Ethiopian Review reader Ato Ayele Tena Kassa has translated the controversial article by Irish columnist Kevin Myers as follows.
Dear Editor,
I have read the commentary by Kevin Meyers you posted on July 11th — Africa is giving nothing to anyone — apart from AIDS). I have found it very important that it should also be read in Amharic by your readers. I think this helps us understand how degrading and shameful it is to live on hand out given by Westerners.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) is to make an official complaint to the Garda Síochána today about the publication of what it considers to be a racially offensive article that appeared in the Irish Independent last week.
The ICI said it believed the publication of the article, “ Africa is giving nothing to anyone – apart from AIDS ”, which was written by columnist Kevin Myers and published last Thursday, breached Section 2 of the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989.
Section 2 of the Act says it is an offence to publish or distribute written material if it is threatening, abusive or insulting and intended to, or having regarding to all of the circumstances, is likely to, stir up hatred.
In the article, Mr Myers questioned whether it was moral to save an Ethiopian child from starvation, given that it could grow up to face poverty, hunger, violence and possible sexual abuse.
He also described Africa as “almost an entire continent of sexually hyperactive indigents, with tens of millions of people who only survive because of help from the outside world.”
The ICI said it also intends to lodge an official complaint about the article with the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism.
“We believe the published article does not just overstep the boundary of common decency – it triple jumps right past that – but it also crosses the legal boundaries,” said the council’s chief executive, Denise Charlton.
“The issue at stake here has nothing to do with freedom of speech or expression. It is about respect for, and the upholding of, Ireland’s laws.
“Journalism, like any other profession, operates within the framework of the rule of law in Ireland,” added Ms Charlton.
Read the article by Kevin Myers below
Africa is giving nothing to anyone — apart from AIDS
By Kevin Myers
(Independent.ie) No. It will not do. Even as we see African states refusing to take action to restore something resembling civilisation in Zimbabwe, the begging bowl for Ethiopia is being passed around to us, yet again. It is nearly 25 years since Ethiopia’s (and Bob Geldof’s) famous Feed The World campaign, and in that time Ethiopia’s population has grown from 33.5 million to 78 million today.
So why on earth should I do anything to encourage further catastrophic demographic growth in that country? Where is the logic? There is none. To be sure, there are two things saying that logic doesn’t count.
One is my conscience, and the other is the picture, yet again, of another wide-eyed child, yet again, gazing, yet again, at the camera, which yet again, captures the tragedy of . . .
Sorry. My conscience has toured this territory on foot and financially. Unlike most of you, I have been to Ethiopia; like most of you, I have stumped up the loot to charities to stop starvation there. The wide-eyed boy-child we saved, 20 years or so ago, is now a priapic, Kalashnikov-bearing hearty, siring children whenever the whim takes him.
There is, no doubt a good argument why we should prolong this predatory and dysfunctional economic, social and sexual system; but I do not know what it is. There is, on the other hand, every reason not to write a column like this.
It will win no friends, and will provoke the self-righteous wrath of, well, the self-righteous, letter-writing wrathful, a species which never fails to contaminate almost every debate in Irish life with its sneers and its moral superiority. It will also probably enrage some of the finest men in Irish life, like John O’Shea, of Goal; and the Finucane brothers, men whom I admire enormously. So be it.
But, please, please, you self-righteously wrathful, spare me mention of our own Famine, with this or that lazy analogy. There is no comparison. Within 20 years of the Famine, the Irish population was down by 30pc. Over the equivalent period, thanks to western food, the Mercedes 10-wheel truck and the Lockheed Hercules, Ethiopia’s has more than doubled.
Alas, that wretched country is not alone in its madness. Somewhere, over the rainbow, lies Somalia, another fine land of violent, Kalashnikov-toting, khat-chewing, girl-circumcising, permanently tumescent layabouts.
Indeed, we now have almost an entire continent of sexually hyperactive indigents, with tens of millions of people who only survive because of help from the outside world.
