Fighting A Losing Battle?

Sometimes ignorance is a cloak that protects us from our sad realities. The G8 summit is currently underway in Tokyo, Japan and world leaders are addressing issues related to international trade, the current energy and food crises as well as Africa’s development. Honestly speaking, it’s time to quit all the formalities and cut right to the chase. It won’t take a psychic to predict the outcome of the turn of events. There will be talk, some feet shuffling when the uncomfortable and blatant human rights abuse issues come up, and after that some more talk, and then…as it always happens, silence.

How can I be so certain about all of this? Because as history would have it, that has been the case too many times to count. Our supposed ‘world leaders’ will sit together in Tokyo, wear their neatly pressed Italian suits, sip Kenyan coffee, and talk about issues related to Africa and other developing communities. Afterwards, they will get into their luxurious vehicles, hop onto their private jets and go back to the safety and comfort of their homes. Where will the people they are supposed to be discussing be? Out in the sun tilling the land as they have always done.

I know this might sound really negative right now, and honestly speaking, I have no inclination to change the tone given the fact that it is exactly what happens. And it gets to a point when it is simply frustrating. When you don’t have to think but a second to recognize the never-ending cycle that we have been thrust into. Poverty >>Request for Foreign Aid/Assistance>> Accommodation and Implementation of Foreign Policies/Requests >> Digression in Developmental Efforts >> Poverty. And this is only a quick chart to show the cycle many developing nations have to endure.

Sometimes I do get extremely hopeful and think that the circumstances we find ourselves in are for the greater cause…they ought to be right? Wrong. As far as some people are concerned, we could stay at the bottom of the food chain for as long as we exist…so long as they have what they want, everyone else can go to hell.

And hell it definitely is. Knowing that even the small efforts you attempt to put in place are being thwarted by people who really, when it comes down to it, don’t regard you as human beings like themselves who require basic human rights. It’s so darned frustrating!! And the most annoying thing is the fact that people come up with innovative methods to keep the African continent and other developing countries where they are – be it through foreign policies disguised with endearing terms, or blatant directives that threaten the livelihood of people.

Obviously, my ideas are all over the place right now, so I won’t go in depth on the various ‘innovations’ being used to keep Africa from developing to its full potential. But I will definitely give concrete examples of the global injustices that pertain to our lives in this day and age. Until then…