The Sunday Mail
Dzidziso Nyadzayo
A country is only as great as its people believe it to be. A statement doesn’t have to be true to have an effect. Americans are arrogant, ignorant and they live in a bubble to the exclusion of everyone else but they hold on to that belief that they are the greatest, which may not be objectively true but it’s true for them.
They prescribe this idea of the “American Dream” which is in itself an elusive thing but it’s what drives their economy, military dominance and society.
They are certainly not the moral high ground but whatever they do is for the benefit of America and Americans. We might hate them for it but we certainly ought to admire them for it.
Here in Africa, we could learn a thing or two from them because we have to have an “African Dream” of our own, it should be mainstream in every society and it should be aggressive . . . we are already well equipped and ready for it!
We have had Pan-Africanism which was aimed at the uniqueness of identity but we need an idea that drives not just identity but the economy, health, industry, and military (yes military as well because that is how we protect our gains, sovereignty, and ideals).
In the bible, it says we must subdue the earth, which was the most basic commands given to man!
That was the reason for God putting us on this earth, to exert our dominance over it and lesser creation.
The British at their peak were the most prominent example of this, control two-thirds of the earth’s land. They are not anymore, then came America who’s military presence spreads across the earth.
They became the new world leader because they bought into the lie of America being the greatest and they bought into it so much it became true.
We may hate them for it but it’s a cry of a dwarf in the shadow of a giant.
Here in Africa, we have the resources and willpower to become the next power after Britain and America; it’s possible if we change our mindset.
We possess 93 percent of essential minerals and resources than the rest of the world combined!
If we wanted, we could build industries large enough to power the rest of the world just by the sheer power of the resources we have.
I want to learn about the American dream and how it inspired one of the greatest industrial booms in the 20th century and adapt it into an African dream.
America is mean, selfish and won’t share but they don’t owe anyone anything.
They come in and take whatever they want.
We were all created equal but the harsh truth about God’s command to subdue the earth is that if you don’t exert your dominance someone else will exert theirs over you and there is isn’t a goddamn thing you can do about it but complain.
Africans have never had to be aggressive with the rest of the world enough to build giant ships to cross halfway around the world to conquer “new” lands but that’s only because we’ve never had to.
We’ve always had the best weather, resources, and conditions enough to sustain our survival. We used to freely trade with the rest of the world on an equal footing because we had enough to go around.
Moreso, we are a peaceful non-confrontational people, our basic model of living is inclusive of everyone and equal benefit for everyone. But things are not the same anymore, the players are the same but the game is different!
Suddenly there’s not enough for everyone, our land has been carved up by colonists to divide us. Suddenly those resources we had in plenty are either owned by some European family or the little we have we sell for cheap.
Suddenly societies that used to thrive in the north are marred by hunger and war.
We cannot operate as usual like everything is normal, it’s not! Our economies are failing!
There are more and more people looking for jobs yet jobs are getting fewer. Yet we still have a large endowment of resources, we are also well educated. But our education system has failed us because it’s become a curse, exporting our best talent and most skilled labour simply because we could not look past middle management!
Even worse we open our ports to so-called “investors” or goodwill funders.
My law lecturers always warned us that in this world there is no such thing as a free lunch!
Every investor’s goal is to take back more than they put in, it’s not for the benefit of the investment, it’s for the benefit of the investor!
Were they write bigger cheques, beware because the cost is larger. It’s a classic situation of Esau trading his birthright for a bowl of soup.
In return we get crumbs from selling raw materials cheap, we don’t get technology from it and they dangle the carrot that is jobs which aren’t worth a bucket to piss in.
We open our legs to everyone to come and take advantage then leave.
Only a few billion dollars come in as a distraction and we are so amazed, yet for people like Warren buffet making billions is a part of their everyday morning routine, it can’t be enough to sustain a whole country.
We need to focus on building our own investors because even though they do it for their own benefit, their wealth stays here and is taxable. We don’t need foreign currency because it’s one of the tools which we are short-changed.
Because how it is that American and European currency is backed by gold which comes from here, yet our currencies are worth 12times less than theirs?
How do you explain that to a 2-year-old! I’ve found through research into foreign exchange that it doesn’t matter what mineral backs a currency but how much control a government has over the quantity.
Right now in Zimbabwe, we have a liquidity crunch not because bond notes are not worth much, but because of how much of it is in circulation.
George Washington in America created what were called IOUs which were government backed notes or promises to pay, which weren’t backed by any minerals but the government controlled their quantity and was able to pay soldiers in the war and the economy boomed.
We should know all of these things and make financial literacy mainstream in our education to learn how money, currencies, and economies work because that’s the only way what we have on the ground or in hand is worth what it should be on paper.
If you take the tobacco industry, for example, I heard farmers say they are expecting about 4 to 5 dollars at the floors. I may not know about the production of tobacco production but I know about market fluctuations when it comes to stock trading and stock derivatives like tobacco, corn, . . .
The tobacco industry is controlled by 5 main companies, Phillip Morris, Altria, Chinese tobacco, Rothmans and British American Tobacco.
They buy tobacco and they determine what prices they will pay for it depending on demand for their cigarette from their key markets.
In the past decade, American smokers have dropped to half because of stricter legislation on marketing tobacco, health concerns, and taxes.
In Australia, they have the plain packaging law which has dropped demand for cigarettes by 43 percent.
These companies now depend on Indonesia which has poorer restrictions and a large number of under age smokers.
That will definitely affect the average producer here in Africa without them even knowing.
This happens with other raw materials we produce because we don’t yet have formal markets where we trade our stocks in raw materials where we can control our own prices and not have to sell stuff for pennies to the dollar.
Dzidziso Nyadzayo is a student and a believer in the African Dream.
