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"Capitalism is but the gentleman’s form
of slavery."
The springtime spectacle of American President William Jefferson Clinton touring West, Central and Southern Africa is one that is vaguely disturbing. To this, the most irredeemably political of men, the wild, green and sun- drenched landscape, peopled by teeming black crowds at every whistlestop, poses irresistible photo opportunities. To men whose very career seems to rest on the vaporous gases of imagery, Africa promises to be a virtual wellspring, designed for domestic consumption. One wonders, however, why now? Certainly, an important factor is the ongoing and utterly unrelenting coverage of the president’s latest ‘bimbo eruption,’ the most recent revelation of which woman claimed an assignation with the nation’s chief executive, and perhaps, why. If so, the vast and wondrous continent seems somewhat sullied by such usage. What coaxes Clinton to the hallowed shadows of Senegal’s Goree Island is the siren song of capital: the urging of US business to further exploit rich black African resources and a potentially cheap, vast labor pool. What brings him is not African interests, but US ones: profit. Nor is it a coincidence that an American president braves African shores at the same time as Congress is considering the so-called African Growth and Opportunity Act, passed by the house in mid-March. It is a measure of the nature of politics itself that the naming of a bill usually bears little resemblance to the features of a bill, as evidenced by Clinton’s Anti- Terrorism and effective Death Penalty Act, which scuttled historic habeas corpus protections (of thousands of non terrorists), and which enacted several draconian laws against foreigners either in, or entering, the US (this, despite the fact that most ‘terrorist’ activities in the US comes, not from foreigners, but from Americans, as in Oklahoma). Africans should be particularly leery of Americans promising gifts. Nor should the ruthlessness of US Capitalism be taken lightly, for millions of blacks in America are the descendants of people who were themselves, human capital. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL.) has likened the African Growth and Opportunity Bill to a NAFTA for Africa: "We do not need a deal between undemocratic and permanently entrenched kings and presidents-for-life in Africa and multinational businesses in the United States and elsewhere that do not hire, promote or value African-American employees at home…Why should we trust the people who discriminate against us and disparage affirmative action at home to be respectful of African workers?" (The Nation, 6 Apr. 1998). Capital has one imperative: profit, whither on Wall Street or in Harare Square in Zimbabwe. Businesses aren’t formed to employ workers, but to provide ample returns to investors (often at the expense of labor). For 400 years Africa has been the site of American exploitation and Yankee imperial puppetry of African neocolonial ‘leaders’ like Mobutu Sese Seko. It has entangled African states in total Cold War rivalries, and shipped its commercial, municipal garbage to Africa’s shores for a pittance. Will this initiative be any different? History does not accord us much hope. Time will tell whether the next century brings a new positive change, or merely more exploitation. Column Written 3/24/98
© MAJ
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Bubba in Africa