Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Question of the Week - Part 2: "Are there rich people in Africa?"


I'm a bit late posting this question, like two weeks late. This is from someone in Korea.

Question: Are there rich people in Africa?

Answer: Yes. Plenty. I know several Western news media tend to mostly show Africans in poverty (which there's a lot of that, too), but they also forget that several African countries are leaders in production of some resources we take for granted, like gold, diamonds, oil, to name a few. Of course, where is all this money going? Mainly to the African businesses owned by Africans, of course!

The wealthiest black person on the planet is Nigerian and lives in Nigeria. His name is Akilo Dangote, founder and owner of one of Africa's largest multinational conglomerates, Dangote Group. I mentioned him before on my blog in regard to solar energy in Africa, particularly in Angola, South Africa and Nigeria.

There's a list of the wealthiest Africans on TheRichest.org, and Akilo Dangote is, of course, at the top.

What Americans Can Learn From Tunisia

Yesterday marked the completion of the first national elections in Tunisia since it's independence in 1956 and since the uprising in January that that caused the leak to burst out as Arab Spring. Now Tunisians and many around the world are waiting for the results, which could take days since the turn out was so high.



The most inspiring about this election is not the election itself, but what led to it. People got angry and threw passivity out the window and took action (well, actually it started with one man in his 20s, which caused a domino effect around the Arab world and inspired others on the African continent).

Loosely similar are these Occupy protests happening throughout the US and in many Western nations, again the youth protesting oppression. I know many of these countries are not understand the standard of a dictatorship, but many of the occupiers believe corporations and the wealthy are controlling Western governments like dictators as the average Joe becomes broke Bob.


I'm not suggesting someone should set themselves on fire to show their distaste of corporate bailouts and the wealthiest 1% complaining about the thought of only them being taxed more, but instead they should keep protesting and other should join. Maybe we don't need to go out into the streets, but we all have many talents that can be used as our form of expression. I blog about these things, in hopes to inspire change. You may draw, video, dance - whatever!

It is about time that in United States we become less passive and more active about the issues facing us. We're in a democracy and we should act as such. Tunisia was under an oppressive dictatorship for several decades; we've been in a greedy democracy for just as long and many could argue even longer. Tunisians started a radical change in hopes of improving their lives and we should be doing the same.

The experience in Tunisia tells Americans that even the worse situation could be made better by being active. We're upset with high unemployment and the jobs that are disappearing and we continue to listen to what politicians are saying the cause of it is. I think it's time to seriously educate ourselves on what the cause is so we can move forward.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Documentary: When China Met Africa

Current TV's Vanguard has done a mini version of this, with a focus on China's involvement with Angola, now one of the world's fastest growing economies after nearly three decades of civil war. Now this look like a full blown coverage into China's deepened relationship with African nations to fuel both of their quickly growing economies. Take a look at the trailer.


When China Met Africa: Trailer from Speakit on Vimeo.

Click here for more on this fascinating documentary and showings. Special thanks to my friend Diana for sending me this news.

Question of the Week - Part 1: "Are there white people in Africa?"

Starting this week, and for as long as I receive questions, I think I need to answer commonly ask questions about Africa. If you have a question about Africa, send it to kevin.obomanu@gmail.com or tweet it to @theobomanu. I'll try to answer as many as I can, but I'll only answer one every Tuesday, and it will be one blog post for question. You can ask anonymously, if you'd like, just like the question for today came from someone in the Chicago suburbs.

Question: "Are there white people in Africa?"

Answer: Yes, and more than many think, based on how you define "white." According to the 2010 US Census, a white person would be anyone who has European, North African or Middle Eastern origins. What makes this definition a bit confusing for some is the borders of the Middle East (since it is a term coined by the West for the geo-cultural-political region that encompasses parts of Asia and Africa) are not definitive. Some groups believe the Middle East is all of the northern most African countries, but also including Sudan and Somalia, and all of the Asian countries going east from the Red Sea to Pakistan and as far north as Uzbekistan. Others believe the Middle East is simply Egypt in Africa then all of the nations on the Arabian Peninsula to no further north and east than Iran. If we were to agree the the borders are as wide as the first belief and with the2010 US Census, that would mean nearly a fourth of Africa's population is white, as in all North Africa and the white (of mainly European descent) populations in other African nations.

South Africa is mostly known for it's white people, thanks to it's horrible legacy of apartheid. However, white people are the minority in South Africa (about 80% of South Africa is black) and the rest is white, (east and south) Asian, and coloured (the South African term for someone of two or more races). However, since most of Africa was colonized by white Europeans and some descendants of the colonizers stayed in Africa for various reasons, white people are pretty much in every African country.

Even though I have answered the question, pretty much my answer also proves how race is simply a social construct. There's no definite answer for what race is, but whatever you consider a white person to be, they are in Africa.