September 13, 2006

I think I present African issues too simply. I keep writing that foreign aid gets in the way of Africans doing things for themselves, and that nothing will happen until the people of this continent take charge.

But things aren’t that simple, especially in Cameroon. Rebecca was having a discussion with one of her colleagues, and the colleague said that it’s difficult to listen to people saying that Africans need to stand up for themselves. Blah, blah, blah…everything I always say. She didn’t say that I was wrong - again, we’re getting away from simplicity here.

What she said was that in Cameroon, people have tried. In the early 1960s, they tried to get the bums out through bullets. The bums had bigger guns. In the early 1990s, they tried to get the bums out through ballots. Actually, they did vote the bums out. But the bums had better thieves and blatantly rigged the whole process.

What Bec’s colleague says Cameroon needs is for the French, the Americans, the British and the other donor countries to walk into the Godfather’s office, say we’re tired of this nonsense and demand changes. Would that be effective? I don’t know. That’s essentially what’s happening with World Bank debt relief right now, and you know what, I don’t think it’s working.

But the more dispiriting answer is that it won’t happen. People are too concerned with “stability”. I’ve actually heard about the French ambassador saying to visitors that if the Cameroonian people had too much information, they would rise up against the government. This, in his view, would be a bad thing. This is not surprising, given that it was the French ambassador. What was more surprising is that most of the other diplomats at this meeting agreed. They said that if civil society groups got active, there would be problems in society. Hello? There are problems in the society. And just because there would be protests, it doesn’t mean there would necessarily be violence. As a friend at this gathering said, what do they expect, people with machetes coming over the hills?

American diplomats here talk a good game in public, but I’m not sure they do much in private. I do know that with them it depends on the issue. I’ve witnessed some get directly involved with very sticky situations. But I’m just not sure how much they do behind the scenes, where it really matters.

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In many ways, Cameroon is Africa light. I was pitching a story on the destruction of forests here. I had an editor interested, but he then said they were doing a similar story on Liberia, and it also involved gunrunning and rebels and recovery from war. Damn.

So then I was pitching what the Cameroonians gracefully call “jungle justice”. In other words, they mean vigilante justice where mobs attack a suspected thief with machetes or something because they know the police won’t do anything about it. Interesting story, right?

Well, the Liberian government just urged its people to form vigilante groups because the police can’t protect them. Again, I was trumped by Liberia.

On a human level, living in Africa light is a good thing. In their own way, things function in Cameroon and you can see how things can get better. But having spectacular disasters elsewhere really makes it hard to move a story.

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Speaking of that, tomorrow I file my first story for the Christian Science Monitor. It’s on fighting music piracy. The story is being done on spec, which means they can choose whether or not they run it. There are no guarantees. But at least I’ve got my foot in the door. I hope I didn’t just jinx it (there go those superstitions). I’ll keep you posted.

But I know what many of you are thinking. Catholic News Service? Christian Science Monitor? Well, if you get me the contacts the Jewish Week and they want something on Cameroon, I’ll write for them too. This is totally mercenary.

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I’d like to introduce you all to someone. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned my friend Blake in this space before. Anyway, he’s a Canadian journalist I met in Kampala. He was kicked out of Uganda soon after I met him, and is now in Ghana.

He’s been a big influence on me – many of the ideas I’ve expressed on Another Day in Shrimpistan I’ve bounced off him. I think I was coming around to his views before we met and he helped me crystallize them. But then again, he’s very persuasive.

So, here’s one of his stories on a topic near and dear to my heart – leadership.

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And finally, Joyce made the paper.

Mark says Joyce Bakeshop is like the Peach Pit for Brooklynite Vassar grads. I’m growing out my sideburns for my trip home. It’ll be like when Dylan came back.

Yeah, that’s right, Amanda. I watched 90210 when no one was around. The truth comes out!