Let’s talk politics

I tried writing about politics in Tanzania several times and always hit a wall.

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Politics

I tried writing about politics in Tanzania several times and always hit a wall. The few opinions I’ve heard in my short time here lead me to believe that Tanzanians feel their country is just as irrelevant as Americans do. Though Tanzanians are open about it.

Most people here seem to “like” the Tanzanian president in the way that you and I like the lamp in the corner of the living room. “It’s good. It’s a great lamp. Any more questions about the lamp?” While the president is doing a “good” job, her power is limited compared to the foreign influences here.

Relatedly, I’m reading a book by a Nobel prize-winning gynecologist from the DRC, Denis Mukwege. Instead of appealing to his own government for support, he appeals to the international community, “Only justice and accountability can bring lasting stability to Congo. […] The international community has never properly used all the levers at its disposal—legal, economic, and diplomatic—to bring an end to the conflict in Congo.” Mukwege acknowledges that the Congolese state should take the lead, but they have been more interested in silencing than supporting the people.

In 2011, Mukwege was invited to the UN to call attention to sexual violence in the Congo. The day before his speech, he was invited to dinner with Congo’s health minister at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. The Minister said, “If I were you, I wouldn’t make your speech. […] If you do it, you’ll be making a choice, because you won’t be able to go back to Congo afterwards.” Congo may be the most extreme example of a corrupted state, but my sense is that corruption runs rampant across all Africa. People of African countries still look to the US and western countries for legitimacy of law.

We Americans stopped thinking about ourselves as the “world police” a long time ago. But the world did not! Back home when we talk about the US as a nation in decline (albeit true), we undermine the fact that we currently have ginormous influence over developing countries like Tanzania.

My Kilimanjaro guide Emanuel explained to me (with more eloquence) that he doesn’t care who the president of Tanzania is. The president of the US is far more important for him in his life than any president of Tanzania could be. Though he of course has no say in that election.

When I talk to European travelers in Africa, I notice their feelings of powerlessness with US politics too. They know what’s going on, they’re invested, they care. But, like Tanzanians, they can’t do anything about it. The conversations now are different than in 2016 when I traveled around the world. At that time, Europeans expressed the same sentiment to me over and over, “How can Americans be so stupid?!” Of course I had no answers for them at the time. Now we are all older and wiser. There’s less animated excitement over this election, just wary anticipation.

[The essay about Tanzanian politics gets hijacked by American politics.]

I write to you now in a fury from a hot muggy guest house (elevating my foot, Mom) because I want to hammer home one point. Unlike the Tanzanians. Unlike the Congolese. Unlike the Dutch. Unlike the British. We (Americans) are not powerless in this election! We have a vote. The whole wide world is watching US right now. I promise. But they don’t have a vote. We do.

Trump is going to contest the election if he loses. That is not something to cry about. That is an outcome to prepare for. I have come to believe with all of my heart that the best way that we can uphold the integrity of our stupid messed up voting system is by giving our vote. The more people who vote, the more valid the result. Unfortunately the election is not decided by popular vote. BUT, everyone still sees the popular vote. We know who gets the most votes. And that makes a difference.

Gore got more votes than Bush and Clinton got more than Trump. These election results don’t change the President, but they are permanent records of the voice of the American people. They are irrevocable stamps on our nation’s history. They can be used as the building blocks towards voting reform. And most importantly, we can allow these results to encourage us to vote now because your vote is heard and remembered.

The Biden shenanigans are moving too fast for ya Tanzania boy to follow. No comments on that.

….

Anywho, my foot is finally improving. I’ve had the great fortune of connecting with an American doctor who explained to me in detail how to care for the wound myself. I came down from Kilimanjaro to the town of Moshi to be closer to services, the pharmacy, etc.

To get to Moshi, I caught a ride with a retired engineer from Woodbridge, New Jersey. I will call him Tony. He met his wife in Tanzania in 1982. Since then, he worked for the World Bank in Botswana, Nigeria, Somalia, and Hanoi among other places. Tony retired near Kilimanjaro 12 years ago with his wife. I’ll say it once, I’ll say it again folks: you can’t outrun New Jersey.

I was thrilled for a private interview with a former World Bank employee. In my senior year economics class at Millbrook, Mr Powers showed us a documentary villainizing the IMF and World Bank. In the documentary, the IMF pressured Jamaica to export more goods, which resulted in famine after local prices skyrocketed.

I asked Tony about this. He responded energetically, We don’t force anyone to take our money. People like to wine and pretend we’re the bad guys. We’re the ones helping. These countries need money. The truth is that most of those documentaries are bullshit. The real problem is corruption.

I pushed back, “But that doesn’t solve the problem of farmers and working people ending up worse after the loans than before.” Tony ignited like a cannon. “That doesn’t solve the problem! You know what doesn’t solve the problem?! The thieves running these countries who call themselves politicians!!!!”

Tony continued, “I won’t call this country a shit hole, but it’s run by shit heads!” Tony added that people in Tanzania are apathetic and/or uninformed, but Kenyans are actually doing something about the corruption in their country. They organized to protest Ruto’s tax bill.

When we got to Moshi, Tony hugged me and said maybe he’ll see me in Seattle. Nothing cures homesickness like an angry New Yorker. Tony’s explosion was the highlight of my day.