China Has Created a New Slave Empire in Africa

[Siam Sam]

Story here. A very sad situation indeed.

"Mistah Mao, he dead!"

[WF Tomba]

I suppose if they want their turn at the colonialist game they'll have it.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Wow. That's certainly interesting to say the very least.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

The 21st century, Heaven help us, belongs to China.

[ralph124c]

China is simultaneously sucking raw materials out of Africa, but also sending its own people out to do the work. This means the africans are screwed two ways:
1) they sell their resources cheap
2) the Chinese use Africa as a market-so local (African) industry can never get off the ground.How can you compete with China?
And, the Chinese expatriates take all of the jobs created! So China extraxts all of the wealth and gives nothing back!
Not even the Belgians were so bad (although King Leopold was pretty bad).
If this continues, Africa wil never develop, and its people will remain terribly poor. There will never be any local manufacturing, and no need for an educated class.
Truly the worst of both worlds!

[appleciders]

Wow. The first picture in that article is just appalling.

[usedtobe]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

<snip>

I can't be the only one to note this...

Sam - you are

What ethnicity?

From which country

Living/working on what continent?

Doing work that could be done by locals, had they the proper education/training/experience?

Yet, because it is "those people" in the other "those countries"...

At least it was noted that many Chinese (in China) live no better that the Africans at the bottom of the chinese/african ladder

Did I misread the story, or did the Chinese sew up the Iraqi oil exports?

But maybe not all is lost - maybe the chinese will allow is to mill some of the timber they buy - timber. rice, Boeing and Caterpillar

[Petrobey Mavromihalis]

Originally Posted by appleciders

Wow. The first picture in that article is just appalling.

In what way, exactly?

Or maybe you mean the photo of Peter Hitchens? In which case I agree entirely.

[even sven]

Hmm. I could send you a hundred pictures of French foremen supervising African workers (most of whom are happy to get a job, even if it is exploitation). Cameroon was packed to the gills with French engineers, French supervisors, French plantation ownders and French managers- filling up all the well paid positions on any government project (and usually doing half the project and splitting the proceeds with corrupt officials). "Resources out- expensive projects using foreign labor" in is a story as old as the first ship that landed on African shores. It's been going on for centuries and is still going on in a huge way by people around the world. The fact that now it is the "yellow peril" doesn't change the material of it at all.

Remember all the things that were said about Indians in Africa?

That said, China's hands are all up in Africa's business for good and for bad. Truth is, nobody else ever really bothered to do anything there, so it's a wide open space. We are talking totally untapped markets- and a huge need for basic consumer goods- that has been ignored for decades because nobody wanted the risk. So yeah, of course China is going to move in! We probably should have done the same! And yeah, there are a lot of dirty dealing with corrupt leaders that don't benefit the public at all. But this never bothered us before.

It's something to keep an eye on and something that will come up again in the future, but this particular article was just scare-mongering.

It is also worth noting that China does do some good work (no doubt with ulterior motives, as most aid is). They have built schools, markets, infrastructure and hospitals that really do improve people's lives.

[puddleglum]

It seems odd that just because Africans are doing manual labor, slavery is invoked. The Africans want those jobs so much that the author as in danger of being killed because the workers thought he might cause the mine to be closed.
Africa is in a sad situation, but the author seems to be sneering at people working hard to improve their lives.

[rowrrbazzle]

Originally Posted by even sven

It is also worth noting that China does do some good work (no doubt with ulterior motives, as most aid is). They have built schools, markets, infrastructure and hospitals that really do improve people's lives.

Yes, and Mussolini made the trains run on time (apocryphally).

Originally Posted by Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor

The 21st century, Heaven help us, belongs to China.

Only if we let it.

[Marley23]

Originally Posted by usedtobe

Yet, because it is "those people" in the other "those countries"...

How many slaves are you suggesting Siam Sam has? The article is about purported economic exploitation, not about emigration in general.

[ralph124c]

This thread got me to wondering..if China continues this relationship, will these (African) countries ever develop? It seems to me that the Chinese are taking all the wealth, and that the jobs created are all low level. So, while the Chinese might invest in ports, railroads, this is only to facilitate the extraction of raw materials. So, I think this is a lot like Belgium, ca 1890 or so.

[Siam Sam]

Originally Posted by Marley23

How many slaves are you suggesting Siam Sam has? The article is about purported economic exploitation, not about emigration in general.

It's SO hard to pick out the good ones down at the market. I have to throw back maybe half the ones I buy! And have you ever tried haggling for a refund on a slave?

For the record, although I don't want to get into what it is exactly I do here, but no, actually a local could NOT do what I'm doing, which is a big reason why the government allows me to stay here long term, and I mean above board with the proper visa and no dodgy visa runs. I've found quit a unique niche.

[even sven]

Originally Posted by rowrrbazzle

Yes, and Mussolini made the trains run on time (apocryphally).

Are you saying I'm wrong?

I got a bad case of malaria in Cameroon, and my local Chinese hospital ran my tests and gave me drugs. If they weren't there the other options would be the local sorcerer, or crowding on to a van for the three hour dirt road ride to the state capitol while I was shaking and hallucinating.

I had electricity in my city because of the Chinese hydroelectric dam that was the only source of power for two provinces. Once an elephant knocked over a pylon near the dam and two states (everything north of Garoua) were in darkness for a week. All the old women were upset because the electric grain grinders didn't work and they had to go back to spending all day grinding their millet by hand.

My friend Mairamou's daughter is going to go to school for the first time this year because China funded a middle school in her village. Parents are weary of sending their girls to school in distant towns and local funds exist to hire teachers, but not for class room construction.

Of course their are strings attached to all of this, especially on a national level. But you can't say that China never did a single good thing in Africa. These people aren't monsters you know.

ralph124c, I think you are missing that even without China, Africa still resembles Belgium circa 1890. The road to my town (and the main road through the country) was owned and maintained by a largely French owned cotton company. That road got repaired exactly once a year- when it came time to haul the cotton harvest down to the port. Guess what nationality the foremen are on these projects? The electricity company was owned by Americans. Guess where power lines got strung? To mines and factories that American invested in. Guess who owns the cocoa plantations that use child slaves (who have, of course, never tasted chocolate)? Guess who owns the timber companies that are, as we speak, hauling the rainforest out of the country? Guess who assassinated the last major opposition candidate in Cameroon?

It's not Africa, and it's not China.

I'm not saying any of this is good. Just kind of funny that now all of a sudden that China is involved we care.

[Petrobey Mavromihalis]

Yes, I agree with even sven.

I just wanted to add that Peter Hitchens writing in the Daily Mail is like a weird, grand alliance of scaremongering.

[Ale]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

It's SO hard to pick out the good ones down at the market. I have to throw back maybe half the ones I buy! And have you ever tried haggling for a refund on a slave?

Have you tried Chatuchak market? Say bwana Ale sent you and you'll get a discount

[Siam Sam]

Originally Posted by Ale

Have you tried Chatuchak market? Say bwana Ale sent you and you'll get a discount

Yeah, I tried Chatuchak, but it's the same as the puppies you buy there: They keel over and die within a week!

[Ale]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

Yeah, I tried Chatuchak, but it's the same as the puppies you buy there: They keel over and die within a week!

Have you tried feeding them?

[Siam Sam]

Originally Posted by Ale

Have you tried feeding them?

D'oh!