Writing about Africa: More on the debate...

Another article reopening the debate about how badly Africa is covered in the media.

I am really interested in the topic, even if I have only lived in Africa for a year, working from Nairobi and reporting about Africa for three years. My idea is that we can only improve.

How not to write about Africa in 2012 – a beginner's guide

by Binyavanga Wainaina

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/03/how-not-to-write-about-africa

I could not agree more with the first sentence of the column:

"Nairobi is a good place to be an international correspondent. There are regular flights to the nearest genocide, and there are green lawns, tennis courts, good fawning service".

Binyavanga Wainaina is the author of memoir 'One Day I will Write About This Place' and a Kenyan satirist, as he calls himself on Twitter. He is also Director of The Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists at Bard College.  He is the founding editor of the literary magazine 'Kwani?' and won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2002.

 This sentence is harsh for Western media and catchy but so true:

"There are five or six places that have not been fully pacified inside the vision of the world as run by the victors of the cold war: North Korea, Gaddafi (that has been dealt with), Somalia, Afghanistan, the women of Africa, and the poor poor people of China, slaving away under the most terrible conditions doing confusing things like refusing to evolve into Europe. Big places where history is still alive – like Russia, China, the Middle East – are to be feared and demonised. Why can't the Egyptians vote for a nice, safe, British-trained economist who once worked for the World Bank?"

Then he continues further:

"If there was a new map, Africa would be divided into three:

1) Tiny flares of horribleness – Mugabe, undemocratic, war, Somalia, Congo;

2) Tiny flares of wonderfulness. Mandela, World Cup, safari. Baby4Africa! A little NGO that does amazing things with black babies who squirm happily in white saviours' hands because they were saved from an African war. My favourites are clitoraid.com and Knickers 4 Africa – which collects used panties for African women;

3) The rest. Lets call this the "vast grassroots". This part of Africa is run by nameless warlords. When the warlords fall, these places are run by grassroots organisations that are funded by the EU and provide a good place to send gap year kids to help and see giraffes at the same time. Grassroots Africa is good for backpacking because it is the real Africa (no AK47s to bother you, no German package tourists). The vast grassroots exists to sit and wait for agents of sustainability (Europeans) to come and empower them".

Because he concludes and again, I so agree:

"What cannot be said is that history came surging to the present. Market capitalism is shaking, and all of a sudden the vast grassroots has oil and copper, and willing, driven and ambitious hands". 

Which consequently leads Binyavanga Wainaina to add:

"It is not a surprise that, in these days, there is a vast and growing new middle class across the continent: the British, American and European media houses have lost us. Our own are booming, and we are finding deals with CCTV (China) and al-Jazeera. We fly Emirates and Kenya Airways. We make deals with those who see a common and vibrant future being a platform for engagement".

A must read for anyone interested in today's Africa.