A call to african elites- what is wrong with this masked men and women??

[Liqaye]

I am working for rural development internationally particularly for African countries. I have visited Africa four times and moved in several countries and I am trying to understand African people with a keen interest. I am very much distressed to see dangerous disparity in all the African countries i.e. only a handful of people having captured most of the wealth of the country and millions of masses remaining hand to mouth. I have also observed that most of the races of Africa have inner spirit and good capabilities to come up in line with so called civilised and developed countries. So I am very much optimistic that Africa is competent enough to come out as the strongest continent of the world in a very short period of 10 to 20 years and can provide alternative to the western life style which has no future as it is based on exploitation of the entire world. I am humbly describing myself as real friend and real well wisher of African people because I have burning desire to remove their merciless exploitation being done through various multinational and big companies. I want to humbly show real path of happiness for common masses. I am carrying in my heart certain BASIC CONVICTIONS which force me to suggest that if the path which I am recommending is followed by African people, it will bring economic revolution in Africa and also in the world in one or two decades through which Africa will come out as the strongest continent.

But I have painfully observed that most of the elite class of every African country is under illusion that model of development and progress imposed on them by developed countries is correct and path of development and progress shown by developed countries is real path. So all the Governments of Africa follow the same pattern of development as Europe and U.S.A. followed. So every African country is trying to establish big industries, is trying to develop highways, cities, power stations, ports, airports and infrastructure required by giant industries. I VENTURE TO ASSERT THAT THIS IS NOT THE PATH OF HAPPINESS BUT THIS IS THE PATH OF EXPLOITATION AND PERMANENT SLAVERY OF AFRICAN PEOPLE If you want homogenious development and progress of entire society of millions of masses,you have to evolve your own economic strategy based on local self reliance atleast for primary needs of people i.e. for food, cloth and shelter. Very evidently this type of local self reliance can be achieved through cottage scale family size industries based on small and simple technology. When I came to know about big maize mills purchasing maize from hundreds of villages, I was really shocked. Tremendious amount of exploitation can be eliminated simply by establishing tiny tiny maize mills everywhere where ever necessary. Maize milling is the simplest technology. A very ordinary workshop can manufacture maize mills. But it is a painful wonder that throughout Africa, big big maize mills are working resulting in to heavy exploitation of common masses. Nature of technology is such that complicated machinery makes simple thing also complicated.

 

Primary needs such as maize flour, wheat flour, rice, cooking oil, sugar, jaggery, tea coffee, soap, cloth, bricks, tiles and building materials etc. are all simple things and all these things must be manufactured at cottage scale level with very simple and cheap technology. THIS IS THE PATH OF HAPPINESS. BIG COMPLICATED MACHINERY HAS NO PLACE IN MANUFACTURING PRIMARY NEEDS OF PEOPLE. WHENEVER AND WHERE EVER YOU VIOLATE THIS PRINCIPLE, YOU GIVE RISE TO EXPLOITION, ANY COUNTRY OR SOCIETY WHICH IS BEING EXPLOITED FOR PRIMARY NEEDS OF PEOPLE, CAN NEVER COME UP AND IS DESTINED TO RUIN.

 

Many people raise doubts that how all the primary needs can be fulfilled through cottage industries. How cloth and sugar can be produced at cottage scale. I know that number of such questions can be raised. I must admit that I have no ready made solution for every such question. But I do have strong faith and conviction that every such question can be transformed in to a pleasant solution if dedicated efforts are made to develop small and simple technology for every kind of primary needs. You must know that previously world best quality cloth was produced in millions of houses of India since centuries with very simple tools and equipments not costing even 100 dollars. It can be still produced in millions of houses if controls imposed on cottage industries for favouring giant centralised economy are abolished. A very fine quality of jaggery (hygenically better than sugar) is still produced at cottage scale practically at every sugarcane farm in spite of strict controls of our government to abolish this farm level industry for favouring giant sugar factories. Bricks and lime is still a cottage industry througout India. There are atleast 500 tiny flour mills in my city alone (population 9,00,000). Oil milling was also cottage industry throughout India since centuries. Our Government made foolish blunder to abolish it.

 

So my most sincere advice to African elite class is that "You should immediately return from the dangerous path which leads to exploitation, ruin and perish. You should evolve your own path based on decentralised, small and simple machinery which will have no exploitative capacity. Only such machinery will be blessing to the mankind. Through such simple technology only, you will be able to create homogeniously happy society and such happy society will be right answer, right solution and right alternative to the western type wasteful and exploitative civilisation. THOSE WHO WORK FOR THIS CAUSE ARE REAL FRIENDS OF HUMANITY.

