Exploitation of Africa's Land and People

 The Final Call, The exploitation of Africa's land and People, http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/world_news_3/the_exploitation_of_africa_s_land_and_people_5661.shtml

Africa has been the land of opportunity for a long time. Executive director of TransAfrica Forum writes: “As a continent, Africa is still enslaved because of its vast wealth. The mining and extraction of precious materials—oil, natural gas, coltan and cobalt—enrich corporations but cast a shadow of poverty throughout the continent. Whether in the Niger Delta or the Democratic Republic of Congo, the people experience lives of misery and receive very little benefit from the richness of their land. This is known as the “resource curse”—the paradoxical relationship so many Africans have to the richness of Africa.” (Lee, Nicole C.)  In other words, instead of taking financial benefits out of their natural resources the African people are encounteres with a a source of problems that leaves them with a deplorable quality of life.

Emira Woods, director of Foreign Policy in Focus for the Washington D.C.said that the coorporations are the ones who use the labor and land and the people are the ones who pay for it. She calls this :modern slavery and that it is exploitation that makes you think about slavery in the old times. As an example Mrs. Woods talked about Firestone which for years has run the largest rubber operation. According to her they use child labor and don't pay the proper taxes for the government. Also, Africa is the greatest supplier of oil to the U.S, the 80 percent of cobalt used in lithium powered batteries comes from Africa, and the majority of the coltan used by celphone companies and electronic devices has the same origin.

According to the United Nations and several human rights organizations, many of the conflicts on the African continent can be traced to the control of mineral resources.

This article also talks about the involvement of the U.S gov. and the plans that the actual president, Barack Obama, has for Africa. Pan-Africanist Dr. Mtangulizi Sanyika said that he anticipates Obama will have a special connection and obligation over the problems of Africa because of his African roots.

"The advent of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) on the continent bears witness to the fulfillment of Dr. Nkrumah’s words. In 2007, former Pres. George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the creation of U.S. Africa Command. The decision was the culmination of a 10-year process within the Department of Defense acknowledging the emerging strategic importance of Africa and recognizing that peace and stability on the continent impacts not only Africans, but the interests of the U.S. and international community." (Muhammad, Ashahed M.)

As we can see in the previous quote the U.S said as an argument to form the AFRICOM that peace and stability in the continent also impacts the interests of the U.S. In my opinion this is a form of Imperialism similar to the white man's burden and I consider it as imperialism disguised as help.