The Ravaging of Africa: A four-part audio documentary


The Ravaging of Africa is a four part audio documentary series about the destructive impact of US imperialism on the continent.


"The ravaging of Africa has been enriching Europe and North America for more than 500 years. First European empires imposed slavery and colonialism on the continent. After 1945 the United States took over as the dominant neocolonial power. Through the Pentagon and the CIA the US has fueled 14 wars in Africa.

"The US has used the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to systematically demolish African economies, and their health and education sectors. This military and economic war enables the looting of Africa's resources by western multinational corporations. Washington's genocidal imperial strategy has killed more than 26 million Africans, but has failed to suppress popular resistance..."



* The Ravaging of Africa, Part One: Militarizing Africa


"Nearly 80% of the strategic minerals the US requires are found in Africa, including 90% of th4e world's cobalt, 90% of the platinum, 40% of the gold, 98% of the chromium, 64% of the manganese, and one third of the uranium. These minerals are needed to make jet engines, cars, missiles, electronic components, to manufacture iron and steel. No industrial society can exist without these substances. Africa also accounts for 18% of oil imports, a number which is expected to rise.

"Africa is the most war-torn region in the world, with armed conflicts going on in nine countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia with Somalia, civil war within Ethiopia, Uganda, Chad, Nigeria, Morrocco with Western Sahara, and Algeria. The U.S. has provided arms and military training to participants in all nine of these wars. Washington has done the same in another six wars which ended between 2002 and 2006. These are the long civil wars in Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Burundi, as well as that in Congo-Brazzaville."

"According to William Hartung, author of the report Deadly Legacy, U.S. Arms and the Congo War ( http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/congo.htm) the U.S. sent $1.5 billion in arms and training to Africa during the Cold War years, 1950 to 1989. This 'set the stage for the current round of conflicts in the region'..."

"The Clinton Administration undertook a new wave of military assistance and training programs. In the 1990s the US gave military assistance to 50 countries in Africa out of a total of 53. The US has 4 different military training programs for Africa. Since 2001 the Bush administration has doubled US military aid to Africa, and quadrupled US arms transfers..."

"The most destructive case of US military intervention in Africa is the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the heart of the continent. This war has killed more than four million people since 1998 and destroyed the second largest country in Africa. The Congo is the richest country in the continent, holding the world's biggest copper, cobalt and cadmium deposits.

The US's proxies for this genocide are Rwanda and Uganda, which started the war in 1998 by invading the Congo with Washington's encouragement and support, and have since been looting hte country's resources and sending them to the West."

Thus begins "Militarizing Africa" by Asad Ismi and Christian Schwartz. To listen to the entire 30 minutes of "Militarizing Africa" click the links below.


HTTP Download:

 http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/ kristin@ckln.fm/3141-2-20070612-MilitarizingAfrica.mp3


FTP Download:

 ftp://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/ kristin@ckln.fm/3141-2-20070612-MilitarizingAfrica.mp3



* The Ravaging of Africa, Part 2: Economic War


The second of four episodes of this audio documentary focuses on the role of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Through these institutions structural adjustment polices have been imposed upon African nations forcing them to end free education, to curtail health services, and sell the national wealth to privatizers at bargain basement rates, resulting in pandemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The destruction of health and educational infrastructure caused by these "reforms" has led to 21 million deaths from preventable disease and malnutrition since the mid 1980s. More than 200 million Africans have absolutely no access to health care services. Forty percent of Africa's children are out of school and more than 140 million young Africans are illiterate, all thanks to "structural adjustment".

To listen to the entire 30 minutes of "Economic War on Africa" click the links below.


HTTP Download:

 http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/ kristin@ckln.fm/3141-1-20070611-EconomicWar.mp3


FTP Download:

 ftp://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/ kristin@ckln.fm/3141-1-20070611-EconomicWar.mp3



* The Ravaging of Africa, Part 3: Corporate Plunder


A major objective of US, World Bank and IMF policy in Africa is to ensure that corporations dominate the continent's economies, and are able to loot African resources and send the proceeds to Europe and North America. In the Congo, 85 companies are plundering the enormous mineral riches of the richest country in Africa. This has been made possible by a civil war arranged and prolonged by the US.

To listen to the entire 30 minutes of "Corporate Plunder" click the links below.


HTTP Download:

 http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/ kristin@ckln.fm/3141-1-20070611-CorporatePlunder.mp3


FTP Download:

 ftp://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/ kristin@ckln.fm/3141-1-20070611-CorporatePlunder.mp3



* The Ravaging of Africa, Part 4: African Resistance

Incessant wars in which the US has supplied one or more sides with military training or arms have killed five and half million Africans in the Congo alone, and many more throughout the continent. World Bank and International Monetary Fund demands dictating the virtual dismantlement of African in frastructures for mass education and public health care infrastructures have killed a further 20 million Africans since 1980, but failed to curtail popular resistance.
Recorded at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya last June, this final 30 minute installment of the Ravaging of Africa celebrates the continuing resistance to US empire in Benin, South Africa, Mozambique, the Congo, Somalia, and Kenya.
To listen to the entire 30 minutes of "African Resistance" click the links below.


HTTP Download:

 http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/ kristin@ckln.fm/3141-1-20070611-AfricanResistance.mp3


FTP Download:

 ftp://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/ kristin@ckln.fm/3141-1-20070611-AfricanResistance.mp3