allAfrica.com: Africa: Gaddafi - All Thunder And Anti-Imperialist Rhetoric
Gaddafi - All Thunder And Anti-Imperialist Rhetoric
I probably shouldn't post this without looking further into the angle of this online publication, but I think it's a good article about the Q-dude in the African (i.e., AU, USA) context anyway.
I admit that I may be harsh as far as Libyan politics are concerned, but I can't help agreeing with Makuni on this African Union crap. While I think the concept itself is beautiful, reality on the ground speaks to its improbability.
Anyway, here's the rest of the article for folks who may not have access to the site:
Africa: Gaddafi - All Thunder And Anti-Imperialist Rhetoric
Financial Gazette (Harare)
September 20, 2006
Posted to the web September 21, 2006
Mavis Makuni
ONE thing that can be said about Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is that regardless of whether one agrees with his politics or not, he is never boring.
His flamboyance ensures that whatever he says and wherever he is, he always attracts attention. He caused a stir a few years ago when he swept into Zimbabwe in a long motorcade after traversing almost the entire length of Africa by road. A short while later he indeed completed the Cape-to-Cairo adventure when he arrived in Cape Town by road to attend a conference after journeying down the entire length of Africa from Tripoli.
In 1986, Gaddafi was like a fish out of water when he made an impassioned speech in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, in which he described the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) as an "international falsehood." Last week, Gaddafi is likely to have joined a host of other leaders from the developing world who attended a NAM summit in the Cuban capital, Havana. A few days before, the Libyan leader had been opining on the subject of unity at an African Union meeting in his home town of Sirte.
Gaddafi is one of the longest-serving heads of state in Africa, after clocking 37 years at the helm in Libya, which has a population of about five million people. The former army colonel's most cherished dream is to see the creation of a United States of Africa. "Africa should build one federal government as soon as possible. We will have one minister of defence, one minister of finance and so on. This will be the birth of a black giant."
But considering how much Africa's rulers -- including Gaddafi himself -- relish power and self-preservation, his brainchild could be stillborn. It is difficult to imagine some old-style dictators who cannot fathom voluntarily passing on the baton to anyone in their own countries accepting the idea of a leader from another country overshadowing them and basking in the limelight as the president of Africa.
And taking into consideration the endless political upheavals and civil wars that have been sparked by ethnic and tribal passions within individual countries, the expectation that the concept of one identity, one army, one nationality, one currency and one people can be unanimously embraced in the foreseeable future seems far-fetched. The Libyan leader must be aware of this but he is so passionate about this seemingly unworkable idea, cynics suggest, because he fancies himself as the eventual kingpin.
Sceptics will continue to question the basis of Gaddafi's conviction that the creation of this new entity will transform Africa into a giant capable of tackling problems such as the Darfur crisis without external assistance. They will continue to ask what is stopping African countries from taking such concerted action now under the banner of the African Union if they are genuinely committed to easing the plight of civilians in Darfur. The bickering and dragging of feet that has characterised the AU's response to conflicts in the past suggests that the proposed USA can never be a melting pot in which individual leaders will be prepared to subordinate their egos and idiosyncrasies for the common good.
The 53-member AU has remained impotent in the face of the Sudanese humanitarian catastrophe in which thousands have perished and at least two million peasants have been displaced. In the midst of the continuing carnage, Gaddafi has endorsed Sudanese President Hassan al-Bashir's rejection of plans to deploy a 20 000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur. This is despite the fact that the 7 000 AU soldiers, who are hampered by a lack of resources, have failed to quell the turmoil since their deployment about a year ago.
Gaddafi has echoed al-Bashir's red-herring claim that those calling for the replacement of the AU soldiers in Darfur have ulterior motives, including re-colonising Africa. These strongmen would rather see more people dying than admit that international intervention is urgently needed to stop what some observers believe should be classified as genocide. And yet intriguingly, on the same day that Gaddafi made remarks about Africa becoming a giant under a federation, he contradicted himself in the next breath by implying that the continent should rely on its former colonisers to tackle another one of the problems of its own making: the exodus of millions of Africans who are flooding Europe to escape the dire economic conditions or tyrannical governance in their home countries.
Gaddafi said European countries should pay 10 billion Euros annually to enable Africa to stop the flight of its people northwards in search of a better life. The ambivalence and double standards reflected in Gaddafi's thundering anti-imperialist rhetorical grandstanding side by side with a preparedness to go cap in hand to beg for external funding to tackle continental challenges is one factor that is guaranteed to stunt the evolution of the African "giant" he envisions.
African leaders are notorious for pleading poverty when called upon to avail resources for important initiatives as shown by their record of non-payment of dues to the AU and its forerunner, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as well as the United Nations. While clinging to these penny-wise-pound-foolish tactics on initiatives with a bigger picture, they do not hesitate to adopt a no-expense spared attitude when it comes to expenditure on prestige projects. These are the same people who have caused widespread disgruntlement for putting their personal interests above those of their countries, thereby ruining once thriving economies and condemning their people to unnecessary poverty.
Neither the availing of billions of Euros nor the setting up of a United States of Africa will solve these fundamental leadership problems. On the contrary, the ramifications of civil wars, rampant official corruption, dictatorship, economic mismanagement and human rights abuses are bound to continue driving desperate Africans into the diaspora.
Gaddafi is one of the longest-serving heads of state in Africa, after clocking 37 years at the helm in Libya, which has a population of about five million people. The former army colonel's most cherished dream is to see the creation of a United States of Africa. "Africa should build one federal government as soon as possible. We will have one minister of defence, one minister of finance and so on. This will be the birth of a black giant."
