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Why isn't there a first world African nation and what can be done to make one?

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T

T'Zariah

Banned
The continent has so much potential and it's really disheartening to see it basically be in limbo of war, poverty, diseases, and resources tampering.

So much rich history, yet it seems like not one of the nations of Africa can come together and form a single country that can stand toe-to-toe with Western Powers in terms of GDP, Standards of Living, upward mobility, etc.

I'm seriously baffled.
 
M

Massive Duck. C.M.

Banned
Well, this thing happened a while ago that you may have heard of...

Honestly with the exception of some outliers like Egypt I don't think that level of recovery is possible, especially with a significant number of governments having an investment in keeping a great deal of Africa underfoot.
 
J

jtb

Banned
you're baffled? really? it's not particularly surprising that a legacy of colonialism and exploitation is difficult to overcome.
 
T

TacticalFox88

Banned
Ke0 said:
South Africa if that counts (I don't count it but some will).
Click to expand...

South Africa is used by Racists as an example. "When white people control South Africa, look what they did."

Then they use Liberia as a counter example to show "black people can't govern themselves."
 
R

royalan

Member
Vizantir said:
The continent has so much potential and it's really disheartening to see it basically be in limbo of war, poverty, diseases, and resources tampering.

So much rich history, yet it seems like not one of the nations of Africa can come together and form a single country that can stand toe-to-toe with Western Powers in terms of GDP, Standards of Living, upward mobility, etc.

I'm seriously baffled.
Click to expand...

You're baffled? For real? Hundreds of years of slave trade, war, and European Imperialism...and you're baffled?
 
I

injurai

Banned
Get rid of the missionaries that encourage dangerous sexual practices, taboos, and homophobia.

Empower women so that 50% of the population is now empowered.

Aid in overthrowing warlords who take advantage of the impoverished masses.

Turnover industries which are currently internationally owned back to the people so that they may have control over their exports. (Tea, Coffee, Rice, etc.)

Institute a "Marshall Plan" to essentially overcome disease and civil engineer proper sanitation in a number of large cities.

Africa is so late in the game, I feel they could buck off a lot of the bad cruft of modernity and start off on a much better foot than the west did via trial and error. At this point though global capitalism just keeps them down to never modernize in a proper fashion.
 
T

tsumineko

Member
"3rd world" is merely a label placed on it by the "1st world".

What you really want to ask is how do we stop people taking advantage of them.
 
F

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
I think one of my teachers from either jr high or highschool said its a matter of resources, he pointed to america, britain, russia, china, etc. and how they're some of the most powerful countries in the world, and its because these continents have all the right resources necessary to make such huge empires, places like africa dont have much in the way of the appropriate resources to have leisures on par with us.
But also they probably could deal with that with the enormous amount of diamonds and other rare expensive minerals they have, however other countries kinda fucked africa over with that song and dance.
 
B

BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO

Junior Member
Aren't they on the come up? I remember reading about it. Bill Gates is doing stuff over there as well. This City apparently got to this state in a decade

nkZaIkz.jpg


O4CyVie.jpg


pyhrYgn.jpg


O4CXkjA.jpg


O92lw.jpg


GqegL4X.jpg


Looks cool.
 
B

Byakuya769

Member
Labor said:
Well, this thing happened a while ago that you may have heard of...

Honestly with the exception of some outliers like Egypt I don't think that level of recovery is possible, especially with a significant number of governments having an investment in keeping a great deal of Africa underfoot.
Click to expand...
Nigeria has way more potential than Egypt.
 
O

Orbis Tabula

Member
I mean, people saying the last hundred years tell the story are undershooting it, I think. There's a whole host of reasons, anthropologically, that things turned out the way they did. A better question would be "Do you really think that all the most powerful nations in the world would be evenly distributed about the continents? Or is it more likely that some locations had inherent advantages that allowed the people there to prosper at the expense of other peoples?"
 
S

SolKane

Member
Most African nations have only had independent governance for the last 60 years. Prior to that they were colonial terrorities primarily used for the extraction of wealth by European nations. For about 400 years one of the main generators of wealth was forced (slave) labor. The liberation movements of the mid 20th century did little to alter the colonial enterprise, as neocolonial autocratic regimes were propped up by former colonizers and the United States as vehicles for corporate exploitation. Only since the fall of the Soviet Union have the world powers looked to direct African nations toward a process of democratization, and in most situations that still remains merely a nominal gesture to keep foreign aid and investment flowing to the African political elite.
 
