Thanks to
"China Safari" this new book
reviewed in the Times – the extraordinary story of China’s incursion into Africa is being documented for a general audience.
The bottom line is that China sees Africa as a way to catapult their economy to the status of the US – and they have a grand plan to do so.
Let me say it is not all bad – China is building the kind of sorely needed infrastructure that the West has mostly shied away from. In the 70’s Mao Tze-Dong built the Tanzania-Zambia railroad to take copper and other resources from Zambia’s landlocked mining region to the port of Dar es Salaam.
In addition to the interest-free loan China sent about 25,000 of its engineers to help complete the awesome project. No doubt many learned Swahili.
25 years later China stepped up the pace but with a much more targeted vision – wining over African leaders with gifts of mansions and motorcades and then building just the infrastructure they need to move the resources from the low-cost mines they control to the ports that will ship the materials to China. Once in China, they are turned into the products they will sell to the rest of the world – including Africa.
The negative is that emerging manufacturing industries in Africa are leveled by the Chinese factories. The best jobs are reserved for Chinese workers and whatever wealth is generated for Africa tends to stay in the hands of the countries’ leadership. Some trickles down but not enough and the Chinese have a habit of propping up some unsavory dictators like Zimbabwe’s Mugabe and the Sudan’s Bashir.
The downside to all this is that once the economy begins to recover, many of the commodities we need will be either owned by or reserved for China. Plus, the opportunity for growing our economy by selling to a developing Africa is deeply compromised.
To win the hearts of Africans China even resurrected the legend of Zheng He, the 15th Century Chinese sailor who was probably a marauder and was shipwrecked in Kenya. He and his crew began many biracial families in Kenya which experienced various kinds of discrimination. They have since been resurrected as heroes of sorts in China. The idea is to show China’s deep roots in Africa.
(In some ways, this parallels the
White Shaka story and in this regard, it is a prism by which an American audience can understand the deeper issues of this new economic run on Africa.)
The opportunity for America - if it wakes up - is this: Africa doesn’t really like China. They certainly appreciate the attention, the money and for some, the new sources of corruption. But they much prefer their relatives in America. And with a son of Africa in the White House…..
Indeed if you compare the Zheng He legend with the Obama reality, you can see why the Kenyan’s are particularly crazy about Americans. Obama is not just a favorite son but he is competing against some deep Chinese propaganda.
Alas, we give Africa little attention beyond the usual charitable stuff and the mortal fear of fresh atrocities. Charity is good but hardly the engine of economic growth and stability they need. More importantly, they crave a fellowship with cultures and people they have come to understand at many levels - and that is us. They would gladly buy our products over China’s but as we all know, when they do, the product is actually made in China….
What we can do is take advantage of a couple of things. Africa is not good with maintenance, we can certainly provide legions of help there. Most of all they want self-sufficiency and for that they want training, support and fellowship which can offer. Unlike China, we are happy to help them build and develop factories which will make products highly suited for their environment and their working style – which shall we say, is very, very different from the Chinese.
To do all of this we need an awareness, a national program and a plan to connect this new American generation with this new generation of Africans.
White Shaka is an adventure story for sure, but it is also a parable about taking the traditional concepts in an African culture – in this case, the Zulus – and showing how they can be transformed into a 21st Century solution.
If you weren't in Richmond, VA this weekend you missed a heck of a party when "White Zulu", David Jenkins teamed up with other Zulus, Xhosas, Tswanas and Americans at this wonderful festival at 
Grayhaven Winery.
en just about the entire audience tried their hand at Zulu dancing for the men and the Xhosa version of the Macarena for women.
And don't worry - we're bringing the party to you! We're doing a private, invitation-only Braai at the end of September in Scarsdale and a big show at a New York Club. If you'd like to be on our invite list send us a note at braai@whiteshaka.com.
