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As we starve, the Chinese reproduce villages

CALL it a ménage à trois. It is a relationship that is as subtle as it is complex, but it is real. Of the three bedfellows, what would be referred to here as the East always comes out the apparent loser.

The East shall mean developing, or least developed, nations from all corners of the world. Recent events have proven that the terrain is not even and for many reasons. But the painful fact shall remain that decisions reached in Brussels and Washington affect the unsuspecting goat herder in Mongolia and Chinese ingenuity, albeit known for its notoriety, will continue to affect the rest of the world.

While the Chinese make the mighty lose sleep at night, they by the same token make the weak gaze in awe but with nothing much to do, as is almost always the case. The mighty West is never hesitant to flex its muscle now and then to have its way, and gloat after the fact, whereas the Chinese prefer a more nonchalant approach. But they all end up shortchanging the poorest of poor.

One western media reported on the sorry events in Syria in a rather unkind manner recently. In a rather poor choice of diction, the media chose to call the events in Syria, a tragedy in slow motion. Really, if that is not gloating over the predicament of others, what is then?

The one thing foreign media are good at is promoting their own cause, no matter how subtly. They will never for once focus on the fact there are so many foreign elements at play, covertly, in the Syrian conflict. But one cannot really blame them, everyone guards their own interests.

What is happening in Syria, as did happen in Libya, is a clear manifestation of how easily the East can be won. As stated earlier, the mighty West never hesitates to use its might when the need arises. And the need here is when some leader of little significance in global politics refuses to play ball.

Assad and cronies did not have to do much to feel the wrath of the mighty West. They just had to be themselves. Unlike many regimes in the Arab world which have on the outset seems to have sought the progress of their people, the same can not be said about African regimes.

Yes it is true that the West have their interests. And yes, they will do whatever it takes to promote those interests and achieve their goals. But we in Africa seem to make it very easy for them. We do not seem too incline to do any good for our people, unlike Western countries.

And we do not seem bent on changing any time soon. In less than just year since attaining independence, former and current leaders in South Sudan have managed to siphon a whooping four billion US dollars. How they managed to do that is what could be termed as African ingenuity.

This was revealed by the country’s own president. It is sad that many lives had to be sacrificed in the name of self-determination only for a few smart guys to make away with almost all the country’s loot. It really defeats the purpose of autonomy.

Naturally, the stolen loot is stashed away in some offshore accounts, most probably in European banks. Rob from the poor and give to the rich, but it’s our kind doing all the robbing here. Sometimes I too believe the hype- we mess it up ourselves and blame every one else.

Unlike Africans, the Chinese hit the headlines recently for their notoriety in making knock-offs. We are all used to Chinese manufacturers reproducing throw-away gadgets like cellular phones and the like. But this time they went overboard. They cloned a whole village!

Okay, not cloning as in biology, but they, ahem, reproduced a whole Austrian village that is known to attract tourists in their own backyard. Now tourists no longer have to go to Austria to enjoy Austrian cultural heritage, they can just fly to China and get the same experience, probably at a cheaper rate.

Here begins the complex relationship between our different corners of the world. As the West bullies our kind, they too have a new bully. But this new bully is by no means Robin Hood. He is not doing it for us; he is doing it for himself. We can take solace in the fact that our bully can be bullied as well. But that will never do us any good unless we end the bullying altogether, because somewhere along the way, we allow it with alacrity.

What the Chinese have managed to do should be a lesson to our kind. They have a very rich history of pride and honour. They have managed to make their way up from a bottomless pit. And now they are reproducing villages.

The next thing you know they will clone their own Serengeti and Mount Kilimanjaro and we will be forced to spend our meager earnings to send someone to learn how they did it. There is a name for people who act along those lines-stupid!

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