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| Africa: Southern | |
| BBC: Another African country studies Bob’s agricultural model for prosperity | |
| 2003-11-05 | |
| EFL from Worldwire Remember the Scottish farmer who got kicked out of Zimbawe but moved to Zambia. (from a story by The Scotsman - which explains explains the interest in an expatriot Scot) Well he’s lucky he didn’t move to Namibia. A group of black farmers in Namibia says it will occupy 15 white-owned farms next week. It says the government’s policy of purchasing white-owned farms is moving too slowly in correcting unequal patterns of landownership. We hear that other countries are getting free grain from the UN; why shoud we be left out? A government spokesman said it would not tolerate any land invasions and urged landless people to be patient. We want to adopt a more cautious approach to screwing up our country. About 4,000, mostly white, commercial farmers own almost half of Namibia’s arable land. Agriculture, mostly beef exports, is Namibia’s second-highest export earner after mining. The leader of the Nambia Farm Workers Union denied that he was going to copy the land invasions in Zimbabwe, saying his group would be peaceful. "There will be no damage to property or occupying of anybody’s house," said Alfred Angula.
"We are only interested in Whoooosh - the sound of all foriegn investment leaving the area. Namibia’s President Sam Nujoma is a close ally of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and last year Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab said he would increase the pressure on white farmers to sell their land. My friend Bill Clinton has recommended a man named Anthony J. Pellicano. He has a reputation fro persuasiveness. Namibia’s Government is committed to the principle of "willing buyer— willing seller" — which means no-one is forced to sell up, but if they do the state gets first refusal. We refuse to let you sell - unless it is to my wife. Zimbabwe also followed this principle for 17 years after independence in 1980. Did quite a bit of this African stuff hit the fan after Jesse Jackson returned to Bill Clinton and announced that we needed to back this Charles Taylor guy? A senior official in the ministry of lands, resettlement and rehabilitation, Frans Tsheehama, said the government would not allow any illegal land occupations. "Let us be patient and follow the adopted policy of land reform. I do not see us, as a country, winning via any other route," he said. Whites make up 6% of the Namibian population and about one third of them are descended from German settlers. | |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #12 It appears most African mobocracies are drunk on Marxist dogma. I fail to see how give aid, except for privately funded famine aid, will do Africa any good. They need to ween themselves off the bottle of Communist propoganda and let people/markets fix their social problems. |
| Posted by: badanov 2003-11-5 5:39:57 PM |
| #11 I think Africa has a shorter window of American attention than many would believe.10-15 years down the road as the first large chunk of baby boomers retire and put a heavy strain on US budget,the liberal political class are going to have to choose between helping Africa or funding liberal programs in the US,they will no longer have option of both.Once the liberal political class figures out that if they want to win elections there are no voters in Africa,their interest in Africa will vanish and so will media coverage.The consevative political class sees no compelling National Security Interests in subsaharan Africa.And the American people after a quarter century of pleas for aid will be deaf to any new cries. |
| Posted by: Stephen 2003-11-5 4:07:01 PM |
| #10 Seriously, these idiots never learned that "kill the kulaks" is a bad idea? |
| Posted by: someone 2003-11-5 3:52:57 PM |
| #9 Charles, I agree 100%, thus my visa idea. Unfortunately it would create a brain drain of sorts throughout Africa but it would benefit the US and get these people out of harms way. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-11-5 3:34:11 PM |
| #8 If they don't want the farmers, we'll take them. We have plenty of farming land and blacks aren't allowed to just take the land. And I don't care about the " It's African American" whiners who might object to me calling them black. Political correctness isn't something I participate in. |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-11-5 2:00:05 PM |
| #7 Bomb-a-rama, I agree with you 100% yet still think down the road, when starving children and death are shown on the news 24/7 the people in the US will think with their hearts instead of their heads and the US will get dragged in as we were in Somalia. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-11-5 12:53:14 PM |
| #6 In the US we are good and helpful people and we will be drawn in to stop the bloodshed and horror despite knowing better. It's one thing to be good and helpful, but quite another to be gullible and stupid. After having poured so much money into Africa only to see it still plagued by recurring problems, it doesn't make sense to keep on doing what hasn't worked. A little money now can save ten times that later as well as the lives of Marines and soldiers later. Africa has proven to be a money-losing proposition. It consists of nothing but tribes looking to shaft other tribes, hardly a reason to send in armed forces of any kind. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-11-5 11:44:24 AM |
| #5 Why do these country sign a suicide pact with political correctness? Anyone can see that the collective system of farming does not work. The only reason that the PRC is not starving is because they have mixed collective and free market farming. The Soviet Union NEVER got it working. But hey they might have better luck. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2003-11-5 11:26:39 AM |
| #4 Australia and the US should allow Visa's to all white farmers in Africa that want to emigrate. Get them out now when perhaps they can sell their land and leave alive. It doesn't take a genious to see the trends. The continent is sinking. Hell I would open up visa's to all of subsahara Africa (except Nigerian scammers and those with diseases). African immigrants to the US tend to be very hard workers, we could use them, if they can make it to North America. It might help diffuse some of our own black/white issues. Bomb-a-rama, yes, I think we still should be putting effort into Africa. In the US we are good and helpful people and we will be drawn in to stop the bloodshed and horror despite knowing better. A little money now can save ten times that later as well as the lives of Marines and soldiers later. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-11-5 11:09:54 AM |
| #3 Anyone still think that the U.S. should be pouring more money and affort into Africa for whatever reason? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-11-5 10:58:25 AM |
| #2 Not just Namibia, but Kenya seemed to be using Bob's playbook as well. And I won't be surprise if South Africa uses it as well. |
| Posted by: BigFire 2003-11-5 10:17:40 AM |
| #1 Looks like I'll have to double down in the Famine Pool. Zimbabwe AND Namibia... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-11-5 10:13:08 AM |