Who Speaks for Africa in a 'Globalized' World?

Africa is a continent that one cannot ignore, somehow. Hate or love her, she is home to all humanity and civilization, and this arouses some sense of homeliness in most people I meet. I have seen people’s eyes brighten, and faces beam, with joy at the mention of ‘Africa’ for no apparent reason. I have interacted with students and researchers whose hearts and academic interests are hinged on Africa. I have heard several people tell me, “I have always wanted to visit Africa.” More often than not, this has made me say silently in my heart, “You know, East or West, home is best.” And with this in mind, I end saying loudly, “Welcome home.” I bet most of them never knew exactly what I meant by these words.Satellite imagery of Africa.

Nonetheless, it would surprise you to know that, to many (ignorant) people in the ‘developed world’, Africa is synonymous to ‘forests’ and/or ‘bushes’. It is no longer surprising to see some people glance at me wondering how I, an African in the ‘civilized world’,  am able to do certain things that involve technology. Some even come to my rescue- lucky me! I have been ‘helped’ several times by people in the launderette ;) I stopped saying, “Hey, I am okay- I know how to do it.” (Enough of digression). With such a perspective, therefore, anything that happens to Africa must have a high degree of visibility potential (capacity to arouse sense of ‘international relevance’) for it to get into the mainstream media and, thus, the attention of the populations in the ‘developed world’.

This means that such an event must be terribly dangerous, catastrophic AND hurting the interest of the developed world for it to appear in the mainstream media as newsworthy. Do I need to say who owns and/or controls these media? I use and’ inCAPS deliberately. You see,  if it is terribly catastrophic/dangerous but does not hurt the interests of some powerful nations, it may not see the light of day in the media.

We all know (I doubt) that during the attack at Charlie Hebdo where12 people were killed, about 2000 people were killed in Baga, Nigeria, by the Boko Haram militants. In the Charlie Hebdo attack, the world was irate and so much concerned so that about 2 million people, including over 40 world leaders, gathered in Paris for a rally of solidarity and ‘national unity’, and 3.7 million people joined demonstrations across France. I bet if you do not remember this, you may remember the slogan (and hashtag) Je suis Charlie (French for “I am Charlie”). There was almost absolute disregard of the Baga incident in which the number of people killed was over 166 timesthose killed in France. Why was Baga ignored?

The placard says “I am Charlie, let’s not forget the victims of Boko Haram’” Photograph: SIA KAMBOU/AFP/Getty Images

Something similar happened in the last few days. The media has been (still is) awash with stories of a 65 year old American father of 6 adult children who suddenly thinks he is a woman. Of course this is relevant to the developed nations and their media, which sadly is globally dominant. At the same time (I’d swear over 90% of you did not know this) a project to provide energy to 600 MILLION Africans was in the offing. Yes, it was. Akon is to launch an ambitious solar energy project- under Akon Lighting Africa initiative- which will bring electricity to 600 million Africans. Energy is a huge issue IN/FOR Africa. Yet, it was not covered as much. It is a non-issue to the ‘developed world’. Never mind the benefactor is based in this world.

What’s my point in this whole debate? I contend that this is a clear indication that the things that concern Africa (and the rest of the ‘developing world’) are very different from the concerns of the ‘developed world’.  For this reason, Africa cannot depend on the west-controlled media as a platform to air her grievances or other issues. Therefore, Africa must own her development and future. Africa must decide what is relevant to her and talk about it. African media, despite having a smaller ‘market share’ of the global media penetration, must not be ashamed to speak of what is African. This is not only fair and just, but a moral duty for the African journalists and anybody else with an iota of empathy for the about 1.17 billion people. If this does not happen, then African issues will forever remain side issues even in the so-called globalized word. God bless Africa.

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