I know you are aware of this; you've seen the reports that over two-thirds of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa is infected with HIV/AIDS.
Starving children, genocide, rampant disease, famine, clandestine government officials, racism, practiced misogynist, female genital mutilation. We're used to hearing about these things, aren't we? When it comes to Africa, we may be interested for a few reasons. We may be concerned about species soon to grow extinct thanks to poachers. We may day-dream about a safari in a posh Range Rover. Perhaps, we want to stroll the lovely streets and avenues of Cape Town and dig for diamonds in the Western Cape of South Africa.
But what we don't want to recognize is our own, individual responsibility to Africa.
What Fritz Is Guilty Of:
1. Wearing a diamond ring most likely mined in Africa. The global economics of diamonds is a vast picture of true monopoly, scandal, and brute greed. Children in the D.R. Congo are the main source of labor and infantry, although human right activists have been working to stop this. In 1975, the diamond trade led Angola to civil war. And we can all thank Kayne West for bringing to light the issue of diamond mining in the Sierra Leone. While we've all know that Belgium has played a huge part in the carving apart and colonization of the African Congo, we forget how vital Belgium's role still is in supporting corruption and war in the Sierra Leone. Most rough diamonds are traded from Sierra Leone into Antwerp, and from Antwerp, to the rest of the world.
I've probably supported a child's death in Sierra Leone.
2. Drug companies.
Now, we all know drug companies are evil, malignant, and down-right greedy. We know they are in cahoots with the government and myriad insurance companies. Half of the time, they 'fudge' statistics on side-effects, deaths caused, and true curing-capacity of medication. Once I saw The Constant Gardener, however, I was agog with outrage.
Where can drug companies test drugs with no worry about too much of an outcry? Somewhere where life is expendable and cheap. Where desperation is rampant and families willing to sacrifice anything for food or decent health. So, it's reasonable to understand why conglomerate businesses profiting from the production and sales of synthetic drugs TEST AFRICANS.
Pfizer has been named as a prime example of this horrible practice. They are the same company that makes Zoloft, the sertraline drug I take for anxiety.
I've definitely supported the out-right immorality of a business giant. And a child has suffered because of my need to stay happy.
To sum up: I am not singularly guilty of causing one death. I am not a murderer. It takes many people to kill a child in Africa. It takes many eyes looking the other way and ignoring the signs. It takes more than one first-world nation to sigh and say "That's just a shame" and then go about dumping nuclear waste off the shores of the forgotten land. It takes millions of Americans too concerned about the Middle East to waste a breath on Africa. I am not alone in the murder of Africa.
We are all conspirators.
Perhaps, it is too late to stop the demise of a once lush and beautiful land. Our efforts of dividing and conquering the natives have succeeded tremendously. Because of the Boers and the English and the French, Africa was stunted in its civil growth, and while we roll our eyes at unrest and tribal genocide, we must understand that perhaps, had it been left alone, Africa would have evolved. Perhaps, it is the influx of outsiders that have led to the dismemberment of what was once a vast and powerful land.
Perhaps, it is time to admit responsibility and save Africa. Or, in the least, mourn her dying, abandoned children.