This dependency has not stimulated political prudence or commonsense. Indeed, voodoo idiocy seems to be in the ascendant, with the next president of South Africa being a firm believer in the efficacy of a little tap water on the post-coital penis as a sure preventative against infection. Needless to say, poverty, hunger and societal meltdown have not prevented idiotic wars involving Tigre, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea etcetera.
Broad brush-strokes, to be sure. But broad brush-strokes are often the way that history paints its gaudier, if more decisive, chapters. Japan, China, Russia, Korea, Poland, Germany, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the 20th century have endured worse broad brush-strokes than almost any part of Africa.
They are now — one way or another — virtually all giving aid to or investing in Africa, whereas Africa, with its vast savannahs and its lush pastures, is giving almost nothing to anyone, apart from AIDS.
Meanwhile, Africa’s peoples are outstripping their resources, and causing catastrophic ecological degradation. By 2050, the population of Ethiopia will be 177 million: The equivalent of France, Germany and Benelux today, but located on the parched and increasingly protein-free wastelands of the Great Rift Valley.
So, how much sense does it make for us actively to increase the adult population of what is already a vastly over-populated, environmentally devastated and economically dependent country?
How much morality is there in saving an Ethiopian child from starvation today, for it to survive to a life of brutal circumcision, poverty, hunger, violence and sexual abuse, resulting in another half-dozen such wide-eyed children, with comparably jolly little lives ahead of them? Of course, it might make you feel better, which is a prime reason for so much charity. But that is not good enough.
For self-serving generosity has been one of the curses of Africa. It has sustained political systems which would otherwise have collapsed.
It prolonged the Eritrean-Ethiopian war by nearly a decade. It is inspiring Bill Gates’ programme to rid the continent of malaria, when, in the almost complete absence of personal self-discipline, that disease is one of the most efficacious forms of population-control now operating.
If his programme is successful, tens of millions of children who would otherwise have died in infancy will survive to adulthood, he boasts. Oh good: then what?I know. Let them all come here. Yes, that’s an idea.
(Colbinski Chronicles) — Two buses go to Bahir Dar, a large “autobus” or a small minibus. The minibus takes an unpaved road, which is shorter but bumpier and gets there quick. The autobus takes a longer, smoother route and is officially listed as a day and half trip. Christian and I wanted to waste as little time as possible with traveling so we were going to take the minibus route. Almost everyone we spoke with told us what a terrible idea it was. Minibus drivers go too fast, pass without looking ahead, and crash constantly. We heard so many minibus horror stories. People kept telling us how Ethiopia is third in the world in automobile fatalities even though there are only around 250,000 vehicles for a population of 80 million. There is a road to the south of Addis that a loose translation of its nickname has the words “death” and “triangle” in it. Named so due to the amount of vehicles that never return after driving on it – a clever homage to the Bermuda Triangle. I imagined becoming part of one of those “bus plunge” headlines if I took a minibus for a trip like this. After all this we decided to take the autobus. We were guaranteed that we would arrive in Bahir Dar in one day. That’s because our bus driver must have been a minibus driver at one time.
For as long as the trip was it was never boring. It was quite the experience. The driver was young as was the two bus assistants on board. The assistant’s job was to, well I’m not sure, but they collected tickets and walked back and forth quite a bit, and distracted the driver occasionally. They were all having the time of their lives though. We found out that this is all they do. They drive to Bahir Dar and spend the night. The next morning they drive back with people bound for Addis. Then back to Bahir Dar and so it goes. They acted like it was the best job in the world. They laughed and smiled the entire time and it was as if nothing could be better than being on this bus.
