The Invisible Continent

E very day there is an inundation of news debating the myriad issues on Iraq and Iran. Missing from the radar screen is the tragic plight of the people of Africa who have suffered the effects of war, poverty, and disease for over 100 years, most of which can be attributed to the empire-building nations of the North. 

Despite the imperialistic ambitions of these Northern governments, people have occasionally responded to crises in Africa, but only when, for example, the photograph of a starving child from Ethiopia appears on television evoking their generosity and compassion. 

Even Live8 concerts—organized by Bob Geldof to raise awareness and pressure the G8 nations to commit themselves to more aid and debt reduction—were detrimental to the cause of social justice. Geldof and Bono infused the G8’s plan for reducing debt and alleviating poverty with legitimacy and reassured people that there was finally light at the end of the debt tunnel. The truth is that for every dollar of debt relief, countries would lose one dollar in aid and, at the same time, any aid increases would require liberalization and privatization. The deception effectively removed poor nations from the radar screen. 

For example, currently, a major catastrophe is engulfing East Africa where 6.25 million people are at risk of starvation in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and Djibouti. The World Food Program reports that assistance from the outside world is sadly lacking for the people of Eastern Africa where $314 million is needed to alleviate the crisis while the shortfall is currently $225.7 million. 

One of the major shortcomings in news coverage in the mainstream media is the lack of context or in-depth analysis. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) reported in 2004 that, “Sub-Sahara Africa is the only region where the number of people living in abject poverty has grown in the past 20 years.” According to another UN report on December 19, 2005, “Average unemployment rates have remained at around 10 percent since 1995, the second highest in the world after the Middle East. The most visible consequence of such high unemployment is growing poverty in Africa. At least 61 million more Africans go hungry today than in 1990.” 

Unfortunately, poverty and unemployment statistics are too broad in scope to capture the real scourge of the adverse effects of poverty. In 2001, for example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, 46.4 percent of the population lived on less than $1 a day compared to Europe and Central Asia where only 3.6 percent lived on less than $1 a day. Similarly, 76.6 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa lived on less than $2 a day compared to 19.7 percent for Europe and Central Asia.