Don't Africa Me: "Their" Geo-Branding War, "Our" Trade, Tourism Wounds, and Winning Like China - Tapa dura

You too can say no to the popular (and profitable) art of hurting Africa from afar! Notable magazines like New African and Ode gave it full page coverage. Radio and TV shows showcased it and readers emailed and phoned to agree or disagree with Dont Africa Me. Diplomats discussed what the author, C. Paschal Eze, calls the PIDIC syndrome which explains how Brand Africa largely connotes poverty, instability, disease, illiteracy and corruption. Event organizers invited him to speak on the subject of the book just as individuals considering doing business in African countries reached him in Iowa for advice. Dont Africa Me takes on those waging geo-branding war against Africa, including those African immigrants who talk down Africa and threaten to send their misbehaving kids back to Africa thus grooming a generation indifferent to the continent. Others are pop stars and Hollywood celebrities using Africa to reposition and push their brands, the news media using images of Ugandan child soldiers and Kenyan scavengers to sing pity and pittance choruses that have continued to bruise and batter African countries, and global nonprofits that prey on poverty, denigrating the poor and deifying donors while committing most of the donations they get to high overhead and administrative costs. And while African governments obsess with elitist photo-op diplomacy that has mostly benefited lobbyists and PR firms, the author points to what he calls Chinese lifestyle diplomacy that has helped to make the once dreaded communist China the darling of the average consumer, very visible in boardrooms, ballrooms and bedrooms through its ubiquitous consumer products, dollar stores, karate clubs, Confucius institutes, buffet restaurants. Aided by the savvy Chinese Diaspora, they created both the need and the outlet for Chinese goods and services in a world where others see and appreciate you through the lens of your products and services they consume, posits Eze.