On Africa's Trade Dilemma 3: Vigilance

The third dilemma arises when raw commodities and trained youth are exported from Africa. In turn, the continent imports world pollution, finished goods, foreign consumer cultures, and closed technologies. Good trade consists of keeping the former in and the latter out. There needs especial vigilance in 'world' trade negotiations such as AGOA, EU-EPA and in bilateral negotiations with India, China, Brasil and other foreign countries. There needs vigilance as well to ensure foreign ownership or control does not adversly influence ports of entry or core assets such as farms,schools, mines or oilfields or communications and transport resources. Always think: if we are in a war situation: will our food be secure? will our telephones work? Can we still obtain essential supplies or markets?

This dilemma highlights the weakness of Africa's communities, governments and nation-states in business and security matters. Trade is a zero sum game, meaning that particular trade benefits can accrue only in one place at a time. When the gains of trade are sufficiently unequal, its beneficiaries act to secure their advantage both by stregthening themselves with monopoly of ultra-violence and by weakening others by conflict, pollution and distraction. The military weakness of African communities, in our fragmented nation-states and in the diaspora, is another intolerable state of affairs. Obviously, no African anywhare is safe unless a strong African nation can protect the santicity of all Africans everywhere.

The rise of vigilantes and citizen militia is not exclusive to African nation-states. However the structural failure of many governments in these states to provide for essential services and products has resulted in "do-it-yourself" security and vigilante groups. Ominiously, private militia prefer to gather around areas of mineral resources and to drive away the peoples who live there. Particularly unacceptable is the subverting of state sovereignity by foreign businesses who engineer foreign mercenaries or proxy wars in "conflict" areas. This practice does not happen without the complicity of the home countries of such businesses. Its effect is to elevate trade trade into bloody warfare. As such, many resource-rich nation-states in Africa need to actively grow strong self-sufficiency in business and security so as to withstand the continuous warfare from their trading partners.