“Wakanda”-Don’t give your Vibranium Away!
In the Marvel universe, the west tried its best to get Vibranium from Wakanda. Marvel pictured the scenario in which Wakanda can save the world by sharing its resources with the west. They even sent their best military man (Captain America) to achieve this goal. But before giving its resources away, Wakanda should take a lesson from what happened in the real world.
Africa- the center of the world
It is believed that Africa is the oldest inhabited land on the Earth, with human species, originated from the continent. Africa is one of the most ancient civilizations on Earth. There are many books written on the great Negro Civilizations that existed in Africa in the past.
Before the Chinese had their world adventures and Rome was still a millennium away, ancient Egypt was already the beacon of world’s civilization
It has not only a civilizational advantage but also geological significance. Due to tectonic plate movements and subsequent formations of rift valleys, Africa is blessed with an abundance of natural resources.
As Europeans were always outward-looking, naturally they had an eye on these resources. With the Berlin conference of 1884, Scramble for Africa started and European powers invaded, occupied, divided, and colonized Africa.
Post-WWII, decolonization started in Africa and many countries attained independence. Though the west promised to follow the Atlantic Charter, the vast resources of Africa lured them and modern colonialism was formed.
This concept of modern colonialism is what led to the concept of the Resource curse
The Resource Curse
Why 5000 units of African currency is worth US 1$ despite having the largest gold reserves?
The Democratic Republic of Congo holds natural resources trillion of dollars but people remain subjected to extreme poverty. Limitless water, from the world’s second-largest river, the Congo, a benign climate and rich soil make it fertile, beneath the soil abundant deposits of copper, gold, diamonds, cobalt, uranium, coltan, and oil are just some of the minerals that should make it one of the world’s richest countries. Instead, it is the world’s most hopeless.
This dichotomy is known as the ‘resource curse’ which is caused mostly by western countries in search of good mining deals.
Modus Operandi
The Modus Operandi of the west is simple. First, they will make deal with the rebels with the promise to give them economic and political power, then they do everything in power to destabilize the country by giving firearms to rebels.
An American Mineral Fields executive allowed rebels to use his private Learjet in return for a $1 billion mining deal in 1998 mass looting of Congo.
After the turmoil, the elites of the region will hold political and economic power with zero accountability, the only source of wealth is mines or oilfields, and that is a recipe for an ultra-corrupt state.
In Congo after the mass looting episode, power was wielded by Kabila family. According to a UN investigation From 1999 to 2002, the Kabila regime of Congo transferred ownership of at least $5 billion of assets from the state mining sector to private companies under its control with no compensation or benefit for the State treasury. It leads to increasing debt of the country.
Then IMF-lender of the last resort- comes into the picture by giving ‘tied loans’ to African countries. The economic policy conditions they promote — often attached or ‘recommended’ as part of loans, projects, technical assistance, or financial surveillance — undermine the sovereignty of borrower nations, limiting their ability to make policy decisions and eroding their ownership of national development strategies. IMF is even accused of being a partner in the crime of strategically moving assets from Africa to the west.
In 2012 the DRC failed to provide sufficient details on the process whereby a state mining company ceded mining assets to a company based in the British Virgin Islands, and the IMF called off a $530 million loan.
It leads to a lack of capacity with a national government to invest in human capital and public goods. Today African countries come at the last on Human Development Index.
The same pattern happened with other countries in Africa such as Angola, Nigeria, etc.
Regain the lost Glory
Africa is said to be the last frontier in the global economy. Today Africa has the youngest population( average age of 19 years), an abundance of resources, and untapped markets which make it ripe for foreign investment. And every country is playing its own game to occupy this last frontier.
Going forward, Africa should learn from its past and devise such policies that it regains its lost glory. Some suggestions are-
- Children need their own cultural stories- Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie describes in her book- “ The danger of a single story”- that how literature plays a major role in the psychology of a person. For a country to become non-aligned, the first thing that people need is their role models and they should come from the stories written in their context, culture, and geography, and not borrowed from western authors. Where is African mythology-shaka Zulu, Nefertiti- that can help Africa to regain dignity?
- Customize best practices of the world — Rwanda in recent years has doubled its GDP, improved on human capital Index, and increased per capita income by following Singapore’s model of development. All the countries of Africa should take a lesson from it.
- Revamp Bilateral investment Treaty- African nations should leverage their strength of the presence of resources and should make it mandatory for foreign nations to invest in capacity building of the state institutions and to transfer state of the art technology. For example, the model of development of India in Africa- ITEC program
Before giving Vibranium, Africa should follow self-reliance policies, eliminate inter-tribal conflict and become one nation. As Nelson Mandela said “I dream of an Africa which is at peace with itself”
