bluegargantua (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bluegargantua) wrote2008-07-05 10:36 am
bluegargantua) wrote2008-07-05 10:36 am
Entry tags:
I didn't read it for review
Hi,
I have a morbid fascination with all the various ways African countries have been screwed over (both externally and internally) and the latest book on that topic is I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation by Michela Wrong. The title is a bit misleading, the world has betrayed lots of small African nations.
The small nation in question this time is Eritrea. Don't exactly remember where that one is? Here's a map:
The map is a bit close, but you can see that Eritrea is south of Egypt on the Red Sea.
Right so, a condensed timeline of recent Eritrean history:
First, the Italians and the Fascists screw Eritrea over with ham-handed colonization attempts and apartheid.
Next, the British kick out the Italians and promptly sell off all the Italian colonial infrastructure to British interests, essentially de-industrializing the country.
Then Ethiopia, Eritrea's neighbor to the south, screws them over by convincing the UN that Eritrea should be run under the auspices of an Ethiopian federation. Once the UN feels the problem is off its hands, the Ethopians abolish the federation and just take over wholesale.
The US screws over Eritrea because it leases large amounts of land from Eritrea to use as a spy post. In exchange, Ethiopia gets millions of dollars of military aid so that it can fight the Eritrean insurgency. When the US gets fed up with the constant begging for cash, Ethiopia decides to get a better deal...
And calls in the Soviets who screw over Ertirea by becoming Ethiopia's new patron and shipping billions of dollars worth of military aid to Ethiopia who proceeds to blow the crap out of the Eritreans and force them north into mountain fortresses.
Eventually, the plucky Eritreans outlast and outmaneuver the Ethiopians and win their independence.
Whereupon the Eritreans screw themselves over by believing far too strongly in their former rebel chief and carrying a very large (and admittedly justified) chip on their shoulder. There's a second war with Eritrea over a border dispute. They lose the war, win the UN resolution, still don't actually control the disputed area. The ill-will has destroyed the economies of both Eritrea and Ethiopia and the president is cracking down hard on everyone who might oppose him. Eritrea managed to rank dead last in press freedom surveys (beating out North Korea which must take some doing) and they just might make the list of state sponsors of terrorism (they're accused of assisting rebels in the Sudan).
So that's the short version. The book goes into a deeper amount of detail and it's put together fairly well. The author discusses how Eritrea often seduces outsiders and that these rose-tinted glasses often blind the viewer to the hidden issues that produced the most recent outbreaks of violence and repression. She does a good job of explaining how Eritrea's history creates both great hope and optimism and at the same time undercuts it with pride and a stubborn refusal to rely on anyone else. Eritrea's problems stem from some of the same causes as other African nations, but those problems develop in sharply different ways from the rest of the continent. Certainly it was an interesting read on a part of the continent I hadn't studied much.
later
Tom
I have a morbid fascination with all the various ways African countries have been screwed over (both externally and internally) and the latest book on that topic is I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation by Michela Wrong. The title is a bit misleading, the world has betrayed lots of small African nations.
The small nation in question this time is Eritrea. Don't exactly remember where that one is? Here's a map:
The map is a bit close, but you can see that Eritrea is south of Egypt on the Red Sea.
Right so, a condensed timeline of recent Eritrean history:
First, the Italians and the Fascists screw Eritrea over with ham-handed colonization attempts and apartheid.
Next, the British kick out the Italians and promptly sell off all the Italian colonial infrastructure to British interests, essentially de-industrializing the country.
Then Ethiopia, Eritrea's neighbor to the south, screws them over by convincing the UN that Eritrea should be run under the auspices of an Ethiopian federation. Once the UN feels the problem is off its hands, the Ethopians abolish the federation and just take over wholesale.
The US screws over Eritrea because it leases large amounts of land from Eritrea to use as a spy post. In exchange, Ethiopia gets millions of dollars of military aid so that it can fight the Eritrean insurgency. When the US gets fed up with the constant begging for cash, Ethiopia decides to get a better deal...
And calls in the Soviets who screw over Ertirea by becoming Ethiopia's new patron and shipping billions of dollars worth of military aid to Ethiopia who proceeds to blow the crap out of the Eritreans and force them north into mountain fortresses.
Eventually, the plucky Eritreans outlast and outmaneuver the Ethiopians and win their independence.
Whereupon the Eritreans screw themselves over by believing far too strongly in their former rebel chief and carrying a very large (and admittedly justified) chip on their shoulder. There's a second war with Eritrea over a border dispute. They lose the war, win the UN resolution, still don't actually control the disputed area. The ill-will has destroyed the economies of both Eritrea and Ethiopia and the president is cracking down hard on everyone who might oppose him. Eritrea managed to rank dead last in press freedom surveys (beating out North Korea which must take some doing) and they just might make the list of state sponsors of terrorism (they're accused of assisting rebels in the Sudan).
So that's the short version. The book goes into a deeper amount of detail and it's put together fairly well. The author discusses how Eritrea often seduces outsiders and that these rose-tinted glasses often blind the viewer to the hidden issues that produced the most recent outbreaks of violence and repression. She does a good job of explaining how Eritrea's history creates both great hope and optimism and at the same time undercuts it with pride and a stubborn refusal to rely on anyone else. Eritrea's problems stem from some of the same causes as other African nations, but those problems develop in sharply different ways from the rest of the continent. Certainly it was an interesting read on a part of the continent I hadn't studied much.
later
Tom
no subject
no subject
Reporters without Borders
later
Tom
no subject
Reporters without borders is a CIA front.