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Western nations have been claiming that the economy of the third world nations can only be achieved through aid.
Under the cover of such a philosophy, however, they have been devising innumerable ways to accomplish the kind of objectives formerly enacted by naked colonialism. It is this sum total of these modern attempts to perpetuate colonialism while at the same time talking about ‘freedom’, which has come to be known as “neo-colonialism”. Although this kind of western intervention should be tackled, the question remains, how should developing nations fight against this crippling western conspiracy?
In order to halt foreign interferences in the affairs of developing countries, it is necessary to study, understand, expose and actively combat neo-colonialism in whatever form it may appear. This is because the methods of neo-colonialists are subtle and varied. They operate in the economic, socio-political, religious, ideological and cultural spheres of the targeted nations.
According to many political and economic analysts, dependence on aid is one factor for neo-colonial expansion. Moreover, dependence on aid worsens food crisis. The nations, which depend on aid, are not motivated to produce their own food. It is not because they do not have enough resources and fertile land, but because they have satisfied themselves with alms, they have rejected the merits of work. Rather than producing their own food and developing their agricultural sectors, aid has made them lazy and dependent. This in turn, is opening the doors for the neo-colonialists.
The more a nation suffers from crisis, the more it becomes fragile and open to international interferences. Worst of all, at the present moment even food exporting nations are suffering from food shortages; consequently they are reducing the amount, even at times halting exporting food at all. This is creating a more sever food crisis in dependent nations. What many dependent nations are experiencing currently is a good example.
Aid has another negative impact. It enhances corruption, thereby leads to political instabilities. Ethiopia for example is given huge amounts of money from the United States of America annually. But, this financial aid had not brought any positive change in the country. Rather, it worsened the socio-political insecurities. Millions of children are reported to be suffering from severe hunger. Why? Is the money not enough to feed them? May be not. So, where does it go? It is either misappropriated or mismanaged. This does not mean that aid always impacts a nation’s development negatively. The contemporary rich countries were once poor. To reach where they are they had to receive aid. However, the aid they received did not affect them negatively. Why? Because it was meant to fill the gap that they could not fill themselves. It wasn’t the sole means of their survival, but just a help. One thing that we should bear in mind is that every nation, poor or rich, receives aid. Here, what kind of aid should one nation receives is a pertinent question. Aid is helpful as long as it reinforces ongoing developmental activities.
In many domestic and international interviews, President Isaias Afewerki said that an aid that comes before a country’s request is not a true aid. Because, it has a hidden agenda behind it. This is to mean that it is not for free. If aid is to be genuine, the nation that wants aid should request for it first. And it must be directed towards meeting a particular nation’s needs. Eritrea, like any other developing nations for example needs aid. But it is supposed to promote and encourage domestic production. Not an aid that makes the recipient idle.
Eritrea has been using traditional farming that can provide the people the minimum requirement of food. It indeed is having fertile soil, enough natural resources, and peace-loving people with a vast store of traditional farming knowledge. If the above natural endowments would be accompanied by modern agriculture, large amount of food, which satisfies the peoples’ requirement, can be produced. And as long as food security is the base for further development, modern agriculture has to be given priority. In addition to its satisfactory food productivity, modern type of agriculture produces educated younger generation. This educated younger generation, therefore, can produce more than the required amount of food and lead the country towards self-reliance in food.
This has been the Eritrean government policy since very beginning of the liberation, and is working accordingly. Because of the strategic plan of modern agriculture, new agricultural projects are introduced…. What remains now is implementation. So, if a balanced scientific methodology, relationship between government and farmer, farmer and market, etc are implemented well, the right direction to a successful agriculture sector can soon be defined. Therefore, the stage of self-reliance can be attained. This is the primary mechanism by which Western interferences can be tackled. Because it is the lower productivity of developing nations that invites covert imperialism
To sum up, patterns of neo-colonialism are not just a thing of the past. In the modern era of telecommunications and global markets, our world faces the possibility of experiencing a new kind of imperialism. Educating ourselves about the patterns of past imperialism would help direct our decisions today and in the future.
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