africa follow-up

On a topic related to that of the recent South Africa post, Vox shares his thoughts concerning the troubles of Ethiopia:

Leave Africa to the Africans. It's their problem, so let them sort it out. What is more racist than to insist that an entire continent of human beings are totally incapable of addressing their own problems?

I really like how he brings in the racism trump card with such force against those who always try to claim it as their own. I'm not sure I agree with him entirely though. He's right on as far as government aid is concerned, but I hope and suspect Vox would agree there is a place for missionary activity and other charitable efforts that aim to change the culture from the ground up and not just throw money and "regime change" at surface issues. But that's another topic.

Again, the point of leaving people capable of governing themselves alone to govern themselves is a good one to take away. Either they're capable of self-rule and that right ought to be respected by those of other continents, or they're not capable of it and we need to quit pretending they are by supporting puppet governments or assuming the next strong-arm leader will be better than the last one. Come to think of it, maybe the perpetual influx of Western money and resources into the hands of those who use it only to continue the madness is part of the problem. Methinks Western leaders have been inexcusably slow in learning how governments unlike their own really operate--or at least how they don't operate.