 

One most common doubt is raised against such tiny industries is that whether such tiny units are economically viable and can compete to big units ? It is really strange that such question is asked from every part of the world. So it seems that entire world is under illusion that big heavy industries are more viable. This is absolutely wrong. In fact tiny units are always more viable than big centralised industries. One can imagine that tiny units enjoy four distinct advantages over big centralised units. i.e. (1) Transport is eliminated or minimized (2) Packaging is eliminated or people use their own tins, bins, jars etc. (3) Middlemen are eliminated. (4) Marketing is eliminated or minimized and hence all evils of marketing such as profiteering, hoarding, speculation, aldulteration, deception, shortage etc. are automatically eliminated. Tiny units for basic needs will work for local consumption with local raw materials. So all the four advantages will go to tiny units. So they are bound to be far strongly more viable than big centralised units. I have proved this contention beyond doubt by establishing 900 tiny cooking oil mills which are running most successfully, most profitably and most satisfactorily in India and 20 African countries. What is true for tiny oil mills can be proved true for other industries of basic needs also. So I sincerely appeal to all AFRICAN ELITES to come out from false illusions of development, to throw away present theory of development, to ponder over the alarming situation of present age and seriously adopt this pious work of rural development through tiny scale industries with strong faith that entire Africa can be got rid of entire exploitation and entire continent can be made happy without any big industry. I am absolutely confident that one who will determine to work in this direction, will definately meet with great success and he will earn the credit for making great revolutionary changes in Africa through small deeds.

 

RAJKOT

 

1st, May 1999

[Sirrus]

SARDAUKAR

 

The author of this article seems to be the least informed on African affairs, but most optimistic on the subject. Many have argued on his line of reasoning, that in order for Africa and Africans to awake from their misery, they must stop cherishing western mode of development and operations. What he suggests is no more than economical detachment and revival of self sustenance, an ideal action to which I agree will provide to us the requisite success, but how can that be achieved without hard, sincere work. The old dictate goes; only with political stability can economic stability follow. What Africa lacks is political stability in all sense of the word. The colonial legacy assured itself, by first creating fictitious republics with arbitrary borders, and then icing the cake with strata of ignorant individuals as the elite. Before we worry about “establishing tiny tiny maize mills” on the road to economical freedom, we need to totally change the mode of thinking of our populace. A mass re-education of the public must be undertaken, in which people are advised to purchase African chicken, as opposed to Made In USA well packaged and antibiotic fed chickens. To choose African fabrics, ideologies, political systems and institutions as opposed to imported ones. Only with this total restructuring will the author’s vision be achieved. The cost of this is tremendous both in energy and in lives, as well illustrated by the recent Zimbabwe land reforms and its subsequent international opposition. In general there is an African movement underway, in which people are recognizing that progression is best achieved with regression, but this movement is not steady sailing, hampered by the status quo of the continent and the “Coconut” elites who fear change. Closer to home, I find many educated Somalis are ready to blame the clan systems for all ills, in fact they truly believe peace and progress can only be achieved with the elimination of this deep rooted Somali institution. Simultaneously they suggest Marxism, Democracy, or Theocracy as the alternative. These are the same intellectuals that would rather have a cell phone-making factory than one making fork or spoon. How could the movement take strength when a good majority is in this mindset? The truth of the matter is, Somalis are divided along clan lines, although this institutions appears divisive in nature, it has the potential to structure public management. Much like any other institutions it requires improvement and guidance, to make it suitable for contemporary world. What makes this necessary is the fact that it makes part and parcel of our society, our political system prior to the first British or Italian landing at our coast. Who knows we might find it irrelevant in the future, but for the time being, this is our tiny tiny maize mill.

[The Observer.]

this is wonderful, about time we are discussing the next step to be taken to a new change within the continent of Africa. the artical is quite interesting, something that opened my eyes to something else, i have always contemplated on this ideology of how could we make the continent free of exploitation. eventhough which ever way you head, there are always flaws within it. but the questions are, are the flaws worse than the reconstruction of the new trend~will the project work for the better good, than deconstruction?

anyways, so many things to think about. the idea of somali's with the clan issue, it is just a scapegoat to alot of things. it is not only the mindset that people need to come out from, but to understand what the reallity is, instead of floating in the air, to have their feet firmly on the ground-this is what we need!

i believe clans are things that are atleast left for us, the distinguishment of being an african compared to another human being in the world. moreover, people tend to ignore the idea of culture, in a sense, things as art-the typical identity of ones practice. and so thrown in with the facade of clan being bad-the fault of the war etc etc etc

IT IS TIME FOR A REVOLUTION

[rudy-Diiriye]

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but the questions are, are the flaws worse than the reconstruction of the new trend~will the project work for the better good, than deconstruction?

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rudy!

i say this upto the u/me. if your intensions r 4 the quick buck! then yes! but, if you intention is to look 4 the well being of your people, than u is the winner!

 

africa is the next frontier! the only undeveloped continent in the world! it will superside china and rest of the world! just simply cuz there more natural undevelped resources that r vital to humans!

mark my word! in next yrs, world wars will be fought in ARFICA!!!! CUZ of the natural resources

there! we africans r still occupied with killing each other and making our skinnes liter to look like our former masters!!! :confused: