Africa full of promise

Editor: With effective timing, the bomb blasts in London distracted attention from the G8 summit in Edinburgh, which focused on the issues concerning poor African countries. The summit had taken media attention away from the interests of certain Arab causes in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan. {{more}}

Knowing that politics is driven primarily by power and control of resources, not by humanitarian concerns, many people must be questioning what the motives of the leaders of the superpowers are in taking up poor Africa with such fervour. Why the orchestration of the media and world politics on these issues comes particularly now, when they have been glaringly obvious for decades and actually exacerbated by those same superpowers who now claim to save them. Could it be a distraction tactic?

Maybe so when we consider that the outcomes of war in Iraq did not hold what Blair and Bush promised the public, there were no weapons of mass destruction, there was no peace after the elections, there were no Al Qaeda links proven to Saddam Hussein, there is no withdrawal of troops. There is no liberation of the people. There are more deaths on a daily basis in Iraq than the entire series of explosions that took place in London last week. Iraq today stands on the edge of civil war, thanks to the Bush-Blair invasion hiding behind the flag of freedom and democracy.

The Bush administration is responsible for thousands killed in Iraq and Afghanistan under the pretext of fighting terrorism- in revenge for 9/11- but a look below the surface reveals that the US is now fully in control of the Iraq oil and evidence suggests that a proposed pipeline will run through the middle east, taking in Afganistan and Israel. In fact the whole occupation of Iraq should be seen for what it was and is- domination and control of oil markets and supply by the US.

Ever since Blair and Bush teamed up on the Afgan and Iraq invasions, the general public in Britain have known that they would become targets in the war on terrorism. The London blasts have taken many people across the globe by surprise, but Londoners themselves feel a sense of calm as though their dreaded predictions have come to pass- for some time they have been expecting the inevitable. Blair as a leader acted without majority support of his people -there was massive media condemnation in the UK over the invasion of Iraq, there were mass protests in Hyde Park. Londoners today know they are now paying the price for the unscrupulous actions of their leader.

Could it be that the decimation of life in Iraq was praying on Blair’s conscience when he decided to spearhead the recent thrust to alleviate debt of the poorest African countries? It is interesting that the issues that he is now taking up have switched from war and killing to humanitarian concerns of saving lives through poverty eradication, treatment and prevention of AIDS.

Having seen the manipulation of the public opinion that takes place in the arena of politics- ranging from distortion of the truth to blatant lies and the extent that government administrations will go to create public support for their political agendas, we should question their sincerity with poor Africa (which incidentally still has huge resources of its own), and ask what is the real motive.

Most people must be delighted with the long overdue promises to Africa – that delight may have been coaxed to facilitate the reconstruction of the Blair and Bush images of power crazed warmongers into caring, compassionate leaders, thereby obscuring the trail of destruction that continues from the unprovoked invasions in the middle east.

It may be exactly what the demonic attacks in London are designed to do-to direct attention back to the unresolved and ongoing conflict that Blair and Bush have played a part in creating.

Whilst Londoners recoil from their ordeal, they are fully aware of the context of the attack, and tragic though it is, they are paying a fraction of the price of the ordinary people in the middle east.

As Blair who has consistently supported attacks in the middle east now deals with the most deadly terror attack on his home turf, the effects of his actions are clearly coming home – a lesson for him that the British people already knew- that an image of compassion cannot be simply constructed at will, but comes as a result of continued, principled, caring action.



Vonnie Roudette