The driver never slowed down, or hardly slowed, but it seemed like never. We were never passed by another vehicle the entire time on the road yet he passed everything and everyone. Large buses, minibuses, pick-ups, SUVs, cars, horse-drawn carts, roaming livestock, walking villagers. He barreled past all, blaring the air horn as loud and as long as possible. He did this on the open road, on uphills, going downhill, while in the passing lane, while in the passing lane with oncoming traffic. He never slowed going through crowded villages where people dallied in the road, livestock stared dumbly, and other buses were stopped and partially blocking the road. He leaned forward, with one hand off the wheel, sounding the horn, and kept going. Occasionally he swerved to avoid vehicles, people, rocks in the road, or animals. But he kept going and kept sounding the horn. At first it was ridiculous then it was just unbelievable that this was happening, and then it was normal.
It seemed like we going very fast. But I couldn’t really tell just how fast and either could the driver. All the instruments on the display panel were out of order. The speedometer needle hung limply no matter what speed we were going. The engine and the horn seemed to be in perfect condition.
The bus driver talked on his cell phone occasionally. Sometimes he would be texting messages while swerving and never stopping. (I’m not sure who handled the horn while he was texting but it kept on blaring as well.) Mostly, one of the assistants sat next to him and they joked and lived it up and the driver was the type who has to look at the person he’s talking to while driving so his eyes weren’t on the road. Yet, he kept going, horn blasting, passing every other moving thing on the road, and swerving the large bus as circumstances dictated. Occasionally, after a sharp swerve or when we hit a pothole going too fast, the driver would turn his head, smiling as always, and catch the assistant’s attention. The assistants would peer throughout the bus and catch eyes with any worried passengers and place their hands in front of their body, slowly fanning the air, letting the passengers know everything was alright. To the only two farangi on the bus he would just glance over with a sly smile as to say, “I know you guys are enjoying this.” At first, I just stared out the side window to avoid knowing what was in front of us. Then my curiosity got the better of me and I had to look out the front windshield. There were a couple close calls with oncoming buses but mostly it was people or animals on the road that had to worry.
At one point we were forced to stop. Road construction started at 10:00 AM and we were held up in a village from 10:30 AM until 3:00 PM. (The wait in the village is another story. This one is just about the bus ride.) During the wait I spoke with the assistants. One said, “It’s a fast bus.” I replied, “Maybe it’s a fast driver” He laughed and implicitly agreed. I asked if he was only driving like that because he wanted to make it through the construction site before the road closed. The response was “No.” Apparently, he always drives like that.
During the break in the village the two assistants began monkeying around with the engine. This did not instill confidence in me. When one of them took out a Pepsi bottle containing transmission fluid and began dumping it in while the other assistant kept saying “More, more” I just walked away. Then at about a quarter to three the bus driver, in a rush as always, was in the bus, starting the engine, and yelling for the assistants to round everyone up. No other vehicle had started their engine but our driver was raring to go. He pulled out into the road and then onto the opposite shoulder to get to the front of the construction line. Federal police placed him back into his spot in line. He reversed off the shoulder back into the busy road while holding his cell phone in his hand. Once they allowed us to begin moving he was off passing everyone again. He did slow down a bit through the actual construction site and through the Blue Nile Gorge but still passed when he could. Through the construction and then the same: speeding, honking, and passing. Enjoying every minute of it.
I never saw him eat or drink. He was off the bus during the unanticipated layover but otherwise he was firmly planted in his seat. Christian and I began to make up superhero stories about him and his bus driving ability. He handled the bus like the Batmobile. He had an uncanny sixth sense to anticipate impediments in the road. Or he was able to telekinetically repel anything in his way and place it safely aside. No kryptonite has yet been found that could slow him down. I swear, that blasted air horn had super powers of its own.
By this time we were used to the way he drove and knew what to expect. The assistant and his sly smile were right. I began to enjoy it, to look forward to the next village, wondering how crowded it would be, how many near misses we would have. I tried to sleep some but the constant horn kept waking me and forcing me to see what was in front of us to cause such a racket. Our biggest concern became whether or not we would make it to Bahir Dar that night. We had over a 4-hour delay. Never, we thought. The assistants guaranteed us we would make it. Other passengers told us how dangerous it is to drive at night: can’t see a damn thing, robbers on the road, large potholes, etc. It became dark and the assistants announced that anyone who wanted to could get off the bus at the next village but the bus would be going through to Bahir Dar. No one got off and we made it to Bahir Dar around 10:30 or 11:00 PM. Safe and sound. Not a scratch on the bus but maybe some fur from grazing an ox or a mule on the way.
