AFRICAN LEADERS? AN OXYMORON: Commentary on Nixon�s Tape, April 20, 2006

By Tecola W. Hagos

An Ethiopian proverb states, �If you only knew what people are saying about you, you would not have dared to show your face in public (gebaya).�  I could repeat the same proverb in reference to most African leaders. It is tragic that for all of the period since independence (1960s), African nations have not succeeded in having and maintaining democratic governments not even in a single instance. In fact, in several African nations, their colonial past seems far more benign and even more democratic than the state of affairs at the present time in such Africa �s independent nations. It is of no surprise to me if I read disparaging even racist statements by European or American leaders on African leaders and governments. We need be told that. �Qomatan qomata kalalut gebto yifetefital!�

The dehumanization violence and brutality against Africans by their own governments is widely prevalent through out this �dark� Continent. Take for example a nation that has very little experience under brutal colonial rulers, such as Ethiopia . We have in power in Ethiopia a group of individuals who grew up in tiny villages and towns under the most primitive of conditions without running water, hygienic toilet, et cetera and who often frolicked as young boys barefooted and poor beyond imagination et cetera, who, nevertheless, in their youth fought their way into power with next to nothing in their pockets, are now �millioners,� in less than fifteen years time. In their pursuit of destructive self-fulfillment of wealth and political power, they have simply stepped into the shoes of their equally brutal predecessors.

The form of political and economic oppression such Ethiopian semi-urbanized peasant leaders have unleashed is typical of very many dictatorships in other parts of the Continent. It is truly tragic that no amount of education, Western or local, had any influence or impact on the behavior of any of the current African political leaders. The situation is no different in ex-colonies now running their own shows. In this particular regard, how disappointed we all are how Kenya �s much hoped for leadership of Mwai Kibaki turned out to be no different than the corrupt government of  Moi. Now Nigeria, a nation that had lived through a series of most corrupt leaders, who siphoned off billions, is gearing up to amend illegally its Constitution in order to allow its leader Olusegun Obasanjo a third term. Shame on you all.  

What do you make of the blatant racist remarks by two well-known American political leaders belonging to two opposing extreme ends in the American political system? President Nixon was the most conservative and caustic leader in all of American history, and Senator Moynihan is acknowledged by the American public to have been the most liberal Democrat Senator in Congress. We can see how far limited the two American leaders really are in their understanding of world history and international relations. Nevertheless, their statements have a ring of truth that cannot be easily deflected. The fact that those two diametrically opposed political leaders were united in their racist attitudes towards black people, does not of itself negate the fact of the lack of political leadership in African nations. Irrespective of what Caucasians or Asians may think of Africans, the fact remains that African leaders have shown no leadership qualities for the last fifty years. I am not sure anymore whether such failure can be overcome by future African leaders. If it is possible to predict the future based on a careful examination of the present situation in Africa , then I must conclude that there is no hope of enlightened leadership coming out of the present political, economic, and social conditions of African nations.

In fact, I often wonder how the Asians, Europeans, and the Americans tolerate the presence of blood-socked leaders from a number of African nations seated in international forums next to them. May be it is a case of �Birds of the same feathers�� that we witness the proliferation of international conferences and organizations, there by diluting the seriousness of the situation of famine, pestilence, war and destruction facing billions of the world�s oppressed people the world over. When I watch the gathering of such African leaders perfumed and wearing thousand-dollar suits and starched shirts, I wonder how such undeserved luxury could easily feed the millions and millions of poor African families for a year or two. Degraded people cause only further degradation and dehumanization. It will take monumental effort, almost superhuman power to salvage Africa and save its people from the vise like grips of the brutal and savage leaders of African nations. TH

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EXTRACT FROM THE NIXON TAPES:

Conversation between President Nixon and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan � then U.S. representative to the United Nations � on the ability of Blacks to lead nations. October 7, 1971, 10:32 � 10:58 am. Conversation No. 10-116, Cassette No. 1049 and 1050, White House Telephone.

Nixon: I�m not saying that Blacks cannot govern. I am saying they have a hell of a time.

Daniel P. Moynihan: Mm-hmm.

Nixon: Now that must demonstrate something. Now, having said that, let�s look at Latin America . Latin America �s had 150 years of trying at it and they don�t have much going down there either. Mexico is a one party government; Colombia , they trade it off every two years; Venezuela is tiptee-toe, and the rest are dictatorships except for Allende, which is a communist dictatorship � elected, but communist.

