Grandiose Parlor

Business in Africa December 5th editorial is on Africa-China trade relations. The paper states: “The Ministerial Forum of China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) in Beijing presents a unique opportunity for African countries to turn around what has been a relationship of two unequally matched powers…while it is convenient these days for African governments to see China as an alternative source of engagement to that of its traditional development partners, they must not overlook the threats that could result in this partnership being exploitative.”

I had the opportunity to interact with some interesting bloggers during a brain-storming session on Africa-China affairs in New Delhi, India last week. The session held a day before the Global Voices summit, was the precursor to the Hibiscus Project, a multi-faceted blogging-information sharing, advocacy project on China and Africa. The attendees were randomly selected by the organizer, Akwe Amosu a Senior Analyst with a Washington-based advocacy group, and the Global Voices organization.

The session stemmed from the recently concluded summit in China - a widely discussed event on the blogosphere and mentioned in the Business in Africa editorial above, that saw an unprecedented number of African head of states in attendance - and the need to create a medium to discuss the economic, political and sociocultural implications of China trade policies in Africa.

The potential consumers for the proposed African-China content are but not limited to the following: Policy makers/nongovernmental groups/social activists, journalists/mainstream media, business people, expatriates, academia/students, and bloggers.

Discussion

The views expressed by discussants can be summarized thusly:

• The African continent is poorly covered in the Chinese media, and the people have very little knowledge of the continent. This was clearly displayed via the November conference posters depicting the continent as a wildlife enclave with scantily clad people.

• The mainstream media is slanted in favor of China. Some parts of East Africa now have access to Chinese radio and cable TV, but not vice versa.

• Africa is seen as a poor continent ruled by corrupt leaders governing “inactive” citizens.

• Human rights implications of Chinese involvement in Africa is not on the radar in Beijing.

• The Rise of a Great Nation- the ideological message from the Chinese authority to the masses, an image booster so-to-speak.

• The issue of cultural superiority versus racism. Hierarchy of skin color and the sociological effect of race. Attention was brought to the definition of racism as its seen in the western society versus “racism” in China. “The racism experienced by an African is different from that experienced by a Japanese”, one of the Chinese in attendance clarified. I’m not really sure I understood what this is.

• Chinese are manipulative and don’t really care much about Africa. They are after one thing: African minerals and resources and don’t care how this is achieved.

Strategies

These issues and the several foci of discussion during the session indicated the need to use/create a pan-African platform to serve as a repository of, and on which to share, relevant information. Equally important is the need to create a workable and cost efficient translation mechanism for contents in Mandarin to English, and vice versa.

Other suggestions include, the use of newsletters, blogs, social networking sites (picture exchange), tagging, book-marking and seeding system, and aggregators to help present and track information, and bridge the divide between Africa and China.

One particularly interesting concept mentioned is Home-Stay, a networking scheme where bloggers on both sides of the divide will serve as hosts to visiting bloggers. This, in addition to other strategies, may eventually help bring about the deconstruction of existing cultural stereotypes.

The exact format for Hibiscus Project is not clearly discernible at the moment. But my guess is that the execution will be multifaceted to accommodate its diverse audiences. Additional information will be presented when they become available, but in the mean time feel free to use the tag: “[tag]Hibiscus Project[/tag]” in postings as and when the need arises. Thanks.