These aren’t modern buses. No bathrooms. Because of the delay there were no rest breaks (I suspect our driver forbade it.) One time there was a pee break. The bus stopped and male and female jumped off and started urinating directly outside the bus. I had to go but my shy bladder prevents me from partaking in such public activities. The driver didn’t get out. After about a minute he honked the horn and started moving. Guys were zipping up, still pissing, running to catch up to the departing bus. Man, was the driver in a rush.
I was hoping to get the same crew for my bus ride back on Sunday morning. I knew I would make good time back into Addis. I knew it wouldn’t be boring. In fact, for all the craziness it was really quite a bit of fun. Then I met a couple from Chicago who are in Addis for the summer. Her sister was visiting and they had rented an SUV and a driver to go to Bahir Dar for the weekend. They had an open seat available and I joined them. The trip back to Addis was quick, comfortable, and pleasurable, albeit much less eventful.
Meles Zenawi’s right hand, Sebhat Nega, has authorized a cross border transfer of over 200 containers of foodstuffs to be sold to Sudan and Djibouti — stealing food from the mouths of starving children… ONLF (Ogaden National Liberation Front) fighters conducted several attacks on Woyane troops during July 5 – 13, killing or wounding 152… Watch the video below
Testimony by Mimi Alemayehou Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee For Consideration for the Position of U.S. Executive Director for the African Development Bank
Chairman Menendez, Senator Lugar, and Members of the Committee, I am grateful for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am honored that President Bush has nominated me to serve as the U.S. Executive Director for the African Development Bank.
After his recent visit to Africa, the President commented: “things have changed in Africa since my first visit, I mean striking changes;” and then he continued: “We’re treating African leaders as equal partners. We expect them to produce measurable results. We expect them to fight corruption, and invest in the health and education of their people, and pursue market-based economic policies.”
I share the President’s vision of a ‘partnership of equals’ between the United States and Africa. It is through such respectful and engaged partnership that Africans can play a driving role in Africa’s development and African leaders can be accountable for their actions. If confirmed, I pledge to work with this Committee, Congress, and the Administration in furthering U.S. International Policy and Development goals. Increasingly, America’s prosperity is becoming linked to peace and the raising of living standards for all individuals in the developing world. The African Development Bank is one of the most important regional development bank as it serves the world’s least developed continent. The Bank’s activities have a very high impact on the region and therefore command the focused attention of Africa’s leadership.
Throughout most of my life, I made personal and professional choices which prepared me for a focused and challenging role – to serve as a bridge, an enabler, between our country of opportunity, and the continent of Africa, with its tremendous yet far from realized potential. I am grateful for the educational and professional opportunities the United States has afforded me. This, I believe prepared me for a role in the development of Africa and the international private sector as early as my days serving as an aide on Capitol Hill. Africa and the private sector re-emerged later in my work in international telecoms focusing on the introduction of a new technology to African countries, and more recently as an entrepreneur supporting the efforts of the United States-sponsored Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. I started TradeLinks in order to assist AGOA eligible member countries in the regional grouping of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) so that they may increase their exports to the U.S. While I enjoyed working with the African governments and U.S. officials, I took the most pleasure from working with African entrepreneurs with great skills and products but were in desperate need of basic tools. They were in need of training or adequate equipment so that they can produce consistently high quality goods on a meaningful scale and in a tight timeframe.
