Editorial
The Curious Case of China [and Africa]
The best allusion to China’s corruption is Nigeria on steroids!
All this notwithstanding, what is most galling about China is how it has successfully managed to infiltrate capitalism and seemingly show what a powerful entity the state can be. Call it what you may: the state acting as an arbiter, a regulator and an investor is the ultimate capitalist. Of course, one could argue that the state is not as motivated by profit as the individual businessman or corporation.
However, China is, again, profiting in more ways than one can imagine. With its state resources, China has a continuous stimulus package on hand whenever the country faces any economic strife. In this ‘downturn’ for the Chinese economy [where it is growing at about 8 percent in juxtaposition to America’s 1.5 percent], the country manipulates the Renmimbi to be more competitive against the dollar.
China has the kind of social safety net liberals go into fainting spells over. Its labor laws – with the absence of effective labor unions – can only be termed ‘ironic’: A nation founded on the Communist principals of sticking up for workers now neglects them. Reductively, American capitalists would consider China’s environment the ultimate investors/gangster’s paradise! No wonder a great many of them invest in China!
But we might miss the heart of the matter in this tale of woe: China is making a major case for itself. There are now more Asian American immigrants than Latinos and Africans. The Chinese immigrants lead the pack in terms of education, wealth and political influence. African immigrants are not even registering on the Richter scale in terms of investing or contributing to political campaigns to acquire influence. Thus, with more and more of China, expect Africa to continue to go further and further into the bottom of oblivion.
This editorial is a collation, fusion and a collaboration between the Editor and Prof. Emmanuel Musaazi of the Habari Network. For comments and responses, please write either [email protected] or [email protected]
