[kolikotime]

West African American here (Ghanaian - American). This article actually isn't true, while the Kenyan Chinese pact that led to the construction of the Nairobi - Mombasa Port does have clauses related to penalties around lack of payment, there has been no actual announcement or any signs of China declaring possession of the Mombasa Port. In fact, the big issue in Mombasa right now is actually revolving around a Kenyan state company taking over one of the terminals, a situation that doesn't delight the workers due to the late payment periods of said state company.

Speaking furthermore, I do find it highly concerning just how much of an echo chamber this place is in regards to this notion of "Chinese colonialism" and Chinese "debt - traps". Most African countries still owe far more to the IMF/World Bank than they due to China. Of the 54 African countries, only four are in severe debt to the Chinese (Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, Zambia), and of those four countries China has gone the distance in terms of reviving moribund national rail systems and helping to set up industrial zones, which is in part why East Africa boasts the highest growth rates on the continent.

Africa is a vast continent with booming populations. They're also counties with deeply huge infrastructure needs. Ghana alone while one of the richer African countries is in desperate need of new roads, power plants (blackout issues), hospitals (we recently passed a universal healthcare law), and education(we recently launched universal free senior high school education). The funding to launch these countries into elevated statehood isn't going to come from the West. The city Of New York's pension fund isn't going to be investing likely in the KSE (Kenyan Stock Exchange).

So are there issues with Chinese engagement? Yes. Will some countries make a botch of it? Yes. But are other countries seizing the opportunity and using it to drive a higher standard of life? Yes. But in my opinion it is a far better arrangement than the European sponsored neocolonialism of the past. France in particular still operates a monetary zone that operates in 14 African countries in its former colonial obit, and we cannot forget the provocations against the Gaddafi regime earlier this decade which resulted in accelerating a migrant rush towards Western Europe. The Chinese stay out of African politics. and in historical terms have largely not interfered in the political processes of countries not in their "near abroad" to borrow a Russian political term.

Anyway those are my thoughts from someone who is African and has actually been to various countries in Africa.

[ejanus]

I am an African and I live in West Africa. I think China is doing great job for the continent and it is helping Africa upgrade her infrastructure. But we Africans should know that sustainable development and transfer of technology cannot come if we fail to build our own indigenous peoples and companies. Nobody is father Christmas, everybody is there to maximize his gains. So , we Africans should wake up and take our destiny into our hands. I have some concerns with Chinese loans, they are tied to we using only Chinese companies, Chinese technologies, and in most cases only Chinese labour. This shows that Chinese loans are not in the same class as World Bank own. There is nothing like open bidding and fair pricing mechanism. If we use only Chinese oriented inputs what benefit is their for the local communities and businesses? We must nurture , support , and empower our people and businesses. Chinese is just trying to continue her 'supersonic' growth via African loans. We have been mixing cement and granite before now , suddenly we are watching foreigners doing same in our backyard. This is inexcusable, and I cry each time I pass such site.

[marcosdumay]

> If we use only Chinese oriented inputs what benefit is their for the local communities and businesses?

When you buy a road, you get to transport things; when you buy a port, you get to do long distance trade. That happens even when no local job is created.

The benefit is there as long as the loans are for fairly priced infrastructure with real value. People (across the world) suspect this kind of loan because it is too often used for financing way too expensive infrastructure with no real value. The local population of a country has the challenge of allowing their politicians to do the first without allowing them to do the second, so if you trust your people and institutions to achieve that, there's absolutely no problem with the loans.

Here in Brazil people are starting to open up for the Chinese loans. It is happening at the same time as people are trusting a bit more the government to not be corrupt, but I don't think there is any causal relation.

[forapurpose]

> Here in Brazil people are starting to open up for the Chinese loans.

I read the opposite. What is that based on?

EDIT: In response to the reply below, a search shows plenty of research out there on this topic. (Sorry, I don't have time to read it myself right now.)

[marcosdumay]

It's based on talking to people and watching them change their opinion though time.

It may be completely off due to sampling bias, but I don't think there is any source out there with better confidence, as I have never seen anybody doing a serious poll of the subject.

