Don't blame colonialism for African poverty
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ม.ค. 2024
- Author Magatte Wade discusses how cryptocurrencies are helping people like her build the Africa-and the world-they want.
reason.com/video/2024/01/10/t...
________
Did you know that by 2050, fully a quarter of the planet's population will reside in Africa? Yet despite abundant natural resources and a young and ambitious population, the continent remains the poorest of them all.
Born in Senegal and now residing in Austin, Texas, Magatte Wade is director of the Center for African Prosperity at the Atlas Network, a nonprofit that supports think tanks and activist groups in the developing world. A serial entrepreneur, she's currently the CEO (and founder) of SkinIsSkin, which sells a series of skin and lip products sourced in Africa.
Wade is also the author of the new memoir and manifesto, The Heart of a Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied To about African Poverty-and What That Means for Human Flourishing. The solution to Africa's problems lie with what her mentor, the late economist George Ayittey, called "the cheetah generation," young Africans who embrace free markets, individualism, human rights, and transparency in government.
Reason's Nick Gillespie sat down with Wade to discuss her book, "conscious capitalism," charter cities, and how cryptocurrencies are helping people like her build the Africa-and the world-they want.
![[TH] VCT Masters Shanghai Playoffs DAY 5 // 100T vs PRX | FUT vs TH](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/q75pv359eP4/mqdefault.jpg)
Africa has a corruption problem. Good luck doing any business in the DRC without bribing someone. Basically applies to every other African country as well, in one form or another.
Rule of Law and property rights are also shaky in most of the continent.
Also applies in other colonial countries.
@@paperclip612 Some have dealt with it a lot better. Botswana, Mauritius, Rwanda (also had a genocide in the past 30 years), South Korea, Singapore, stand out. Even South Africa, although once the thieves really started stealing from 2008, things fell apart.
Time preference
@@JonathanWrightSA
India too! Much Bribery!
@@paperclip612 In my country, you can literally purchase a ruling political party 😂
I lived in Africa, several different countries, for over a year. All one has to do is spend time there and they understand the real issue.
Or just live in South Africa, because the rest of Africa come here as economic migrants who will tell you the problems of their home country!
What's the real issue?
@@quietus13the government is
It's the arrogance for me. I'm Haitian, the world bank try to do a study on teachers absenteeism. They had a study in India so they assume it will be the same in a poor country like Haiti. The problem is they never talked to anyone on the ground. They spent 2million dollars!!!! But the results were not similar to India at all. My brother in law talked to my dad, who has been a professor for 50years in Haiti he explained the system in just two minutes and they understood how very different India system is compare to Haiti. Though property exist in both, that doesn't mean they are the same. They wasted two million because of arrogance.
This is actually true. at independence Kenya was very much a capitalist country with a thriving agricultural sector. The economy was actually doing better than south korea. Then after the first president passed away in came a dictator and the state captured everything and ran it down for two decades and several more years. All the gains we made were eroded in 24 years of Moi rule, agriculture took a nose dive, state owned enterprises that were thriving under capitalist markets were stripped apart by corrupt officials. It was not until 2022 when we got rid of the dictator, we started seeing opening up of the free markets and almost like 3 years later we started seeing businesses coming back and banks lending to the private sector, due to deregulation and less government interference in the markets. Since then Kenya has tripled GDP and a lot of people have been taken out of poverty even though we still have a long way to go. More need to be done to make it easier to do business in Kenya.
Poverty, Inc was an incredible documentary. Very needed.
One of the best interviews about the african misery I have ever seen
Corruption is so pervasive. I hope she succeeds.
If South Africa comes right to be a beacon of hope once again, which it may in the next 1 to 6 or so years, then the rest of Africa will follow suit in short order I think :)
Corruption is also pervasive in much of the Arab world, in Russia, and in China. Bribery has been a commonly accepted modus vivendi for all of history. But some countries have escaped from that trap. A free media, which is capable of holding officials to account, is essential.
I don't live in Africa, I tried to watch this just for curiosities sake. She's definitely sounds like a winner, I hope she achieves her goals.
It took me 3 days to watch this... she turned out to be a real character! And make a great point.
Wow, very eye-opening. Wishing Africa the reform it needs.
Magatte is spot on. Happy to see her here.
A key to success is culture that values time. Cultures where there are no cold winters, in general, less place value on time than do cultures where there is cold winter. Consider Europe’s cultural fixation with time. Swiss clockmaking, the metronome, British tea-time, Greenwich mean-time, churches ringing out time in every town, train schedules, daily papers. Few sub-Saharan African people had calendars. It was civilization that was about being, about existing, versus civilization that was about advancement. The difference was the Enlightenment. The idea that mankind could make things better for mankind, not just exist at mercy of Nature and gods. Or at mercy of mankind’s lesser self, our vices.