Today’s Africa is a far cry from my early years in Ethiopia under a communist regime that left an indelible mark on me. Entrepreneurship and democracy are now the order of the day; but the African private sector cannot thrive without a significant upgrade of the continent’s infrastructure and financial systems. These challenges call for a strong and active African Development Bank to finally help turn Africa’s long held promise into a reality. This optimism does, however, bring increased expectations with respect to governance, transparency, regional integration, and the need to develop African skills. That is the reason why Africa needs reliable partners such as the United States and strong institutions such as the African Development Bank. America’s style of government and its liberalized economic model put us in an exceptional position to help steer the Bank towards the right policies and usher an unprecedented era of sustainable economic growth in Africa. The implementation of U.S. policy towards Africa, as well as our role on the Board of the African Development Bank, together constitute key tools to help Africa achieve this growth. It would therefore be a privilege to work with Secretary Paulson, the Treasury Department, and Congress to increase the African Development Bank’s impact and effectiveness.
While humbled by the nomination, I am excited about the prospects and challenges facing the African continent. I do hope to have the opportunity to play a role in getting the United States and the African Development Bank to work more closely together in order to help
improve the lives and dignity of all 940 million Africans.
Mr. Chairman, Senator Lugar, Members of the Committee, thank you for considering my nomination. I would be pleased to answer any questions.
(EurActiv.com) The EU and its new, six-month French Presidency must push harder on issues such as good governance and human rights in the international arena, including with Russia and at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Socialist MEP Ana Maria Gomes (Portugal) told EurActiv in an interview.
Ana Maria Gomes is a career diplomat with wide international experience. She is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.
Ms. Gomes: as an MEP you followed the presentation of the French Presidency by President Sarkozy last week in Strasbourg. We are now discussing Foreign Minister Kouchner’s subsequent address to the Foreign Affairs Committee. What do you think of this presidency?
If you were to take President Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Kouchner by their word, it’s a quite ambitious presidency. I would say you would draw that more from President Sarkozy’s statements than Minister Kouchner’s, who was quite restrained on some issues that were put to him by members of Parliament in the Foreign Affairs Committee. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so we will see in six months how the French Presidency has delivered.
I think we can use all this energy and ambition in a very good way. Europe needs this to push for certain issues. From what I can see by working in foreign affairs – combining defence, human rights, security and development – in areas such as defence and security, the Presidency is very well prepared and has done its homework. The proposals put forward by the Presidency in these areas seem to make absolute sense and will be very much supported by this Parliament in all the proposals.
I agree with what Mr Kouchner said: we cannot have diplomacy without being prepared in defence and security issues as we have all these obligations, including the responsibility to protect. But there is one area which was discussed in the Development Committee – and I find the French Presidency in this area quite defensive and low profile, to say the least. They were almost retracting. It is the area of development cooperation. It is shocking for some of us that the words ‘good governance’ and ‘human rights’ never show up in the working paper that has been prepared by the French Presidency for their development aid strategy.
Mr Kouchner says you need to shake hands with your enemy because this is the way to make peace.
Yes, I am a career diplomat, so I am used to shaking hands with the devil. I don’t shy away from it. But if you are a real defender of human rights, you may shake hands, but you never give up confronting the dictators and the violators of human rights and their responsibilities. And you never miss an opportunity to make them face punishment for what they do. And you certainly don’t compensate them politically.
That’s why I pointed out the very bad start that we could see for instance in the G8, where we had several European leaders, including Mr Barroso of the Commission, side-by-side with Meles Zenawi, the dictator (Prime Minister) of Ethiopia. At the same time they were asking for tougher sanctions on Zimbabwe – for very good reasons.
How can we be credible in the eyes of the Europeans? In the eyes of the Africans? In the eyes of all the world? If we are asking one thing of one dictator and at the same time compensating with political recognition of a dictator like Meles Zenawi, who manipulated elections in 2005 according to the report of the European Union election observation mission – which I chaired by the way. So I know what I am talking about… He is oppressing his people. He actually arrested all the opposition leaders and kept them in jail for almost two years and he is invading Somalia, for instance.
