What Obama Knows About Africa

Barack Obama: How will Africa remember him?

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Now he's in Kenya and South Africa for the first time since leaving office. Can he live up to the public's expectations as a private citizen? I won't have such a big security detail all the time," announced Barack Obama, still president of the USA at the time, during his speech to the African Union in I can spend time with my family.

His diary for this trip is no less full than in the days when he was considered the most powerful man in the world. On Sunday he arrived in Kenya, his father's homeland, for a two-day visit. Shortly after his arrival he held brief meetings with the Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, and opposition leader Raila Odinga. He will also be spending time with his family: His face was printed on African fabrics and every African artist had portraits of the American statesman in their repertoire. Africans believed their continent would be given a higher status with regard to US foreign policy, investment and development aid.

After Obama's eight years in office, many Africans still feel disillusioned.

No reason for 'Obama-Mania' in Africa. It includes many who are self-made. It includes champions of meritocracy. And although still mostly white and male, as a group they reflect a diversity of nationalities and ethnicities that would have not existed a hundred years ago. A decent percentage consider themselves liberal in their politics, modern and cosmopolitan in their outlook. Unburdened by parochialism, or nationalism, or overt racial prejudice or strong religious sentiment, they are equally comfortable in New York or London or Shanghai or Nairobi or Buenos Aires, or Johannesburg.

Many are sincere and effective in their philanthropy. Some of them count Nelson Mandela among their heroes. Some even supported Barack Obama for the presidency of the United States, and by virtue of my status as a former head of state, some of them consider me as an honorary member of the club. And I get invited to these fancy things, you know? But too often, these decisions are also made without reference to notions of human solidarity — or a ground-level understanding of the consequences that will be felt by particular people in particular communities by the decisions that are made.

Which is why, at the end of the 20th century, while some Western commentators were declaring the end of history and the inevitable triumph of liberal democracy and the virtues of the global supply chain, so many missed signs of a brewing backlash — a backlash that arrived in so many forms.

Russia, already humiliated by its reduced influence since the collapse of the Soviet Union, feeling threatened by democratic movements along its borders, suddenly started reasserting authoritarian control and in some cases meddling with its neighbors. China, emboldened by its economic success, started bristling against criticism of its human rights record; it framed the promotion of universal values as nothing more than foreign meddling, imperialism under a new name.

And perhaps more than anything else, the devastating impact of the financial crisis, in which the reckless behavior of financial elites resulted in years of hardship for ordinary people all around the world, made all the previous assurances of experts ring hollow — all those assurances that somehow financial regulators knew what they were doing, that somebody was minding the store, that global economic integration was an unadulterated good.

Because of the actions taken by governments during and after that crisis, including, I should add, by aggressive steps by my administration, the global economy has now returned to healthy growth. But the credibility of the international system, the faith in experts in places like Washington or Brussels, all that had taken a blow.

Obama in Kenya for First Visit to Africa Since Leaving White House

And a politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment began to appear, and that kind of politics is now on the move. I am not being alarmist, I am simply stating the facts. Strongman politics are ascendant suddenly, whereby elections and some pretense of democracy are maintained — the form of it — but those in power seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning. Who needs free speech as long as the economy is going good?

The free press is under attack. Censorship and state control of media is on the rise.

What has Obama's visit done for Africa?

Social media — once seen as a mechanism to promote knowledge and understanding and solidarity — has proved to be just as effective promoting hatred and paranoia and propaganda and conspiracy theories. Two different stories, two different narratives about who we are and who we should be. How should we respond? Should we understand the last 25 years of global integration as nothing more than a detour from the previous inevitable cycle of history — where might makes right, and politics is a hostile competition between tribes and races and religions, and nations compete in a zero-sum game, constantly teetering on the edge of conflict until full-blown war breaks out?

Is that what we think? Let me tell you what I believe. I believe in a vision shared by Gandhi and King and Abraham Lincoln. And I believe that a world governed by such principles is possible and that it can achieve more peace and more cooperation in pursuit of a common good. And I believe we have no choice but to move forward; that those of us who believe in democracy and civil rights and a common humanity have a better story to tell.

And I believe this not just based on sentiment, I believe it based on hard evidence. Look at the facts. The fact that countries which rely on rabid nationalism and xenophobia and doctrines of tribal, racial or religious superiority as their main organizing principle, the thing that holds people together — eventually those countries find themselves consumed by civil war or external war. Check the history books.

We have a better story to tell. But to say that our vision for the future is better is not to say that it will inevitably win. Because history also shows the power of fear. History shows the lasting hold of greed and the desire to dominate others in the minds of men. History shows how easily people can be convinced to turn on those who look different, or worship God in a different way. First, Madiba shows those of us who believe in freedom and democracy we are going to have to fight harder to reduce inequality and promote lasting economic opportunity for all people.

But they need bread. And when economic power is concentrated in the hands of the few, history also shows that political power is sure to follow — and that dynamic eats away at democracy. And Madiba understood this. This is not new. He warned us about this. So if we are serious about universal freedom today, if we care about social justice today, then we have a responsibility to do something about it.

And I would respectfully amend what Madiba said. And how we achieve this is going to vary country to country, and I know your new president is committed to rolling up his sleeves and trying to do so.

But we can learn from the last 70 years that it will not involve unregulated, unbridled, unethical capitalism. I can afford it. Who can I help?

Obama's message of hope rings true in call for Africa to flourish

How can I give more and more and more? What an amazing gift to be able to help people, not just yourself. You get the point. It involves promoting an inclusive capitalism both within nations and between nations. And as we pursue, for example, the Sustainable Development Goals, we have to get past the charity mindset. Second, Madiba teaches us that some principles really are universal — and the most important one is the principle that we are bound together by a common humanity and that each individual has inherent dignity and worth.

African American delegates at DNC reflect on Obama's legacy

More than a quarter century after Madiba walked out of prison, I still have to stand here at a lecture and devote some time to saying that black people and white people and Asian people and Latin American people and women and men and gays and straights, that we are all human, that our differences are superficial, and that we should treat each other with care and respect.

I would have thought we would have figured that out by now. I thought that basic notion was well established. Again, Madiba, he anticipated things. He knew what he was talking about. That applies here in this country, to me, and to you. He had read their documents more carefully than they had. What was true then remains true today. Basic truths do not change. Major roads in Nairobi were closed and deserted , which spoiled the atmosphere a bit, while there was even less interaction with the public in Ethiopia. The Washington Post reported: A law enforcement official familiar with Secret Service security and logistics planning said the visit had been the most challenging since George W Bush went to Islamabad in , based on the level of terrorist activity and lack of infrastructure in the region.

Politicians and entrepreneurs love to point out that the old stereotypes of war, famine and hopelessness have been replaced by some of the fastest growing economies in the world, as if they are the first to discover it. In fact so many people have said this so often, is there anyone left who still doubts it?

A less successful use of this rhetorical device was his drawing of a parallel between corruption in Kenya and corruption in the Chicago of Al Capone, since it implied that countries move in a linear progression and Kenya trails America by nearly a century.

Obama in Kenya for First Visit to Africa Since Leaving White House

Yet some here welcomed the chance to see prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn put on the spot. For its part, the White House defended the principle of engagement, pointing out that no one questions visits to China or Russia, despite their dubious records. Steve Case, chief executive of investment firm Revolution, offered this take:

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