President Thabo Mbeki is my hero!

[Emmanuel Udogu]

It was not long ago when the African National Congress (ANC) was
confronted with a leadership crisis in South Africa�s embryonic
democracy. Following the leadership of President Nelson Mandela, Thabo
Mbeki became the flag-bearer of the party and president of the republic.
He led the country and party to a point when the party decided that they
had had enough of him. He was sacked. At no time during (and after) this
period of internal political confusion within the party did President
Mbeki call on his supporters to destabilize the country because he was
fired. He quietly left the office. The moral of this anecdote is that we
have had leaders in Africa who placed the interest of the country above
their insular interest/s. In my judgment, president Mbeki demonstrated
his belief in the doctrine of the �organic theory of the state,� and
this man is my hero. There is a lot that politicians in Nigeria, Africa
and other developing nations can learn from this South African
experience. And, one of these lessons is that the interests of a country
must always trump those of the politicos�including the President or
Prime Minister.

Ike Udogu

[afrs...@aol.com]

The 'Capitalist Nigger' is Coming to Zimbabwe

Lifestyle - People

Wednesday, 20 January 2010 07:23

When I read Chika Onyeani’s book, Capitalist Nigger,  it took me through cycles of denial, anger, frustration, mirth, more anger and many flashes of realisation.  Now, the man who wrote this book about how “black people have not the tenacity to win in the cut throat world of business,” is coming to Zimbabwe to explain what he meant and how African entrepreneurs can benefit from his Spider Web Doctrine. The first thing that strikes you about Capitalist Nigger is, of course, the title. You pick the book up because it slaps you in the face. In the interest of political correctness you may not even be able to read the title comfortably. Capitalist N Word perhaps? Left: Capitalist Nigger in South Africa. Chika Onyeani presents a copy of his book to South African President, Jacob Zuma, October 2008 (Picture courtesy of www.chatafrikarticles.com) But there is nothing politically correct about Chika Onyeani or his book. He says it as it is. “I want to be called a Capitalist Nigger,” read the first words of the book. “I know this is a phrase which is going to offend a lot of my group. I don’t care.” “Africans are not forceful people,” he says in another chapter, lambasting his fellow continentmen, “neither are they aggressive to the point of a fight to the finish. We are not resolute in our commitment to a goal… we have a very short attention span, and have a very short burst of energy which easily extinguishes in the face of impediment.” Throughout the book Onyeani gives examples of how Africans at home and in the Diaspora have failed to live up to the standard of the world and have remained slaves of a system that he says was not designed to benefit them. The solution to this malady of Africaness Onyeani says, is to become a Capitalist Nigger. And what, pray tell, is that? “You must possess great discipline and an iron hand if you are to succeed in this world. A Capitalist Nigger must embody ruthlessness in pursuit of excellence in his drive towards achieving his goal of being an economic warrior. He must be fiercely ruthless with himself if he is to abandon the baggage that we as Africans carry all our lives until our graves: the notion that somebody owes us something. We whine and whine about how the Europeans looted our natural resources. Yes, they did, so what. We allowed them to do it, and we are still allowing them to do it even today. There is too much whining among Africans, Blacks, continental Africans and Africans in the Diaspora – whine, whine, whine ad nauseam.” Onyeani also talks about his Spider Web Doctrine which he explains thus. He says once a dollar enters Indian and Jewish communities it hardly ever leaves the community but circulates within it. His encouragement is for black people to do the same. In certain parts of the book I remember thinking, hey, he’s got a point there, but there were many instances where I thought he was going overboard, exaggerating and inaccurate in his analysis. For example, in Chapter 4, Ruthlessness in Pursuit of Excellence, he surmises: "Everywhere you look in Africa, it is the intelligence of the Caucasian versus the stupidity of the Black man." In Chapter 5, Blacks are Economic Slaves, he writes: "We are owned stock and barrel by people of European origin, Japanese, China, the Indians and any other people that has decided to become economically viable. In fact, I believe that the only possession in the world that the Black race could lay ownership to is the free air we breathe." Chapter 11, Colonized Territories, has this rather shallow and simplistic suggestion: “Africa has nothing to offer right now. We should stop yapping our mouths off when others speak…”   Chika Onyeani, an American-based Nigerian journalist, is the publisher and editor of the African Sun Times, the only weekly African newspaper distributed on newsstands in the USA. A former diplomat, Onyeani has won numerous awards for his journalism. A quick Google search for “Chika Onyeani” reveals that he is a man who has caused much controversy and is loved and hated in equal proportions.  The controversy has been good for book sales though. Since it first came out in the year 2000, Capitalist Nigger has become a bestseller in the US and in Africa. It has also led to Chika being invited to speak at various fora the world over. Onyeani will be in Zimbabwe next month (April) and will speak at the Crowne Plaza Monomotapa on 2nd February (12th April) 2010. The true test of how much of ‘capitalist niggers’ we all are is, I suppose, how many will be prepared to pay the US$300 registration fee for the event. Right: Controversy sells. Capitalist Nigger was first published in 2000. By 2004 it had already gone into its third printing and had sold over 100,000 copies. It's not clear how many copies have been sold since then. Onyeani will be accompanied by Shelvin D. Longmire, Managing Director of AST’s (African Sun Times) Global Africa Media Group. Tim Chiganze, a Zimbabwean businessman, will give a perspective on entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe at present and in the future. I will end with another selection of those words from Onyeani that made me angry, sad, aware and very very curious. “According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the African immigrant group is the most educated immigrant group in the United States- it means more educated than the Japanese, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Indians, or even the Europeans. It means we possess more first degrees (B.A. B.Sc. or Bachelors whatever) and subsequent degrees than any other group. It means we have within the African immigrant group individuals with more professional degrees- medical doctors, engineers, economists, scientists and others in various fields. But the question is what has our being the most educated immigrant group done for us or for our people. Well, to say the least and to be really magnanimous, the answer is absolutely nothing.” - Fungai Tichawangana