TED Community » Laura Santini

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Theatre, languages, journalism, activism, environment, children

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• A reply on Talk: Jacqueline Novogratz on patient capitalism

  Apr 18 2013: I do agree. Africans should work hard on their most urgent needs and on building a better furure for themselves. And yet having problems and dealing with them responsibly doesn't necessarily mean rejecting help or working on your own. If I have a problem I do all I can to find the best solution, and yet I never conscioulsy reject someone offering help beforehand. That's like mistaking dignity with the belief that anyone can be complitely selfsufficient: we are born from another, we need others to be happy, we need to love others and be loved by others. In fact what I was trying to argue is that anyone heartly committed in tackling one or more of the African problems should just listen and find solution together and in agreement with Africans. I would not insist therefore on the opposition between African and Western countries, for when someone can be trusted and we accept help, it's not a matter of cultural identities any longer. It's more about building human relationships. I know colonialism is always lingering in the background and also often knocking at the door and there are so many ways to actually colonize a country or even manipulate the future of a group of people. But this is true in Africa as well as in pretty much the rest of the world. Stereotypes are the evil in many respects and from many perspectives. If you believe that those who live and culturally belong to the Western countries are foreigners and intruders by default than you're creating a barrier to the very idea of finding possible new 'friends' abroad but also in your own country. Because following that mindset - i.e. who belongs to where - it may well be that you will also reject any intervention from an African that is not actually from your own African country and this is bound to create a spiral of very negative outcome and nothing else. And I won't mention here the social and political threats of nationalism and mercantilism.
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  A comment on Talk: Jacqueline Novogratz on patient capitalism

  Oct 16 2012: I think Novogratz's is reporting a bunch of very personal and interesting experiences, and yet I think they should somehow be related to those of others in the past - so many acted out in a similar direction. I'm especially referring to Peter Bauer, an economist that started arguing against aids as long as nearly 40 years ago. More recently, I can think about Dambisa Moyo's book "Dead Aid" that is summing up both on the assumptions related to aids in the Western culture and providing some facts and figures (though not as many as we would like as readers) out of Africa. I think Novogratz and Moyo share a similar perspective, i.e. both are suggesting to move away from stereotypes and prejudices and look at the poverty issue from a more inclusive, culture-bound and practical attitude. The culture-bound issue I think remains of paramount importance before any change both in economics and political terms can be effectively performed.