Interesting premise.
Nicely said.
As an African (Nigerian) it is so refreshing to see a fellow African address the issue of poverty here objectively and accurately. We don't have poverty or development problems because of colonialism but largely because of government corruption, terrible socioeconomic policies (like socialism), poor institutions, and other factors like bad geography. During the independence period from the 50s till the 60s, many post-colonial African leaders made the terrible decisions of abandoning the economic, political and social models left by the Europeans here. They undid things like democratic rule, liberalism, capitalism, property rights, better education standards, and civic nationalism. This was done due to lingering resentment of colonialism and also the rabid indoctrination into leftwing ideology that many of these "leaders" got in higher education. This led to social unrest, economic disruption and loss of life due to corruption and political instability that still hinders Africa to this day. Examples are in Tanzania where Julius Nyere, an avid Marxist-Leninist, began his programs of African socialism (Ujamaa) with good intentions but they ultimately ruined the economy, caused massive poverty, and led to increased authoritarianism in Tanzania. The country only began improving once he stepped down and his policies were undone. Another example is in my own country where after our independence in 1960, we had a brutal civil war and military rule for several decades. Controlled economy replaced our capitalist model and we experienced massive unemployment, poverty, insecurity, increased debt etc. This was all ended once we returned to democratic rule in 99 and onwards. President Obasanjo and subsequent governments liberalized our economy and reformed it via privatization and this led to reducing our national and foreign debt, created many more jobs, and reduced inflation.
How does this not have millions of views. Who knew there was so much communism and socialism in African countries??
There isn't... There's not one communist African state, there's not one in the whole world and there never has been.
I love her passion.
Excellent perspective.
I said it before in another video where she shared her early life. This lady is awesome.
"We believe business is the greatest force for good." M.Wade
~1:16:45
Been waiting for you guys to find Wade
Exactly.
I lived in Africa and now in Canada trust me black people mindsets are built differently.Africa is poor due to corruption , lack of problem resolution and civil wars ;population is corrupted
This is why Africa needs free market capitalism. Without regulation, there won't be corruption.
I'm with you sister! Blessings from across the pond via The Pearl 256 🇺🇬
Magatte raises many valid points... only to squash them by generally being clueless at best, ideology-blinded at worst. Shame, empowering voices are desperately needed in Africa if they're ever to become prosperous...
❓
So you recommend more humanitarian aide, maintain hyper-regulation that feeds systems of bribery, and continued alienation of entrepreneurs?
Sounds like you may both have your own ideological blinders. She, however, came from the left and was convinced of the failures of its policy.
Great observation. There are good reasons why Magatte's radical Libertarianism remains a fringe ideology. Its adherents are typically well off individuals whose economic status has desensitized them to the lived realities of the subjects of their commentary & rendered them oblivious to the systems & structures that thrives off their misery.
How is she clueless?
She’s legendary
The reason for widespread poverty in Africa is because of near universal tribalism, and the fact that most African Cultures are barely above Stone-Age development, socially, politically, economically, morally, and technologically.
Blaming "colonialism" for Africa's poverty is literally completely backwards. The ONLY nations in Africa that AREN'T completely destitute and poverty-stricken are the ones that saw MASSIVE influence--socially, politically, and technologically--from Europeans, like South Africa, Nigeria, and Ethiopia.
It should also be noted that the WORST poverty in Africa is in nations that have adopted Marxist systems...
Eastern Europe save for Poland is the same way. Those nations were behind the iron curtain for almost a century and are just now recovering.
I could tell you have never been to Africa. Sure, Africa isn’t a technologically advanced country but it’s certainly far from what you have described.
@tonythomas1010 your correctish. Its a regional issue mostly. Many of the African nations are in perpetual civil war due to tribal issue ie Ethiopia but some especially the North African states do have civil wars but settle into cycles of stability be it democratic or tyrannical.
I wonder if Tom's shoes could have been successfully helpful by simply designing their model differently. Instead of manufacturing shoes in the west to give to people in Africa, contract shoemakers in Africa to make shoes for the brand. Then you have a similar buy-one-give-one system, except now it is creating demand for African shoemakers instead of stealing that demand.
"Africa is (...) the poorest region in the region in the world because it happens to be the most overregulated" M.W.
59.22
24:50 zoomers have this. It's called entitlement. Which is the other way (other than trauma) narcissism is formed. It's created by telling children they are special or unique then combined with special treatment with little boundaries or discipline. Thus nurturing a sense of grandiosity which creates a lack of empathy and an external loci of control.
