Better solutions for Africa

Re “The aid Africa can’t afford,” Opinion, July 8

Edward N. Luttwak and Marian L. Tupy’s criticism of foreign aid to Africa rests on the notion that because African states were created by colonial mandates, they are doomed to failure and unworthy of preservation. This line of reasoning misses the complexity of the African experience.

If colonial legacies are so central, how does one explain the pro-growth policies of Southeast Asian states that were also created by colonial fiat? Indonesia is as much a colonial fiction as Nigeria, but it experienced periods of prosperity in the latter half of the 20th century.

Furthermore, not all African states have been constrained by their colonial manufacture. Ironically, Ethiopia, the only African state to have emerged from a process of state formation resembling that of Europe, has a checkered past marred by famine, disease, civil war and dictatorship.

The most troubling aspect of Luttwak and Tupy’s piece is their bold contention that the West should let African states fail because, they suggest, new, more vibrant states will emerge in their wake. If 18 years of profound state collapse in Somalia offer any lesson, it is that such proposals are at best naive and, at worst, negligent.

Michael Woldemariam

Alexandria, Va.

After making a strong case for the disastrous effects of decades of foreign aid to Africa, Luttwak and Tupy jump to the peculiar conclusion that ceasing all aid is the wisest course.

This idea is not only cruel but irresponsible and self-serving. It ignores a debt owed to Africa by wealthy nations that have accessed African resources through ties to tyrants. It also ignores a positive alternative: providing aid that bypasses state corruption. Nongovernmental organizations have been showing the way for years, working to fight debilitating tropical diseases, assist with family planning, provide loans for micro-businesses, reverse environmental degradation and boost crop production.

What is needed are practical solutions for everyday problems. NGO’s do a great job, but government aid could magnify the scale of their work. The G-8 should support these kinds of initiatives instead of counterproductive mega-projects.

Grace Bertalot

Anaheim

Re “Poor excuses,” editorial, July 8

There’s a famous proverb: “Give a man a fish and you’ve fed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you’ve fed him for a lifetime.”

The Times demurs. It cuts Western governments slack for their destruction of African livelihoods with farm subsidies and ethanol mandates. It suggests that they continue to bankroll tyrannical governments’ oppression of Africa’s poor with foreign aid.

The Times can afford the extravagance of a life lived in a government dream world. But those on the receiving end of farm subsidies, ethanol mandates and, yes, foreign aid live in a government-made nightmare.

Mike Binkley

Laguna Woods