The elite technology show has come to Africa. Africans are pleading for investment, which angers the Irish rock star.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Bono, of U2, attended the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference in Tanzania.
Credit: 3ality |
Technology, Entertainment, Design, Chris Anderson's invitation-only conference for the good and great of technology, has come to Africa, but on the first day we heard very little about technology.
Anderson somehow convinced about a thousand people to come to rural Tanzania.
Many of the princes of Silicon Valley are here, including Google's Larry Page, the venture capitalist John Doerr, and Jay Walker, the founder of Priceline and Walker Digital. The rock star Bono (who suggested to Anderson that he host an African show) turned up. But there are people here from 40 countries, including (mercifully) many Africans.
Anderson says the purpose of the show is to tell the story of an Africa that is newly entrepreneurial, growing in wealth, more and more tech-savvy, and increasingly politically stable.
He says, "It's a story that is unfolding in villages, towns, and cities across the continent--and it's a story that's not well known outside of Africa."
So far, the show has been bluntly promotional. I felt I might have been attending a meeting of the heads of different African Chambers of Commerce. Indeed, the first speaker was the U.S. head of the South African Chamber of Commerce.
There have been some consistent themes. The first is that the media is morally culpable for propagating images of African poverty, famine, war, and despair. This made me feel impatient. Surely we can agree that while there are other, more benign stories in Africa, journalists are not misrepresenting reality when they write about poor, hungry, beaten, and despairing Africans?
But the second, more interesting theme--echoed by every speaker--is that traditional aid and charity, whether distributed by nation-states or nongovernmental bodies, have failed. Andrew Mwenda, a Ugandan journalist and social worker, now a fellow at Stanford, made the case most strongly. He argued convincingly that 30 years of Western aid to Africa has achieved nothing at all. More, he said that the persistence of African poverty could be explained, in part, by aid. He explained that aid had convinced the brightest Africans to work for corrupt governments rather than as entrepreneurs, and it had "distorted the incentive structure."
"What man or nation," Mwenda asked, "has ever become rich by holding out a begging bowl?"
Far better, he said, is finding Westerners to invest in African entrepreneurs or businesses, which would create wealth. Mwenda, like other speakers, described at length the investment opportunities in Africa. (I half expected the pitch to be directly addressed to Doerr et al.)
This line of argument enraged Bono, however, who began heckling Mwenda.
"Bollocks!" he shouted. "That's bullshit."
Bono is a strong supporter of intelligently managed aid. When it came his turn to speak, he said that Ireland's current prosperity is explained by government investment in its people, particularly education. He said that listening to Mwenda was like listening to an African Margaret Thatcher.
Oh, and everything you've heard about Bono's height is entirely true: he really is remarkably short.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Comments
Buckwheat469 on 06/05/2007 at 4:41 PM
33
The article states "Bono is a strong supporter of intelligently managed aid." It also says that Bono states "that Ireland's current prosperity is explained by government investment in its people, particularly education." This seems to be a paradox, because he's saying that he supports intelligent aid, as opposed to aid in general, but he also says that the government should support itself by investing in itself.
I wholly agree that giving out aid will not solve the underlying issues of the government, but the hope was to give the people enough time to change the government slowly. The government won't change overnight, but joining together as industrialized countries do and building simple resources that can change the economy of Africa is not that difficult for us to do. A single dam can save thousands and reduce the amount of money we give to them by millions per year. Simple things are the things most commonly overlooked.
backtomac on 06/06/2007 at 10:46 AM
1
secondmidnite on 06/05/2007 at 5:48 PM
2
dmm on 06/06/2007 at 11:28 AM
140
Africans need to stop whining and stop blaming everyone else for their problems. Of course, one could say that about MOST people nowadays.
rwn3 on 06/06/2007 at 12:41 PM
6
Ohterwise a good entry. The debate over aid vs. investment is finally coming to the surface. I don't know the answer, but do believe that one has to look beyond the 'African' label, because there is a whole range of economic situations contained therein, and one size solutions don't fit all.
For those new to TED and interested in the subject of thrid-world development, I highly recommend the video of Hans Rosling's talk made to TED a few years back.
(http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92)
tierney on 06/06/2007 at 1:08 PM
2
> began heckling Mwenda.
>
> "Bollocks!" he shouted. "That's bullshit."
It's interesting that Bono's brain can't seem to
hold two conflicting views which basically
come down to: "Give a man a fish, feed him for
a day, teach a man to fish, feed him for a
life time".
Mwenda is simply trying to get this point across.
Bono would rather shout down any critical
thinking.
The height comment I think is appropriate. A
short man on a soap box with a microphone won't
let anyone else critique his viewpoints. Bono
doesn't realize that in life, unlike one of his
concerts, there's two way communication. He
needs to take off his sunglasses, put down the
microphone and listen.
tierney on 06/06/2007 at 3:24 PM
2
year about Bono, U2 and their seemingly
contradictory actions versus their rhetoric on
countries taxing for aid (google "Bono" and
"taxes" to read the various stories).
Basically Ireland gave artists (writers and
musicians etc.) tax free income on their royalties.
The tax laws are changing, a minimum will be
tax free and the rest taxed. U2 is moving
their "intellectual property" to a tax free
haven, the Netherlands I believe.
The hypocrisy is that Bono asks the Irish
government to spend more of GDP on global aid
yet doesn't want to have his tax dollars go
towards that government.
In this story, he cites how Ireland has
promoted business yet he seemingly doesn't
want to support that government.
Not that he's the first "celebrity" to
do this but as Ralph Waldo Emerson said:
"The louder he talked of his honor, the faster
we counted the spoons."
cullen on 06/09/2007 at 9:01 AM
3
It's interesting that some people have interpreted what (I hope) was a simple observation of a celebrity and tried to turn it into a slur or metaphor. As though there were some inherent worth to those who are freakishly tall - say, 5'9" or taller.
Mental Patient on 08/17/2007 at 4:44 PM
1
It's downright hysterical that his comments on what a great investment climate it is
were made on the exact same day that the South African Development Council props up Dictator for life, Mugabe of Zimbabwe
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=17193
you know, the same guy who took the farms of generations long white settlers using terrost tactics learned from north korea, killing the political leaders and allowing prison thugs to harrass the farmers on a daily basis without police inteference. All cranked up while the worlds head was turned away with the preoccupation of 9/11 in the news.... then gave the farms to their own ministers, police chiefs and judges who don't know or even care about farming... thus a country with 7,000% inflation...
Invest in Africa? yeah, right...
do your homework... or you can just know nothing and shout objections like all class Dunces...