EDIT: Well, in reply to your edit, how did you search for that research? All I can see is trash news about some huge investment coming from China to Brazil in the future or how the next Brazilian president is a xenophobe that will reject money from anywhere. I still haven't seen any serious handle of the subject, by researchers or the press.

[forapurpose]

I did this search at Startpage.com:

  brazil attitudes toward china poll

[marcosdumay]

Oh, that shows Brazil has a favorable opinion of China (not surprising).

At least for me, it doesn't show any poll about opinion on Chinese investment. Those are different things.

[FakeComments]

So, I’m American.

And honestly, you have every reason to tell me to fuck off and more besides. And I’m not Father Christmas, if you make a deal with me, I expect something in exchange.

But what can we do for people in Africa?

[kolikotime]

Invest in African growth businesses(stocks at the moment, African focused mutual markets). Purchase African products. Lobby your government/EU governments to continue AGOA(US)/open the door towards African food/crop imports (unlikely). And honestly, tourism, some great destinations on the continent, and a great way to actually spend in local economies.

Africans don't need charity. The NGO industrial complex has failed to create modern states, it can deliver great help to badly affected communities but it can't leapstart growth. We all know the US won't invest tens of billions in African countries, but change your perception of Africa as some place to be helped, and countries that want investment, this explains why China has become such a big player on the continent.

[sathackr]

I think the problem with the "West" and Africa, is that we view Africa as mostly a single unit, and not the individual countries that make up the continent. From a westerners prospective, African countries have a huge corruption issue, and years of "give-a-man-a-fish" charity from the West appears to have labeled westerners as someone to be taken advantage of and to get free handouts from. It's difficult to evaluate the legitimacy of a company ran be people who think much differently than you.

I've been following the story of a Westerner (I believe he is American) that is taking a land trip through Africa[1]. While there are areas of great, geniune people, many of his stories involve people, both government and private, in the countries trying to exploit him for money, gifts, etc...

He went into a rant in one of his posts that I think has been removed now, but the gist was that years of free handouts from the West is the reason for this behavior.

I don't know how to fix it, but this mentality and perception has to be fixed by the African people -- the West is not going to change on its own. The problem seems to ultimately have been created by the West, and should be fixed by the West, but the reality of the situation is that is not likely to happen. If Africa wants Western investment, it will need to address these stereotypes and perceptions, otherwise China will continue investing. They are not involved in African politics now, but wait 50 years and see if that is still the story. They have to establish their grip on the money first. Once they have solid control of the money, the control of the people will follow.

[1] http://theroadchoseme.com

[blacksmith_tb]

Your first point is spot-on (so much so that people have made things like this[1] just to point it out).

Your second is more complex, but the general principle of a rich visitor being shaken down is very, very old - after all, you clearly have the means to come visit, while the reverse is not generally the case.

1: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/africa-clinton

[kuhhk]

> Africans don't need charity. The NGO industrial complex has failed to create modern states, it can deliver great help to badly affected communities but it can't leapstart growth.

Since this is a startup/hacker forum, what do you think about entrepreneurs moving there to not only start a business, while being ethically charitable and involved in the locally community (rather than just being a digital nomad). Would this be accepted culturally, or would I just be viewed as a rich foreigner trying to trick/scam the populace?

I've only visited the continent as a tourist, but am very interested in your perspective on cultural viewpoints. And followup question -- are certain African nations more open to outsiders than others?

[kolikotime]

Certain countries are more open to this than others. It'd be tricky to start such a business in West Africa but Kenya in particular is a big tech hub which has quite many Western expats playing a role in it. Kenya would be my pick for where you could do something like that and not be seen as weird/not welcomed.

In other African countries the racial context would prevent it (Southern African countries) or they're more protectionist(Anglophone West African states).

I could also see Uganda and Rwanda also being quite welcoming of such an effort as they're making big moves on trying to grow their tech sectors. The latter two are repressive dictatorships though politically. Economically and socially however the people are largely free. Kenya by comparison is a deeply messy and perhaps perpetually corrupt democracy.

[chrischen]

Is it true to say the US donates more (like Tom’s shoes) than legitimate investments?