An internal loci of control is required to be a cheetah.
I was told I was special but treated with respect and consequences for my actions (basically my parents never lied but explained why certain things were bad or unfeasible; they didn't shield me from reality but were incredibly peaceful and supportive, treating me like an adult). I wound up with a very internal locus of control and a profound desire to build and help myself and others. I wound up being an anarcho-capitalist and an entrepreneur, about as Cheetah as you can get lol!
it is NOT zoomer but WHITE zoomers from rich families.\
the key word being white as this is a white problem.
Read this:
"Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins.
Loved that book, he also created an extended version called 'New Confessions of an Economic Hitman'.
I am not familiar with her but I think it is interesting how she says the victim mentality/hippo people is the problem. But Admits western aid is a problem then goes on to talk about how Africans are taught about slavery etc and not Africa before these crimes. That teaching the aid is a direct result of the things she say the Hippo problem talks about. I agree people need to have agency and not be victims but apart of knowing where to go is knowing how you got here.
That's africa for sure
This author has an excellent last name.
U cant really generalise an entire continent, there are many different factors that have contributed to africa current predicament. I say it s corruption,climate, geography, colonism and many others. You cant really point the finger at one reason only. For example, bostwana is rich but its neighbouring countries is poor. It was colonised as well too but ethiopia wasnt colonised and it is poor
She addresses this around 41:00. She's generalizing about a single condition common to the whole continent, which is the difficulty of doing business.
Lived here my whole life with active involvement in civil society (since the state no longer exists to any material extent). As much as colonialism/apartheid put us here, it is definitely the corruption keeping us in the predicament!
Singapore was colonized. Now look at Singapore. A thriving economic success. At some point people need to take responsibility for themselves and their countries.
@@gramma677The world wants this success for Africa. International aid is not the solution to long-term prosperity.
teaching some how to fish will feed them for life. give them a fish they eat once
Some people never learn
@@soulfuzz368And some do learn, but are too lazy and/or irresponsible to get up and do what's necessary.
_"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."_
There's so much of what Miss Wade has to say that makes sense, but here is where I have a problem...
What I take issue with is Miss Wade trying to PLAY DOWN the devastating role colonialism played and still plays on the African continent.
Miss Wade seems to be oblivious to the fact that Western governments have a vested interest in keeping Africa, still to this day the richest continent, in poverty.
Just let that sink in for a second. The richest continent with the poorest most deprived people. In other words, the people who benefit most from African wealth do not live in Africa.
THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT!!!!!!
France is not the only Western country profiting by interfering in African affairs. Miss Wade clearly knows this but somehow she still can't quite connect the dots (figure out what it means in real terms).
So she runs around shouting from the rooftops that Africa is filled with nothing but a bunch of dummies, which is sad because that clearly is not her intention, but nonetheless, that is the impression that most people are left with.
Why do I say this?...
... because It's an easy conclusion to come to if you already have a low opinion of African people, their history, and their culture.
Think about it: For every person who knows the truth, that black Egyptians built the Sphinx and the pyramids etc, there are a hundred people who still believe the centuries of colonial whitewashing, that black Africa has never achieved anything of any historical significance.
If you believe that then why wouldn't you believe that Black Africa is essentially full of dumb or simple-minded Black people? If nothing else that would at least explain how a continent can be so rich yet so poor.
In short (Miss Wade), when the Western world wants (because it has become dependent upon) what you have got (and already has cheap and easy access to it), being more business-minded is only a small part of the problem you are going to have to solve if you want to give yourself any sort of chance of getting to grips with the real issue.
No way to overcome 70 IQ on average 🎉
Stop projecting.
Dambisa Moyo's Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is Another Way for Africa
Don’t blame immigration for the changes in western values.
Reason is always exactly halfway to the truth
@@gramma677 halfway to truth doesn’t mean they have to be wrong, what I mean is there is much left out. Talking about differences in economic development between nations without talking about the cognitive differences is only going to get you part way there.
I challenge anyone to find any sub-Saharan African country that has never been colonized
..that is better off today in any metric, than those colonized in the past.
If this is a joke, then it's kind of a strange one. All sub-Saharan African countries have been colonized at some point. Ethiopia was only under full Italian control for a few years, but the others were definitely all colonized.
Singapore was colonized. Look how successful they are. There are other issues in Africa holding them back.
@@on2thenextthingThey were. They were under British Malaysia.
wow Welfare actually fuels the Warfare.
