US & Lumumba

The Poisonwood Bible, which I'm reading in my English class, has much to do with the political turmoil in the Congo in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. One of the main points of conversation is the brief leadership of Patrice Lumumba and his undercover execution, which, according to the book was facilitated by the CIA.
Much of the information about Lumumba in Poisonwood is told from the perspective of Leah, a Lumumba supporter who scorns the United States' fierce and uninformed opposition to anything that resembles socialism or communism.
This is an interesting perspective, that of an anti-American American living in Africa. I was interested to get an idea of the picture of Africa that Americans were being exposed to in 1960. Two articles, one from the Los Angeles Times and one from the New York Times, contain some signs of the United States' Cold War anti-Soviet, anti-communist fears.
The LA times article is headlined, "'Death to Lumumba,' Mob Cries." The article reads, "'Gentlemen, you are now making contact with Congolese reality,' he said. 'There is no compromise between liberty and slavery.'" This quote is placed in the article completely out of context. It makes Lumumba sound like a monster, but we don't really know what the circumstances were. Lumumba's press aide is described as a "leftist expatriate." An anti-Lumumba person is quoted as saying "'Down with communism, down with the government of Lumumba.'" It seems that the media is doing its best to feed the terror of the Red Scare and point out another evil communist threat.
The NY Times article describes Lumumba's government as being in possession of planes which have "markings of the Soviet Union."
When, in Poisonwood, Rachel, Leah, and Adah are talking about the turmoil in the Congo and in other parts of Africa, Rachel says, "'...I read the papers. Ronald Reagan is keeping us safe from the socialistic dictators, and you should be grateful for it.'" She goes on to say, "'I never said I was the expert. I just said I read the papers.'" While this part of the book is happening in the 80's, it still demonstrates the influence of the newspapers on people's thinking. Rachel, living in Africa, is still getting her information from American papers, and is thus convinced that people around her are "socialistic dictators."
It makes me wonder why newspapers do this. Who do they have to answer to that is forcing them to add to the overwhelming American sentiment? Aren't papers there to tell the facts in an unbiased way, allowing people to form their own opinions? It's as though the papers feel obligated to fuel drama. These articles show just how present the Red Scare was in American society.

Helping Africa

In class today, we talked about the American media's portrayal of Africa. Some key themes we noted were corruption, disease, and reliance on foreign aid, and overall we came to a conclusion that on the whole, the messages the American people are receiving about Africa are extremely negative, with the continent of Africa shown as a downtrodden, hopeless place that is constantly reliant on foreign assistance.

Having just had this discussion, it was interesting to stumble upon this article, written by a Nigerian scholar and scientist, Oyeniyi Akende. Believe it or not, it seems like the American media's picture of Africa is somewhat accurate at least on one level, as Akende admits that many African people do not give technology a chance and/or do not understand it.

Then again, America deserves to be scolded at least a little bit. Akende says that international assistance is largely useless because foreigners don't understand Africans' needs.

This presents a bit of an issue. Akende says that Africa needs to develop at least technologically, and foreigners want to help, but neither party seems to know just what's good for African people, especially because we call them just that: "African." Africa is a huge continent with many different countries, of course, not to mention varying local needs and cultures. So who can find out what everyday Africans think? Whose job is it to pinpoint what is going to help a Nigerian, an Ethiopian, a Sudanese? There needs to be more desire to learn from people both in and out of Africa. Africans need to learn what's best for themselves, and American's need to make a conscious effort to get past the generalizations they assume and learn about an entire continent that they have reduced to a single, monotonous entity.