Street Lawyer

Pan-Africanist: Africa is poor because Europeans spent centuries exploiting our resources. Normal African: Colonialism was exploitative. But who controls those resources today? Pan-Africanist: African governments, technically. But Western corporations still benefit. Normal African: Who signs the contracts with those corporations? Pan-Africanist: Our corrupt leaders. Normal African: And who receives the money? Pan-Africanist: Our corrupt leaders. Normal African: So why is your revolution always directed at London and Paris instead of the presidential palace down the road? Pan-Africanist: Because you don't understand how neocolonialism works. Normal African: Apparently, it works by making African presidents steal money and buy mansions in the countries they claim are oppressing us. Pan-Africanist: You're oversimplifying centuries of systemic exploitation. Normal African: Fair enough. Let's talk about solutions. How do we become economically independent? Pan-Africanist: We must reject Western dependency and build African institutions. Normal African: Excellent. Where should we start? Pan-Africanist: Education, technology, infrastructure, manufacturing. Normal African: Agreed. Why haven't we done that? Pan-Africanist: Because Western powers deliberately keep Africa underdeveloped. Normal African: So the West is powerful enough to prevent 54 African countries from developing, but somehow powerless to stop China, South Korea, Singapore and other former poor countries from industrializing? Pan-Africanist: Their historical circumstances were different. Normal African: Exactly. So perhaps we should study what they did differently instead of treating history as a permanent excuse. Pan-Africanist: You sound like someone who worships white people. Normal African: I thought we were discussing economics. Pan-Africanist: Economics cannot be separated from colonial history. Normal African: Neither can it be separated from present-day leadership, corruption, productivity, education and institutions. Pan-Africanist: Africa needs leaders like Thomas Sankara. Normal African: Sankara received formal education and military training through institutions established under French colonial rule. Should we acknowledge that too? Pan-Africanist: That's colonial mentality. He used their knowledge against them. Normal African: Wonderful. So we agree that knowledge is useful regardless of who introduced it? Pan-Africanist: You're missing the point. Normal African: I'm beginning to suspect the point is that everything good is African resistance and everything bad is European influence. Pan-Africanist: We must decolonize the African mind! Normal African: Can we first fix the public hospital? Pan-Africanist: You cannot fix institutions without first liberating the African mind. Normal African: The hospital has had no medicine for three weeks. Pan-Africanist: That's the legacy of colonialism. Normal African: The health minister just bought himself a new Range Rover. Pan-Africanist: You really need to read more African history. Normal African: And you need to read the Auditor-General's report.