Why Africa is still poor? And why almost every country is poor?
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Africa is a land very rich in resources but materially, very poor. This is clearly true. There is no single reason for this, but I would say that a system of imperial exploitation of Africa is probably the number one reason it is this way. While the system of explicit colonization is over, a system of neo-colonialism and debt slavery have replaced the old system of colonization and slavery.
In the 60s when lots of African countries fought wars for independence, or were “granted” independence, they were not able to get rid of their loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This means that when they were finally able to “govern themselves”, they were saddled with massive amounts of debt. This seriously hurt their ability to develop their countries and provide social services. The IMF would allow restructuring of debt, but only if these countries adopt certain policies that are ameable to the “free market”, meaning foreign investment for pennies on the dollar, European and American companies buying up natural resource rights for relatively very cheap.
There is also the problem of corruption – there is a level of corruption that is very high in many of these countries. Corruption of course is not necessarily a result of colonization or neo-colonialism. However, it must be said that European and American intelligence agencies have meddled in the internal politics of a bunch of African countries.
Thomas Sankara, a revolutionary leader from Burkina Faso, gained power and began instituting massive reforms and had ambitions to creat a union of African states to act as an economic block. He enacted a policy of de-desertification and housing rights for the people and policies of anti-corruption. He was killed most likely with the help of French and American intelligence, as well as his old friend.
Kwame Nkrumah, a revolutionary leader of Ghana, actually wrote about this specifically in his book *Neocolonialism*. He too advocated for African Unity, and was also overthrown in a coup,, with the help of American intelligence.
In closing, there has been a very long war fought against Africa by the west. The vast resources available in Africa are coveted by the world. A system of colonialism, neo-colonialism, and debt slavery has been used as a bludgeon to keep africa poor while extracting/stealing as many resources as humanly possible.
You could actually look at South America and deduce the same thing. I’m sure there will be those around here who disagree with me though.
I know that’s not a short answer or even an uncomplicated answer, and I’m very sure I missed some stuff.
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