Good ol' Gaddafi...

Stop begging, Africa leaders told

Libya's Muammar Gaddafi tells other African leaders to be more self-reliant and stop asking for Western charity.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4647579.stm

One has got to love Mr. Gaddafi's long and empowering tirades. What is disturbing, however, is that though we may be inclined to agree with him on principle, facts tend to prove us the opposite. African leaders - or at least those that actually care - are stuck between the "AID or TRADE" paradigm. They are really eager to stop Africa's begging image, and carve themselves a solid space as TRADE partners.Unfortunately the Global system, and the current power dynamics - especially economically - make it quasi impossible, thus relegating them to the less dignified position of having to accept AID to solve pressing problems, with all the conditions attached to it - as they say beggers are not choosers... I sometimes wonder if we (African and other developing countries) have ever truly been decolonized and liberated, or if we just switched from one form of colonization to another. The theories about neo-colonialism are starting to ring very true right about now. I wonder...