Hello,

Today I came across this article that looks like it was written by an Australian man and I just thought I would share it with y’all to look at and make your own conclusions on below that I have attached my comment that I left on his post:

Rudd Wants More African Immigration

My Comments

Mwangi said…

Oh Mr. Evans, Mr. Evans, Mr. Evans. You know what as a fellow human being to the other let me say hello and wish you well.The article whereas very well quoted and cited – at a level that sadly I believe my blog can never get to – the argument unfortunately began by not making a very key distinction:Refugees vs Immigrants
Whereas I love all my African brothers and sisters , there is no denying there is a huge disparity between African immigrants and African refugees for among other reasons the different classes of the groups and the trauma that refugees have to go through.Secondly, there are 50+ countries in Africa each with their own tribes, languages and immigrants and refugees that they have sent here.If we are to have honest, fair discourse, please change your article to reflect at the very least these two factors and also just what will happen to these Somali kids who have no home and no culture to return to once they are deported.A place is never judged by how it treats its best citizens but its weakest and most disenfranchised.

March 9, 2008 5:26 AM

Mwangi said…

Apologies, I called you Mr. Evans. I am wiping the haze of sleep of my eyes now.

African

Africans and Victimhood
I found this article on Global Voices Online, find it in the Displaced African resources or by going to Global Voices Online . It’s about an idea that I will definitely expound on myself later on. However, she discussed it perfectly so check it out. Below I have pasted a conversation I am having on Global Voices Online about the article. Feel free to join in.

Barikiwa,

Mwangi

1. Dr Elma Ross:

   1It would have been much better if no white man ever set foot in sub-saharan africa. of course, the africans by themselves would have, in the past 350 years, promoted themselves from stone-age living to silicon valley. they would have had their own alphabets, libraries, roads, sky-scrapers, and and would still have been the first to form operations like heart transplants. sorry the white man interfered!

   March 7th, 2008 at 5:27 am

   Mwangi – the Displaced African:

   2Dr. Ross, you completely misunderstand the victim mentality. In fact you are coming at it from an entirely different frame of reference.

   There is no doubt that there have been quite a few perks to living in the post colonial time -like infrastructure and all of that – but there’s also no doubt that that isn’t why the colonialists set foot in Africa. They came in to conquer, rape and plunder and they did.

   Lest we forget we already had our own empires – Ashanti kingdom for one-and cultures all rich with their own knowledge and wisdom.

   Hope I have enlightened you a little bit.

   March 8th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

   Dr Elma Ross:

   3Ms Englightened, true they did have their own knowledge systems. It included – and still does – harvesting penisses and brains from victims live, as the screams of these unlucky ones would enhance the quality of the muti for which it is harvested. You cannot blame that the colonisers also took over these mutilations.

   why is it that the African nations run to “White” nations for help? Also, while blaming a certain country for shipping off the best people during the slave trade, some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa has policies in place that contribute towards the brain drain, i.e. drives the well-qualified away. I can see it coming: in due time, the nations to which they went to work / emigrated, would be blamed for “taking away human resources”.

   My grandparents were in concentration camps during the Anglo Boer War; Irish Catholics suffered under England … the list really, is endless. To be sure, most peoples were oppressed some time during history. Yet, they do not make a career out of being a victim.

   March 8th, 2008 at 20:54 pm

   Mwangi – the Displaced African:

   4Have you actually ever spoken to Africans, as in really spoken, or are you basing these ideas on just some superficial perusal of Western news and literature?
   After WW2, Europe also went to other Western powers to bank roll their redevelopment just like Africa did. As you know, Europe got a bit of a fairer deal on that one, so I don’t think this whole victim thing is a one way street, also read this article which explains just how profitable the NGO industry is:
   http://www.thinkersroom.com/blog/2006/02/get-real-poverty
   To be fair, a lot of what you have said is true. But it’s not complete in that it doesn’t capture the whole gamut of personality types that run across Africa including the saints among women who managed to feed a whole constituency of previously starving people starting with only one goat and a bag of cashew nut seeds or the Bikos and Wangari Maathai’s who put themselves on the line with nothing but love in their hearts.

   But ultimately the biggest problem with your statements is that, they don’t offer a solution. Ultimately, your statements label us as victims and self destructive people and leaves us there. I think there may be a lot of things that Africans need but to continue to accept, wallow in and live a lives of self-destruction and victim hood aren’t one of them.

   This response has been a little meandering, hope it makes sense

   March 9th, 2008 at 3:48 am

   Dr Elma Ross:

   5I lived in Sub-Saharan Africa for more than forty years. In various countries. I visited victims of muti murders in hospitals, and went to morturies as a researcher.

   I have also witnessed schools being burnt down, when they were better than in many many other 3rd world countries.

   I know the struggles of the white people to get anything going in Sub-Saharan Africa. Considering that there was no architecture.

Barikiwa,

Mwangi