Big Reason fan here, but the title of this video makes it nearly unshareable to center-left friends who might be very open and surprised by Magatte's arguments.
It ensures the video will preach almost exclusively to the choir.
People forget, Africans enslaved far more Europeans than vice versa. It just happened before the industrial revolution (the barbary pirates etc.)
Fx. African pirates took most of the people in Vestmannaeyjar in iceland in 1625.
Only 1 century later, europe terrorized Africa. And that happened through capitalism/ free trade
Do you have a good source for this? I'm seeing around 1m European slaves in the 1500's vs around 12.5 million Africans.
Not only were there a ton of white slaves (to such an extent that the word "slave" is derived from "Slav"), but most black slaves were sold by other blacks.
Which history book are you reading? Or is it " am white and I say so" narrative
@@gramma677 which history books are you reading? Indentured servitude which was practised by many African communities does not compare to the violence and death of the Arab and transatlantic slave trade,and the narrative of Africans sold Africans is a false claim as historical evidence shows that white europeans were leading slave raids in areas as far inland as the Congo and there were communities that fought to free people captured in such raids but I digress,the above comment clearly mentions Africans enslaving europeans- this is not an error but an attempt at rewriting history to fit a white narrative
@@Mumbi.GNope. The VAST majority of African slaves were captured/sold by other African tribes. Some coastal tribes had entire slaving networks that extended hundreds of miles inland. And the large majority of African slaves went to the Arab world, not the European one.
how about exploiting of natural resources by foreign companies (East or West) where locals don't benefit?
Speak to your government that allows the exploitation of the resources by the companies. They are the ones that manage land use and resource extraction, not the companies.
Yeah this whole discourse is garbage Europe owes Africa MASSIVE reparations for rape and exploitation that continues to this day and there is for example a situation in Niger where 90% of their homes do not have electricity but their Uranium supplies 80% of the electricity for France's Nuclear Power grid... Mali has no Gold reserves in their banks, but copious amounts in their mines. France has no gold mines, but billions of dollars of gold.
Massive problems here.
And many today don't even recognise the aftermath of the first genocide in Africa in the modern era that was Germany against the Hararo people in modern-day Namibia (most don't even know it happened).
@@scythermantisAn african nation has never once developed the ability to utilize their own natural resources. No help from Europe and Asia means they stay in the ground forever.
@@scythermantisNah. Arab world took far more slaves, North Africans took Europeans as slaves, etc. The main issue is corruption, which is only fixable by the people themselves
So the govt does nothing to stop it??
crypto is helping Africa?
yeah ok
what a load of BS,
I wonder if she sells her book in crypto?
What's your justification for saying that? Is the assumption that she just made up the banking and payroll challenges she experienced?
From listening to Magatte a quote by Prof.John Hendrik Clark comes to mind " if you do not understand white supremacy, you do not understand much else" this is the most appropriate response to your book and to Magatte Wade
Is this the same kind of white supremacy that installs a black Harvard president whose entire career is built on plagiarism, or the kind that systematically discriminates against white and Asian students vs. black students at a nearly 10:1 ratio in admissions to the power-broker institutions of the world?
Or are you referring to a non-imaginary white supremacy in Africa that I'm not aware of? I ask, because in the US, we have distorted the term white supremacy into meaninglessness.
Oh, BS. Europeans also had colonies all over Asia and Latin America. Japan, Korea, China were all devastated by WWII and Korean War, but they all have surged forward economically. Where's the WS holding THEM down? At some point people need to take responsibility for themselves.
@@WhizzingFish12 why is America paying to have it's manufacturing companies leave China? Why all the propaganda to have Chinese products banned from America and other European countries? Why is the EU and America staging war ships to attack against Niger simply because the people removed a dictator from power?yes am sure white supremacy has nothing to do with this
What is the difference between colonies in Asia,south America and Africa? Read the book " Confessions of an economic hitman"
What exactly is white supremacy? Please explain, and provide examples. There must also be something called black supremacy too, right? Can you explain about that?
Poor bc Africans
pale faces stop doing drugs challenge.
She literally argues against herself Western degrowth Monopoly capitalism is holding Africa down and she doesn't want them to stop?😂
Read an economics book, mate. The west is not free market, not by a long shot.
@ethangroat8333 I'll bet you $1,000 I beat you in a debate about economics I've read more books than you knew about.
Your argument is reform capitalism I just destroyed it
The comment below proposes you Institute an economic system which is never existed before which is pure free market capitalism and it's impossible because you already have oligarchs in that country
1000.00 to anyone who debates capitalism brings your citation and wins
@ethangroat8333 " read an economics book mate "
showing me two things
you're sexually desperate because I'm not going to be your mate,
and you read Milton "Freedom" Friedman whom has been debunked 🤣🤣
colonialism is what built the institutions that keep africa poor.
but you didn't mentioned it
since it is a product of capitalism.
