Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Election Night

A taxi cab driver sat in his car parked on H St in Washington DC, just meters from the White House late one rainy Tuesday evening. Singles and five dollar bills littered the passenger seat of his car. These served as tokens of appreciation left by a gaggle of young adults huddled around his open window to hear the first words of our new President blaring from his car radio. Surrounding them, the revelry of the evening trumpeted on with the sounds of car horns and cheers of triumph. This was a day that will not soon be forgotten. A day that so many had been waiting for.

Shortly after the polls closed on the West Coast and Barack Obama was anointed the new President of the United States, throngs of people flooded Pennsylvania Avenue to rejoice in the victory for which they had so long hoped. Black and white, young and old all descended on the White House amid the beating of cow bells and the chants of “Yes We Can.” Surrounded by press from around the world, these supporters danced and yelled and called for the removal of President Bush, all while the American flag waved above the White House, signifying the presence of Mr. Bush within. Secret Service, stone-faced and professional, kept a watchful eye over the crowd, but did not interfere, simultaneously protecting both the Commander-in-Chief and our rights under the First Amendment.

No one would have guessed that such a scene of celebration and defiance would have come to pass. There were no signs nor chain emails calling for the congregation of the faithful once the ballots had been counted. Simply the excitement and enthusiasm for what lay ahead served as the necessary catalyst. Revelers were literally running down 16th street towards the White House as if to meet their destinies. As noted by news commentators the following morning, this was a scene more akin to faraway lands in Africa and the Middle East. It mirrored the excitement of a previously disenfranchised population, whose voices had been heard for the first time. But perhaps after eight long, divisive years, many of our own citizens felt similarly disenfranchised. The cathartic unfolding of a new path before us could only be fully experienced in the company of those who had felt similar frustrations. It was an evening of camaraderie, an evening of patriotism. Although none of us knew what the future would bring, for that one night, in that one instance, there was hope. A hope for a blurring of the lines separating the Blue States from the Red. A hope that government would again work for us, and not against us. And a hope that, finally, we could yet again be proud to call ourselves Americans.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Gabon: Perceptions vs Reality

Brian wore khakis and a button down shirt. His shirt sleeves were rolled up with the top two buttons remaining unbuttoned, revealing tufts of chest hair. A set of golf clubs sat in the corner and a filled swimming pool could be seen beyond the sliding glass doors. “Wildlife has to pay its own way,” he exclaimed while seated in the spacious house that served as both the residence and working space for the employees of his international mining concern. Brian is a miner by trade, but a conservationist at heart. His firm was in the exploration phase of operations in Gabon, a francophone country in equatorial Africa. While Gabon has a land mass comparable to that of Oregon, with only approximately 1.5 million inhabitants nationwide and a tropical climate, it enjoys the distinction of being one of the most heavily forested countries on the planet. As was the fate for many countries around the world, the discovery of oil in Gabon shortly before independence in 1960 served as both a blessing and a curse. Due to the political aptitude of its long-serving president, Omar Bongo, Gabon has managed to sidestep the violent struggles for control of oil revenues that have plagued so many other African states in its position. However, the economy’s focus on petroleum has crowded out most other domestic industries. The extraction of materials – such as timber, minerals and precious metals – by mostly foreign companies is all that remains. Fortunately, President Bongo, in concert with conservationist such as the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), had the insight in 2002 to set aside 11% of his country for a system of national parks. Lacking critical investment in infrastructure and development on the part of the national government, however, this impressive system of parks has yet to become self-sustaining. It has, in effect, failed to pay its own way.

Gabon is located in a rough neighborhood. With the Republic of Congo to the east and south, and Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon to the north, its western border with the Atlantic Ocean is the country’s only consistently peaceful frontier. In a region that is often enthralled in civil war, it comes as no surprise that comparatively stable Gabon has one of the most developed environmental codes in Central Africa. However, as the World Bank asserts, it is the enforcement of these laws that has proven to be Gabon’s biggest weakness. Nowhere is this weakness more apparent than with the country’s relationship with the Chinese. In the emerging superpower’s relentless pursuit to acquire the raw materials to feed its impressive growth, University of Pennsylvania professor John Ghazvinian notes that “the scale and ferocity of China’s entry into Africa has been breathtaking.”[1] With its large, albeit waning, petroleum reserves and high quality timber, the Chinese have taken special note of Gabon. So much so, in fact, that President Hu of China paid President Bongo a personal visit in 2004. The close relationship between the two men has recently resulted in two large and controversial extraction projects in the country: the Sinopec oil concession in Loango National Park and the more recent Belinga mine and accompanying hydroelectric dam currently underway in Ivindo National Park.

