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African bloggers slam Live 8

African bloggers slam Live 8

Interesting feedback coming from some excellent African blogs I’ve stumbled across via an article at FT.com criticizing Live 8.

Some of the best commentary and coverage can be found at Black Looks, who covers Live 8 as well as Zimbabwe with this striking comment:

As for African governments refusing to condemn Mugabe that is hardly surprising as they are all one side of the same coin. How can (Nigerian President) Obasanjo condemn Mugabe when he is committing human rights violations himself? What have African leaders done about Darfur- nothing. So why should they break the mold and condemn Mugabe? It is African leaders who are only interested in solidarity for African leaders. The people vote differently.

For those who might actually be deep enough to actually ask Africans what’s wrong with Africa instead of getting on the Live 8 guilt bandwagon (or should that have been Live 8: help African nations purchase more Mercedes because some of them only bought 20 for their leaders this year) check out some of these blogs.

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View Comments (3)
  • Andy
    again, I’m not against the intent of helping just the depth of this entire effort: no amount of good will and debt relief is going to sort out Africa when governance continues to be so bad. I’d note though that I’m reading today about the calls for the US and EU to drop farmer subsidies and I totally support this as a really good way to help Africa: free trade when its actually fair has the potential to change a lot in Africa as well.

  • So what would you say/spin to the call to “cancelling of farm subsidy if you are a farmer in the US”? You know that won’t fly with US taxpayers…Besides are you just after criticism of Live8…or rather seek a balance in opnioin?

    While the Live8/G8 initiatives is not perfect, we need remain blind to the little ounce of good therein in the concept. There is no doubt that many African nations are plaqued with bad governance, we have to remember, however, that many countries in this continent were under military rule for many years, eg Nigeria. There are many reforms in place in Nigeria, and there are traces that a major turn around is in sight.

    I used to belong to the cohort that can’t see any good coming out of Nigeria…but recent events have changed my outlook…we just got 60% of our debt cancelled…there are moves to fix the perineal power problem…the economy has stabilized, IT & Telecom have found solid footings…etc..all with 6 years! Despite all the numerous problems facing Nigeria, with the right government and sound management of resources Nigeria will come out of the woods.

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