Mellow days, my friends. The power's back and the rain's not, for now. The job's gliding along and the sun is shining. Last weekend was good times, last night I drank at the finest bar in the city (the rooftop of the Hyatt Regency, with a view over the harbour to the palm forests of Kigamboni) - also the most expensive with drinks costing almost as much as an average London boozer. Yep, everything's looking sweet, so it's a great time to dedicate my blog post to criticising the political system. Y'know, because we wouldn't want to get complacent now.
Last night at the aforementioned bar I had a debate with other expats that became a bit heated, about the political situation in Tanzania. This country is in the process of celebrating 50 years of independence, hence why our big-eared, fuzzy-brained Prince and his horse bride made their appearance (a tad bitchy maybe, but off with their heads!) At first glance a rundown of the last half-century looks great considering the neighbourhood we live in and its history. Mozambique - civil war, DRC - regional war, Rwanda - genocide, Uganda - murderous dictator... history has not been kind here, a fact that can be attributed in a pretty large part to the manner in which the place was governed and partitioned by the khaki-clad British, French, Germans and worst of all those Belgians who no-one ever suspects of being capable of anything bad. Tanzania by comparison had no ethnic conflicts, a single war brought to them by Idi Amin... in a word, stability. Julius Nyerere, the great statesman who ruled for 24 years, is a controversial figure in the West but much loved here, and despite some major economic blunders I'm more inclined to take the local view. He was the first big African statesman of the modern age, a necessary part of gaining some post-colonial self-esteem in a downtrodden region. So, fast-forwarding from there, three more presidents rose from the same party, which has governed since independence. The party attracts a hefty majority of the votes and is very firmly entrenched. Here I have to declare a certain source bias, as much of my information comes from co-workers. One in particular, an intense and articulate man with a keen interest in politics and a strong support for the opposition, gave me his views - the party trades off the image of Nyerere, especially among the poor and politically illiterate, but where he opposed corruption they brought it to the highest level - one example he gave being the involvement of government ministers setting up front companies to essentially steal funds allocated for public works projects like building power stations. As an outsider it's hard to get a balanced view of the situation, but again the poverty of the place speaks for itself, especially considering its natural endowments.
The heated debate stemmed from this and my typically strident position against the political classes. I was accused of talking about issues that I didn't have the depth of knowledge to comment on, of talking only to a certain element of society (sure, my co-workers are relatively 'middle class' but by no means of the wealthy or business elite), and finally the point that particularly aroused my ire - that Tanzanian people were interested in areas other than material wealth, and were thus content with their state of development. In my mind this is almost equivalent to another view that I heard, that the Tanzanians are rather too lazy to make a good go of it and that this is a key part of their underdevelopment. The state of poverty that these countries find themselves in is not some kind of blissful alternative to a hyperdeveloped modernity. Tanzania isn't Bhutan, perhaps Bhutan isn't even Bhutan the spiritual idyll as it's portrayed by vogue-Buddhists of the vegan bourgeoisie. Poverty as it's found here means no access to basic medicine, means not enough nutrition causing infant mortality, means grinding hours of work every day just to get afford the basics for survival. It isn't an easy option that the lazy take, and it isn't a cushy or holistic alternative. And the most frustrating thing is that these people are rendered poor to a great degree by the machinations of international finance and by the corruption and poor governance of their own leadership, and not necessarily in that order. So I make no apology for wading in with comments based on what I observed and in conversation with a young, educated and frustrated minority who see the potential of their beautiful country squandered. Corruption is a fact of life in much of the world, in Thailand for example it's endemic, even in developed Korea it lurks in the background. The difference is, in Thailand the powerful take a big slice, here they run off with the whole cake and only brush off crumbs, and much of what people achieve is in spite of rather than due to their leadership.
So, rant over, and with chicken and rice in the belly I'm a lot calmer than with a double helping of Africafe which powered most of this entry. Plus it's far too pleasant outside to be shaking my fist over the internet. I think my best contribution to the forces of revolution in Tanzania would be to bring my music collection into work, and at 5pm when people start putting on a bit of Bongo Flava to wind down, I'll crank up some Rage Against The Machine and set fire to the bank.
