And KUDOS to our blogger crew – the coverage couldn’t be better. Much appreciated!
]]>We are trying to keep readers here in Germany (and elsewhere) focused on what you guys (and ladies) are doing down in Tanzania in parallel with the G8 Summit at Heiligendamm…lot’s of interest so far. I loved the TED Talk video with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala AND George Ayittey’s 6-page Q&A essay “Banana Republics vs. Coconut Republics”. The latter was a scream.
Tell Bono to hightail it back to Germany to give his boy Sir Bob some cover re: that BILD Zeitung frontpage story of June 1st (see my blog). Plus the G8 Summit 2007 at Heiligendamm took another hit (torpedoe) today, the Schwarze Bloc (anarchists) have made it to the fence and are attacking the police (again). All Hell’s breaking loose here in Germany and the G8 leaders haven’t even sat down to lunch yet. Stay in Tanzania, it’s safer.
P.S. The blogger crew is doing a great job at TED Global in Arusha. Great.
]]>I’ll side with both Bono and Ayittey on this one. We need a multi-pronged effort of Aid and Private Investment to dig ourselves out. We’re not playing on a level playing ground, and that’s where Aid comes in – call it a line of credit to start a business. Aid also helps secure things like infrastructure that must be in place before investment can take place.
]]>Personally, I believe Africans are their only hope. They must CHOOSE success. This laissez faire attitude towards progress and development has to be altered from the grassroots. No amount of aid can do that. Just a change in our attitudes and our speeches. What we are saying to each other. The din that rises above the noise we make as a continent. When we can clean that up to a positive, directed note, that’s our salvation!
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