[kolikotime]

It would be hard to quantify, what we can say is that China focuses more on hard infrastructure, which African countries have a huge lack of capacity of, and which the West has't really focused on development wise since the 1970s.

America excels more traditionally on capacity("soft" work to do with say governance, healthcare, NGOs, and also committed through the IMF/World Bank).

[baby]

Make America realize that helping other countries will benefit the world including the US in the long run.

Or convince America that there is a whole continent that could become a powerful ally to the US when it will economically boom.

[reaperducer]

Make America realize that helping other countries will benefit the world including the US in the long run.

America does realize this. It's why USAID, VOA, and other agencies spend billions of dollars each year for the last 60+ years building water systems, and swerage treatment plants, distributing medicine, teaching people better agriculture methods, stocking hospitals, supplying HIV/AIDS drugs to 80 million+ people, treating millions of people each year with malaria medicine, and a metric ass-ton of other things. All of this from tax dollars from the "America" the world thinks is full of hate.

Much of this money is spent in the very nations, especially in the Middle East, that have significant populations that chant "Death to America" every time a television camera is around, then when the news crews go away, return to eating food supplied by the U.S. government.

Here's a good place to start if you want to know more about the quiet, good work America does: https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do

[AsyncAwait]

> Much of this money is spent in the very nations, especially in the Middle East, that have significant populations that chant "Death to America" every time a television camera is around, then when the news crews go away, return to eating food supplied by the U.S. government.

Are you meaning to imply that donating food should buy the U.S. some kind of credit allowance to conduct drone strikes that kill mainly civilians? In many cases, the food they're donating is needed in the first place because of actions the U.S. themselves participates in, see the genocide in Yemen for example.

Also, it's funny that you mention DTA chants, but forget that there are plenty of lawmakers in the U.S. spewing similar rhetoric. After the attack in Iran, the response in the U.S. was basically "they deserved it".

[baby]

I think both your comments are legit. The US, like many countries, is very paradoxal in its decisions. I hope that one day such negative acts will be negligible compared to the positive ones.

[ethbro]

Working on it.

We're just in a bit of a 1968 moment after despairing over how difficult nation building is with Afghanistan and Iraq.

I'm sure we'll return to our regularly scheduled American exceptionalism circa-2040.

[StreamBright]

You can build roads and infrastructure, create businesses and invest into education or have a supporting economy that does the same. China does many of these including their chat platform (Wechat) that enables a bunch of local businesses to be able to do what they want. I don't think that you can do too much more that that.

One example:

https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/28/simbapay-launches-kenya-to...

[Confiks]

> Speaking furthermore, I do find it highly concerning just how much of an echo chamber this place is in regards to this notion of "Chinese colonialism" and Chinese "debt - traps". Most African countries still owe far more to the IMF/World Bank than they due to China.

I don't think that the amount of debt and the amount of countries in debt is a correct measure of influence that the IMF/WB or China has in the region. The IMF offers highly concessional loans in relatively moderate amounts with many strings attached. These 'neo-liberal' strings [1], which include mandatory monetary reforms and privatization could indeed be considered 'colonial', and their effectiveness can be doubted (or even seen as destructive), but they do seem to have a semblance of responsible debt management in their intentions (but perhaps not in their outcome).

China on the other hand, itself being on the brink of a major debt crisis, is handing out seemingly no-strings-attached YOLO-money, especially to debt-vulnerable countries that previously had large parts of their IMF/WB debts forgiven [2]. In some cases, especially in infrastructure projects, China requires the hiring of Chinese labor and further redirects money because there is a huge technology gap between local and Chinese companies.

These are no concessional loans, and China must know that (some of) these countries are inevitably going to default with major losses of land, infrastructure and natural resources as a consequence, to China's gain. It perhaps is too early to tell, but these measures seem far more 'colonial' to me in intent than the loan programs of the IMF/WB in the last 50 years.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_adjustment

[2] https://www.cgdev.org/blog/yes-chinas-lending-problem-debt-v...