Relativ9

Relativ9

Member
I'd bet on Tunisia being the first to reach that point, really liberal compared to a lot of other African and/or Arab nations. Well established tourism industry, strong ties with Europe, a relatively high standard of living, and a small and manageable population.
 
R

royalan

Member
SmackDaddy said:
It doesn't create good discussion when you answer questions like this. asking a question shouldn't be inflamatory, EVER.
Click to expand...

How is my post inflammatory? There's a lot of well known history on why a lot of Africa is the way it is. I'm genuinely confused as to how anyone can be baffled at this point.

Thanks for misreading my post as a means to attack me, though.
 
T

TacticalFox88

Banned
royalan said:
How is my post inflammatory? There's a lot of well known history on why a lot of Africa is the way it is. I'm genuinely confused as to how anyone can be baffled at this point.

Thanks for misreading my post as a means to attack me, though.
Click to expand...

I think you took "baffled" a bit too literally. It was more than like he meant just in "awe" or using it for effect.
 
L

LiK

Member
A lot of African countries are getting help from countries like China etc with economic/business development. Some cities are already pretty affluent. They're not all third world.
 
M

Mr.Mike

Member
The whole "first" and "third" world thing comes from the cold war and doesn't actually have anything to do with levels of development. The "first" world being NATO , "second" bring the Warsaw pact and the "third " being everyone else.

The lack of development has to do with the history of colonialism, mainly how poorly it ended.
 
J

jmood88

Member
SmackDaddy said:
It doesn't create good discussion when you answer questions like this. asking a question shouldn't be inflamatory, EVER.
Click to expand...
When people make absolutely no effort to educate themselves before asking the question, they open themselves up to those kind of responses.
 
D

Dynomutt

Member
Wakanda hasn't been discovered yet. But seriously I think systemic destabilization from the rise of European capitalism and colonialism. It's intrinsic now takes a long times to change. Also the World Bank and IMF don't really help = how can a third world country pay off a first world loan?
 
S

SmackDaddy

Member
jmood88 said:
When people make absolutely no effort to educate themselves before asking the question, they open themselves up to those kind of responses.
Click to expand...

royalan said:
How is my post inflammatory? There's a lot of well known history on why a lot of Africa is the way it is. I'm genuinely confused as to how anyone can be baffled at this point.

Thanks for misreading my post as a means to attack me, though.
Click to expand...

I think this topic has a lot of racial implications to it. We all want racial equality. Coming at people who are asking questions surrounding the issue who are either uneducated, or maybe even ignorant, deserved to be educated so they can further the agenda of equality. I'm just saying we shouldn't be snarky towards someone who wants to be a part of the discussion. It helps nobody.
 
M

Massive Duck. C.M.

Banned
R

royalan

Member
SmackDaddy said:
I think this topic has a lot of racial implications to it. We all want racial equality. Coming at people who are asking questions surrounding the issue who are either uneducated, or maybe even ignorant, deserved to be educated so they can further the agenda of equality. I'm just saying we shouldn't be snarky towards someone who wants to be a part of the discussion. It helps nobody.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I agree with the bolded.

Of course, there's no way racism doesn't play a role in the issues facing a lot of Africa. But I think at this point the core issues are largely economic, structural, and finding a way to deal with a lot of very old systems put in place that allow a lot of villainous people to grab power and keep it.
 
B

Beelzebufo

Banned
What's South Africa? 2nd World?

TacticalFox88 said:
South Africa is used by Racists as an example. "When white people control South Africa, look what they did."

Then they use Liberia as a counter example to show "black people can't govern themselves."
Click to expand...
I guess someone could say that if they wanted, but I'm sure they could say that same about America or anywhere in Europe haha. It's still a solid country.
 
E

EmptySpace

Banned
lol baffled.

i wonder how the tens of millions of people killed, transported like sardines
tumblr_mo1avkbtkq1r0iohpo1_500.jpg

lying underneath a 3-foot ceiling for days and days with people dying left and right, in levels/floors inside a big cargo ship...

could ever stagnate the economy of an entire continent, so much so that the effects are still felt hundreds of years after, and countries are doing "charities" that will never bring the economy back.up to where it was supposed to be had the africans stayed where they belonged.
 
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