The Chinese presence in Gabon is sore subject for many here in the country. There is the impression that the Chinese operate here with impunity. They take what they want, when they want it, without regard to the needs and interests of the local population. These are views expressed by locals and expatriates alike. This subject was even highlighted in an editorial cartoon in a recent issue of the country’s only national daily newspaper, L’Union. Everyone from the World Bank to the private sector to the average Joe (or perhaps Jacques) on the street sees a neo-imperialist agenda on the horizon. Interestingly, however, the conservationists operating in the country seem to be singing a different tune.

Back in 2004, the Chinese state-owned oil exploration company, Sinopec, was granted a license to drill for oil in Loango National Park. This license was the direct result of meeting between Presidents Hu and Bongo, and was therefore fast-tracked to approval without many of the environmental safeguards laid forth in Gabonese law. The firm was essentially given free reign to explore for oil in whatever fashion they chose. Unlike the large, western energy companies that operate in the region, as a state-owned entity, Sinopec was not constrained by notions of shareholder interests and corporate social responsibility. And without the enforcement of restraints encoded in Gabonese law, it was in Sinopec’s best interests to explore for oil in the fastest and cheapest way it knew how. I spoke with a researcher with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in downtown Libreville. Choosing a surprisingly dispassionate tone, he maintained that the Sinopec episode was not the fault of the Chinese, for they “simply weren’t informed by the government.”Given this failure of communication, the firm unsurprisingly employed dynamite and other methods that, while effective, have proven to have deleterious effects on the surrounding environment. These practices resulted in an outcry from the media and the international community. When the government’s promises to shield the firm from international pressure proved ineffectual, it was the management of Sinopec itself that initiated meetings with the Ministry of the Environment and conservationists to develop a course of action that would be in keeping with the established environmental standards of the country. The Chinese made such an abrupt about-face in terms of environmental controls that, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, “within a couple of months, Sinopec was outperforming even [the multinational oil companies] Total and Shell.”

The question of enforcement is the common theme that links all discussion of the environment in Gabon. The foundation has been laid. A sound body of laws is already on the books. In theory, Gabon may have one of the most protected environments in all of Africa. In practice, however, its regulations are only adhered to when convenient. Even if there existed the will to carry out all aspects of the law, Gabon may still fall short. Decades of graft and mismanagement at all levels of government have resulted in a lack of investment in education, infrastructure and technology that permeates every aspect of the society. It’s not surprising that a country that is flush with petrodollars but yet still has inadequate roads in much of its capital city has also failed to develop the human capital necessary to regulate the increasingly technical operations of multi-national corporations doing business within its borders. But even in that regard, Gabon may still be performing better than its neighbors. Gabon’s chief concern as it relates to enforcement is a culture of awarding valuable concessions for the good of the few at the expense of the many. President Bongo was seen as a visionary when he first established the system of national parks, but has subsequently been charged with shortsightedness by allowing the sustainability of that system to be undermined by short-term economic and political interests. It appears that Gabon is on track to relive the Sinopec experience, but this time in a park of a different name.

A Chinese company is on the verge of opening a large iron ore mine in Ivindo National Park in northeastern Gabon. In order to provide the mine with power, the firm also intends to build a hydroelectric dam on Kongou Falls, which are touted as Central Africa’s “most beautiful waterfall.” Like Sinopec, Belinga is a personal project of President Bongo, who promised his Chinese counterpart that the mine would be operational before Bongo faces re-election in 2012, a timeline that he announced during his recent trip to Beijing. Much like the Sinopec project, Belinga has resulted in condemnation from the Gabonese citizenry and the international community directed toward the Chinese. There are claims that the Chinese have not performed an environmental impact study that meets the standards for operation in a national park. Furthermore, there are serious misgivings surrounding the proposed location of the hydroelectric dam. The Ministry of the Environment and conservationists have made it clear that they are not necessarily opposed to the building of the mine and the hydroelectric project, but are pushing for a more detailed environmental impact study and a potentially less-destructive site for the dam. At this point it is still unclear how the situation will unfold.

While the Belinga episodes slowly plays out, contempt for the Chinese here in Gabon continues to grow. The conservationists, however, argue that while the Chinese are not without fault, the ultimate responsibility for what has taken place here lies with the government’s failure to uphold its own standards and turning a blind eye to their destructive practices. Nevertheless, perception often becomes reality. The general perception that the Chinese are disregarding the law for their own economic benefit has tainted the relationship between the Gabonese and the Chinese who reside here, fueling tensions that are mirrored in other aspects of society and threaten to disrupt the delicate balance of power artfully maintained over the last four decades since independence.



