My Big, Fat African Wedding

Recently, Japan has entered in the African banquet too. $ 14 billion to be paid into the cash register of some country. In this specific case the Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Ethiopia, these are the stages of Prime Minister Abe in his African trip . The rivalry with China in Africa who is the first trading partner , and the first buyer of oil and minerals in various States, is obvious. In exchange, the continent is reshaped piece by piece: hospitals, fiber optics, new neighborhoods and new buildings , new highways and rail networks . One of the last projects has seen a Chinese investment of nearly $ 14 billion to join Angola, Ethiopia and Nigeria with a railway line, a huge project .It's the model of the "free market" that imposes itself as a "government ", modeling it in his own image and likeness. Several African leaders have adopted this model of "progress."A solid model that spends and spreads its constant influence on lifestyles always more plasticized , cemented, westernized.
Creating buildings, factories, but also schools and  hospitals, but at what price?Human Watch Report has highlighted the lack of rights for workers in Chinese mines in Zambia.Other abuses are reported in other Chinese companies on the African soil, charged of slavery work conditions.Just a month ago, two Chinese mining companies have been accused of environmental damage in the region of Matabelelandin - Zimbabwe. Chemical substances , including mercury , were spilled in the two main rivers that support agriculture in the region , now seriously compromised. Hundreds of families have been protesting against the government which was forced to close the two companies indicted .But even in Madagascar the Asian giant  has some problems : it is called " Land Grabbing " , and  is commercial transaction for the sale of huge piece of African land to foreign partner , often for crops that are 100% exported to the country overseas. According to the report , " Forum for African Investigative Reporting (FAIR) ," many Chinese companies colluded with governments of various countries , often illegally buying local soils , polluting them and leaving the farmer often penniless.The document highlights as USA , UK, Australia , India keep company to China in Madagascar with a total of  9260 square km to be allocated to the production of gas by 2017.The progress of the modern era wants to genetically modify seeds to make them more productive , more resistant to pest attacks , big numbers to feed a growing population . These people think only of profit and non- human health. The uncontrolled growth is one of the plague of this planet, and infinite growth in a close system such as the Earth , has ended unreal . These Corporations do not cure the cause but even they make it worst with more food, with more damage and more profits. The corn has increased since 2007 by 40 % in rural areas and 51% in urban areas.Monsanto , DuPont , Syngenta, Groupe Limagrain , Land O ' Lakes, KWS A, Bayer Crop Science , Sakata , not only the U.S. but then Switzerland , Japan, Germany , France.All in a row to harness nature under a patent , making private ownership on modified seeds . By creating monocultures of cotton dramatically depleting the soil , the nature of its role ousted from sterile and soulless laboratories.

This is just an update of an old 2009 article on the wars and the limits of a continent increasingly seen as a land of opportunity , or perhaps ruthless conquest .

