What obligation does the West have towards Africa?

Question

Or do we have any obligation to help them? What if your country, like mine, has no history of colonization?

Answer 1

Just beating tin cans.

In keeping an eye on them

Try and get the French Lover boy to help out.

Luke 8.10,17

What do you think?

Answer 2

We owe Africa nothing- if they can't manage any better for themselves than they have with the example the civilized world has set before them  then I fail to see how we owe them anything.

Answer 3

Debt relief would go a long way to help some of these nations start to be able to help their own citizens, instead of slaving away to pay off interest on foreign loans.

We should stop supporting the brutal dictators who steal foreign aid money, and manipulate tribal conflicts to keep themselves and their cronies in power. Africa will have to straighten itself out, but we can do our best to stay out of the way.

Answer 4

We don't "owe" them anything.  However, when Christ spoke about loving your neighbors, he didn't just mean the people next door.

We need to get out of the "pie" mindset.  So many people believe that if someone else gets a piece of the pie, then they will get less.  The earth has enough to offer to give all of us all the "pie" we need if resources are used wisely.  Actually, when we help others, we help ourselves by making our world a better place to live.

Let's just take your next door neighbor for a better undertanding of how this works--your neighbor's house is falling down in disrepair and your house sits next to it.  His house's value goes down, and yours, just because of its close proximity, does too.  You help your poor, elderly neighbor fix up his house a little, and you benefit too.  Certainly, you didn't owe him him your help, but it's a win-win  situation in the long run.  

We just need to find the right way to help those less fortunate than we are.  Handouts alone don't solve the problem.  Helping the disadvantaged find their niche in life is one of the things Christianity is all about.

Answer 5

For decades, the U.S. has been the most generous country on the face of the earth.  We have sent billions of $'s to help African countries, only to see the majority of it fall into the hands of corrupt dictators.  Obligation to do what?  We probably will continue to send aid to starving victims of genocide, but what other obligation do you mean? Military intervention?  Give details about what exactly you mean by the West being obligated.....no history of colonization.

My comments pertain to post WWII and what we have done for African nations since then- slaves came from many countries and were exploited by the U.S. and many other nations from the beginning of recorded history.  Obligations are not retro-active, or else we (and every other nation on earth) would do nothing now but pay for things that happened long ago.

Answer 6

We only Plundered and raped their country for years, we even took the people as our slaves, O, I think we owe them plenty, other than that they are just people like you and me, I mean they do have human feelings, they are born, they live, they die, just like real humans do, only they don't have much to live for, but why care we have their diamonds etc, all we use them for now is for testing vaccines, and other medication, we were always infecting them with Aids to find a cure, Big Phama companies think it's great.  O yes I think we owe them big time.

Answer 7

Considering that Western colonial powers played on (and in some cases created) tribal rivalries, drew national boundaries with more regard to intra-European conflicts than to African national identities, and built economic infrastructures to supply and be dependent on the industrialized world, I'd say the West has a fairly large obligation to Africa. Moreover, nations without a history of traditional, flag-planting colonialism may still be engaging in modern forms of economic exploitation and thus bear a similar - if not greater - obligation.