BOOK: Malaria Dreams
Malaria Dreams
Stuart Stevens
Kind of amusing, in fact very nicely done, however I think anything I read about the bullshit that goes on in Africa anymore just gets me so agitated that I can't get past it to enjoy the observations. Tim Cahill made an astute observation in Road Fever while he was in South America about colonized countries. Basically, to make *any* sort of profit on all the natural resources and labor they are being soaked for by the colonial gov't, they have to either steal some of it or demand a bribe to have any sort of livable income. In fact, Stuart Stevens (and other books that I can't recall of the top of my head) have noted that the customs officers or checkpoint soldiers are only given a uniform and a gun. No salary. They have to figure out a way to get money to feed themselves and their families. Teachers are basically paying to teach rather than being paid to teach. Its a really big mess... and it cheese me off to think about it. And THEN I see stuff like African leaders griping about how the 1st world nations ignore them... granted, it was primarily a European thing to begin with, but at some point they have to take some responsibility for all the corruption, mismanagement and complete denial of reality (like AIDS..hullo? its a problem there, ignoring doesn't make it go away.) that is happening in 90% of their countries.
Don't even get me started on what happens to donations from X-ian and Red Cross type organizations... I guess have to write about that sometime myself.
Stuart Stevens
Kind of amusing, in fact very nicely done, however I think anything I read about the bullshit that goes on in Africa anymore just gets me so agitated that I can't get past it to enjoy the observations. Tim Cahill made an astute observation in Road Fever while he was in South America about colonized countries. Basically, to make *any* sort of profit on all the natural resources and labor they are being soaked for by the colonial gov't, they have to either steal some of it or demand a bribe to have any sort of livable income. In fact, Stuart Stevens (and other books that I can't recall of the top of my head) have noted that the customs officers or checkpoint soldiers are only given a uniform and a gun. No salary. They have to figure out a way to get money to feed themselves and their families. Teachers are basically paying to teach rather than being paid to teach. Its a really big mess... and it cheese me off to think about it. And THEN I see stuff like African leaders griping about how the 1st world nations ignore them... granted, it was primarily a European thing to begin with, but at some point they have to take some responsibility for all the corruption, mismanagement and complete denial of reality (like AIDS..hullo? its a problem there, ignoring doesn't make it go away.) that is happening in 90% of their countries.
Don't even get me started on what happens to donations from X-ian and Red Cross type organizations... I guess have to write about that sometime myself.
posted by fredlet at
12:08 PM
