A Cameroonian at the head of the biggest sports organization in the world?!?!
Even if it’s only for a few months…this is a big deal!
Congratulations to Issa Hayatou. I hope he uses this opportunity to show the
world how competent, intelligent and honest Cameroonians (and therefore
Africans) can be. I was indeed very pleased when I heard the announcement of
his temporal promotion. Particularly because I recently read an article which spurred me to think more about why we, FORMER French colonies, are still
using the Franc CFA.
In summary I gathered that our financial and economic ties
to France were established just before independence on the grounds that we
lacked the competence to effectively run our economies independently. Granted that this was true, does that truth still hold today? Fifty years on and Africans have repeatedly proven that they can succeed academically and professionally in complex and much more sophisticated western systems.
So why don’t we yet have our own currency? Why are our fiscal reserves stored in the French treasury? And why is nobody doing anything about it? I do not need to be a financial expert to see that something is not right about the current set-up. International financial organizations like the IMF and Worldbank are definitely
not clueless as far as this is concerned. And yet, they go about their business as if it is alright. Why?
Contemporary Colonization (CC). There you have it.
However, the truth is, it is not the responsibility of the West to make things right. That is up to us. But we are so busy with the many other things that distract us from addressing what needs to be addressed. These distractions represent other facets of "CC". Primarily, we are distracted by what is communicated to us. Most of the biggest international media outlets are western owned
and thus western controlled. Majority of Africans are yet to learn not to take BBC and
CNN broadcasts as absolute and total truth. The content of a story and the way it is
released is highly dependent on who the publisher is. Watch FOX news and CNN in
the U.S and you will get the picture. But we Africans fail to realize that, and
thus swallow everything fed to us without asking questions or doing basic research.
In 2011, anyone who cared to look any further into the matter would have realized that CNN and many other international news outlets failed to paint a complete picture of Colonel Gaddafi, and in doing so brainwashed many Africans into supporting the fight against him. Even through movies and TV series, our minds are gradually steered into some way of thinking. Think about how more than 90 percent of current TV series have a gay character…obviously we can see what's trying to be done there.
In 2011, anyone who cared to look any further into the matter would have realized that CNN and many other international news outlets failed to paint a complete picture of Colonel Gaddafi, and in doing so brainwashed many Africans into supporting the fight against him. Even through movies and TV series, our minds are gradually steered into some way of thinking. Think about how more than 90 percent of current TV series have a gay character…obviously we can see what's trying to be done there.
Let us talk about another tangible distraction. Africans are severely distracted by the wonders of the West. Who wouldn’t be? Technology has created a lot to distract us. To distract us from our duties and responsibilities. The seemingly fancy and comfortable life in the west has most of us spending the better portion of our time trying to figure out how to immigrate into some Western country.
A few weeks ago, the spouse and I were invited to a family celebration. The party involved a lot of activities for the kids, and when they were asked to express themselves in the language they were most comfortable with, they all chose German. So I found myself in a typical Cameroonian gathering with German-speaking offspring. In a very poignant way "Contemporary Colonization" was clearly depicted. Those kids will definitely grow up to identify as Germans and quickly loose what is left of their Cameroonian identity as soon as their parents are out of the picture. That is the typical end product of distraction.
Comfort and luxury have most of us running to the West. Instead of working towards making home a better place, majority work towards leaving home for a better place. And all this is done at the expense of loosing our identity. That's sad. Personally, I encourage exploiting what the West has to offer in terms of education and professional experience, especially for the benefit of one's career and one's home country. But making a foreign country home for no tangible reason? I will respect that decision but definitely not support or endorse it.
Blessings.
A few weeks ago, the spouse and I were invited to a family celebration. The party involved a lot of activities for the kids, and when they were asked to express themselves in the language they were most comfortable with, they all chose German. So I found myself in a typical Cameroonian gathering with German-speaking offspring. In a very poignant way "Contemporary Colonization" was clearly depicted. Those kids will definitely grow up to identify as Germans and quickly loose what is left of their Cameroonian identity as soon as their parents are out of the picture. That is the typical end product of distraction.
Comfort and luxury have most of us running to the West. Instead of working towards making home a better place, majority work towards leaving home for a better place. And all this is done at the expense of loosing our identity. That's sad. Personally, I encourage exploiting what the West has to offer in terms of education and professional experience, especially for the benefit of one's career and one's home country. But making a foreign country home for no tangible reason? I will respect that decision but definitely not support or endorse it.
Blessings.
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