28.03.2009
  China and Africa have similarities with those couples who meet in the street and make us ask the inexplicable reason that unique bond . Is it true love, or a mere report that hides entrenched interests to one side or the other? The evidence that we know , speaking of Africa, is about a continent constantly in search of its own character in the modern world , where the charity is too often confused with softer exploitation , where humanitarian aid are diverted to the ravenous weapons market , where you sign trade agreement with individuals recognized by the international community as bandits. A continent used as a stage to showcase the charitable side : maybe you do a pit or a hospital, a few pictures as the ritual , which will fade soon, as the many promises who make Africa a reality in perpetual emergency . The situation in the Congo , already analyzed in a previous article ( Falsehood West ) on this blog, supports the contention above. Here the war that is being fought is called " tribal" between indigenous peoples who do not know what civilization , maybe if they would stop foreign powers behind the scenes orchestrating these conflicts , this country would have a chance to see some light in this tunnel landlocked . The regular army (FARDC ), the Hutu militia for the Liberation of Rwanda, a country torn by bloody clashes, which responds to the Congolose President Joseph Kabila , the local militia and pro-government Mai-Mai, group of a few thousand mercenaries led by Laurent Nkunda, accused of various crimes and arrested on Jan. 23 , this is the grotesque stage of the country. Nkunda soldiers with well-equipped held in check the Congolese region of Kivu, full of all kinds of precious metals and exploited by China and various potentates of the world. Nkunda justify its atrocities accusing to refuse to sell out the country to the Chinese. In fact, the mercenary is of Rwandan and receives orders from Kagame, President of Rwanda , already accused by various international organizations of various massacres . Him , with the support of Western Corporations looking to hinder, Chinese extractive industries that now reign supreme in Africa. Basically, the two fronts that Western and Chinese finance their armies of mercenaries to continue to extract in peace . China has always had political-economic relations with the African continent , and the demise of the USSR has taken the place of those fights fighting ideologically against Western imperialism , earning , then , the trust of numerous local rulers. The weight of the giant Chinese trade on the African one is huge. Angola provides a third of the oil that China needs . In return, the African country has showy cancel all commercial debt it had with the Chinese government . He has also received funding for roads, railways, hospitals all to be rebuilt after a civil war that lasted 27 years and ended in 2002. According to the authoritative World Trade Atlas , which offers services and advice on world trade , trade between these two realities are constantly growing , you touched $ 106 billion between 2007 and 2008 . The main partner countries are Angola , Nigeria , Sudan , the Republic of Congo, potentially rich nations , they could live in comfort , with an economy like any western state . Yet here people are still dying of hunger. Beyond this, the African market offers all kinds of products to China : Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali, covering 20% of the Chinese cotton , Ivory Coast trades coconut, coffee Kenya , Namibia, the fish, Chinese multinationals in the African continent are more than 600 ! Just last March 23 the president of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhai Huqu has entered into an agreement with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to supply the underdeveloped countries of new varieties of rice , GMO . The peculiarity of this plant is to resist the attacks of pests and provide higher yields . Beyond a noble gesture , even if wrong method , there are limits to the usual scientific and speculative interests . According to the organization "Food Watch" This rice is still in the experimental stage , it wouldn't bring the dose of vitamin A promised, but rather in the process of boiling the quantity would remain even lower than natural rice plant. Scholars who follow the project are reluctant to provide information on the technical data of this crop , they promise a healthy product but then ask for minor safety checks due to spending problems . Speaking of GM products all control measures and monitoring for the protection of human health should be much more strict, without betting on emotion of public opinion to achieve consensus . Other criticisms came from a blog that is  agriculture related, here is claimed that the price of these new seeds has increased considerably and that African farmers will be almost forced to buy seeds from various multinational companies that own the patents ( is the patent on a seed !) . Even the working conditions in mines are troubling , and a recent article in the "Financial Times" focuses on hundreds of children unlawfully exploited to feed the world hungry  of minerals. China responds by investing billions in the Congo , Angola, Sudan railways, hospitals , food programs , aid to the wounded . The free donation should always be taken with due caution , think of a Corporation or a country with serious social problems such as China, which spread around money and gift packs as Santa Claus is at least suspect. Same idea got  "Business Week" with an interesting article titled " Oil for China, weapons to Darfur." The Sudanese regime is not really honest, to put it mildly . But the Chinese government has continued to support it with rivers of money and weapons. Numerous non-governmental organizations have confirmed this hypothesis. The tragedy of Darfur, as many humanitarian emergencies are all too often the most fertile ground for the proliferation of outrageous speculation . Africa is a continent rich in resources invaluable for people who wish to live with their traditions , with their freedom and their errors , they should stand on their own legs. A hug does not want anything in return, a smile is a gesture complicated because it requires honesty. The ADV charity, the vulgar , shouted from the rooftops does not help that continent who continues to sink into despair since when the likely western progress has begun to " civilize " and impoverishing millions of people ...... maremmacinghialaaaaaaaaaaaa

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