[realusername]

> France in particular still operates a monetary zone that operates in 14 African countries in its former colonial obit

The countries are free to leave the Franc CFA, some of them did and came back, having a stable currency you can trust on in the region is invaluable so they keep it on purpose. Especially that they can trade with their neighbours much more easily.

[kolikotime]

While we can debate the relative merits and demerits of the CFA, it is still quite very strange and quite frankly colonial that the arrangement continues.And there have been coups in the past in the West African subregion which call into doubt this argument that Francophone African states have much sovereignty to change the situation.

Furthermore, regardless of the relative merits and demerits of the monetary zone, it can't be denied that France has an overt influence on its former colonies. Most of West Africa is essentially a French backyard policywise as France's political economy is highly dependent on African natural resources(Oil from Gabon, Uranium from Niger, Maganese and phosphate from some of the smaller Franco West African states). France's behavior is quite strange especially when one can see how Britain, Spain, Portugal and Italy largely don't politically matter on the continent anymore.

Lastly, one just has to compare the state of Francophone African states towards most of the Anglo states, they are on by definition normally poorer and more fragile. The likes of Togo, Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, and Guinea are on the whole basketcases, and play a part in why West Africa, which is the region China has lended to the most is the poorest.

[realusername]

> While we can debate the relative merits and demerits of the CFA, it is still quite very strange and quite frankly colonial that the arrangement continues.

It continues because it's becoming an African euro-zone, having the same currency is invaluable. Especially that the African currencies don't have a reputation for stability. It's not a coincidence Mali & Guinea left and then came back in.

> Lastly, one just has to compare the state of Francophone African states towards most of the Anglo states, they are on by definition normally poorer and more fragile

I don't really agree with that, you have counter example in both cases, on my case I could point Cote d'Ivoire where the Bank of Africa is located and on the other Anglo side you have Uganda which isn't exactly an example of a rich country, the Franc CFA definitely helped for that.

[kolikotime]

West Africa, the region with the most greatest number of Francophone states and influence is largely the poorest African region(some like to argue Central Africa, but people debate its composition and shape more readily than West Africa). My experiences in the region often reveal great resentment with the nature of French involvement within their political economy. Now you may disagree with that and think its all hunky dory in those countries, but for me its quite strange as a Ghanaian American to see, and we often feel sorry for them. We feel especially sorry for Togo, our bordering country next door which has lived under a family dynasty for 51 years, a dynasty overtly supported by France.

And we definitely felt sorry for Ivory Coast when French special forces busted into their presidential palace to resolve a domestic electoral dispute. But hey CFA Franc, stability and all that, yeah!

[ethbro]

> And we definitely felt sorry for Ivory Coast when French special forces busted into their presidential palace to resolve a domestic electoral dispute.

You're referring to French forces arresting Laurent Gbagbo when he refused to cede power after losing the 2010 election?

Allowing his winning opponent to assume the presidency? Extraditing Gbagbo to stand trial at ICC in The Hague? Where there's a chance he might be acquitted of the crimes against humanity he's charged with for formenting election violence that killed 1,400+ people?

As far as terrible abuses of colonial power, enabling the transition to a democratically elected government and trying the former leader in a fair court of law (where he stands a chance of defending himself) isn't the best example.

[kolikotime]

Some will say that it was a good intervention, in my opinion it is the continued and sustained pattern of French intervention that has resulted in the continued fragile nature of these states. And oh please we all know it wasn't really about "democratization", it was about removing an opponent of French geopolitical aims.

Ivory Coast background - France enables a local despot, known as Felix Boigny, who does enable local economic growth but institutionalizes power to such an extent that the county falls into civil war and disrepair upon his death in the 1990s, leading to two civil wars in which France plays a major role.

Togo coup of 1963 in which France played a role - Togo remains a dictatorship for 53 years and now has a large and enraged protest movement. The regime has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of dissidents.

Cameroon's backing of Paul Biya - Despite his continued anti-democratic manners and blatant electoral rigging, France sticks by their man, leading to now a insurgent civil war in Anglophone Cameroon.

The Libyan intervention - What can be said that hasn't been said, a new failed state, arms flowing across the subregion which leads to trouble across the Sahel in Mali and Northern Nigeria.

