What ails (in)sight?

[by Guy Berger]

Vancouver, 2008

Exploding some assumptions…

1. Imaging Africa

2. Developed & developing

3. Donor dependency

4. The info-poor

5. Internet to the rescue.

1: Imag(in)ingAfrica

Classics• Vast black hole• Dark continent• Savage• Crocodile-infested• Tribalism• Aids• Conflict-ridden• Child soldiers• Starvation

Coverage

presents

Africa as:

WRONG?

True: Stats on povertyThe number of poor people declined,

mostly in East Asia and Pacific

True: safe waterMore than a billion people still lack access to safe drinking water

MDG poverty aims

Reduce poverty from 29% to 10%

World Bank predicts:

• Goal is in reach at worldwide level, but…

• Many countries will most likely not reach it:

• Particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa where average poverty rates remain above 40%.

Resulting reports

All true.

But…one-sided

2. Developed vs developing

2005: 28 countries

• Corruption—the bane of good economic management• Respect for human rights on rise - with glaring exceptions• Adherence to constitutions is getting stronger • Legislatures & judiciaries are asserting independence • The legitimacy & credibility of the electoral process have increased • Voter turnouts are on the increase • The political space is more inclusive • Economic management is getting better

Some

progress!

Commission for Africa

• “1984/5 Ethiopian famine images fixed the world in its view of Africa as a place of despair and dependency. But, though such scenes still exist, as a norm they are increasingly outdated.

• “Things have changed significantly in the intervening 20 years, both in Africa and in the wider world.

Leaders, laggards

BUT: Poverty is still seen as an historical stage behind that of wealth, and therefore that the game = catch-up.

Thus: “Applause for Africa”

“ “You’re

trying

Yet, another view…• Poverty not only a contrast between

disconnected wealth inequalities, but:

• Exploitation in a common relationship..

Poverty

and

wealth as

two sides

of one

coin

Remembering …• Poverty is also an effect of lingering

inequality – colonialism, apartheid…

• It perpetuates a legacy condition under poverty-trap logic.

+ Abusive global & local

relationships continue today.

3: Donor dependent

Extreme poverty

Seeking adoption…

Nigeria: 40% in EP

Ibadan Polytech

Feeds vibrant press

Victims/survivors

• Not passive – but heroic efforts

• Not “bleeding heart” pity, but respect.

• Development Industry= one-sided pity.

NO to: caricatures of

helpless individuals,

utterly dependent on

rescue by the rich.

4: Help the info-poor

Info under-load

Bird flu

• Tanzania: 529 000• Uganda: 685 000• Kenya: 905 000• Egypt: 1 170 000

• India: 1 290 000• Canada: 1 280 000• France: 1 300 000• Australia: 2 130 000

Info rich … or poor?The % of Americans in 2003 believing:

• Links between Iraq & al Qaeda – 48%• Weapons of mass destruction found – 22% • World favoured the US going into Iraq – 25%.

• Overall 60% had at least 1 of 3 misperceptions.

(Program on International Policy

Attitudes. 2003).

Question?

Why live in an isolationist ‘dumbtopia’ precisely at the moment when there is almost nothing which affects our daily lives, whether at the economic, social or culture level, which is not in some sense globally charged or driven? – Ian Hargreaves

(2000).

Insularity

• What limited international news there is tends to be domestic news about citizens making news overseas.

These info poor

really need help!

5: Tonto Internet

High hopes for web

Claim: Globalization and the Internet have created a space for news and political discourse that overrides geography.

But: ‘exporters’ of

Net content are in

the First World,

and not much is

imported by them.

Net to compensate?

• Publics can get foreign news themselves• Most global medium could fill the gap.• Via links, collaborations, content exchanges,

even instant web-based translations.

But: Hype is for hyperlocalism

Open possibilities….

----- Thank you

1. Skewed images

2. Poverty/Wealth

3. Aid: developers/ees

4. Help the info-rich!

5. Internet limits & possibilities…

Drop blinkers,

get insight

into: