Conclusion

 

The story outlined in the previous chapters is one long (mostly) unbroken line of exploitation by Canadians of African people and resources. What’s been offered in “aid” has largely been designed to enhance the profitability of foreign-owned enterprises. Colonialism has disappeared, but it’s been replaced by neo-colonialism.

For over a century (with a break of about 20 years in some countries right after independence) Africans have been forced to accept the dictates of economic liberalism and neoliberalism. Canadians have participated in prying the continent open to a capitalist world order in which Africans produce basic commodities that are manufactured elsewhere and shipped back as finished goods. While some African capitalists have become wealthy, the profits have largely flowed out of the continent.

None of the leading capitalist countries followed the liberal or neoliberal route to build their own economies. Capitalism has only succeeded in significantly raising living standards when governments have protected and nourished industries (and where popular movements demanded decent labour standards and social entitlements). This has certainly been the case for most of Canadian history and to a large extent remains so. But, taking advantage of their political and economic weakness, Ottawa and its allies insist that Africans follow a model that almost guarantees failure.

Since economic relations began, the divide between Africans and Europeans has steadily increased. Before the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade in the 1500s African incomes were thought to be a shade below the global average and about 60% of the European rate.1 Since then, however, the gap has widened significantly.

The slave trade destabilized African economies. It also exacerbated ethnic fragmentation and undermined pre-colonial state formation, which has had long-term economic impacts.2 Coordinator of the Exploring Long Term Changes in African Living Standards in Global Perspective Project, Ewout Frankema describes the “negative correlation between slave export intensity and current levels of GDP per capita in African countries.”3 Conversely, the enormous profits made from the slave trade and plantations were used to industrialize large swaths of Europe and the US, even benefiting many capitalists in what is now Canada.

During the colonial period African politics and economics were directly organized in the interests of European powers. The objective was usually to gain control of the colony’s natural resources and to open its market to value added exports. In Africa’s Choices, Michael Barratt Brown explains that colonies were “developed as suppliers of primary produce; the later stages of production — refining, processing and manufacture — were to be carried out in the homelands of the colonial powers.”4

Despite gaining political independence, the system continues to be loaded against the continent. As evidence, the most capital-starved continent is a net creditor to the rest of the world. In Africa’s Odious Debt Léonce Ndikumana and James Boyce explain: “The magnitude of African capital flight is staggering both in absolute monetary values and relative to GDP. For the thirty-three sub-Saharan African countries for which we have data, we find that more than $700 billion fled the continent between 1970 and 2008. If this capital was invested abroad and earned interest at the going market rates, the accumulated capital loss for these countries over the thirty-nine years was $944 billion. By comparison, total GDP for all of sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 stood at $997 billion.”5 The outward flow of capital may be accelerating, according to “Honest Accounts? The True Story of Africa’s Billion Dollar Losses”. The 2014 report by a large coalition of groups found that the continent loses $58 billion annually — $134 billion flows into the continent through a combination of loans, foreign investment, remittances and development aid but $192 billion flows out through tax evasion, debt payments, profits made by multinationals as well as the costs of adapting to climate change. Honest Accounts? concludes that “Africa is being drained of resources by the rest of the world.”6

Over the past half-century there’s been growth in internationalism and a decline in racism, as well as substantial technological changes, that have broadened interest and knowledge of African affairs. But, most Canadians are still unaware, indifferent or too confused by the dominant ideology to exert any pressure on decision-makers.

But this author believes that through activism it is possible to convince Canadians of the importance of paying attention to what the government is doing in their name in Africa and other parts of the world. Anthropogenic global warming and technological change has made it more important than ever to see ourselves as part of a collective humanity.

We must call on a sense of collective solidarity and understand that acting on it is in our self-interest. We must work towards making this understanding the basis of our foreign-policy in Africa and elsewhere.