We sat down with Judd Devermont for a wide ranging discussion on his writings on US- Africa relations and what the future holds under a very different US President now in the White House.
Interesting conversation esp Feyi trying to be more US-phile than Judd, demanding more muscular approach from the US to African govt as if an example of this wasn't the spectacle of Trump haranguing hapless Ramaphosa in the White House, good for entertainment but in any way helpful nor effective...
Also interesting when what is being pushed is looked at from the lens of trade - US and most esp our diaspora will scream about how small and poor our market is - A truism. However, I don't think the Chinese looks at the markets of the global south obsessing at how poor it is, they just single mindedly set out to sell to whatever market what that market demands or more popularly, build infrastructure the country demands. An attitude that have made them literally geopolitically unsanctionable.
For these discussions not to sound as that of a beggar in search of a patron, we need to 1st convince ourselves of the primacy of trade, a conversation we don't need to have with the US but with ourselves and our backyard - why is ECOWAS punching far below its weight..? etc, otherwise these conversations will always degenerate to level of gender equality, democracy, human rights and the other platitudes the US loves to push.
Thank you! I found this extremely insightful and very interesting from start to end!
Thanks for listening!
Thank you for listening
Interesting conversation esp Feyi trying to be more US-phile than Judd, demanding more muscular approach from the US to African govt as if an example of this wasn't the spectacle of Trump haranguing hapless Ramaphosa in the White House, good for entertainment but in any way helpful nor effective...
Also interesting when what is being pushed is looked at from the lens of trade - US and most esp our diaspora will scream about how small and poor our market is - A truism. However, I don't think the Chinese looks at the markets of the global south obsessing at how poor it is, they just single mindedly set out to sell to whatever market what that market demands or more popularly, build infrastructure the country demands. An attitude that have made them literally geopolitically unsanctionable.
For these discussions not to sound as that of a beggar in search of a patron, we need to 1st convince ourselves of the primacy of trade, a conversation we don't need to have with the US but with ourselves and our backyard - why is ECOWAS punching far below its weight..? etc, otherwise these conversations will always degenerate to level of gender equality, democracy, human rights and the other platitudes the US loves to push.