The Economist has a very interesting piece on the Arab world and what’s wrong with it developmentally. They state that the three areas of deficit that Arab nations need to fix are freedom, knowledge and womanpower.
WHAT went wrong with the Arab world? Why is it so stuck behind the times? It is not an obviously unlucky region. Fatly endowed with oil, and with its people sharing a rich cultural, religious and linguistic heritage, it is faced neither with endemic poverty nor with ethnic conflict. It shook off its colonial or neo-colonial legacies long ago, and the countries that had revolutions should have had time to recover from them. But, with barely an exception, its autocratic rulers, whether presidents or kings, give up their authority only when they die; its elections are a sick joke; half its people are treated as lesser legal and economic beings, and more than half its young, burdened by joblessness and stifled by conservative religious tradition, are said to want to get out of the place as soon as they can.
(read the rest)
However good this report is, I have one major beef with it. Why is it that Africa can’t even show up on these charts. It’s as if the whole continent doesn’t exist until you get half-way through the report. That’s one of our biggest problems: getting on people’s radars.
February 8, 2006 at 1:28 pm
I agree, especially with the economist, i am often dissatisfied with the measly pages we get in there. Africa is a whole continent! plus we get lumped in the tab Middle East/Africa, irks me to no end. [pardon the mini rant]
February 8, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Because, according to Joji Kichaka, Arica is a nice country. ^^
Seriously, good point!
February 8, 2006 at 4:20 pm
Glad you guys got my point on this. Pardon’s not accepted for your mini rant afroM, that’s what this article was really about, so I’m glad to have someone joining me. 🙂
February 9, 2006 at 10:53 am
hey, do you think its because of lack of data? Lakini there are lots of companies that do research and polling…there is no excuse…I know economic (reliable) data is harder to tabulate but still?
February 9, 2006 at 2:26 pm
AfroM, no I don’t buy into that. We live in an age where there is access to more information than you can comprehend. In 1990 I might say there might be information lacking, but not in 2005.
There are companies that all they do is research Africa. The UN itself does these types of studies. Mindboggling really, to think that you can “overlook” or discount a whold continent when doing a global study.
February 15, 2006 at 8:11 am
Screw them – we’ll get on those radars on our own steam. It’s not surprising the world ignores Africa, because most of the world think it knows something of Africa’s plight. The rest still think we have lions in our backyards (it’s surprising how widely held that belief is).
Africa’s only hope is Africa and all its inhabitants, regardless of race, colour or creed.
February 20, 2006 at 5:29 am
hash -true true (was just trying to be objective about it and consider possible reasons for the oversight). Would it be accurate then to say
“The economist does not care about black people!” ala Kanye West Lol.
January 1, 2007 at 6:20 am
Well , Well
it sounds very bad , we didn’t see AFRICA . In my opinion , I think because of the LEADERS … in fact they look like” thieves “. Africa countries are good countries ,but they need development in education and technology .
CUL8R!