The Challenge for AfricaWangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement, offers a refreshingly unique perspective on the challenges facing Africa, even as she calls for a moral revolution among Africans themselves, who, she argues, are culturally deracinated, adrift between worlds. The troubles of Africa today are severe and wide-ranging. Yet what we see of them in the media, more often than not, are tableaux vivantes connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation. Wangari Maathai presents a different vision, informed by her three decades as an environmental activist and campaigner for democracy. She illuminates the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, and offers “hardheaded hope” and “realistic options” for change and improvement. With clarity of expression, Maathai analyzes the most egregious “bottlenecks to development in Africa,” occurring at the international, national, and individual levels–cultural upheaval and enduring poverty among them–and deftly describes what Africans can and need to do for themselves, stressing all the while responsibility and accountability. Impassioned and empathetic, The Challenge for Africa is a book of immense importance. |
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accessed September 2008 African countries African governments African leaders African nations African Union agriculture Angola bed nets bushmeat challenges citizens civil society climate change coffee colonial administration communities conflict Congo Basin Congo Basin Forest constituency continent continent's corruption crops culture Darfur debt decades democratic space donor economic ecosystem elections elites encourage ensure environment environmental ethnic European exploitation farmers farming fish foreign funds global Green Belt Movement HIV/AIDS human rights indigenous individuals industrialized instance invest Janjaweed Kibaki Kikuyu land lives macadamia malaria MDGs ment micro-nations million minister Mount Kenya Mwai Kibaki nation-state natural resources Nigeria nuts peace percent policies political politicians poor poverty president problems protect Raila Odinga region Rwanda South Africa sub-Saharan Africa Sudan sustainable Tetu tion trade traditional trees United Nations violence vote wildlife women World Bank wrong bus Yaoundé Zimbabwe