Not since the 19th century British Empire's Cecil Rhodes conquered sub-Saharan Africa to loot its natural resources in mineral wealth have we seen such a loyal zealot of British Imperialism policies towards the African continent as we see today in the person of Tony Blair, former Prime Minister (1997-2007) of the United Kingdom. Blair's new imperialism does not have the same outward characteristics of that of Rhodes, but in its modern form, it has the same effect: the ravaging of the African continent.
Africa is but one example of Blair's global intervention on behalf of the City of London's financial empire, which prominently includes his role in guiding the policy of President Obama towards a new world war, his manipulations in the Middle East, and his open advocacy for the elimination of the sovereign nation state through the cover of "responsibility to protect," his doctrine of regime change.
Blair's created his "Commission for Africa" in 2004 as a direct deployment to counter African initiatives for economic development, according to a representative of a West African nation. The Organization of African Unity was transformed into African Union (AU) in 2002 with an emphasis by African heads to move from "political liberation to economic development" through a new initiative the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). During this same period there was a discussion by Africa leaders of a "new vision for Africa" to be led by NEPAD.
Blair targeted this new African initiative by spreading money around, appearing at conferences, arranging private and public meetings with African leaders, leading to the formation of his "Commission for Africa" composed of commissioners from Africa and the West, including the likes Gordon Brown, also a former British Prime Minister (2007-2010), and Michel Camdessus, former IMF Managing Director (1984-2000), with Blair himself as the chair. In March 2005, they published their first report: "Our Common Interest" before he was ousted from office in 2007. The second report of the Commission was published in 2010, entitled "Africa Five Years On" to review the "progress" Africa nations had made in following the Commission's Recommendations from 2005.
The Commission's 2005 report begins by claiming that the two big failures that have blighted Africa for the last half century have been the lack of "capacity" and "accountability," especially "accountable budgetary processes" which require "transparency to help combat corruption." Improving good governance is the dominant theme pushed by Blair for Africa to develop. The very choice of the word governance is revealing, since the definition of governance contains no principle or intention; it simply means the power by a group of people to manage or administer an existing (financial) system, in opposition to the concept of; an independent sovereign state, whose responsibility is to provide for the general welfare of its citizens. The report repeats again and again through out its entire 400 pages that for progress to take place in Africa, nation must acquiesce to the demands of the international community for; transparency, accountability, and good governance, in order to receive financial aid, and foreign investment.
All of the recommendations and analysis, if you can call it that, are predicated on accepting the existing financial system, dominated by the financier oligarchy housed in City of London. Not a single new or different idea is presented that is not part of the axioms of the current global financial empire. The final chapter of this report entitled, "Making it Happen" gives the show away: "The International financial institutions (IFIs)—the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund—the World Trade Organization and the United Nations are fulcrums on which much of the organization of global action for development balance. Given the depth of poverty in Africa and projections for future evolution of poverty these intuitions must give much higher priority to accelerating African development."
The institutions that the Blair supports so enthusiastically, are the very ones that have prevented the development of Africa, and have advocated polices which have killed millions of Africans. No nation that has implemented the dictates of these institutions has ever become a truly economically viable sovereign nation. There is no discussion in the Commission's lengthy report of the essential role of public-national credit to build the vital infrastructure necessary to lift the African nations out of their impoverishment. Instead, included in the final chapter, the report highlights the importance for African nations to coordinate with the WTO to improve their "access to markets."
However, in truth, if one cared about the welfare of Africa, the WTO would be abolished immediately for its criminal insistence that African nations be forbidden from intervening to support their agricultural sectors to feed their hungry populations because according to the WTO, it violates the so called laws of the "free-market."
The insidious nature of Blair attempts to co-opt Africa's own vision for development is made obvious in the report's final recommendations; for African countries to have a "greater representation on the boards of the World Bank and IMF."
In the second published report of Blair's Commission: "Africa Five Years On," which reviewed the "progress" Africa nations had made in following the Commission's recommendations from 2005, the Executive Summary states bluntly that: "sub-Saharan Africa as a whole will not achieve any of the MDGs (*1) on time and that the vast majority of Africans have yet to benefit from the economic success (sic) of recent years." Looking at conditions in Africa today, this is quite an understatement, to say the least!
After leaving Downing Street, Blair in 2008 expanded his empire in Africa by forming a new multi-million dollar charity to "help" Africa—the "Tony Blair African Governance Initiative (AGI)." According to its AGI's vision, it seeks to further the principles of his 2005 "Commission for Africa" by partnering with African nations—i.e. directly insinuating his charity into the capital governments of African nations. These so-called principles are, exactly what one would expect: good governance, and encouraging the globalization of Africa through private sector investment. (For more information see Lawrence Freeman's article, EIR August 17, 2012, "Blair Sinks His Fangs in South Sudan, Which Is Struggling to Survive")
Tony Blair's efforts to conquer Africa on behalf of the British Empire may not look the same as those practiced by Cecil Rhodes over a century ago, but its effects are just as deadly for the African continent.
*1 MDGs-the Millennium Development Goals established by the UN in 2000 to be achieved in 2015 which include eight goals targeted for improvement, which include; reduction in poverty and hunger, universal primary education, lower child and maternal mortality rates, gender equality and empowerment of women