By Uzodinma Iweala
The Washington Post - Sunday, July 15, 2007
Last fall, shortly after I returned from Nigeria, I was accosted by a
perky blond college student whose blue eyes seemed to match the
"African" beads around her wrists.
"Save Darfur!" she shouted from behind a table covered with pamphlets
urging students to TAKE ACTION NOW! STOP GENOCIDE IN DARFUR!
My aversion to college kids jumping onto fashionable social causes nearly caused me to walk on, but her next shout stopped me.
"Don't you want to help us save Africa?" she yelled.
It seems that these days, wracked by guilt at the humanitarian crisis it
has created in the Middle East, the West has turned to Africa for
redemption. Idealistic college students, celebrities such as Bob Geldof
and politicians such as Tony Blair have all made bringing light to the
dark continent their mission. They fly in for internships and
fact-finding missions or to pick out children to adopt in much the same
way my friends and I in New York take the subway to the pound to adopt
stray dogs.
This is the West's new image of itself: a sexy, politically active
generation whose preferred means of spreading the word are magazine
spreads with celebrities pictured in the foreground, forlorn Africans in
the back. Never mind that the stars sent to bring succor to the natives
often are, willingly, as emaciated as those they want to help.
Perhaps most interesting is the language used to describe the Africa being saved. For example, the
Keep a Child Alive/"
I am African"
ad campaign features portraits of primarily white, Western celebrities
with painted "tribal markings" on their faces above "I AM AFRICAN" in
bold letters. Below, smaller print says, "help us stop the dying."
Such campaigns, however well intentioned, promote the stereotype of
Africa as a black hole of disease and death. News reports constantly
focus on the continent's corrupt leaders, warlords, "tribal" conflicts,
child laborers, and women disfigured by abuse and genital mutilation.
These descriptions run under headlines like "Can Bono Save Africa?" or
"Will Brangelina Save Africa?" The relationship between the West and
Africa is no longer based on openly racist beliefs, but such articles
are reminiscent of reports from the heyday of European colonialism, when
missionaries were sent to Africa to introduce us to education, Jesus
Christ and "civilization."
There is no African, myself included, who does not appreciate the help
of the wider world, but we do question whether aid is genuine or given
in the spirit of affirming one's cultural superiority. My mood is
dampened every time I attend a benefit whose host runs through a litany
of African disasters before presenting a (usually) wealthy, white
person, who often proceeds to list the things he or she has done for the
poor, starving Africans. Every time a well-meaning college student
speaks of villagers dancing because they were so grateful for her help, I
cringe. Every time a Hollywood director shoots a film about Africa that
features a Western protagonist, I shake my head -- because Africans,
real people though we may be, are used as props in the West's fantasy of
itself. And not only do such depictions tend to ignore the West's
prominent role in creating many of the unfortunate situations on the
continent, they also ignore the incredible work Africans have done and
continue to do to fix those problems.
Why do the media frequently refer to African countries as having been
"granted independence from their colonial masters," as opposed to having
fought and shed blood for their freedom? Why do Angelina Jolie and Bono
receive overwhelming attention for their work in Africa while Nwankwo
Kanu or Dikembe Mutombo, Africans both, are hardly ever mentioned? How
is it that a former mid-level U.S. diplomat receives more attention for
his cowboy antics in Sudan than do the numerous African Union countries
that have sent food and troops and spent countless hours trying to
negotiate a settlement among all parties in that crisis?
Two years ago I worked in a camp for internally displaced people in
Nigeria, survivors of an uprising that killed about 1,000 people and
displaced 200,000. True to form, the Western media reported on the
violence but not on the humanitarian work the state and local
governments -- without much international help -- did for the survivors.
Social workers spent their time and in many cases their own salaries to
care for their compatriots. These are the people saving Africa, and
others like them across the continent get no credit for their work.
Last month the Group of Eight industrialized nations and a host of
celebrities met in Germany to discuss, among other things, how to save
Africa. Before the next such summit, I hope people will realize Africa
doesn't want to be saved. Africa wants the world to acknowledge that
through fair partnerships with other members of the global community, we
ourselves are capable of unprecedented growth.
Uzodinma Iweala is the author of "Beasts of No Nation," a novel about child soldiers.
