeans stupidly ignored. Because country lines went right through tribal territory, you have countries that are made up haphazardly of multiple tribes that often have a long history of hating each other. Since people placed their alleigance in their tribes before their new countries, there have been massive civil wars since. Because there is a lack of an educated population in these countries, dictators easily rise. But they're commonly overthrown very quickly. Because of that, Africa is a war torn continent strewn with civil war after civil war.

To add to that, tribal conflicts often get worse. In a country called Rwanda, there was a genocide that lasted three months in 1994. There were two tribes in this country; the Hutus and the Tutsi. The Tutsi were the minority, but because they had narrower noses the Eurpoeans put them in power. The Hutu began to hate the Tutsi, and after the Europeans were driven out, the Hutus gained a majority and the power. In 1994, anti-tutsi rhetoric and the accidental death of the Hutu president ended in the genocide. The genocide was largely ignored by the Western powers, news outlets didn't even report on it. Any United Nations soldiers that were in the country fled. The slaughter caused a chain of events that resulted in a large war that has come to be known as the Congo War and the Second Congo war (which is just a continuation of the first). Thus far, over 3 million people have died in this war. The west hardly knows about this, and news outlets are far more concerned with Snookie than it is the deaths of 3 million people. Disgusting, if you ask me.

One must ask themselves where the US is in all of this. I have one answer for you: cold war. The US was not interested in helping the african people for the majority of the Post WWII era. Instead, we sent them "aid", which was just money and food, that the dictators usually hoarded for themselves, to keep Soviet control out of Africa. In Congo/Zaire, we kept a man named Mobutu in power, even though he was guilty of numerous crimes against his own people, just to keep the Russains at bay. We even called this monster "the good dictator". It's only been since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 that we've even though "Hey, maybe we should help these people!" But the "help" that we give is bad. Sending food over there dones't solve anything. It keeps people alive for a day or two more, and that's about it. These people die anyway, and it only prolongs their suffering. Not only that, but a lot of the "volunteer" work that we do, like building houses, prevents local buisnesses from starting, and hinders their economy. What we really need to do is help them set up a thriving education system, and help stimulate their economy. But nobody wants to think that hard. We just want to put some change in a jar and call it Change.

Of course, this is a blanket statement. SOme countries are far better off than others. In particular, parts of Northern Africa are promising, and the country South Africa is thriving. It's considered one of the seven BRICKS countries, which are up and coming economies. THigns are looking up for them. But for the most part, and especailly for the war torn central Africa, Africa is a mess, and we westerners caused it.

 

[Reflection]

That's a pretty bold statement to be making about the US. Quite frankly it's not true either. Many of my friends and colleagues are there making a huge effort to provide a better life for them. Not only is it a better living, it is also sustainable where as we teach them how to utilize there resources for an effective and better way of life. Our university is not the only one involved with this. So respectively, don't go pointing the finger when you obviously have no understanding of what has been done to help them. Besides, have you done anything about it?

Nope, it's well known that the United States lives off the poverty and failure of African countries via the IMF World Bank. Even Francois Mitterand, the former president of France admitted that Africa pays more to the West than it receives in aid and they still do to this day. Not to mention how the U.K. rigged Nigeria's first election in their favor thus causing the malpractice of corruption in African countries today.

 

[juankimari]

Why are most countries in this continent so poor? This is a fact that everyone acknowledges, but no one actually has a valid answer. Is it because they just don't care? I am not trying to be racist, just opening up a discussion that isn't touched on much anymore.

Are you serious? No one has a valid answer as to why they are poor? Jesus Christ!!! You should read a little more if you think that, there are a ton of causes.

Just to name some and in no particular order:

a)Lack of education among the population (education means progress and is associated with wealth in a society no matter where)

b) Widespread corruption among those who rule (many of them typical dictators or lack of a real government)

c)Hate among different groups that for land,resources or simply because of ancestral disputes.

d)Most of the help(medicine,food,money) first world countries provide is often lost (stolen) and doesn´t reach those in need.

e)Lack of job/studying opportunities in those countries for people to break the vicious cycle of poverty they have fallen into for so long.

f)A very large population that far exceeds their ability to supply proper nutrition to most of them.

g)Deadly disease and epidemics affecting a large percentage of the continents population.This never ends, as people die others become infected.

There are more reasons but those are closely related to the ones i have mentioned.Africa is poor (and will continue to be poor) because their problems are not easy to deal with, there is no formula and practically nothing is simple there.

The so called first world countries have tried to deal with the vast amount of problems Africa has in many ways through the years but nothing really changes.Charity(good intentions) has never and will never be enough to deal with all the corruption, selfish interests,hate rooted wars and lack of education common in those countries.