By the way I have been informed by the Africacentre, that Comrade Pheko, in her capacity as Coordinator, Gender and Trade in Africa, will be one of the major presenters at a conference in the UK on Saturday 18 June 2005, 2pm – 5.30pm, at Aston University, central Birmingham, on the subject Whose Rules Rule? African Answers. The description:
"If only rhetoric could end poverty: Africa has had more than its fair share. But African voices are often the last to be heard, if not all together ignored or distorted in the debate on Africa's development.In a year when the UK Government claims Africa is centre stage in its international development policy, will rhetoric be matched by real political action? This conference will examine African development from an African perspective, in the wider context of global justice.What is the relevance for Africans of initiatives such as the African Union and Tony Blair's Africa Commission, and how should we in the UK be involved? Speakers will look at the UK's record on rules, aid and debt, discuss ways to generate genuine positive solutions for Africa, and assess whether we can truly Make Poverty History.
other listed participants are:
Yao Graham, Coordinator, Third World Network Africa
Beverley Duckworth, Head of Campaigns, WDM
Oludare Ogunlana, Secretary General, All Africa Students' Union
Although there is no cost for attendance, the convenors do ask that you register at the following URL:
http://www.wdm.org.uk/news/events/wrr05/)
African Food and Nutritional Security...
In Africa there are three distinct positions, those who are openly for the eternal perpetuation of neo-colonial control and, in some instances, even the restoration of the old fashion white imperialist colonial control; those who are covert operatives for the neo-colonialism and as in the former group, in some cases, the re-imposition of European colonial control; and those who are openly advocating the continuation and extension of the liberation struggle to its logical conclusion, that is the full and uncompromised freedom of the people themselves; such a freedom as is necessary for the people in total to have a quality of life that is suitable for human beings.
Now some of the apologists for the new colonialism, neo-colonialist puppets, are in government, others in military and law enforcement, some in academe, business and so forth. But the thing they have in common is complete subservience and obsequious acquiescence with the imperialist position. It is they who are responsible for the abysmal position that our people subject to in the world.
How else does one account for the fact that a continent that was the leading center of the world for thousands of years, home of great civilizations such as Ethiopia, Libya, Egypt, Carthage, ancient Mali, Ghana, Zimbabwe and the like, is now reduced to begging the very people responsible for our oppression for handouts. (And failing to even get a decent hand-out at that!).
A continent that has tilapia fish, perch, shrimp, lobster and myriad other forms of sea food in abundance...a continent that is the home of the yam, the watermelon, okra, thousands of edible greens, and other forms of agricultural assets...a continent that was a pioneer in cattle raising, culinary use of fowls such as ducks and so forth...why is our mighty continent fallen on such hard times that it can no longer feed itself without massive imports from outside and food aid? A continent that is subject to great calamity in terms of food security if there is a drought or alternatively rains leading to floods...the continent that spawned the civilizations on the banks of the Nile who used the floods to produce more food stuffs for her people? Is it that we no longer know how to do agricultural and aquacultural functions? Well, of course that isn't true...many of the Africans kidnapped and brutalized into slavery in the Americas were brought here precisely because of our knowledge of growing things such as rice. Even today Africans such as the Chagga in East Africa are among the most innovative agriculturalists in the world. No, it is not our skill; it is the terrible disaster that wrecked our societies: slavery, colonialism and now neo-colonialism.