[1] John Ghazvinian. Untapped: The Scramble for Africa’s Oil. 2007.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Postcard from Gabon

Here are a few shots from my recent trip to Gabon:



Children at Cap Isterias










Lopé Savanna












Sunset in Libreville










Setté Cama Beach









Lopé Roadway

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Obama-mania Spreads to Africa

Over the last few months, it has become apparent that among certain groups and constituencies, Obama’s run has inspired many to reengage themselves in the electoral and governing process. As for us Americans swept away in the movement, I feel that it has become much larger than support for a single man for a single post in government. It has much larger implications for the future of America and the evolution of our society. On the one hand, Obama has certainly benefited from being at the right place at the right time. In a nation fed up with current Administration, we longed for the return to the Oval Office of someone that can chart a new course for this country, re-integrate us into the global community and use the might and power of the US to actually make this a world a better place to live, or at least not make it any worse than it already is. We needed a fresh face. We longed for a symbol. An embodiment of the American image and values. In many ways and for many of us, Obama has become that symbol. And for his African-American supporters, he also became for us a symbol of a different sort. He represents an America that is finally beginning to take significant strides in overcoming its racial inequities, and, in my opinion more importantly, he shows us that yes we too can attain the American dream. It is time that we finally let go of the vestiges of slavery and segregation that we ourselves hold onto and pass onto generation after generation. In a country in which a black man can be President, it is certainly possible that the rest of us can achieve success, in whatever way we choose to define it. There are clearly still external obstacles faced by Blacks everyday that we alone are powerless to fully remove from society, but there are also many obstacles that we place before ourselves and for me, he represents what is possible once those self-imposed barriers are removed.

Obama has, however, become more than just a symbol or representation. He actually has a very good chance of becoming our next President. While it may have been a fair amount of chance and fortunate timing that catapulted him onto the world’s stage, it was he who saw to it that he remained there. A year ago, not even I would have expected the nominating process to have played out the way that it did. I didn’t think that either Obama or McCain would win their party’s nomination. While many Americans have been swept away by the idea of Obama, one can no longer argue that he lacks substance, and at the end of the day, I believe that is what ultimately guides our votes. There are a great many problems facing Americans today and it will take much more than polished oratory skills and a fresh haircut to address the issues of the coming decade.

Abroad, however, it has become my impression that it is the theory of Obama that is of most importance, especially among black abroad. As reported in the New York Times, there has been a resurgence of the idea of négritude, which was championed by African leaders in France in the run up to the independence of African states in the 1960s, and mirrored by “Black is Beautiful” movements in the US in the decade that followed. Blacks in France, who have been battling with racial divisions in French society that have been bubbling to the surface in recent years, look to Obama to open the debate on the streets of Paris of what it means to be Black AND French. Unlike us Americans, they seem less concerned with Obama the man, as they are with Obama the image, which is understandable, considering that he would be our president and not theirs.

I’ve noticed a similar phenomenon here in central Africa, but on a much broader scale. During my few weeks here in Libreville, Gabon, I’ve spoken to several people about what they think of Obama and the race for president, and I feel that they see much wider implications for an Obama presidency than ever conceived by anyone I’ve talked to in the West. Whereas I see in him a stark departure from the Bush Administration and a catalyst for progress on many social issues that have plagued American society throughout our history, the central Africans that I’ve talked to see in him the potential to uplift the black race globally. Obama, to them, is Black first and American second. A win for Obama, is a win for black people everywhere. He is often the topic of conversation around lunch tables and in bars. When radio broadcasts a story on his campaign, the volume is always turned a little louder. Just this morning I was handed a flyer to attend a meeting of “Le Comité pour le soutien de Barack Obama”. I’m not exactly sure how they proposed to support him all the way from Libreville, but it simply goes to show the popularity that Obama has garnered in Africa. It’s a popularity that is not based on foreign policy or economic issues, but rather a struggle for equality felt by Blacks everywhere. A man told me that if a black man in America can be president, than Blacks around the world will finally start to get the respect they have so long been denied.

I don’t know if I subscribed to the grand ideals of Black transcendence through the Obama campaign that are espoused by many here in Gabon, but as a Black American in Africa, I do find it interesting that the people here feel that our destinies are in some ways inextricably linked and a victory for Obama is not just ours alone, but, at least in part, belongs to black people everywhere.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

India!

I returned from India a few weeks ago. I had a great time! Since we were in the neighborhood, my friend and I decided to spend a week in Nepal as well. All in all, I was in South Asia for 4 whole weeks. Taking a month-long vacation is something that I will need to do more often.

Below is just a few of the 1200 (!) photos I took with my brand new camera that I haven't quite figured out how to completely use yet.





Sunset -- Goa













Shopping with the Locals -- Pushkar







Dusk -- Bombay









Temples -- Outside Kathmandu










Red Fort -- Delhi