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The Effects of Exporting Used PCs To Africa
retroworks writes "According to this UK MailOnline story, computers donated to Africa are causing quite a few problems. The BBC does a similar story on the junk computers from rich countries found on the ground in Africa. But all of the footage is of the junk PCs; there is no film of any repaired or good computers. There have been a dozen stories now about the bad apples. It seems like there have to be good ones, too, to cover the costs of shipping. Some of the ones in the Mail story actually look decent. Is there more balanced coverage of used computer exports, many of which provide affordable technology to poor people? Organizations like Greenpeace and Basel Action Network are promoting electronics recyclers with zero-export policies. One organization, the World Reuse Repair and Recycling Association, is promoting a 'Fair Trade Coffee' approach to moderate the number of bad computers exported, and has a video showing both sides of the story. A ban on exports leaves Africa with a choice of spending a year's income on a new PC, buying mixed loads of computers from undercapitalized recyclers, or remaining without this level of technology. And our choice seems to be to donate a decent computer mixed with other people's junk, or to grind it up in a perverse tribute to Vance Packard, as 'obsolescence in hindsight.'"
Ouch. Yeah, I forgot about the "Stolen Generation." But, in my defense, weren't most of the problems there associated with the poor treatment of the children? Sexual abuse, etc?
What I really want to respond to, however, is this idea that we want to impose "our rules." The point I was making was that, as Westerners (assuming you're of European descent, but if you're not, please hear this out), we, too, used to live in such a culture as Africa has now. Then the Romans came and conquered us, set up large-scale government, and imposed their rules. And you know what? We benefitted greatly.
Furthermore, it isn't that these are simply "our rules." Why can East Asia play ball with the Western countries, even though they were caught off guard by the Industrial Revolution? Because, at the heart of these societies, is the same thing we got from the Romans: the understanding that at least some degree of large-scale, non-tribal, non-familial collectivism is the key to improving conditions for all the members of a society. They had to play technological catch-up, but the base was already there. The reason the European countries can work well with the East Asian countries is that, despite the fact we blather on about differences, they are very similar where it counts: They believe in society.
Really chronically poor countries do not have this component. They look to familial or tribal groups for group identity, and that is a recipe for constant warfare. And if you're in a war zone all the time, guess what? You never develop a middle class.
Again, to return to my cautiously pro-colonialism argument, I would like to point out that sub-Saharan Africa has basically never been a nice place to live. There has always been tribal warfare, and now, as you rightly point out, they have even better weapons. The problem isn't that things have changed; it is that they have stayed the same.
Interest free loans work? You're going to have to provide some references for that. I'm no expert, but based on the anecdotal evidence I've heard from colleagues who did their turns in the Peace Corps, etc., a lot of these people don't know what a loan is. They just take the money and buy whatever, and when the group comes back a year later for the money, they're like, "What money? The money you gave me? I used it. How can I give it back?" Giving money to poor people is like pouring water in a bucket with no bottom. If they understood how it worked, they wouldn't be poor (this is also why tax cuts for the rich are stupid, because rich people are people who don't have holes in their buckets, and the size of anyone's bucket is infinite!).
And finally, why would we provide other countries with free contraception, healthcare, and shelters, when we don't have them in our own (I am American, which means this is truer for me than most, but I know it's not that rosy in other countries as well)?