Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

The Ravaging of Africa, Part 2 -- Economic War
Bill Quigley
16 Jan 2008
🖨️ Print Article
Written by Asad Ismi and produced by Kristin Schwatrz    
 
The Ravaging of Africa is a four part audio documentary series about the destructive impact of US imperialism on the continent.
 economic_war9
The ravaging of Africa has been enriching Europe and North America for more than 500 years.  The second of four episodes of this audio documentary focuses on the role of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.  Through these institutions structural adjustment polices have been imposed upon African nations forcing them to end free education, to curtail health services, and sell the national wealth to privatizers at bargain basement rates, resulting in pandemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.  
 
The destruction of health and educational infrastructure caused by these "reforms" has led to 21 million deaths from preventable disease and malnutrition since the mid 1980s.   More than 200 million Africans have absolutely no access to health care services.  Forty percent of Africa's children are out of school and more than 140 million young Africans are illiterate, all thanks to "structural adjustment".
To listen to the entire 30 minutes of "Economic War on Africa" click the flash player below.
 
{mp3}ravaging_of_africa/economic_war{/mp3} 
Credits 
 Written by Asad Ismi 
 Produced by Kristin Schwartz 
 Translation by Maziar Mohajir at Toronto Conversation Corner & Farid Omar 
 Voice-over by Benedicta Madawo 
This production was funded by Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903 CUPE National Canadian Union of Postal Workers National CUPW North Bay Local
Canadian Labour Congress
Public Service Alliance of Canada
Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation
Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
MiningWatch Canada
Ontario Public Interest Research Group (Univ. of Toronto)
CHRY 105.5 fm Toronto
Continuing Education Students Association of Ryerson
50 Years is Enough (Washington, DC)
Fair Trade Clothing Co-op (www.fairtradeclothing.ca)
Charles Roach
   

Broadcast-quality copies of all four episodes of The Ravaging of Africa can be downloaded from www.radio4all.net, where a large and constantly updated library of free, broadcast quality audio is maintained.  Click here to download this and the episodes of this documentary. 

 
To listen to episode 1 of The Ravaging of Africa -- Militarizing Africa, click here.
To listen to episode 3 of  The Ravaging of  Africa -- Corporate Plunder, click here. 

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • x
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Michigan Senate Candidate Defeats AIPAC and the Democratic Establishment
    07 Aug 2026
    Abayomi Azikiwe is editor of the Pan-African Newswire and a Detroit resident and activist. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic Party primary for the senate in Michigan, defeating the establishment…
  • x
    Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor
    Iran, China, Fascism, and Boycotting FIFA
    05 Aug 2026
    Ajamu Baraka and Dimitri Lascaris join BettBeat media to interrogate the questions the anti-imperialists keep refusing to ask.
  • x
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    "Real Talk" from Kamala Harris on the Voting Rights Act Says the Quiet Part Out Loud
    04 Aug 2026
    The evisceration of the Voting Rights Act is of great concern to Black voters. But most of them are affiliated with the Democratic Party, whose leadership have no real interest in making it a…
  • x
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: “I, for one, know I’m a prisoner of War,” Herbert X. Blyden, 1973
    04 Aug 2026
    “I don't mean just in the struggles in these prisons. America is one whole concentration camp in and of itself.”
  • x
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Somalia: On the Front Lines with Somaliland
    04 Aug 2026
    "During the last week of July, I traveled to the front lines of Somalia’s unresolved border conflict with Somaliland, the Somali secessionist state now recognized by Israel but not by
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us