Feb 24, 2008

"Oxfamming the whole black world"

A witty and satirical article on Neo-colonialism in Africa and its effect on the African identity, written by the equally as witty Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina, a columnist for the South African Mail & Guardian and author of 'How To Write About Africa'

Here is a small excerpt:

"Would you like an Oxfam biscuit? Can we fly 103 of you to France to be loved? We can breastfeed you. We can save you from yourself. We can save ourselves from our terrible selves. Help us to Oxfam the whole black world, to make it a better place. We will shut all your industries and build our organic Jeffery Sachs-designed school inside your national parks, where you can commune with nature, grow ecologically friendly crops, trade fairly with eco-tourists and receive visitors from the United Nations every month who will clap when you dance. Instead of sweatshops, we will have Ubuntu shops where you can arrive in biodegradable loincloths to make bone jewellery for caring people who earn $1million a year, live in San Francisco or Cape Town and feel bad about this. In our future world you will have three balanced meals a day. Trust us. You can’t do it yourselves. We have dedicated our lives to you. Come kitties, come to mummy".

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry, not impressed. Oxfam and it's volunteers do a lot to improve the quality of people's lives - both in their emergency and their development work. I've seen the results. What do you do.

And besides the misplaced satire I couldn't find anything that comes under any definition of 'wit' that I'm familiar with.

Hanna said...

Well I think that the use of the name 'Oxfam' is probably a strategically placed euphemism for other less than perfect charities, such as the controversial Zoe's Ark etc. I certainly wouldn't claim that Oxfam don't make a difference because they do indeed - I am simply just presenting another point of view. Isn't that what political blogging is about?

blackstone said...

I enjoyed his Writing About Africa piece much better...

Hanna said...

Yeah, as a Postcolonial writing student I find it particularly interesting..

Anonymous said...

All crap. Get a life and find something better to do.