It is not only are agricultural and related skills that is noteworthy, it is also the way our culture prepares food, for example the fermentation of food:
"Food Processing: Indigenous fermented foods in Africa have usually been derived from cassava tubers, cereal legumes, oil seeds, palm tree sap, milk and various other local products. Richard Okagbue (1997) has pointed out that 'the scientific basis of indigenous food fermentation lies in the nature of the micro-organisms involved in fermentation, and microbially induced change of the base product; the nature of the enzymatic reactions which take place; and the specific nature of the end-product in terms of nutritional and preservative qualities'. A scientific process should be repeatable and open to scrutiny in such a way as to facilitate evaluation and perhaps farther experimentation and research. Common to various parts of the continent have been de-hydrated granular food products which involved fermentation, frying and dejuicing; or products such as sorghum, maize, or other cereal fermented and made into alcoholic beverages. Food processors became aware of the significance of the various agencies by virtue of trail and error experimentation. Metallic objects were sometimes used to hasten fermentation and in this case serve as trace elements, thus promoting the growth of the relevant micro-organisms, according to Okagbue. African civilization may be associated with specific methods of preparing and even consuming food items in ways which reflect some measure of relative uniformity throughout the continent. Fast food items ranging from couscous to "gari" or cassava granules; various types of cereal-based flour, pulverized tubers of various kinds and a wide variety of vegetable-based soups have given African culinary traditions a distinct character which may also be discussed in discussions on micro-biology and food processing. It has to be stressed that food preparation involves hypothesis formulation; the assumption of regularity in nature and a measure of logical consistency in thought in such a way as to facilitate repeatable and predictive capability on the part of the food processor or agent associated with food preparation. This seems to be one of the under-researched issues in need of collaborative research between historians and micro-biologists; nutritionists and sociologists. Much work in this area has been done by Dr. Richard Okagbue, a microbiologist whose training has been of vital importance for our understanding of African food processing."
"African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIK): Implications for the Curriculum," by Gloria Emeagwali
http://www.africahistory.net/AIK.htm
Even the importation of western foods has been a disaster, and demonstrates the overwhelming benefits of our own historical cultural approach to food and nutritional security. I quote:
"Dr. Weston Price visited Africa in 1935. His journey into the interior began in Mombasa on the east coast of Africa, inland through Kenya to the Belgian Congo, then northward through Uganda and the Sudan.
"Throughout his studies of isolated populations on native diets, Price was continually struck by the contrast of native sturdiness and good health with the degeneration found in the local white populace, living off the "displacing foods of modern commerce" such as sugar, white flour, canned foods and condensed milk. Nowhere was the contrast more evident than in Africa. In addition to their susceptibility to chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, intestinal problems, appendicitis, gall and kidney stones and endocrinological dysfunction, the Whites also showed little resistance to infectious diseases carried by mosquitoes, lice and flies. "In all the districts, it was recognized and expected that the foreigners must plan to spend a portion of every few years or every year outside that environment if they would keep well. Children born in that country to Europeans were generally expected to spend several of their growing years in Europe or America if they would build even relatively normal bodies."1 By contrast, the native Africans exhibited a very high tolerance to infectious disease including malaria carried by mosquitos, typhus and fevers transmitted by lice and sleeping sickness borne by the tsetse fly.
"Africa also afforded Dr. Price the opportunity to compare primitive groups composed largely of meat eaters, with those that were mostly vegetarian. The Masai of Tankanika, Chewya of Kenya, Muhima of Uganda, Watusi of Ruanda and the Neurs tribes on the western side of the Nile in the Sudan were all cattle-keeping people. Their diets consisted largely of milk, blood and meat, supplemented in some cases with fish and with small amounts of grains, fruits and vegetables. Rich in animal fats, these diets provided large amounts of the fat-soluble vitamins Price discovered to be so necessary for proper development of the physical body and freedom from disease. The Neurs especially valued the livers of animals, considered so sacred "that it may not be touched by human hands. . . It is eaten both raw and cooked."
"These tribes were noted for their fine physiques and great height—in some groups the women averaged over 6 feet tall, and many men reached almost seven feet. Examinations of their teeth revealed very few caries, usually less than 0.5%. Nowhere in his travels had Price yet found groups that had no cavities at all, yet among the cattle-herding tribes of Africa, Dr. Price found six tribes that were completely free of dental decay. Furthermore, all members of these tribes exhibited straight, uncrowded teeth.
"Largely vegetarian Bantu tribes such as the Kikuyu and Wakamba were agriculturists. Their diet consisted of sweet potatoes, corn, beans, bananas, millet and Kafir corn or sorghum. They were less robust than their meat-eating neighbors, and tended to be dominated by them. Price found that vegetarian groups had some tooth decay—usually around 5% or 6% of all teeth, still small numbers compared to Whites living off store-bought foods. Even among these largely vegetarian tribes, however, dental occlusions were rare, as were degenerative diseases."