And these are just a few examples.

[dovvdkc]

Free if the leader escapes the assasination attempt from the French special forces.

The Convertible franc was clearly an attempt from France to dilute the effects of its inflationary spending by spreading it over its former colonies.

[noch]

> The countries are free to leave the Franc CFA [...]

Claiming these former colonies are "free" is perhaps a deep misunderstanding of what "free" means. Consider: https://www.pambazuka.org/governance/france-still-robbing-it...

[realusername]

Pretty much every point in this article is demonstrably false and unsourced, it would take me a good 30min to debunk all of these (I might do it if I have time) but please don't trust anything written in this blog.

[noch]

> [...] it would take me a good 30min to debunk all of these (I might do it if I have time) [...]

Claiming something is demonstrably false, then saying 30 minutes is too much time to spend demonstrating alleged falsehoods, in a debate on a forum where you've already been engaged in other responses to the same debate over time...

I shared the article in good faith, as part of the debate. Am I then to assume the article (as well as others that suggest similar points[0]) is false simply because you've said so?

"It could be claimed that the countries that operate with these currencies might freely leave the arrangement at any time. In truth, dozens of African leaders, from Silvanus Olympio in Togo to Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, have tried in recent decades to replace these tools of monetary and financial control with a new common African currency. Almost all of them - with the possible exception of Malian President Modibo Keïta (1915-77) - have been killed or overthrown the very moment in which their attempts were close to succeeding." [1]

[0] http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2017/07/12/the-cfa-franc-...

[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/torpedoing-africa-...

[kingkawn]

Everyone looking for justifications for anti-Chinese sentiment these days

[odiroot]

That's my impression as well.

After visiting China and reading a lot about their society I have to say, I wish our governments cared even 50% about their citizens' security as China does.

And don't even start me on infrastructure and digitalisation.

[ssnistfajen]

What's lacking in a lot of people's views about China is objectivity. China is not just an "failing authoritarian shithole" or a tech-utopia filled with megaprojects. It's a bit of both, plus a plethora of descriptors in between. No nation, society, or people can be fully described in a few words or even a few sentences. Too many people in this world have one-sided views on too many things/concepts.

[blub]

The way the Chinese government treats parts of their own population and the way the bully and steal technology from other countries already offers plenty of justification for the last few decades, not just today.

[wangii]

it's not the full story. the full story is more like this: media operates on the hypothesis that this kind of material is on demand, it produces accordingly, generates buzz and hypothesis verified! what's next? product more!

I think market oriented media is really nothing about truth/fact/moral, its only job is to reflect what people want. here is the full list of what people want: - when we do well, tell me it's all my own hard work. - when we are in bad shape, it's someone else's fault.

[gdy]

Thank you for sharing your point of view, just a small correction: Russian term 'near abroad' refers specifically to the former USSR republics in their relation to Russia, not to any neighboring country.

For example, this term doesn't apply to Finland or China.

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ближнее_зарубежье

[raprp]

6 months ago the target was Russia. Basically blamed for everything. Now it's China.

Funny that the China bashing articles started to appear more frequently at the same time the US government switched aim from Russia to China too.

Coincidence?

[AaronFriel]

Yes, and/or confirmation bias. There have been articles on the Chinese Road and Belt Initiative and their long-term geopolitical goals for a few years now.

That initiative has only became more newsworthy and pressing as the world's largest economy has turned inward.

[simion314]

The OP used the word frequency, I also noticed that lately we get at least 2 anti China articles on top page, maybe nothing changed on publishing side but the HN voting changed making this anti China articles stick to the top or on the first page a lot.

I don't care enough about it to investigate the numbers of articles on HN with China in title so is all something I noticed and I am not from US (so I have no horse in the trade war)

[chvid]

The current US administration clearly wants to pick a fight with China.

Massive resources are spent manipulating media including social media. And the biggest spenders are the established political parties and governments of the west.

Maybe what you are seeing is just randomness and confirmation bias but as the saying goes just because you are paranoid it does not mean that you are not being followed.