Africans keep Africa poor. Ethiopia was never colonized and isn’t any better off. It’s IQ
Colonialism is a product of merkintilism, not free markets.
LOL, that's some copium.
After colonization came to an end. The West controls the reserve currency and technology that other countries need to develop. This gives the West the power to pick and choose who they want to make rich and who they want to remain poor. They made East Asians rich by providing them with the financing and technology to develop their countries and import trillions worth of goods and services from them. If they wanted to keep East Asians poor they would have sanctioned them and discriminated against them like they do to Africans.
She did mention it at around 29:00
and you misspelled Socialism.
The problem is forcing developing nations to compete with fully developed ones through "free trade"
You know that "developing" countries have a huge advantage on "developed" ones on labor costs right?
@@erikkovacs3097 sure but that's part of why they're in such a trap. They're forced to act as an assembly line for the global supply chain by the IMF. This leads to exporting low value added content while importing high value added content, your bound to stay poor with this framework. And because their farmers can't compete with heavily subsidized farmers in the developed world, they have to import most of their food which puts a lot of downward pressure on their currencies, which makes their imports more expensive and so on. Vicious cycle
South Africa has heavy protectionist policies for some local industries, like textiles and car tyres.
Spoiler: we don't have a textiles industry anymore, and local tyre manufacturers are so minimal as to be inconsequential (yet I pay more for my tyres from India now).
Not sure what is being protected.
Just. Open. Trade.
@@grimaffiliations3671 Buying cheap food from rich governments that subsidize their farmers is a wealth transfer from the wealthy countries to poor countries.
@@JonathanWrightSA How much of your food and energy do you import?
If you've heard Ronald Reagan you don't need to listen to this
New context new perspective reaching a new audience. People like you are the reason libertarians have such a bad time marketing ideas.
Haha yeah and I recognise both the interviewer as a shill for Colonialism and Neo-Liberal Capitalism and the lady he is talking to as the same sellout who gave an interview to Jordan Peterson of all people lolol
Thanks for saving me the time
What the fuck are you talking about?
@@scythermantis be careful listening to people with differing perspectives you might learn something
@@scythermantisNot Jordan Peterson?! My god, he might talk to me about goal-setting!
She is so wrong and confused it's laughable.
Couldn't help but notice she knows more than you and is actually Africa. While you ain't know nothing so...not gonna listen to you.
No, I will.
Did you bother listening
Regardless of what you think the immediate cause of poverty was there's no question every Western power needs to get the f*** out of Africa before it can be prosperous
Lololol 🤡🌈
Singapore was also a former colony
@@Justin_Beaver564Singaporeans weren't enslaved, and they didn't have trillions in gold, minerals, and artifacts stolen.
Factually wrong
You're in denial. Stop being lazy and take responsibility for your own life, junior.
Please Elaborate.
@@DO-gl4rhhe’s saying Africa is not poor because of excessive government intervention of their economies, but actually it is. It ranks lowest on the Economic Freedom Index as do all poor nations. African and South American countries have the highest levels of regulation and consequently highest levels of poverty.
@@robfromvan no, i meant this video is false information.
@@elbowjuice2627 like the other guy says, need more info. It’s known by economists all over the world that market reforms cause an increase in economic growth. Debating this is like debating the moon landing. You’re not say why or how it’s false, or if just one part and what part of the video is false.
If you're educated by the enemy, this is the fruit.
Thank you my Real Brother!!! This is like that USELESS little Ant Macron saying that Africa Poverty is because they are having too many children. I has NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS CONTROL OF THE 14 CONTRIES!!! NO NEVER HE IS INNOCENT JUST LIKE THIS LOST SOUL HERE BEINB 200% AGAINST HER OWN SELF!!! POINT THE FINGER AT EVERYONE!!!
Victim mentality
Perpetual victim mentality. Stop it.
😂😂😂😂 bro you said it well
Honestly we see the same things in America when it comes to welfare with communities of whites and blacks.
We have generations of these ppl who have lived off of welfare and then we wonder why those areas don't develop.
It's not to just rip the welfare/aid away immediately, obviously that would cause issues. But instead of simply giving money or giving infrastructure there needs to be an off ramp. The focus needs to be on creating more competent ppl who can contribute to the local economy so that community can lose its dependence on welfare/aid.
Feel sorry for my African peoples 💰