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| 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導《2007-03-16》 |
| 本期內容 | |
| ◎國際專題：For post-colonial Africa, hopes deferred獨立半世紀 迦納向前衝 | |
| ◎50歲的迦納，獨立還是更依賴？ | |
| ◎吾思吾師 找回教師熱情與尊嚴徵文比賽 | |
| 國際專題：For post-colonial Africa, hopes deferred獨立半世紀 迦納向前衝 | |
| 策劃、編譯■唐澄暐、侯美如 | |
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When Ghana begins celebrations this week for its 50th year of independence - the first of a wave of African countries to throw off colonial rule in the 1950s and '60s - there will be brave speeches, feasts, free concerts, and plenty of the national colors of red, yellow, and green. There will also be mutters of disappointment that one of Africa's most promising countries, which gained independence from Britain on March 6, 1957, hasn't achieved more. For many Africans, the lack of post-colonial progress is brought home by the fact that Ghana has done far better than most other African nations, but far worse than Asian countries that achieved independence at around the same time, such as India, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Mr. Lymon metes out blame equally to the rich countries of the West and to the despotic African leaders they supported in the name of stability. Both sides now need to drastically change past agreements in order to stave off economic and political catastrophe in Africa, he says. "It falls on the African states themselves to provide better governance, better political participation, sounder economic policies. And the US and the European Union have to face the fact of their bilateral trade agreements, particularly on agriculture. Africa is the only place in the world where food production, per capita, is going down." In their 50th anniversary celebrations this week, there is more focus on pride than disappointment. At a free concert held in front of the State House on Saturday night, Ghanaian musicians played the drums, guitars, and horns of Ghana's distinctive "Highlife" music to a crowd of thousands. Many of the performers wore T-shirts bearing the portrait of Ghana's founding father, Kwame Nkrumah. Even the simple mention of his name got the audience cheering and waving flags. This view of Ghana's history as it shrugged off British imperialism safely ignores Mr. Nkrumah's less-hallowed achievements, including transforming the country into a one-party state, presiding over economic collapse, and dying in exile after a military coup deposed him in 1966. Yet Ghana does have much to be proud of today. According to World Bank statistics, Ghana has decreased its poverty rate from 52 percent to 33 percent between 1990 and 2005; it has increased the per capita share of gross domestic product from $181 in 1983 to $400 in 2005; and it has increased the percentage of roads in good condition from 27 percent in 1996 to 40 percent in 2006. "We are doing great compared to the other countries" around Ghana, says Esther Amakye, a student, "and we have come a long way. But as we develop, new problems come up." One of those problems is urban poverty. Like many countries in Africa, rural citizens are abandoning the hard life of farming for the harder life of urban slums. Many struggle by on less than $1 a day and live - even in the capital city - without running water or toilets. "This is a poor area," says 32-year old wood trader Yunusa Eliasu waving a hand at the stinking stream of sewage and trash that runs past his small shack. "We are not proud to be living like this, but we are proud to be Ghanaians." His friends behind him, some in Ghanaian colors grin and agree. Kenyans also say that independence has proved a mixed blessing. The East African country will celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence