Africa is not a country

This article is long overdue...

I have bitten my tongue for far too long and it’s about time I come out and declare to the majority of the media world; Africa is a continent not a country. Contrary to popular belief Africa is not just a mass lump of under feed individuals guided by the deluded hegemonies of highly corrupted political parties, nor is it an excuse for has been rock stars to reignite their dormant profiles by throwing tasteless music concerts. Believe it or not this Country – excuse me Continent is home to more than 900 million inhabitants all divided into fifty-three countries, it also has over a thousand different indigenous languages. It’s amazing how such a nation can be reduced to sweeping generalisation, disregarding all its accomplishment past and present. When I hear about how primitive and uneducated Africans are, a pain reverberates all around my body and I think about the great accomplishments of Ancient Egyptians and their advanced understanding of science and architecture. When we’re dismissed in the popular world of music and entertainment, I hear loud Congolese beating on their drums, reminding me about how in the midst of huts and jungles, rhythm and cadence fused with chanting to create what we’ve come to recognise as music, I think about Kenyan wives performing dance rituals and devising early forms of theatre as they await Masai warriors to return to them. Even in a contemporary world where business engineers our global climate we forget about how countries like Sierra Leone and Ghana have such a significant stake in the supplementing its natural resources, resources we in the western world regard with such value and importance. We forget about Nigeria’s affect on the global economy and how the world’s economy could falter effortlessly if Nigeria decided to stop producing Oil for just one day.

It astounds me when I hear or see artists, politicians and many other individuals confronted with the feat of stimulating my senses through media refer to Africa with such sweeping and misinformed statements. In most cases I am able to adopt a Jay Z mentality and brush such comments off my shoulder, dismissing these claims as a classic case of ‘they don’t mean what they say syndrome’. However a couple of weeks ago I came across a miraculous finding, one which cemented my already unwavering belief that the western civilization, the one associated with popular culture, deteriorating self and moral value is a victim of blinding ignorance. This finding came in the form of a song, a Christmas song in fact, one which was written to promote the awareness of the faltering state of Africa. It was a song by Band aid’s so called ‘Supergroup’, which in my views comprised of various musicians in need of publicity. Band aid is an idea envisaged by ex-rocker Bob Geldof to use his influence in pop music to raise money for those affected by famine all around the world, in particular Africa, this song was called ‘Feed the World – do they know its Christmas time.’ The content of this song shocked me into disbelief as I tried to come to terms with the lyrics. Verses by the likes of ever so prolific Sugababes, Jamelia and Fran Healy had lyrics describing Africa with phrases such as ‘it’s a world of dread and fear’, ‘Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom’, ‘there will be no snow in Africa this Christmastime’. Now usually these phrases are the kind that I would have dismissed by brushing off my shoulders, however the musical hook by Bono was what pushed me over the edge, his hook which proceeded the chorus read; ‘well thank God it’s them instead of you’, when referring to the millions of those in Africa and around the world that suffered from famine.

This song, I found to be extremely offensive and an exemplary reason why we live in a society dumbfounded by stark insensitivity to those who live in Africa, not only is this song ludicrous in it’s approach it also sadly reflects an ideology belonging to the dominant percentage of individuals of the western culture. After reflecting on my rather sudden outburst, I now sit here and ask myself how could I take offence from such a philanthropic effort to raise consciousness amongst young people in the UK. I ask myself why don’t I just accept their good will and once again turn the proverbial cheek conceding to the fact that maybe there is no recovery from the infamous ‘they don’t mean what they say syndrome’….but then I reassure myself that as long as Africa is still home to a nation of individual countries – countries with diversity and a way of life beyond westerners fathom then I will continue be an advocate for my country and continent, saying it loud and clear for all to hear; Africa is a Continent-not a Country.