[lumberjack]

>Speaking furthermore, I do find it highly concerning just how much of an echo chamber this place is in regards to this notion of "Chinese colonialism" and Chinese "debt - traps".

Western media should not be trusted to report accurately about foreign non-western countries. They almost never do.

[crsmithdev]

At this point I no longer trust them to report accurately about even the United States.

[kurthr]

I won't argue over the title or echochamber... I can't even load the page (500 Internal Error). Have you ever heard of africastand.com? I can't find any information on them in google/wikipedia and the waybackmachine only has 4 snapshots between april and august with no contact information.

Are they western media or just yellow clickbait? Is everything in english western media?

[kolikotime]

I've never heard of them, which leads me to doubt their credibility. One particular problem on the continent at the moment is the wild rise of fake news on subjects ranging from politics to even entertainment. Mostly circulated via whatsapp through random blogs. For general Pan African news content I recommend the following - Africa Report - Jeune Afrique (Translate, its in French) - Africanews.com (Relatively new, but has a CNN like approach) - Al-Jazeera (some great African content at times) - BBC Africa (can be a bit basic but gets the generals mostly right) - Bloomberg Africa There are better national specific resources than these, but you'd have to have an interest in a specific country to care about those.

[odiroot]

I would in general start being much more sceptical about Western media (especially Western-EU media). Especially in the last few years (e.g. illegal immigration issue).

[ixtli]

Thank you so much for this write up. I’m not from the area but I’m very wary of this sort of reporting. I really appreciate your thoroughness here :)

[fatjokes]

The echo chamber you mention doesn't simply exist here in the comments section, it's basically a narrative that's currently being pushed by the western media. I suspect at least a small part of it is motivated by guilt over European colonialism. This lets them say "See! the Chinese are worse!"

No doubt this comment will earn me an accusation of being a Chinese gov't shill as well.

[aylmao]

+1, plus it threatens global Western influence. Ever since Western colonialism took off, in spite of the eventual independence of the colonies, the West has had economic and thus a lot of political dominance all around the world.

China was the richest country in the world, and through drugs and war even it fell to the British.

Now that the world is slowly returning to a state that makes more sense-- with the bigger countries with lots of human and natural resources climbing back on top, the West needs to cling on to something. The narrative that "China is worse" sounds to me like "China is worse, thus it's better for everyone if we keep the world order as it is".

I think everyone knows this won't be the case. Population alone, China has more people than the US and Europe combined-- that's not only more productive potential, but as purchasing power increases, a bigger market for companies to operate in. Factor in a much slower, but potentially similar story for India, and I think there's not much the West in general can do but accept the world can't all depend on a single bank and monetary fund ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

[zmw]

> This lets them say "See! the Chinese are worse!"

Seriously? Even if one believes in this Chinese colonialism thing, there's no way in hell partial economic control is worse than genocides and slavery that accompanied European colonialism in the past.

[kazinator]

That's a bit of a tu quoque fallacy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_you_are_lynching_Negroes

[zmw]

Unlike the fallacy you linked, which is comparing apples to oranges, I made a direct comparison of "colonialism" to colonialism, in response to a direct comparison of "colonialism" to colonialism. Not every comparison is whataboutism, you know.

[kazinator]

The relevance can be clarified if we frame it like this: "My economic control in a foreign nation is okay because you're lynching negroes (or did so in the past)."

[zmw]

gp: Europeans feel guilty about the colonial past, so they try very hard to make the Chinese look worse.

me: How can it be worse?

Neither gp nor me mentioned anything being "okay", or blamed any party for completely irrelevant crimes (lynching or whatever). Might need to brush up on reading comprehension.

[chapium]

Not sure about the echo chamber.. comment section seemed to be brigaded as soon as the article was posted.

[afpx]

Having worked with the World Bank in the past, I think that’s a very uninformed and biased view. They have been very effective in reducing poverty and improving infrastructure in Africa.

I recommend that you read facts about what they do before reading random opinions online (from brand new accounts, especially).

Also, I know dang warns us about pointing out potential propaganda, but this seems like this post is a good example of what I’m talking about.