in 2014. If Ghanaians are the first to feel this pungent mixture of pride and resignation, it will not be alone. Over the next five years, dozens of other African nations will celebrate 50 years of independence - and decry the lost opportunities to make more of their freedom. Ghana "lit the torch of African independence," says Vladimir Antwi-Danso, a lecturer in international affairs at Accra University in Ghana's capital. Mr. Antwi-Danso points to Ghana's relative stability in a war-torn West Africa as a major reason for the success. "What I mean by stability is that we have seen several military cycles, but we have not degenerated into carnage, civil war, and the kind of thing that some of the countries around us have, so we have something to be proud of." As a continent, Africa remains home to 34 of the 48 poorest countries in the world, and 24 of the 32 least developed. It is by far the largest recipient of donor aid - $18.4 billion in current projects from the World Bank alone - but also home to some of the richest untapped oil reserves and natural resources in the world. That Africa as a whole remains economically stagnant and chronically unstable would have pained visionary independence leaders like Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah and Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta, as much as it does South Africa's Nelson Mandela today. "If you look at the [2007] World Bank report [on global economic prospects] for 2030, most of the rest of the world will have eliminated poverty, except Africa," says Princeton Lymon, a senior analyst on Africa for the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. "Now, global environmental factors will have an effect, as Africa expects even more drought than it has the capacity to deal with. So things will be more difficult, rather than less." From independence in 1964 to 1980, Kenya's GDP grew at an average rate of 6.5 percent. But by the 1990s, one-party rule, increasing political corruption, and brief flirtations with socialist policies had erased many social and economic gains. Primary education enrollment dropped from 91 percent to 82 percent between 1989 and 1995. The AIDS crisis made its mark, too, raising the infant mortality rate from 62 to 78 per 1,000 births, and lowering life expectancy from 57 to 47 years, according to the World Bank. "People say independence was a good thing because it means we can make our own decisions," says Njoki Muruiki, a travel agent in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. "But we are still not really free. We rely on donor money to survive - so are we really free to run our country the way that we want?" Others agreed that independence was a good thing in and of itself, but the country was still a long way from political maturity. Peter Mutua, a 65-year-old retired civil servant, says: "So many leaders - like our own - became dictators or refused to listen to the people, but it has only been in very recent years that people here have been demanding real democracy. I hope that if you come back in 15 or 20 years time that we can tell a different story." Despite disappointment, no one wants a return to colonial rule. "We still have problems of tribalism here, but that's nothing like the racism that was here under the British," says John Mbugua, a taxi driver. "Schools and hospitals were often reserved for the whites. Our fathers and grandfathers tell us it was as if the black man was a source of labor while all the good things were reserved for the white man." Some harkened back to a golden age in the early years of independence. "Things were good before [former president Daniel Arap Moi] came to power [in 1978]. People could live really well," says