PS if anyone I work with is reading this - I won't actually do that.
Last night at the aforementioned bar I had a debate with other expats that became a bit heated, about the political situation in Tanzania. This country is in the process of celebrating 50 years of independence, hence why our big-eared, fuzzy-brained Prince and his horse bride made their appearance (a tad bitchy maybe, but off with their heads!) At first glance a rundown of the last half-century looks great considering the neighbourhood we live in and its history. Mozambique - civil war, DRC - regional war, Rwanda - genocide, Uganda - murderous dictator... history has not been kind here, a fact that can be attributed in a pretty large part to the manner in which the place was governed and partitioned by the khaki-clad British, French, Germans and worst of all those Belgians who no-one ever suspects of being capable of anything bad. Tanzania by comparison had no ethnic conflicts, a single war brought to them by Idi Amin... in a word, stability. Julius Nyerere, the great statesman who ruled for 24 years, is a controversial figure in the West but much loved here, and despite some major economic blunders I'm more inclined to take the local view. He was the first big African statesman of the modern age, a necessary part of gaining some post-colonial self-esteem in a downtrodden region. So, fast-forwarding from there, three more presidents rose from the same party, which has governed since independence. The party attracts a hefty majority of the votes and is very firmly entrenched. Here I have to declare a certain source bias, as much of my information comes from co-workers. One in particular, an intense and articulate man with a keen interest in politics and a strong support for the opposition, gave me his views - the party trades off the image of Nyerere, especially among the poor and politically illiterate, but where he opposed corruption they brought it to the highest level - one example he gave being the involvement of government ministers setting up front companies to essentially steal funds allocated for public works projects like building power stations. As an outsider it's hard to get a balanced view of the situation, but again the poverty of the place speaks for itself, especially considering its natural endowments.
The heated debate stemmed from this and my typically strident position against the political classes. I was accused of talking about issues that I didn't have the depth of knowledge to comment on, of talking only to a certain element of society (sure, my co-workers are relatively 'middle class' but by no means of the wealthy or business elite), and finally the point that particularly aroused my ire - that Tanzanian people were interested in areas other than material wealth, and were thus content with their state of development. In my mind this is almost equivalent to another view that I heard, that the Tanzanians are rather too lazy to make a good go of it and that this is a key part of their underdevelopment. The state of poverty that these countries find themselves in is not some kind of blissful alternative to a hyperdeveloped modernity. Tanzania isn't Bhutan, perhaps Bhutan isn't even Bhutan the spiritual idyll as it's portrayed by vogue-Buddhists of the vegan bourgeoisie. Poverty as it's found here means no access to basic medicine, means not enough nutrition causing infant mortality, means grinding hours of work every day just to get afford the basics for survival. It isn't an easy option that the lazy take, and it isn't a cushy or holistic alternative. And the most frustrating thing is that these people are rendered poor to a great degree by the machinations of international finance and by the corruption and poor governance of their own leadership, and not necessarily in that order. So I make no apology for wading in with comments based on what I observed and in conversation with a young, educated and frustrated minority who see the potential of their beautiful country squandered. Corruption is a fact of life in much of the world, in Thailand for example it's endemic, even in developed Korea it lurks in the background. The difference is, in Thailand the powerful take a big slice, here they run off with the whole cake and only brush off crumbs, and much of what people achieve is in spite of rather than due to their leadership.
So, rant over, and with chicken and rice in the belly I'm a lot calmer than with a double helping of Africafe which powered most of this entry. Plus it's far too pleasant outside to be shaking my fist over the internet. I think my best contribution to the forces of revolution in Tanzania would be to bring my music collection into work, and at 5pm when people start putting on a bit of Bongo Flava to wind down, I'll crank up some Rage Against The Machine and set fire to the bank.
PS if anyone I work with is reading this - I won't actually do that.
A jolly good read. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting keep on writing
ReplyDeletefunny,just a couple of days ago I was explaining to my parents how seeing poverty here makes me extremely angry... I guess you have to see it to get really upset against a bunch of gangsters who call themselves leaders.
ReplyDelete