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<< MBA Profs Against Bush | Main | US Kills More Civilians than Insurgents >> September 17, 2004New Pan-African Congress OpensI like all new democratic bodies, so I'm happy that a new Pan-African Parliament is opening for business, representing delegates from 53 member states in Africa. It's just a talking shop now, but hopefully it can evolve into a parliamentary body with legislative teeth over time. Africa is afflicted with colonial borders with little rhyme or reason, so nation-states often lack legitimacy compared to religious and tribal subdivisions. In a Madisonian sense, politics across a pan-African space might invite a healthier politics to emerge over time. And the lefty in me hopes that it encourages a bit more tough bargaining with multinational countries and northern states over trade deals and other economic relationships. It's a new baby, but I welcome it into the world. Posted by Nathan at September 17, 2004 06:22 PM Related posts:
Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsAlthough the Bantu language stretches across a large swath of Sub-Saharan Africa, it does fall into sub-groupings. I firmly believe that Africa needs new borders, that all hell _won't_ break loose, and that linguistic borders (like Europe does for itself, see 1815 and 1648) are the way to go. Colonial border nonsense is what makes Afghanistan and Iraq such wonderful places today. Divide and Conquer, that's what they always said. You know Niger-Kordofanian? Posted by: Josh Narins at September 18, 2004 10:39 AM well, bantu is not technically a language. instead it's a family of languages which are mostly mutually incomprehensible. (it's like "germanic"--not a language just a group that includes english, german, dutch, danish, swedish, norwegian and icelandic. just because i speak english does not mean i speak the same language or can understand any of the others) the problem with redrawing the borders of africa is that it will probably produce hundreds of smaller, even poorer, states. plus, it's no guarantee that it will make things much better. the one african state which really does basically follow ethnic borders is somalia. but that fact doesn't save somalia from being a total basket case. i'm not saying the current borders don't contribute to the problems of the continent, but they are only part of the problem. as stupid as the borders were when they were drawn, we're probably stuck with them. drawing new ones will only saddle the continent with even worse problems. which is why i agree with nathan that the pan african congress is a good thing. it probably will evolve into a toothless symbolic gesture, but even the bare hope that it turns into something more serious is worth it Posted by: upyernoz at September 21, 2004 01:06 PM Somalia doesn't follow linguistic borders, according to this map... Rwanda, however, is one language. Yes, Bantu is not a language, it is a sub-family of languages. I think the Pan-African Congress should probably become a Sub-Saharan African Congress, which would be a Niger-Kordofanian Congress (other than the regrettable reality where most of the ruling classes in each country speak a European language). You forgot the Germanic languages Faroese and, the one CLOSEST TO ENGLISH, Frisian :)
Posted by: Josh Narins at September 22, 2004 12:16 PM By the way, your non-existent "proof" for why we are stuck with them, or why getting rid of the "Divide & Conquer" borders of the Europeans wouldn't help. This is a nice map of Niger-Kordofanian... http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/bantu.gif Here is a simplified version of the sub-groupings of Bantu (read, new borders of States inside Bantuia :) http://www.african.gu.se/0afrpics/inset-bnt.gif Posted by: Josh Narins at September 22, 2004 12:21 PM Here Rwanda and, (maybe) Burundi are shown as single language groups... http://www.african.gu.se/0afrpics/inset-bnt.gif Posted by: Josh Narins at September 22, 2004 12:22 PM Post a comment
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