Cosmas Munyao, who ekes out a living selling newspapers in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. "In the past few years, all the essential costs have doubled, so life is becoming more and more difficult." Still, Africa experts warn against undue pessimism about Africa and its future. "When you look at Africa as a continent, you don't want to get trapped in an Afro-pessimism, nor trapped in a ludicrous optimism," says Sean Morrow, a historian of Southern Africa, at the Human Sciences Research Council in Tshwane, as the capital, Pretoria, is now called. The loudest voice of pessimism often comes from Africa's educated middle class, who point to bad governance, corruption, and the lack of education and health care services. Yet this pessimism itself may provide its own silver lining, Dr. Morrow adds. "One of the achievements of the independence period is the creation of the rightly discontented middle class, many of whom are now in places like South Africa or the US" as doctors, businessmen, and academics. "They are products of independence, too." http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0306/p01s02-woaf.html 迦納上周慶祝獨立50周年。該國在1950到60年代非洲國家拋棄殖民統治的第一波浪潮中獨立，根據基督教科學箴言報的報導，如今的慶助活動會有大膽的演說、筵席、免費的音樂會，以及許多代表國家顏色的紅、黃、綠色。 然而，勢必也會有人對這個於1957年3月6日從英國獨立、一度是非洲最有前途的國家感到失望，因為自那時開始，進步並不多。對許多非洲人來說，在後殖民時期迦納固然比起大多數非洲國家發展得更好，但比起同時期獨立的亞洲國家如印度、馬來西亞和印尼來說，還是遠遠落後。 假如迦納是第一個感覺到這種結合驕傲與屈從情緒的國家，那麼他們並不孤單。接下來5年，將會有數十個其他非洲國家將慶祝獨立50週年，也會出現更多因沒有把握機會謀取更大進步的抱怨。 迦納首都的阿克拉大學國際事務講師維拉底米爾‧安特威－但索說，迦納「點燃非洲獨立的火炬」。安特威－但索指的是，相對於其他受到戰爭蹂躪的西非國家來說，迦納相對的穩定是成功的主要關鍵。「我指的穩定是我們看到許多的軍事循環，但是我們並沒有淪為大屠殺、內戰，或是鄰近國家的那種狀況，所以我們有值得驕傲的地方。」 全世界最貧窮48個國家其中有34個國家位在非洲，32個開發最少的國家中有24個位在非洲。直到目前為止，非洲仍舊是世界最大的捐款接受地──單單從世界銀行目前的計畫就收到184億美元的捐款；不過，非洲也擁有世界上最豐饒的未開採石油和天然氣。整體來說，非洲在經濟上始終停滯不前與不穩定，讓許多富有遠見的獨立領袖，如迦納的克瓦米‧恩克魯瑪和肯亞的肯亞塔，以及南非的納爾遜‧曼德拉感到煩惱不已。 「假如你看2007年出版的世界銀行2030年全球經濟展望報告，世界上大部份其他地區將可以消除貧窮，只有非洲除外。」位在華盛頓外國關係協調會資深分析家普林斯頓‧列維蒙說：「現在，因為非洲出現的旱災超過他們所能應付的能力範圍，全球環境因素產生了一個結果，因此事情將會更加棘手，而不是愈來愈好。」 列維蒙給予富裕的西方國家，和打著穩定旗號受到支持的暴虐的非洲領袖同樣的責難，他認為兩方面現在需要徹底改變過去的協議，才能擊退非洲經濟和政治災難。 他說：「要擊退這些災難，非洲國家得有更好的政府，更好的政治參與機會以及提出好的經濟政策。美國與歐盟則比須面對雙邊貿易協定的事實，特別是在農業方面。非洲是世界上唯一一處平均每人的食物產量降低的地方。」 不過在50週年慶中，焦點自然會多放在驕傲而非失望上。免費音樂會中，迦納音樂家打鼓、彈吉他，吹奏喇叭，在數千名觀眾前演奏迦納獨特的「Highlife」音樂。許多表演者會穿著上面印有迦納國父克瓦米‧恩克魯瑪的T恤；即使是稍微提到這個名字，都會讓觀眾大聲歡呼並搖旗吶喊。 從這角度看迦納歷史，也就是忽視英國帝國主義影響的愛國觀點，安全掩蓋了恩克魯瑪不甚光榮的政治成就。他曾將國家變成了一黨獨大，也得為經濟崩盤負責，更因1996年軍事政變被罷免後死於流亡生活中。 不管怎樣，迦納今日確實有許多值得驕傲之處。根據世界銀行統計，迦納在1990年到2005年間將貧窮率由52％降到33％，且每人平均國內生產總值從1983年的181美元，增加到2005年的4百美元。狀況好的道路建造率由1996年的27％增加到2006年的40％。「比起其他國家我們做了很多事情。」一名叫做以斯帖‧阿瑪克耶的學生說：「我們走了很長的路，但是我們一發展，新的問題相繼而來。」 其中一個問題就是城市貧窮問題。就像非洲許多國家一樣，農村的居民背棄了艱苦的農業生活，在城市的貧民窟裡面過著更艱苦的生活。在首都的許多人一天生活費不到一美元，掙扎求生，沒有自來水或廁所。 「這是一個貧窮的地區。」32歲的木材貿易商以利阿蘇說，他在發出惡臭的河流上的小棚屋中搖手，河上到處都是垃圾和汙水，「這樣的生活不讓我們感到驕傲，但是我們對於迦納人感到驕傲。」他身後的朋友穿著代表迦納顏色的衣服露齒微笑點頭，表示贊成。 1964年獨立的肯亞，也表示獨立是個好壞參半的事。從1964年獨立起到1980年，肯亞的國內生產總值以6.5％的平均速率成長。但是到了1990年代，一黨獨大的政治局面增速了政治的腐敗，同時短暫的社會主義政策將經濟與社會上的成就抵銷了。初等教育註冊率由1989年的91％降到1995年的82％。根據世界銀行的資料，愛滋病危機出現，每一千名嬰兒死亡率由62增加到78，平均壽命則由57歲降低到47歲。 「人們說獨立是件好事，因為這代表我們可以做出自己的決定。」肯亞首都奈洛比一位旅行社職員恩尤奇‧慕洛奇說，「但是我們還不是真正的自由，我們依賴捐款生活，所以我們真的是以我們所願的方式在運作我們的國家嗎？」 其他人同意獨立是件好事，但是國家走向政治成熟還有很長的路要走。65歲已退休的公務員彼得‧慕土阿表示：「有許多領袖，如我們自己的領袖一樣，變成了獨裁者，或是拒絕聆聽人民的聲音。但是只有在最近幾年人民才要求真正的民主，我希望，你15或20年後來到這裡時，我們會講完全不同的故事給你聽。」 某些人則懷念剛獨立那幾年的黃金時代。「事情在前總統莫伊1978年取得政權之前都很美好，人們可以生活得相當好。」在肯亞首都奈洛比賣報紙勉強維持生計的寇斯瑪斯‧孟約說：「過去幾年，所有的基本生活花費都上漲兩倍，生活變得愈來愈艱難。」 儘管多少有些失望，但沒有人想要回到殖民統治時代。「我們這裡還是有部落制度的問題，但是卻遠比不上英國統治下的種族主義問題嚴重。」計程車司機約翰‧姆布瓜說：「那時學校和醫院都保留給白人階級，我們的父親和祖父輩告訴我們，那個時代黑人只是勞動的工具，而所有的好事都保留給白人。」 非洲專家也認為，別對非洲和其未來過於悲觀。「把非洲當成一個整體來看的時候，你不會希望陷入非洲式的悲觀主義，更不希望陷入荒謬的樂觀主義中。」在南非首都普利托里亞人類研究協會工作的南非歷史學者席恩‧莫若說。非洲最大的悲觀論調來自那些受過教育的中產階級，他們認為惡劣的統治、腐敗、以及缺乏教育和公衛設施是最大的問題。 然而這種悲觀情緒可能也是困難中提供給自己的一些慰藉，莫若補充說：「獨立時期的一大成就就是創造了正直而不滿的中產階級，他們之中許多人目前在南非或是美國當醫生、商人或在學術界工作。他們也是獨立的產物。」 |
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