AFRICA: WE’RE ON OUR OWN
by Raffael Mbendera

Nick Nolte’s United Nations character in the movie, Hotel Rwanda, made the bold statements to Don Cheadle that reviews this atrocious view- we’re on our own. “You’re not a nigger. You’re black. You’re an African”, spits Nolte at Cheadle in this multi-Oscar nominated film.

The disgrace of a world that watched in silence and later shamed to action when it was too late- is evidenced further in scenes where white foreigners are escorted out of Rwanda. Western nations, those which benefited from the colonization of Africa, deserted Africa then, and now they are working against a so-called war on terrorism to secure their own greener pastures from terrorists like us: African, Asian, Arab…different. Yes, ladies and gentlemen we’re on our own. Nothing much has changed.

Sure, good old Bob Geldof puts up Live Aid music shows and the pictures of starving babies make hearts explode in rage and disbelief. “How can people be so cruel?” the voices wonder. But let’s face the facts: Geldof is a musician and artists like him (those with a conscience) may make noise for a good cause and a memorable weekend but when it comes to the nitty-gritty it’s the men in suits and government chambers who shape the world we live in. And it’s the policy makers, the people we could become, who make the real change.

Current situations in Africa read like classic novels, that non-African media giants have written for us in a bid to package the mess into neat sound bites. The continent’s turmoil has been fitted neatly into any one of these categories: war, famine or disease. Some countries are riddled with all these. Headliners providing the winning formula include South Africa (HIV/Aids), Niger (famine), Sudan (war) and even Zimbabwe could be classified as a war zone. They may be no bombings like Gaza in Zimbabwe, but our fellow Africans are dying from the effects of political warfare and the country does have more than three-million people running around the world just like Palestinian refugees.

And, hey, do you perhaps notice the irony of 25th May every year – the day when African Nations celebrates the Annual Africa day? It is on this day that the Amnesty International, the human rights monitor, releases its annual report. African governments are always shamefully single out for watching the continuation of armed conflicts, violence against women and political repression. Just to name a few issues.

It would be easy to become pessimistic and cynical and run-off to the UK or Australia or wherever else we may imagine encountering a peaceful world without crime, slime and grime. I admit, after dropping out of college, I thought of moving to Singapore it has an excellent public transport system and the country is super safe. I hate doing this though. I hate running away. But at the same time, I hate using my words to try to convince people to stay home and to be nationalistic. I hate nationalism and, after all, the world becomes home ideally.

I also hate the concept of being South African and, in so implying, that maybe South Africans are better off than other Africans. The arrogance of their (South Africans) non-Africaness is noted by other Africans who point out their quest to separate themselves from the rest of the ailing 51 countries that comprise our continent. This is our downfall as Africans.

And in these moments of self-defining tragedies, we need to question ourselves and our alones. Who changes our situations? Who writes our stories? Who ends our wars, famine and disease? Who creates our peace? Who decides our fate? What time is too late? Damn, is this the Africa that we will leave behind?

It doesn’t matter where you find yourself in this galaxy, because ultimately something will guide every hitchhiker home. And home is where we’ve lost our hearts, in Africa, under starry skies and among the diverse voices of life. We deserve to dare ourselves and to challenge our own comfort zones with that which we don’t know so that we may discover all the things we still need to know. We need to get to know Africa.

Hotel Rwanda ends with a song. “Why can’t we be the United Kingdom of Africa…The United States of Africa”, goes the words. Lets unite for our own comfort.