Economics and Blood-sport: African Underdevelopment

One of the best memoirs I've ever read

I'm currently reading a fabulous book called My Friend the Mercenary by British author and journalist James Brabazon. The memoir chronicles Brabazon’s time documenting the civil war that raged in Liberia in the early part of this past decade.

Central to his story is the role of corruption, greed, and competing economic interests in Liberia, and West-Africa on the whole.

It occurred to me last night that a short break from my Middle East posts would be refreshing and informative. And so, let’s take a look at post-colonial African economic practices, and the greed, corruption and brutality that has left much of West-Africa economically underdeveloped.

The cause of Africa’s continental underdevelopment and ongoing socio-economic crises, rests on the shoulders of Western Europe’s initiation of the slave trade, and economic exploitation of the continent during the colonial (1400-1945) and neo-colonial (1945-present) periods. In light of this, the key to future independent development on the continent lies in political literacy.

Beginning in the early portion of the fifteenth century, Western European countries began to expand their spheres of influence. It was during this time that Europe and Africa first became introduced in the modern era (Walter Rodney, 85).

Africa provided an ideal place to colonize. It was rich in resources, both human and natural, and was an excellent staging ground for future trade and exploration due to its central global location.

While European nations had been colonizing actively around the world, the required labour to work the newly acquired land was lacking. The colonial powers themselves could not, or would not, muster the number of able bodies to adequately exploit their new found land (Walter Rodney, 92). Thus this labour deficit led to the establishment of the West-African slave trade. Sadly it was in Africa where the colonists found all the free labour they required (John Henrik Clarke, 41).

Countless West-African’s were enslaved as a matter of convenience by the encroaching European presence. There is a popular notion that likes to think of Africa as a sort of peaceful Eden like place prior to European contact, nothing could be further from the truth. Conflict permeates any and all human society and unfortunately for the peoples of West Africa the existing tribal and political divisions made their conquest by the colonial powers all the easier (Walter Rodney, 85).

Moreover, many colonists pandered to African chieftains and kings who were duped into exploiting their own people in exchange for European goods (Walter Rodney, 85).

One can draw a direct connection between the rise of the slave trade and European development. The slave trade made the routing of colonial resources easy and economical contributing to European capitalist growth in areas such as shipping, insurance, company formation, agriculture, technology, and manufacturing (Walter Rodney, 94).

Not content to just point the finger at Western Europe it is important to note that American economic growth up until the mid-nineteenth century relied heavily on foreign commerce, in which slavery played a pivotal role (John Henrik Clarke, 45).

For a people to achieve any semblance of economic development it is essential that they make efficient use of their own labour force. What is more they must have agency over their own workforce. The slave trade effectively stripped Africa of its labour resources.

To make matters worse the capital made on the backs of the African workforce was never reinvested in the continent’s economies (Walter Rodney, 108). In a real sense the lack of West- Africans in Africa during the colonial period severely hindered the probability that any viable long-term economic practices would become entrenched. Furthermore Africa’s natural resources failed to be developed to their full potential during this time (Walter Rodney, 108).

“The history of Africa’s relations with the west has been a history of robbery of [it’s] manpower, it’s mineral and agricultural resources and it’s land.” – Jack Woddis, Africa, The Roots of Revolt (John Henrik Clarke, 41)

I do not mean to infer that prior to the arrival of Europeans on the western shores of Africa that there was no economic practice within the continent. Communalism was thoroughly ensconced in the majority of African societies. While not perfect, communalism is an effective economic model among tribal peoples as it emphasizes wealth sharing among small tight knit populations.

European’s introduced Feudalism easily as the existing communal populations presented a fragmented resistance to the new economic approach. Feudalism indentures people to the land they work, and creates a situation where all the profits of the land belong to a landowner (Walter Rodney, 85).

With trade environments set up to favour the Europeans Africa was in for trouble. Worse still, the European colonialists controlled the world’s oceans and thus Africa quickly became an economic satellite of Europe. This “metropole” status meant that its economy became entirely dependent on Europe.

The economic machine in Africa was operated according to European supply and demand, forcing African’s to become spectators in their own economic development (Walter Rodney, 86).

The lack of agency given to the African peoples over their own economic development created a situation in which their economies were shaped to suit European rather than domestic needs. Europe controlled the role Africa played on the international trade stage. Hence Africa went from a collection of populations open for trade to an extension of capitalist European ambitions (Walter Roodney, 86).

The eventual liberation of African territories did not, however, banish European influence on their economies. Many of the concerned European entities struck specialized trade agreements with their former colonies, which in effect take advantage of the fledgling independent African trade systems (Adrian Hewitt – Sean Moroney, 771).

Existing trade agreements between Europe and African ensure that Europe remains in control of African markets and benefits from one-sided net gains. Thus present trade relationships continuing the long tradition of funnelling wealth out of Africa and into the hands of the colonial powers (Adrian Hewitt – Sean Moroney, 771).

European Economic Community  Flag

The Yaounde Convention of 1963 is a brilliant example of the twisted trade agreements that have developed in the post-colonial era. The Yaounde Convention solidified preferential and one-sided trade between the original six members of the European Economic Community or EEC (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) and the majority of former French colonies (Adrian Hewitt – Sean Moroney, 772).

While sad to admit, it is clear that Africa is not in the process of developing as that would suggest that there is progress being made in the climb towards economic independence. African nations remain dependant on western nations economically (Walter Rodney, 24). Furthermore lingering racism continues to impede the development of certain nations well after the collapse of the colonial system.

The Republic of South Africa provides a good example of a national economy that is slowed due to racial bias. Even with the abolishment of Apartheid the vast majority of workable land in the RSA is held by a white minority. As a result the black majority have in many cases been forced to work what little land they have to exhaustion (Lloyd Timberlake, 174).

Economic woes now in focus it becomes clear that political literacy is Africa’s best chance of developing independent economies and healthy stable nations.

Nkrumah on cover of Time Magazine

Kwame Nkrumah, prolific Gold Coast nationalist, believed that political education was the best weapon one could wield. He said “The duty of any worthwhile colonial movement for national liberation must be the organization of labour and youth; and the abolition of political illiteracy.” (Kwame Nkrumah – John Henrik Clarke, 107).

By instilling a level of political literacy Nkrumah believed that the average African would realize the disadvantages western dependency brought and thus seek out a political education in order to remove the figurative economic shackles that restrained them (John Henrik Clarke, 107).

The greatest tragedy to befall Africa in the post-colonial era is the speed in which the colonists departed. Wishing to avoid the kind of bloody independence movements that sprung up in South-East Asia colonial powers simply evaporated in Africa between 1950 and 1960. This left an African population without public servants, politicians and so opened the door for an evolved kind of economic exploitation.

“Africa needs a new type of citizen, a dedicated, modest, honest, informed man. A man who submerges himself in service to his nation and mankind. A man who abhors greed and detests vanity. A new type of man whose humanity is his strength and whose integrity is his greatness.” – Kwame Nkrumah  

Works Cited

Clarke, John Henrik. Notes for an African World Revolution: Africans at the Crossroads. Trenton, New Jersey: African World Press Inc, 1992

Moroney, Sean, ed. Handbooks to the Modern World: Africa: Volume One.  

Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. London, England: Bogle L'Overture Publications, 1973.

Timberlake, Lloyd. Africa in Crisis: The Causes and Cures of Environmental Bankruptcy. Ottawa, Canada: The Common Heritage Programme / Inter Pares, 1985.