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


  • Mark P. Fancher
    Political Snobbery Delays Black Liberation
    29 Apr 2026
    The conditions are ripe for growing Black political consciousness, but revolutionary movements must broaden their reach to all sectors and classes of the people.
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    Move the Games: No World Cup for Genocide, Ecocide, or State Thuggery
    29 Apr 2026
    A celebration of the most popular sport in the world can't be held in a country that commits genocide, ecocide, and daily state violence. The World Cup must not be held in the U.S.
  • Joshua Reaves Charmelus
    Exporting Apartheid: Israel’s Role in Haiti’s Water Crisis
    29 Apr 2026
    Behind the Dominican Republic’s assault on Haitian water sovereignty stands an Israeli Occupation apparatus – arming border forces, training police, and designing a thirty-year plan to control their…
  • A. J. Horn
    Cuba Beyond the One-Party Myth
    29 Apr 2026
    Rethinking Cuba's political system as a model of participatory democracy.
  • Gary Wilson
    The Dollar Makes the World Pay for U.S. Wars — But the System is Cracking
    29 Apr 2026
    Dollar hegemony has allowed the United States wage war without economic consequence for decades. But cracks in this system are now appearing.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us