But considering how much Africa's rulers -- including Gaddafi himself -- relish power and self-preservation, his brainchild could be stillborn. It is difficult to imagine some old-style dictators who cannot fathom voluntarily passing on the baton to anyone in their own countries accepting the idea of a leader from another country overshadowing them and basking in the limelight as the president of Africa.
I probably shouldn't post this without looking further into the angle of this online publication, but I think it's a good article about the Q-dude in the African (i.e., AU, USA) context anyway.
I admit that I may be harsh as far as Libyan politics are concerned, but I can't help agreeing with Makuni on this African Union crap. While I think the concept itself is beautiful, reality on the ground speaks to its improbability.
Anyway, here's the rest of the article for folks who may not have access to the site:
Africa: Gaddafi - All Thunder And Anti-Imperialist Rhetoric
Financial Gazette (Harare)
September 20, 2006
Posted to the web September 21, 2006
Mavis Makuni
ONE thing that can be said about Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is that regardless of whether one agrees with his politics or not, he is never boring.
His flamboyance ensures that whatever he says and wherever he is, he always attracts attention. He caused a stir a few years ago when he swept into Zimbabwe in a long motorcade after traversing almost the entire length of Africa by road. A short while later he indeed completed the Cape-to-Cairo adventure when he arrived in Cape Town by road to attend a conference after journeying down the entire length of Africa from Tripoli.
In 1986, Gaddafi was like a fish out of water when he made an impassioned speech in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, in which he described the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) as an "international falsehood." Last week, Gaddafi is likely to have joined a host of other leaders from the developing world who attended a NAM summit in the Cuban capital, Havana. A few days before, the Libyan leader had been opining on the subject of unity at an African Union meeting in his home town of Sirte.
Gaddafi is one of the longest-serving heads of state in Africa, after clocking 37 years at the helm in Libya, which has a population of about five million people. The former army colonel's most cherished dream is to see the creation of a United States of Africa. "Africa should build one federal government as soon as possible. We will have one minister of defence, one minister of finance and so on. This will be the birth of a black giant."
But considering how much Africa's rulers -- including Gaddafi himself -- relish power and self-preservation, his brainchild could be stillborn. It is difficult to imagine some old-style dictators who cannot fathom voluntarily passing on the baton to anyone in their own countries accepting the idea of a leader from another country overshadowing them and basking in the limelight as the president of Africa.
And taking into consideration the endless political upheavals and civil wars that have been sparked by ethnic and tribal passions within individual countries, the expectation that the concept of one identity, one army, one nationality, one currency and one people can be unanimously embraced in the foreseeable future seems far-fetched. The Libyan leader must be aware of this but he is so passionate about this seemingly unworkable idea, cynics suggest, because he fancies himself as the eventual kingpin.
Sceptics will continue to question the basis of Gaddafi's conviction that the creation of this new entity will transform Africa into a giant capable of tackling problems such as the Darfur crisis without external assistance. They will continue to ask what is stopping African countries from taking such concerted action now under the banner of the African Union if they are genuinely committed to easing the plight of civilians in Darfur. The bickering and dragging of feet that has characterised the AU's response to conflicts in the past suggests that the proposed USA can never be a melting pot in which individual leaders will be prepared to subordinate their egos and idiosyncrasies for the common good.
The 53-member AU has remained impotent in the face of the Sudanese humanitarian catastrophe in which thousands have perished and at least two million peasants have been displaced. In the midst of the continuing carnage, Gaddafi has endorsed Sudanese President Hassan al-Bashir's rejection of plans to deploy a 20 000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur. This is despite the fact that the 7 000 AU soldiers, who are hampered by a lack of resources, have failed to quell the turmoil since their deployment about a year ago.
Gaddafi has echoed al-Bashir's red-herring claim that those calling for the replacement of the AU soldiers in Darfur have ulterior motives, including re-colonising Africa. These strongmen would rather see more people dying than admit that international intervention is urgently needed to stop what some observers believe should be classified as genocide. And yet intriguingly, on the same day that Gaddafi made remarks about Africa becoming a giant under a federation, he contradicted himself in the next breath by implying that the continent should rely on its former colonisers to tackle another one of the problems of its own making: the exodus of millions of Africans who are flooding Europe to escape the dire economic conditions or tyrannical governance in their home countries.
Gaddafi said European countries should pay 10 billion Euros annually to enable Africa to stop the flight of its people northwards in search of a better life. The ambivalence and double standards reflected in Gaddafi's thundering anti-imperialist rhetorical grandstanding side by side with a preparedness to go cap in hand to beg for external funding to tackle continental challenges is one factor that is guaranteed to stunt the evolution of the African "giant" he envisions.
African leaders are notorious for pleading poverty when called upon to avail resources for important initiatives as shown by their record of non-payment of dues to the AU and its forerunner, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as well as the United Nations. While clinging to these penny-wise-pound-foolish tactics on initiatives with a bigger picture, they do not hesitate to adopt a no-expense spared attitude when it comes to expenditure on prestige projects. These are the same people who have caused widespread disgruntlement for putting their personal interests above those of their countries, thereby ruining once thriving economies and condemning their people to unnecessary poverty.
Neither the availing of billions of Euros nor the setting up of a United States of Africa will solve these fundamental leadership problems. On the contrary, the ramifications of civil wars, rampant official corruption, dictatorship, economic mismanagement and human rights abuses are bound to continue driving desperate Africans into the diaspora.
posted by smokey spice at 2:20 AM
1 Comments:
wow! thank you for making all this information ever so readily available!
just doin some research on Col. Gadaffi since I heard about his Africa as one country dream cuz it was my idea first.
good job and keep at it!
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