Possible Solutions to African Crisis
Live8 was a muzzled affair where power was the central issue. No one was there for the real reasons and no one took the problem seriously. We need to stop rejoicing over minor successes. We need to stop apologizing and start getting things organized. The betrayal of the G8 countries is no longer acceptable. Need an international UN women’s agency since the feminist dynamic is crucial. Need to begin setting serious targets for change. Need to deal with prevention and treatment. Need corporate donors. Need the millennium project village by Jeffrey Sachs which is 10 villages with every resource they could ever think of to see if they can build a successful community. It is a model and prototype. Emerging Preventative Technologies, the search for a vaccine, the AIDS virus can mutate easily. This means it will take 10 years to solve the Aids question. Sexual diseases will not be as easily transmitted with new technologies. Africa is also undergoing a brain drain. This needs to stop. Swaziland’s King has many wives and 42% of the country between 14-45 years old have HIV. African governments need more international pressure.
Official Development Assistance
Lewis advocates the ODA. The ODA is sourced from the G8 nations. Tony Blair called for 0.7% of GDP by the G8. Lester B. Pearson set the benchmark of 0.7% of GDP for foreign aid. Few countries have come close to that number, unfortunately. Scandinavian countries are the only countries to go beyond 0.7% GDP. The US and Japan do not come close to fulfilling the basic benchmark. Italy is unreliable. UK and France promise to meet the benchmark by 2012. Japan wanted a seat on the Security Council and needed support of the African countries at the G8. SO, Japan made a promise to double its support from their previous numbers, unfortunately Japan doesn’t contribute much at all. The US only gives 3 Billion dollar per year. Bush might double that funding.
Political Short-Term Leadership
Paul Martin will only be around for a while. Bush won’t be around in 2010. Blair will be gone as well. Most G8 leaders in 2005 will be out to pasture. Martin propounds the vitues of the policy but doesn’t achieve the goal. The responsibility will be for the next set of leaders. Promises that are not kept internationally are a serious moral failure. Lewis has not faith in the political leadership.
International Aid
Lewis notes that subsidization of American and EU farmers costs 5 times the amount of foreign aid being given to African nations. This means that the EU gives their cows $2.50 USD per day where as Africans live off of less than $1.00 per day. The totalitarian regimes in Africa prevent G8 Nations from acting to aid the pandemic of AIDS in Africa, according to Lewis.
The Scourge of Debt
In 1988, the developing country ambassadors were skeptical of the economic growth through trade and a fair agreement at the Uruguay round of discussion. Other than trade, the African debt is also a massive setback. African countries are spending much on debt reduction and therefore can’t get healthcare. Because of Totalitarian regimes, African had 294 Billion dollars of debt from 1970-1992. Africa paid back 260 Billion mostly of interest. Africa is still 230 Billion dollars in debt. Africa is forever in a cycle of debt reduction. The Pentagon wrote-off 31 Billion dollars of debt in Iraq post-2003. They should be able to do the same for African nations.
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