Africans are taking charge of their own destiny
ALOT of good news comes out of Africa, but too few people elsewhere in the world are aware of it. The news most of us get, when we can get it, is almost always negative and cast in stereotypes. Take a hard, unbiased look, though, and it is clear that a new Africa is emerging.
In the new Africa, GDP has grown at a rate of nearly 5% for more than a decade. Despite the international financial crisis, similar growth is expected across the continent this year, with inflation kept in check. Of the 10 countries worldwide that have grown most rapidly in the past several years, seven are African.
The so-called African middle class now exceeds 300 million people out of a population of about a billion. Health indicators for most countries have consistently improved, as has access to technology. The continent boasts more than 700 million cellphones and more than 100 million Africans have internet access.
Democracy, too, is making great strides. Since 2011, at least 26 executive and legislative elections have been held in Africa. Africans insist on their right to choose their own leaders and participate actively in determining public policy.
Despite the problems it still faces, Africa is overcoming the devastating heritage of colonialism and disputes among the great powers of the Cold War. More and more, it is becoming a continent of peace and progress.
As president of Brazil, I travelled to 26 African countries to expand political, economic and social relations. Over the past decade, Brazil’s partnerships with African countries have widened and diversified. Since leaving the presidency, I have visited 10 countries on the continent at the invitation of their presidents and the African Union. I have debated the challenges ahead with young people, business and union leaders and officials from government offices and development agencies.
Africa’s leaders understand that they must challenge the nonsensical, recessive and exclusionary reasoning of many so-called developed countries. Instead of cutting investments, firing workers and lowering salaries and retirement benefits, thus reducing credit and consumption, almost all African countries have adopted policies that encourage investment, generate employment and promote internal markets.
The African Union, which has just celebrated its 50th anniversary, is right — now is the time to be bold, not passive. It is time for solidarity among nations, not time for stronger economies to pressure weaker ones.
Africa is again in charge of its own destiny. It does not want to be, and will not be, guided by others. What Africa wants is to promote social
The African middle class now exceeds 300 million people out of a population of about a billion
inclusion and the improved wellbeing of its people without political or military interference from foreign countries. Africa wants nutritional self-sufficiency and energy independence and to build infrastructure that will enable trade and manufacturing to flourish.
That is why the programme for infrastructure development in Africa, recently approved by all 54 nations of the African Union, has assumed enormous importance. The programme, whose motto is “Interconnecting, integrating and transforming a continent”, is slated to invest more than $360-billion by 2040 in projects that focus on energy, sanitation, transportation, irrigation and communications.
When the African Union offers an initiative of this magnitude, it shows the seriousness of those who, when faced with a crisis, neither despair nor fail. Poverty and misery are not unsolvable laws of nature. There is no shortage of food or the technology to increase its production. There is no reason to accept that nearly one billion human beings — 239 million of whom live in Africa, according to the United Nations — continue to suffer daily from hunger and malnutrition.
The fight to end hunger and poverty is not just a moral imperative in any democracy worthy of the name. Social inclusion generates new jobs and drives economic growth.
Other countries have followed a similar path. I was in Mexico at the invitation of President Enrique Peña Nieto for the launch of his national crusade against hunger. Cash transfer programmes have been adopted in countries as varied as India and Ecuador. I was pleased to learn from the prime minister of Haiti that a new programme in his country will provide benefits to 800 000 people — about 8% of the population. In Brazil, no numbers better reflect the success of this strategy of investing in the poor than the 20 million jobs that were created in the formal sector over the past 10 years; 36 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty and 40 million ascended to the middle class.
I am convinced that investment in social programmes, agricultural production and infrastructure in Africa will create millions of new jobs and consumers, driving the demand for products and services and contributing to a return to sustainable growth.
Lula was president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010