What kind of message, what kind of credibility do we have? And then I asked a question, how do we now act? In the face of Sudan, not only these two people who have been indicted and not submitted to the International Criminal Court, but now (President of Sudan) Omar al-Bashir himself, who everybody knows is responsible for the tragedy in Darfur. Are we going to do business with him as usual? That’s the question I asked.
I was somewhat uncomfortable with the reply of Mr Kouchner. Of course the court has indicted him. It’s not correct to wait on whether the judge will uphold the accusations and in the meantime do business with him as usual. I think this requires strong measures. Political ones. And strong reinforcement of the AU/UN hybrid mission in Darfur, which is suffering from many things – including the fact that they don’t even have one third of the troop levels needed on the ground. So Europeans should do more for Darfur.
President Sarkozy has defended his decision to go to the Olympics in Beijing by saying we need China to help in Sudan, putting pressure on Iran, etc. But from your words, one gets the feeling that you think he is not putting enough pressure on these countries.
I must tell you I am not one of those people who has ever advocated the boycott of the Olympic Games. I am one of the people who has always looked at the Olympic Games in Beijing as an opportunity to be converted on human rights, in China namely, as well as Tibet. So I am not criticising Mr Sarkozy for deciding to go there. He didn’t need to go there. Other European leaders aren’t going there. That doesn’t mean boycotting.
Since he is going, he now has additional obligations. He has the obligation to raise the issue of human rights, very clearly and very loudly. They are the main concern in our relationship with China. It’s not just about China and human rights in China. It’s about the role China plays in strategies such as Darfur. China, together with Russia, vetoed the sanctions on Zimbabwe, which were deserved and necessary. Also the role China plays in a country like Burma. It is a country which is illegitimately repressed by a junta that prevents international assistance for the cyclone victims.
China is a permanent member of the Security Council – that means obligations, including obligations to fulfil human rights. China might not like it, but that is what comes with being a permanent member. So I don’t think we should shy away. I don’t think we should boycott the Olympics, but use every opportunity to confront our Chinese friends with the criticisms we have to level at them. It is also about China fulfilling its obligations in the WTO and on fair trade.
Mr Kouchner said something about reinventing a new language to speak to Russia. Do you think this is necessary?
I don’t know if you need to invent a new language. But yes, we do need to engage much more with Russia and we should not shy away from confronting Russia about its obligations. We all understand the need of Russia to assert itself as a big power, and it is the main supplier of energy to Europe. But we cannot accept blackmailing. Russia vetoed the sanctions against Zimbabwe. Is this compatible with its obligations in the Security Council? I heard the excellent speech President Medvedev made at his inauguration. He was full of human rights, civil liberties, freedoms, etc. OK, so deliver! That’s the message that we must tell him.
Basically European leaders…
are weak!…
…refrain from getting involved in human rights issues, because they are doing their own business on a national level with China, with Russia and with other players…
That’s an element. We need strong European leaders who are strong in our values and strong in the strategy and tactics to achieve it. I don’t think we have such strong leaders at the present. I am not criticising the French Presidency in particular. I would say in general, starting with the Commission. But I think there is a role to play by the European Parliament. We are playing our role. That is why I am hopeful that the French Presidency will have the energy and the leadership to achieve success in most of the fields that they see as priorities.
You are Portuguese but you don’t seem to be in favour of Mr Barroso being re-elected from the way you just spoke.
No. I think it is too early to say what is going to happen about Mr Barroso. I am Portuguese and I know Mr Barroso very well. We happen to have been members of the same Marxist/Leninist/Maoist party some decades ago… I think he is a very able competent person. He’s a Europeanist. He is personally a very ambitious person. I don’t think he has shown the ambition for Europe that I would have liked to have seen from a President of the European Commission. I think someone who was put in this position – I mean coming from a party that has just been severely defeated in the national election – was obviously put in that position to please everybody, and not to push for a Europe with ambition and with the principle to stand up for his values and his interests, and the interests of peace and security and development in the world. So my assessment of his chairmanship of the Commission at this stage is mixed. I would have wished to have seen more ambition.
