The PANAFRICAN Review
receiving of charity provokes and invites disrespect , supervisory interference and , most importantly , preserves the relationship of exploitation and control . Ultimately , it ’ s about perspectives : mutual relationship in trade and investment would be costly for Europeans . The trade that Africans want , for instance , is different from the kind Europe has been imposing on them through the WTO , which is as imbalanced as the relationship between Europe and Africa . For these reasons , Europe is not ready to abandon an approach that has served it so well simply because Africans want to be respected .
Africa has a chip to play
In the past , Africans didn ’ t have much leverage to enforce their demand for genuine respect . For this reason , it always settled for cosmetic rather than substantive forms of respect .
However , the shifting global alignment in general and China ’ s strong footprints in Africa introduced a chip that Africans can use in this regard . It is , therefore , not surprising that the Chinese have been saying that , unlike the West , they respect the choice of Africans . For long , they have been saying what Macron now says his government has been doing , at least for the past four years – not lecturing Africans . This terminology of respect on the part of the Chinese is not an accident . However , they didn ’ t have to say this : their very presence as an alternative was a sufficient chip for Africans to use in their quest for respect with an unrepentant Europe that had been deceptive and exploitative for far too long , especially since to give up charity was to give up exploitation ; to end dependency is to cancel the invitation to disrespect .
In other words , the status quo has kept Africa in a straitjacket of exploitation and interference , with charity covering it up in humanitarian garb . Consequently , since independence in the 1950s-1960s , Africa ’ s share of global trade has hovered around a measly 3 %. But now it has the chip to play ; it can leverage itself out of it , mainly because it remains an attractive market and investment destination .
Africa ’ s resilience “ defies global slump ,” according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development ( UNCTAD ). It is not just the Chinese , either . It ’ s Turkey , Russia , and Qatar , among others , who are part of the shifting economic global realignment whose focus is squarely on Africa .
Whether Africa will play that chip is quite another issue . Smart leaders in Europe know this . So do those in Africa . Macron knows that Kagame is not the kind of leader to waste a chip . It is why Macron is trying to save Europe – from itself . However , the greed of the French elite is preventing it from seeing what Macron is seeing . Macron said this himself . He spoke about the “ risks ” he was taking due to the perception back home in French , mainly from the elite who had warned him that his posture of humility towards Africa in general and Rwanda in particular was “ weakening ” France when , in his view , he is “ strengthening ” it . In other words , Macron is telling his compatriots to see the forest , not just the trees . However , they don ’ t seem ready mainly because , as Kagame observed , “ The veneer of moral superiority … that made a foreseeable genocide in Africa seem tolerable ” remains strong in France and the rest of Europe .
If Macron faces risks for respecting Africans , how about the Africans demanding respect ? Although the nature of the risks has changed from the times of Sankara and Lumumba regarding their fate for insisting that Africa be respected , it would be naïve to believe that those resisting change to the status quo have entirely abandoned their methods . However , the leverage Africans now have brings new dynamics for managing the risks . At any rate , what ’ s clear is that Africa ’ s liberation is going to involve more African leaders telling their European counterparts the truth that the status quo can no longer hold and that , for the latter to save their own societies , both are going to have to take some risks . Otherwise , it will be a double tragedy that Africans will have left such a powerful chip , capable of altering the fortunes of generations , unplayed ._
Dr Lonzen Rugira is a Rwandan independent researcher and former academic .
06