Copenhagen's residual value

In 1774, British author, Member of Parliament and 4^th Earl of Oxford Horace Walpole made the irreverent observation that "Africa is, indeed, coming into fashion." It seems to me that this sentiment retains relevance today. From the proliferation of celebrities-turned-advocates to growing commercial participation in activism campaigns, American popular culture appears to have had its surface-level consciousness penetrated by the plight of the continent’s inhabitants. Disappointingly, this often materializes in a dimension deficient in accurate or adequately researched information. Modern iconoclast and NYU Professor of Economics, William Easterly has written prolifically about contemporary aid practices, especially the more overtly questionable ones. His discussion of Bono’s (RED) corporation, widely recognizable due to its extensive partner licensing to other prominent corporations like Gap, Starbucks, American Express and Apple, exemplifies both the dubious information commercial campaigns often disseminate as well as the lucrative motivations they have to engage narratives of charity. The exemplary case of Starbucks shows how companies capitalize both on Africa’s current cachet as well as the highly consumptive American culture. It’s now conceivable to ‘save’ Africa simply by continuing, or perhaps even amplifying one’s excessive consumption. This is delightfully convenient (who doesn’t love to shop?) and simultaneously elides the complex historical context, not to mention culpability, in which the crises at hand are embedded. Such an inanely sanguine approach to poverty reduction is reminiscent of former President Bush’s 2006 stimulus package promotion imploring us to fulfill our duty as economic stimulants by getting out to “go shopping more”. That worked well…

The point here however, is not simply to critique some of the mainstream attempts to ‘help’ Africans for their condescending and ill-researched approaches. This task has been adequately attended to by others. What I want to do is highlight an important linkage which has not received much attention but might better channel the charitable energies discussed above. The desire to help Africans is indeed very decent, and it is for this reason that those who have the resources required to do so should be guided in an appropriate direction. So, for those wanting to ‘do something’ for Africans, I applaud your selflessness and believe I have some suggestions you might appreciate.

Columbia Professor of Anthropology Lila Abu-Lughod has taken up issues of international charity and humanitarianism, and is thus of assistance. When discussing ways in which socially conscious individuals living in the North can effectively help their counterparts in the South, Abu-Lughod encourages “asking how we, living in this privileged and powerful part of the world, might examine our own responsibilities for the situations in which others in distant places have found themselves…and how we might contribute to making the world a more just place.” To this I might add that to help somebody, it may be prudent to start by determining what it is exactly they want, and then to work with them to achieve or obtain that outcome. This kind of cooperation and solidarity avoids the pitfalls of unintended condescension and arrogance which so often impels critiques of charities. So, if one wants to help Africans, as many today seem to, an appropriate starting point would be an inquiry as to what Africans may want help with. Of course, a continent comprised of 53 countries and over a billion people will produce nearly as many opinions and aspirations. However, in the midst of this multiplicity, The Copenhagen Summit has offered a rare opportunity which will undoubtedly excite anyone interested in determining the priorities of many Africans. Due to the unambitious objectives set by the US and European countries regarding carbon emission cuts and allowable global temperature increases, the African negotiating bloc walked out of, and thereby suspended, negotiations both during the Copenhagen Summit, as well as at the Summit’s preceding meetings a month earlier in Barcelona. Anyone concerned with the plight of Africans is clearly troubled by the fact that the US-EU proposed limit of a 2 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures translates into 3-3.5 degree increase in Africa; a rise that will aggravate current droughts and water shortages already facing the continent, in turn endangering an additional 55 million people with hunger and up to 600 million with deficient water supplies. Given the US and European countries’ culpability in creating the climate crisis, the cruel irony that its effects are felt strongest in the global South should further impel empathetic individuals to seek environmental justice for poor countries.

So, while Africa has become a conspicuous focus of innumerable pop-culture campaigns, these too often ignore the outcomes Africans themselves deem important. A more collaborative approach to aid would likely engender preferable outcomes as they would be more relevant to the lives of those ostensibly being targeted. To this end, Copenhagen offers a unique opportunity. African leaders were given a platform on which they could express their development priorities, literally giving anyone wishing to help them explicit targets to work towards. The conclusions to be drawn then, are: 1.) anyone wanting to ‘help or aid’ up to half of Africa’s population should begin by reducing their own environmental impact and should then push their government to adopt more ambitious environmental conservation objectives; and 2.) even those who did not before think they had the ability to ‘help or aid’ Africans now find themselves in the position to do so simply by considering the ways in which their own lifestyle negatively impacts the environment (big cars, big houses, excessive consumption of meat, excessive consumption of material goods, etc.) and then changing those aspects of their lifestyles.

No longer will buying a T shirt or cup of coffee suffice; if you want to have a positive impact on the lives of Africa’s inhabitants, or at least not have an expressly negative one, it’s time to rethink your approach to aid. Rather than assume you or your charity of choice knows what is best for Africans, perhaps listening to what they themselves report they need is a preferable approach. Speaking in Copenhagen, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said "We are facing impending disaster on a monstrous scale … A global goal of about 2 degrees Celsius is to condemn Africa to incineration and no modern development." It seems to me that interested parties will take this statement solemnly.