[dang]

Yes, you can't break the site guidelines by insinuating astroturfing and bad faith by another user. If you think you're seeing abuse, you're welcome to email [e-mail] so we can look for evidence. Someone else having a different view than yours is not evidence.

Nor is it a problem if people are inspired to create an account to comment. As long as they follow the rules, that's how HN is supposed to work.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[sah2ed]

> They have been very effective in reducing poverty and improving infrastructure in Africa.

I'm sure Joe Stiglitz, a Nobel prize winner in Economics, would disagree. In fact, he clearly articulated why in his book: Globalization and Its Discontents.

"[It] is a book published in 2002 by the 2001 Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz. The book draws on Stiglitz's personal experience as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Bill Clinton from 1993 and chief economist at the World Bank from 1997."

[afpx]

That’s called the Appeal to Authority Fallacy.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority

[r00fus]

It's not really; Stiglitz actually worked at the World Bank - and wrote a book about it.

Another book to read is "Confessions of an Economic Hitman". Both describe essentially what both the USA and China appear to be doing - increasing global power and influence using subtler means than gunboat diplomacy.

[changchuming]

And your argument is just an anecdote. Now who would we trust more, a random stranger on the internet or a Nobel laureate?

[creaghpatr]

That’s an awfully dismissive comment to a well laid out argument, you’re not really helping make a case for World Bank, which has been rife with corruption for decades.

[afpx]

Sorry, I seem to have missed the ‘well-laid out argument’.

All I’m asking is that people read facts about the World Bank and make their own opinions.

[kolikotime]

The World Bank had free reign largely in Africa from the 1960s until the early 2000s. They and the IMF had an untrammeled monopoly for the most part, which was further supercharged by the 1980s Washington consensus. In that time period African states on the whole became poorer and state infrastructure crumbled. Now its not entirely on the World Bank/IMF of course, as in many countries there was misgovernance, but we can wholly agree they did not create Eden in Africa.

What has changed the equation for the continent started in the 2000s, the commodities boom along with telecommunications improvement, along with the entrant of new players such as China, India, Turkey, and until recently Brazil(in the Lusophone states).

So if we choose to look at those historical datapoints, without even getting into abuses at the IMF/World bank, we can effectively agree that the Bretton Woods sisters have done very little to move the needle on African prosperity.

Can anyone blame Africans for ignoring the World Bank and IMF when the countries that did ignore its orthodoxy, from China in the late 1970s to then India in the early 1990s, prospered?

[forapurpose]

Can you back up this claim? My understanding is that, speaking very generally about a large continent, most African countries did not implement the economic fundamentals preached by the World Bank and IMF, but failed to due to corruption and institutional problems, including a lack of the rule of law. What African country adopted the rule of law, open markets, stable monetary policies, a significant reduction in corruption, and failed to prosper?

> the countries that did ignore its orthodoxy, from China in the late 1970s to then India in the early 1990s, prospered

China and India did not at all ignore the 'orthodoxy', but enacted it and that is credited with their economic expansion. China and India adopted capitalism, opened their markets, and adopted economic fundamentals such as stable monetary policy.

[kolikotime]

It is to my understanding that China was a relative latecomer to the World Bank and has never been a particularly heavy lender from the bank or the IMF, not to the extent that African states were subjected to. And furthermore while China did follow certain strains of the orthodoxy, it retained heavy state control and influence over many sectors and industries, something very few African states were able to retain following the Washington Consensus.

African states on the other hand, about 40 states in the 1980s underwent what we would call Structural Adjustment programs. State owned enterprises were sold, huge slashing cuts were made to education and healthcare(This in part decimated Nigeria's regional class university system), and various legal reforms for the benefit of Western investors. The results of those experiments were generally failed and led to a disastrous late 1980s and 1990s on the continent.

In terms of a country that implemented many of those reforms and failed to get that far. I would say both Ghana and Tanzania are pertinent examples. Ghana has implemented about three to four rounds of IMF engagement since the 1980s and is hailed regionally for its rule of law and stable political and investment climate, it still only has a GDP per capita of $1,641. Then you have Tanzania which since the 1980s has largely abandoned state socialism and embraced a mixed market economy, its GDP per capita? a whopping $936.