Now, let me come back to another point. Within that scheme, this thought � and I think you might want to do a little piece on this sometime � is my � I think you may have heard me tell of my conversation with [Luis] Mu�oz Mar�n [first governor of Puerto Rico], who, incidentally was capable of governing.

Moynihan: Yes.

Nixon: You know� I think you think well of him. In �58, after Lima and Caracas , I stopped there. And he and I talked all night� and he, drinking his scotch and all, and he really lived it up� [laughing] And I, trying to keep up with him � practically dead! But he made a very interesting point, very late � early in the early morning hours� he said, look, he says, I shouldn�t say this, he said, �But Mr. Vice-President, my people have many fine qualities, I mean, they�re courteous� they�re, they�re family people�in the arts� and you know, philosophy, etc.� But he said, �I will have to admit, my people� � speaking of Latins generally � �have never been very good at government.�

Moynihan: Yeah.

Nixon: Now let�s look at that. The Italians aren�t any good at government. The Spanish aren�t any good at government.

Moynihan: Yeah.

Nixon: The French have had a hell of a time, and they�re half Latin. And all of Latin America �s not any good at government. They either go to one extreme or the other. It�s either a family, well, three extremes: family oligarchy, or a dictatorship, or a dictatorship on the right or one on the left. Very seldom in the center. Now having said all that, however, as you compare the Latin dictatorships, governments, etc. and their forms of government, they are � they at least do it their way. It is an orderly way which works relatively well. They have been able to run the damn place. Looking at the Black countries . . . of course, there are only two old ones � Haiti is an old one, and Liberia is a very old one. Ethiopia is a very old one, but they have a hell of a time running the place.

Moynihan: It�s a pretty miserable world.

Nixon: Now, now, now, you look at Asia , and you can say, well what about out there? You don�t have democracies. Of course you don�t, except Japan � where we impose it, and the Philippines � and it�s a hell of a mess. But on the other hand, Thailand , with its oligarchy, has the right kind of a government for Thailand . And we have to say too that Iran with the benevolent Shah . . .

Moynihan: [Interrupting] � works pretty well?

Nixon: . . . with the benevolent Shah, that�s the right thing for those folks.

Moynihan: Yeah.

Nixon: I think. Now what I am getting back the wrong way around is this: I think something, I think something could be, uh, that is eventually gonna come out here is this � that � and it�s right beneath the surface, this whole black-white deal is gonna come out the fact that. . . Asians are capable of governing themselves, one way or another. That we and the Caucasians have learned it after slaughtering each other in religious wars and other wars for many, many years, including a couple in the last�this century. The Latins do it in a miserable way, but they do it. But the Africans just can�t run things. Now that�s a very, very fundamental point in the international scene. See my point?

Moynihan: Oh boy, you sure see it around this place! [Moynihan is at the United Nations]

Nixon: Well, of course you do, you see them � You know, I have mixed feelings�I receive their ambassadors, they change all the time, and I�ve had in the past� I love �em, they�re so kind, and so nice�and they�re children!

Moynihan: Yeah.

Nixon: Children�

Moynihan: [Laughing] Yeah�and they always want something like children�

Nixon: Oh god yes, they why�well what can you do�But what I meant is it is so childlike�the childlike faith, and this and that�And of course a lot of them are crooks but we have crooks too! Anyway, what I am getting at is, I think you�ve got in the field of business, you�ve got the field of education, and so forth and so on. But there are many

other areas, as you�ve well pointed out, where they can beat the hell out of us. Now � and they should be proud of those! Athletics isn�t a bad achievement!

Moynihan: Not at all!

Nixon: And you look at the World Series, for God�s sake, what would either of these teams done without � what would Pittsburg be without . . .? heh, heh . . .

Moynihan: Yeah�sure�

Nixon: A hell of a lot of blacks! And, and music� the dance! Now - and these things, are they to be therefore just pissed upon, hell no, they�re important! And also, also, in certain areas � poetry, et cetera. They have a free and easy style, that creates � that adds enormously to our culture. But on the other hand, when you to some of the more, shall we say, some of the more profound, rigid disciplines, basically� They have a hell of a time makin� it.

[Conversation continues, irrelevant]