Member Reviews
review of Dust from our Eyes: An unblinkered look at Africa by Joan Baxter
by P Marshall
Library Thing
April 11, 2009
For most people their vision of Africa is based on coverage of news events and television ads for orphaned children. This means Africa is seen as a continent of dictators stuffing their pockets, tribal wars and starving, sick children, not of individual countries, with a rich history, and citizens who work to develop their country in the best interests of its people.
Joan Baxter, a Canadian journalist, lived in Africa, in particular West Africa for over twenty years reporting for the BBC World Service, Associated Press, CBC as well as newspapers and other media. She shares how living in Africa opened her eyes not only to the injustices done to Africans but also to the strength and deep culture that has helped them overcome adversity.
In Dust from our Eyes: An unblinkered look at Africa she looks at the impact western society has made on Africa as it has tried to reshape the continent in their image and at the same time strip it of gold, diamonds and other minerals, leaving behind poverty and an ecological disaster. The way they treat them as labs for growing genetically mortified crops, e.g., cotton. By using NGO's to work in favour of the west rather than Africa, in some cases setting up NGO's specifically for that purpose. How western governments support dictators, not for the benefits to the country, but for their own financial and military interests.
More information about this review
More Reviews
- Review (themeasles.org, 4/6/2010)
- Exposing Western Neocolonialism in Africa: People, land, environment devastated by corporate plunder (Judy Kennedy, The CCPA Monitor, 8/1/2009)
- Exposing Western Neocolonialism in Africa: People, land, environment devastated by corporate plunder (Judy Kennedy, The CCPA Monitor, 8/1/2009)
- Canadian rails at injustice in Africa (Adelia Neufeld Wiens, Winnipeg Free Press, 12/28/2008)
- Compelling look at Africa (Joseph Howse, The Chronicle Herald, 11/23/2008)
Other Titles by Joan Baxter