[marnett]

Please discuss which points are biased and how so. Dismissing a long form, fact-specific write up on some of the positive impacts of Chinese investments in Africa as propaganda and adding nothing to the conversation seems to me as lazy-mans propaganda.

[paraditedc]

> I recommend that you read facts about what they do before reading random opinions online (from brand new accounts, especially).

I could make the same argument against this website:

https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=africanstand.com

[jnurmine]

Are you seriously claiming that the French (and/or EU) somehow orchestrated the Libyan civil war?

Offtopic: You joined yesterday and have gained 160+ points already with only 7 comments. That is very impressive!

[kolikotime]

Of course they didn't orchestrate it, but without Sarkozy's calls for an air intervention,which America and Britain then went along with, the war likely would have fizzled or resolved in a way in which there wouldn't be a massive power vacuum. Along with Iraq it stands as one of this century's greatest follies as it resulted in Libya having very factionalized governance, and furthermore then led towards arms being spread across the Sahel, which led towards trouble in Mali and in Northern Nigeria the rise of Boko Haram.

Furthermore it backfired on the EU as Gaddafi was instrumental towards regulating migratory flows, even during the protests and the civil war.

[jnurmine]

A power vacuum was certainly created as a result of the Gaddaffi regime collapse, yes.

But Boko Haram started its big rise already ca.1-2 years before the protests in Libya even begun, therefore the Libya situation did not directly create the rise of Boko Haram.

Also, it is not clear if things would have fizzled out without an intervention. The Syria war happened in parallel, and whoever was left to rule Libya (in whole or in parts) would have had to face the Battar Brigade, and then eventually the ISIL in Libya. Given that those actors obviously received clandestine backing (money, equipment, training) from "somewhere", thus greatly increasing their strength against any more organic movement(s), and given highly possible political reluctance to arm/support the opposite side, it is conceivable that the entire Libya could have eventually become an ISIL stronghold.

The whole Arab Spring was strategically bad news for the EU, including France. They had nothing to gain from orchestrating such a thing. But without any intervention (read: attempts to control) the Libya situation could have turned into something much worse, given that the likes of AQIM existed already in the neighbourhood before the Libya protests started, and this can explain the eagerness to try to clean up the mess as quickly as possible.

[AsyncAwait]

I think 'orchestrated' may be a bit strong, but there's no question that they helped along.

They're doing the same thing in Syria, so why the surprise?

[detritus]

As someone who doesn't consider themself to be a bot - if that is your inference - I upvoted because i found the post particularly well-written and informative from someone 'on the ground' so to speak.

- ed

(also somewhat contrary to my preferred Euro-friendly narrative)

[jnurmine]

No, I did not infer that he/she got upvoted by an army of bots or some such.

I just thought, like I wrote, that the mass of karma per time unit was (for lack of a better word, in all friendliness) impressive.

The posts are certainly informative. However, some details are not factual. To claim that the "provocations of the French" somehow made the migrant influx to Europe happen is wrong, the influx was due to the Libyan civil war collapsing the Gaddafi regime. The French did not start the Libyan protests and neither the civil war. Of course, one could argue that the French and NATO method of weakening Gaddafi's troops did not play out so well in the end, since it did not succeed in creating a stable new government, but this was mainly due to the effects of the Syrian war spilling out to Libya.

Also, claiming that the rise of Boko Haram was due to the Libyan civil war (and by some, perhaps imagined extensions, the French "provocations") is wrong, Boko Haram were already on the rise before the protests in Libya even started.

As for the Chinese building infrastructure left and right: the roads and rails can transport people or resources. I think it is mainly to do the latter towards harbors and mainland China, but supports the former as well. Is it good for the African nations? Certainly, more infrastructure that works will be a boost to the economies of the continent. However, to be a realist: building roads, rails, harbors, airports and such is not done as a gesture of goodwill or some kind of a gift or a form of help. Thinking so is very naïve. There is always some catch, with everything. Some catches are win-win, some are not. Time will tell what this will be.

[atomical]

How do you know it's informative? Because it's well written?