SYMPOSIUM ON AFRICA
Frontpagemag.com, run by conservative activist and writer David Horowitz is generally a scorched-earth, take-no-prisoners style of website. Every so often though, they take a break from bare-knuckle brawling with the radical Left and Jamie Glazov has a round-table on larger issues. This one was on African development – or rather the lack thereof- and featured some big names including Ralph Peters and Michael Radu. An excerpt from Peters:
“To remain with eastern Africa, I believe that Dr. Dalrymple is right on target when he faults tribal mindsets and inherited behavior patterns. Given that the French and Dutch just voted along tribal lines in a set of referenda on the proposed European constitution, perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised at the persistence of tribal loyalties in history-shocked societies in Africa. The tribe remains the bedrock of security. In up-country Kenya, economics traditionally have been viewed as a zero-sum game. What one tribe gains, another loses–a reasonable proposition in a cattle-raiding culture or where fertile land is scarce and water precious. Corruption–the greatest plague of all upon the developing world–comes naturally to these paternalistic societies and, as pointed out by other participants, is not viewed as corrupt in our sense. On the contrary, it is our behavior that seems unfathomable and terribly risky.
So you have these ferocious, persistent cultural inheritances that are very hard to change–there’s no formula–and natural blood loyalties that, viewed objectively, make more rational sense than the interfaith, interethnic, interracial trust acquired so painfully in North America (still far from universal even in Europe). And, around the world, I’ve seen the proof of the maxim that any society in which blood ties remain the basic principle of social and economic organization simply cannot compete in the 21st century (even in American society, those groups and regions in which blood ties remain tenacious are the least economically successful).”
Sometimes Glazov includes figures from the Left or even the far Left in these symposiums though this does not appear to be the case today.
( hat tip Milt’s File )
August 24th, 2005 at 7:26 pm
Hmmm, that seems more than slightly overdone, although I would agree on many levels (overdone slightly in re blood ties obs and economic items, rather comically overdone in re Dutch and French votes and the North America comment).
Where does the comment come from specifically?
Regardless, though, interesting comment, if overdrawn in some detials and in others rather sadly parochial.
August 25th, 2005 at 3:22 am
Hi Col-
Yes, that was a bit of a dramatic overgeneralization. Catchy though.
It is in the frontpage roundtable http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=19189 if you scroll down a bit.
Peters is the reverse of the the usual suspect. Most historians and political scientists dabble in matters of war and strategy. Peters is a retired officer and military strategist who dabbles in history and political theory. Bright, prolific guy though.
August 25th, 2005 at 11:14 am
Ah, ….. well Peters says some painfully stupid things about Xianity and Islam in Africa that speak more to his religious bigotry than to anything else. That was a painful read. A truly painful read.
The general comments on Islamic law in North Africa were equally stupid. The legal issues for businesses in North Africa are not Islamic law (there’s near zero influence), they’re fucking Code Civil! Too much Western influence via France.
Sorry mate, these whankers were engaging in …. sadly misinformed speculation.