http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional_diets/out_of_africa.html
Of course if we were united under a government controlled by the people of Africa, we would set up the structures to rationalize our agriculture. Such structures would enhance the indigenous and adapted foodstuffs that are suitable for our good health and development, instead of gearing the process to the profit of the imperialists in Europe and North America. Africa has developed cooking and dining habits that, left to our own devices, that lead to excellent nutrition. The fermented grains, the one pot stews and soups, the use of the various greens, fruits, tubers and roots, the sea food, palm oil, sufficient and proper amounts of fowls, red meats and so forth are the bases of the Pan-African diet, so to speak, as these things, and other food stuffs such as okra can be found in much of Africa. We could have a society well everyone from infants to the eldest of the elders are well nourished and satisfied with the food they eat. The only thing blocking this is the neo-colonialist opposition to Pan-Africanism, i.e., to our political economic unity.
But there are those who would like to pretend otherwise, they blame the people's revolutionary leadership for not embracing capitalism in the initial phases of the national liberation struggle. They argue that it is our failure to imitate our tormentors and engage in vile political economic fornication with capitalism that has put us in this position. So in essence what we are told is that the rapist is not responsible for the rape, the murderer is not responsible for the murders, it is those who resist rape, those who stop the murderers who are responsible! This is the logic of our tormentors; and their local stooges proudly mimic them at every opportunity.
But we know better. It is our lack of unity; our lack of power that maintains our sad circumstances. We are poor, worse than poor, destitute as a people, in the midst of our own wealth. Our wealth is so great, and our misfortune because of our lack of control of the wealth is so tragic, that they can only be adequately described in the words used by Dr. Nkrumah decades ago:
"It is said, of course that we have no capital, no industrial skill, no communications, no internal markets, and that we cannot even agree among ourselves how best to utilize our resources for our own social needs."
"Yet all the stock exchanges in the world are pre-occupied with Africa's gold, diamonds, uranium, platinum, copper and iron ores. Our capital flows out in streams to irrigate the whole system of Western economy. Fifty-two per cent of the gold in Fort Knox at this moment, where the USA stores its bullion, is believed to have originated from our shores. Africa provides more than 60 per cent of the world's gold. A great deal of the uranium for nuclear power, of copper for electronics, of titanium for supersonic projectiles, of iron and steel for heavy industries, of other minerals and raw materials for lighter industries the basic economic might of the foreign Powers comes from our continent."
"Experts have estimated that the Congo Basin alone can produce enough food crops to satisfy the requirements of nearly half the population of the whole world and here we sit talking about regionalism, talking about gradualism, talking about step by step. Are you afraid to tackle the bull by the horn?"
Kwame Nkrumah
from Address to the Conference of African Heads of State and Government, May 24, 63
"There are, however, imperialist specialists and apologists who urge the less developed countries to concentrate on agriculture and industrialisation for some later time when their populations shall be well fed. The world's economic development, however, shows that it is only with advanced industrialisation that it has been possible to raise the nutritional level of the people by raising their levels of income. Agriculture is important for many reasons, and the governments of African states concerned with bringing higher standards to their people are devoting greater investments to agriculture. But even to make agriculture yield more the aid of industrial output is needed; and the under-developed world cannot for ever be placed at the mercy of the more industrialised. This dependence must slow the rate of increase in our agriculture and make it subservient to the demands of the industrial producers." p 7 Neo-Colonialism The Last Stage of Imperialism
"African States are importing larger amounts of food than ever before from abroad. This trend must be stopped by carefully planned expansion of our won agriculture."
"As an industry, there can be specialisation so that each region or State concentrates on producing the agricultural products for which it is best suited. For instance, it is wasteful for each West African State to try to be self-sufficient in rice when Senegal's Casamance district would be well able to supply the need. Equally, Mali and the Upper Volta are obvious exporters of fresh, tinned and processed meat, while coastal States would supply fresh, tinned and smoked fish.
"A further argument for a unified agricultural policy is implied in the need to step up efforts to combat many of the obstacles to economic growth. Locusts, tse-tse fly and plant diseases are no respecters of political frontiers. Research into their control would benefit from a pooling of brain power and technical know-how. So also would medicine and social services. How much greater the chance of wiping out major epidemic diseases like river blindness and sleeping sickness if action against them is co-ordinated and unified". 29-30 Neo-Colonialism The Last Stage of Imperialism
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