Exactly why is so much of the African continent destitute? Some people say colonialism and the like, but they never explain exactly how colonialism continues to work today to keep the continent poor. Africa is rich in minerals, oils, and precious stones, and has ample agricultural land. I just can't get what keeps Africa back. By rights, it should be the riches continent on the planet, and it's countries among the world's superpowers! What is wrong with it, and how to make it right?

Tough question, but I'll give u a short answer. Masai hit it on another threadwhen he said the continent needs to control its resources, manufacture what it needs and stop importing everything.

80% of revenue goes to debt servicing and imports. Throw in corruption and an inability or unwillingness to incorporate the rural majority and its traditonal economies into development schemes, wars financed by the international military-industrial complex, and there u have it in a nutshell.

But I think the main reason Africa is phucked upis overlooked: Her children are scattered abroad. Her best and brightest have built the great western nations that continually rape her.

And as a mass exodus back to the continent will probably never happen, I guess it's hopeless.

I know, I sound hypocritical, sitting in New York City. But I do plan to go home in five years. I'm on a plan. Two years to finally complete my degree (architecture) three years working in Atlanta, and I'm out. Where? Probably Liberia, but not necessarily. Could be Ghana or South Africa.

I think the reason why Africa continues to stay poor, is mainly because of the corruption in most parts of the country, it's sad really because if the war lords and those who call themselves "presidents" of different parts of Africa were to come together and do what is right for their peopple and their country's interests then, there would be no problem of poverty in Africa.

But it all comes down to human greed at the end of the day, and some African presidents unfortunatly have a vision, that they are to care for themselves and their only interests, which is ofcourse themselves and those they use to get to their selfish goals.

correct, shariff. capital flight... Africa cannot keep anything within it's boarders so that the continent's inhabitants enjoy the fruits of their value creating labour. why do you think Africans run to the west? the money, value is floating around everywhere you go. whatever your trade you are bound to get a big bite of the bucks, whereas there is nothing going around in Africa even though Africans create sufficient value to virtually wallow in wealth. maybe a "buy African" campaign on the continent is as useful as a "buy black" campaign is to Afro-Americans.

you have human and natural resources going out of the continent in a continuous flow, building economies and supporting others notconnected tothe continent. in fact Africans can be considered as the slaves of more powerful economies. all we do is provideothers with all we labour to extract or create, and if that is not enough webring ourselvesover to physically help build their economies, retaining nada for ourselves.

all this negative arrangement is all a legacy of colonialism, of course, hence the truth we are in no position tomake profitevenwhen we trade withpeople who never colonized us (Asian economies). the continent is not arranged to deal with everyone else on its own terms, hence all the bad and self-destructive decisioins governments have made to date. this arrangement is deliberate. when the colonialists realized they could no longer stay as direct rulers of Africans, they activated plan B, and have since been running things through their corporations who control the puppets (indirect rule or neocolonialism). this is where corruption comes in,and the instilled, distractingbelief it is the core evil. when you consider the amounts involved, you realize it is not corruption that ails the continent. there is almost nothing going around African countries in terms of value, and this is evident when you look at the per capita. it is morethe specially selected leaders (selected on account of a low count of neurons) who are propped up by the money the former colonizerssend into the continent toguard overtheir investment who can think of nothing positive other than their egos, who keep the African system such that the continent is continuously either incapable of fending for its inhabitants, or at the whims of other economies. oureconomic institutionsare not allowed to function properly as a result.

IMO, we need revolution, both social and cultural, and then we need a new breed of revolutionary leaders to correct the orientation of the continent so that we are now in control of our destiny. we need leaders the likes of Mao or Castro.

Katy ignorance is a killer, and you're ignorant. clp)

I've heard blanket statements like yours made by one or another race about every other race on earth and its always come from someone uneducated,stuck in the insular world they live in and sadly by someone whose never been to the place they are talking about.

Your IQ is well below 70!!!! get help.

Very good question.

Let us leave the white man out of this. Colonisation has come and gone. Forty five years is long enough for people who have direction to find their ways. We are bulk of blind people trying to lead other blinds and that explains why we always falling.
Africa have no leaders. We know nothing about good governance. We need to stop pointing accusation fingers at the west. what is their crime? was Africa the only continent to be colonised? We need to learn. Learning while we are being led. Let the white man return to Africa and help us out. We are poor because we have no good leadersclp)

Africa isn't poor....just mismanaged.

You basically have the wrong people in charge wasting and giving away the wealth and not using the available resources in an efficient manner.

The crisis is becoming too grave to be politically correct.

If you asked me the entire continent needs to be RE-COLONIZED by a fair superpower and recontructed and re-organized becausen at this pointit's too divided to heal itself.

Usually when the good gets so sick it can't heal itself, it needs outside intervention.

recolonization?it's basically outside intervention that is screwing the place up. what Africa really needs is to be left alone, get rid of those players with their alien interests who corrupt so many of our bird brained people into making the place give out ever more, and Africans will solve the problems of the continent overnight. i seriously believe this to be true.

I kinda wrote my thoughts on this on another thread so here goes cut & paste....

This Planet is being RAPED. De-forestation, pollution, social injustice etc..these are tings thata gwan everyday. Multi-national corporations don't business 'bout culture, tradition, humanityor anything that's gonna get in the way of dem making paper 'an ova fis'.

Yes Mother Earth is a provider, but everything has to be inBALANCE and right now she is overwhelmed. You take something, you mustgive something back. These greedycorporations are not interested in the devastation they cause in the persuit of their pagan god (money). If a manager ran his company to the point of oblivion, he would be fired, but who's gonnafire the people that run dis planet?, and truss mi, they ain't gonna sack themselves.


The so called THIRD WORLD has been moulded for centuries toSERVE the West. Africa, West Indies, Asia... wherever you look you will see that the chief industry in all these places is the TOURIST & SERVICE LIK.These countrieshave vast amounts of natural resources thatshould be PRIMARILYbenefiting the people of these countries.Africans, Asians& West Indiansshould be enjoying a much higher standardof living than those in the west because basically... A DEM 'AVE DE GOLD.But the power lies in who controls the markets and you know the answer to that. So there we have it .... Black people have to BROK DEM BACK every day jus' to scrape a living and so that people can go to sainsburys and pick up a jar of coffee for £1.00.

I know i am simplifying things but basically THAT IS HOW IT GO'S !!!

They ain't gonna let poor people get rich because this would involve not just a redistribution of wealth but also ashare of the POWER and that jus' ain't gonna happen.

The only way out of this nastiness is for these countries to start talking andTRADING together instead of being in competition with each other which is the system setup by the slavemasters and is the same system that still a gwaan today. Consortiums, Alliances, Pactsetc... This is the way poverty can be beaten. The onlyproblem would be that the moment progress start a gwaanand economies start picking up,the West would probably declareWARfor some stupid nonsense reason, drop 2 smart bom'andmash downeverything AGAIN... Nevertheless, It is time for these countries to cut the umbilical cord that has beensucking dem dry anddraining them for centuries. Thiswill mean nuff sacrifice and suffering in the short term but let's face it, sufferation is not a new ting for these people and the long term benefits would be worth it for the children of these nations.