It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that one of the most important tools for making it through these times is a capacity for grim amusement.
Without it, one would simply be crushed by something like the recent UN climate reports which correctly pointed out that there is currently no realistic policy pathway in place to keep climate change to 1.5 degrees celsius even as Pakistan and Nigeria are both underwater and drought is strangling East African agriculture.
Without it, the spectacle of European leaders traipsing to Africa to access natural gas while also preaching to those same African countries about using natural gas to fuel their own economies would cause unhealthy levels of anger.
Instead, let’s just laugh. A hearty chortle at the fact that despite having had several decades of low interest rates and stable growth on the back of low-wage manufacturing in China, Western countries somehow didn’t get around to realistically imagining how they’re going to decarbonize their economies. The extent to which discussions around the current crisis circle back to an ever-tighter focus on hydrocarbons is – frankly – laughable.
So let’s guffaw at this new report from within the European citadel showing how the much-vaunted BRI-killing Global Gateway is so undercapitalized and strangled by red tape, it’s already fading away.
One of the big stories underlying the Africa-China relationship is that it sets up a global referendum on Western leadership. It will continue to have this effect despite the fact that the actual People’s Republic of China’s interaction with Africa is decidedly a mixed bag – some massive successes, some big embarrassments, and a lot in between.
This is because “China” implies more than the PRC. It implies the myriad of other options that emerged in the wake of Africa’s interactions with China.
These don’t immediately devalue Western powers as development partners.
They just make their claim to be global norm-setters, holders of “values” that should somehow be central to the continent’s own development choices a little…giggle-licious.
