Reverse Colonization
February 28, 2012 By
NPR’s European correspondent Sylvia Poggioli filed this piece on Friday. Titled “Portuguese Seeking Opportunities in Former Colonies” it takes a breezy look at how the economic crisis in Portugal has sent the Portuguese to the shores of former colonies in search of employment. A number of such articles have circulated in the international press in the last year. Like the others, Poggioli’s article settles for the easy irony of angry everyman opinion in place of in-depth analysis. It makes for a quick, four-minute piece with provocative sound bites (and why should I complain, it gave me something to post about?) but lacks anything but the most superficial sense of history. Enough of my blathering. Let’s just dig right in, shall we?
First, this is not about the former colonies, in the plural, it is really about Angola. Angola was the jewel in the Portuguese imperial crown – their India, their Algeria (get the picture?) – the former colony that created the most bitterness at independence that followed a grueling 13-year anti-colonial war.
As Portugal’s economy is tanking, Angola’s is booming, Angola being the second largest producer of oil on the African continent after Nigeria. Poggioli notes that Portuguese workers are headed to Angola to work in construction, restaurants and hotels. While Poggioli interviews a man on the street standing in line at the Angolan embassy waiting for a visa, she does not note that Portuguese companies – precisely in the industries she names – are invested in Angola and profiting there.
But the relationship between Portugal and Angola is never a straightforward economic one, even when for hundreds of years Portugal exploited the former colony through the slave trade, forced labor (that continued until the 1960s) and unequal terms of trade. These economic relations also did political work in the form of empire for the Portuguese monarchy, the Portuguese republic and the fascist dictatorship of António Salazar. It’s worth keeping this political history in mind, and the fact that the institutions and administration of colonial Angola did not include Angolans except at the lowest level of civil service. Colonial rule was an authoritarian system. The institutions of state that the independent Angolan government inherited at independence were not built to facilitate democracy, very much to the contrary in fact.
So when the editor of the financial daily Negócios, Pedro Santos Guerreiro says: “people have to give up some of their beliefs in order to be in a regime that demands more from people than it should,” he exposes a huge blind spot in his knowledge of that history. And when one is a foreigner in a country one never exercises the same rights as the local citizens – one does not, for example, vote. Mr. Guerreiro, in a sense, forgets that Angola is no longer a part of metropolitan Portugal.
Then there is the quote from the foreign investment lawyer, Tiago Caidado Guerreiro, who says that “we’re being colonized after 500 years by them,” referring to investments by Angolans in the Portuguese economy. True, wealthy, politically powerful Angolans have been buying up parcels of Portuguese companies, but that does not equal colonization, not by a long shot. Angolans are not, for example, creating settler colonies in Portugal, or changing the nature and character of local institutions of education, government and culture.
The final concern registered in the article is that this new economic interest (and it isn’t just Angola but…surprise!: China, Poggioli is careful to point out) is not so transparent. This is similar to Guerreiro’s concern but the space is now Portugal not Angola.
The initial post-colonial fear was manifested as fortress Europe, i.e. constraints on African immigration, the battle over the veil in France, etc. That was how the empire struck back, as one small green collection of post-colonial essays put it. Portugal, as Poggioli represents it, seems roiled by a mix of humiliation, resentment, hyperbole and lack of historical understanding as large numbers of Portuguese again (they did so in the 1950s) migrate to Angola for economic opportunities and Portuguese intellectuals claim that Portugal is being colonized by an authoritarian Angola.
But what is really at stake here? Is it that the Portuguese fear they will be as badly oppressed by those whom they oppressed? As economically dependent on those who were once economically dependent on them? And all they can do is dress up this primal fact in an Atlantic Charter type discourse about democracy? In the end, the only people they really have to blame are their own, democratically elected, leaders, many of whom are quite close to the Angolan President they are critiquing.
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Unexpected reasons
to feel positive about Africa
It’s really happening for the continent this time.
It’s easy to be pessimistic about everything these days, with the news headlines full of the crisis in Europe, the brutalities in Syria, unemployment in America, and the growing animosity between Iran and Israel. However, there are still some things that can serve as a source of optimism, and the economic potential of Africa is one of them.
Let’s take a look at some reasons to think that Africa could be a source of tremendous economic growth and wealth creation over the next few years. Some of these may seem strange, but taken together, they add up to a story of major economic potential.
1. Reasonably good fiscal positions
Unlike many developed countries, African nations are actually generally going OK on the fiscal front. According to data from the IMF, the average ratio of public debt to GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa is around 42%, much better than the 80% debt-to-GDP burden facing the European Union, or the almost 95% debt-to-GDP burden facing the USA (see table below for details).
In addition, fiscal management in many African nations has improved dramatically over the last few decades. Thanks to stern interventions from funders like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), most African countries have become more disciplined about their spending, and much more careful about maintaining a balance between debt and revenue. All in all, most African economies are entering the 21st century in a solid fiscal position, forming a marked contrast to the nations of the rich world.
2. Less reliance on social safety nets
This may sound a little odd, but Africa is, in a sense, fortunate that it has not yet developed the kinds of comprehensive social safety nets you see in Europe and Japan. The rich world is currently wrestling with how to manage the ballooning costs of their pension and healthcare plans; in Africa, such plans have not yet been implemented. Admittedly, this means that life is a precarious business for many Africans. However, it also means that African governments face little in the way of social spending costs (South Africa is a prominent exception to this), and that as African nations grow wealthier and start to develop safety nets, they can learn from mistakes elsewhere, and when designing their programmes, ensure that they are sustainable and sensible.
3. Many African economies have grown dramatically over the last two decades, and diversified
A large number of African countries have grown very rapidly over recent years – indeed, Angola was the fastest-growing economy in the world between 2001 and 2011 (thanks to its oil boom). Overall, African countries have grown at an average of close to 5% a year since the 1990s, according to IMF data. This growth, while coming off a low base, represents the fruit of a number of reform efforts and has been sustained even in the face of the global recession. The IMF predicts that growth in Sub-Saharan Africa will stay reasonably strong over the next few years; the organization predicts an average of 5.5% GDP growth in the region this year, and 5.3% next. This is solid, sustainable, and attractive growth, and means that there are plenty of economic opportunities in the continent.
What’s more, the growth in African economies over the last few years has come from multiple sectors, including consumer goods like mobile telephony and clothing, and not just from resources. In other words, African economies are becoming more multi-dimensional, and are no longer just simple commodity plays.
4. Demographic advantages
As we’ve discussed before, Africa has the potential to reap enormous economic benefits from its demographic profile. With its large youth population, Africa is unique in a world in which most populations are aging rapidly (including the population of China). With good policies, African nations can turn this youth boom into an economic bonanza.
There are a lot of reasons to feel optimistic about Africa’s economic future, although it often seems as if Africans themselves are reluctant to see them. However, if you still have your doubts, consider the activities of China in Africa; for the last fifteen years, China has been investing heavily in the continent, buying mineral rights, farmland, and even building manufacturing plants. Africa has the potential to be the growth story of the new century, and South Africa has the chance to benefit from this growth. Let’s hope that the country doesn’t let the opportunity slip away.
Felicity Duncan writes a weekly perspective on investment opportunities in Africa.
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