Always the same, old story

Whenever a British colony breaks away and becomes an independent country, chaos, authoritarian dictatorships and crime reign.  

On both sides of B's family, the British military figured prominently for 250 years.  One of his uncles was regimental garrison commander in the British army in Lagos, Nigeria, when there were only two states.  Britain ruled Nigeria from 1882 to 1960, but the country couldn't cope without them.  Six years after the Brits left, Nigeria overthrew the democracy that was created for them and instead of two, peaceful states, there are now 36, all divided along warring, tribal lines.

Another uncle was police commander in Kenya; one of his great-grandfathers the district commissioner of Allahabad in India.  B was born in Bombay, his sister in Calcutta.  These countries all worked when the Brits ran them.  Recently, the Indian owner of a restaurant we frequent said, "The only things that work in India are the things the British put in, railways, water navigation, government and education."

Now, just take a look at Zimbabwe, one of many examples.  When ruled by Britain, it was a prosperous country called Rhodesia.  Now it's a crime-ridden sh-t hole.

The once-proud passenger railway system, for example, has not run for two years and trains have been shut down and parked idly in train stations, decaying on sidings.  What have they become?  Brothels, drug dens, playgrounds for ragged, abandoned street children and rough shelters for the homeless.

A once first-class passenger train system in ruins.

You can thank its independence in 1980, when Joshua Nkomo became president.  He was followed by the ruthlessly corrupt Robert Mugabe and his successor Emmerson Mnangagwa.  Nothing ever changes when tribal rule takes over African countries.  Zimbabwe's economy has fallen into steep decline, largely because of state dysfunction under successive autocratic regimes.

Hundreds of factories have shut down, electricity and water systems have deteriorated and hospitals and clinics are hobbled by shortages of medicine and other supplies.  

"If I get a client, I just bring him here and get into any of the open passenger trains to do my business," says 24-year-old prostitute Lindiwe Zilawe, who added that she performs sex work daily at Harare's once-bustling train station.  "We just pay off the security guards and use the trains for free," she adds.  

Canada has given $1.2 billion since 2018 to Africa's francophone countries -- also war zones with carnage everywhere.  Why?  Mélanie Joly says it's to improve them.

Fat chance.  The money just goes into the off-shore bank accounts of corrupt dictators.  (I've written a number of blogs on the subject, See "Africa, a stupid continent," Nov. 17, 2017, and "In the vernacular," Jan. 12, 2018)  That's where your money is going if you give a cent to any African organization.  

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Speaking of messes, Afghanistan continues to fester in ruins.  Sally Armstrong, journalist and human-rights activist, wrote a depressing column the other day in 'The Globe and Mail' about a new 114-page document on morality recently released by the Taliban's supreme leader, Hibatulla Akhundzada.  It decrees that women must completely cover their bodies and faces to avoid leading men into temptation and vice.

The reality for women in Afghanistan.

It also states that women's voices are potential instruments of vice and will not be allowed to be heard in public.  The ban includes a prohibition of women singing or reading aloud -- even in the privacy of their own homes.  Does that mean your son must report you for humming a ditty at the kitchen table?!

Unreal!

"If women and girls could use their voices, they would speak of evil, of being ruled, judged controlled and abused by a collection of ignorant, misogynist men," writes Armstrong.  "While diplomats' and Western officials' attempts to negotiate with the Taliban are understandable, in reality, there's nothing to negotiate.

"Women and girls cause the Taliban extraordinary fear as they believe they won't be able to control themselves sexually in their presence.  Women have to be covered, denied the right to be seen and heard.  Why don't we call this for what it it," she writes.  "This is the behaviour of sexual perverts.  It is the behaviour of deviants and it is the behaviour of incompetents who have failed as patriots and leaders."

When I taught Business English at Algonquin College after I retired, I realized the hypocrisy of the whole mess.  The Muslim female students in my classes wore the Hijab, but were also plastered with makeup, bright nail polish and high heels -- all symbols of come hither sexuality.  They also had designated washrooms.  We were not permitted to use these facilities, but they could use the regular washrooms anytime they fancied.

The Pinecrest Pool was another example.  They closed the pool to the public -- in spite of your tax dollars paying for it -- for Muslim-women-only swim times.  In Calgary, where I used to swim, Muslim women could also enter the pool fully-covered, but G-d help anyone else who decided to wear a shirt or any other garment.  

In Afghanistan, the useless deployment and death of so many Canadian servicemen and women to protect the country from itself was a tragedy.