UNDERSTAND the third world and especially Africa's
REAL population crisis
from New Federalist,
by Linda de Hoyos
HOW LONG CAN I KEEP THIS
UP? EITHER YOU PEOPLE
STOP EATING OR YOU STOP
FOOLING AROUND!!
Jan. 13 (EIRNS)--``Malthus is vindicated.... The
Third World is
overpopulated,'' proclaimed Dr. Arne Schiotz,director
of conservation of
Prince Philip's World Wildlife Fund. ``It's an
economic mess, and
there's no way they could get out of it with
this fast-growing
population.''
A survey of the continent of Africa exposes the
fraud behind this
misanthrope's declaration. (MISANTHROPE
IS SOMEONE WHO HATES PEOPLE,MIS
is hate. ANTHROP is people.)
Since many of the African countries were granted
independence in the
1960s, Africa has enjoyed a 2-3% population growth
rate, becoming one of
the prime targets of Malthusians such as Schiotz.
Three African
countries--Egypt, Ethiopia, and Nigeria--were
on the list of 13
countries specifically targeted by Henry Kissinger's
National Security
Study Memorandum 200, which formulated plans
to stop population growth
in developing countries as a U.S. national security
priority.
Not ENOUGH People
In reality, the African continent is {underpopulated.}
Africa's
population density is 451 persons per 1,000 hectares.
With the exception
of the United States (272/1,000 hectares) or
Canada (29), Africa's
population density was far less in 1990 than
that in most industrialized
nations--such as Japan (3,280), France (1,030),
or Great Britain,
headquarters of the world Malthusian movement
(2,357).
The problem is not population density, but energy
density, a parameter
that shows the true economic deficit imposed
on the continent by the
International Monetary Fund, and the denial of
technology and
infrastructure to the African countries.
In Africa in 1986, annual per-hectare energy consumption
(1,000
kcal/hectare of usable land) was an average of
2,887, compared to
Western Europe's average of 89,447. Western Europe's
energy consumption
per hectare was 31 times higher than Africa's!
Even the world average
was 16,463--some 5.7 times higher than in Africa.
Taken per capita, average energy consumption in
Africa is 6,439 thousand
kcals per year. Average per capita energy consumption
in North America
is 83,900 thousand kcals. An American uses 13
times more energy every
day than an African. The world average is 22,200
thousand kcals per
person per year.
Thus, the biggest factor in Africa's crisis is
not ``overpopulation,''
but lack of energy, in particular, lack of electricity
and transport
that would permit Africa to industrialize. Instead,
the continent has
been maintained as a raw materials preserve for
the OECD nations.
If the development programs for Africa called
for by American statesman
Lyndon LaRouche were carried out--crisscrossing
Africa with railroads
and water projects to eradicate famine forever--far
from being
overpopulated, Africa would confront an acute
labor {shortage!}
Negative Population Growth?
Today, while Africa has the highest fertility
rate in the world, it also
has the highest death rate. Nearly half the African
countries have a
life expectancy of under 50 years--compared to
76 years for the average
American. The life expectancy is primarily brought
down by the death of
children under 5, which in many African countries
is at a rate higher
than 25%!
Now, there is growing evidence that the net population
growth in Africa
is already {negative.} That is to say, Africans
are beginning to undergo
a process of extermination--if the trend is not
reversed.
In 1992, the government of Nigeria carried out
a census which required
that citizens stay in their homes for three days
to ensure an accurate
count. The population of Nigeria, based on the
1973 census, was
projected by the UN and other agencies to be
in the range of 110-120
million. But the 1992 census could find only
88 million! While some of
the discrepancy can be accounted for by alleged
inaccuracies in the 1973
census, physicians who have recently worked in
Nigeria report that the
IMF's structural adjustment program, imposed
in 1986, resulted in the
withdrawal of all medical services from rural
areas. In these areas, the
child-under-5 death rate is extremely high, and
adults are now dying at
higher rates.
In addition, Africa, because of the depletion
of its population and the
rise of malaria and co-factors, is the world's
epicenter for the deadly
disease AIDS. In Uganda, President Museveni has
projected a decline in
Uganda's population by the year 2010--a conservative
estimate. In
villages in the Uganda lakes region, 80% of the
adult population between
the ages of 20 and 45 has been wiped out by AIDS.
AIDS is hitting the
productive work force especially. In Tanzania,
projections are that,
even without any development push, an acute labor
shortage will arise
before the century is out.
What is killing Africa is not ``overpopulation,''
but the denial of
technology and development to an entire continent.
Behind the trumpeting
of the word ``overpopulation'' is a policy of
murder. If Africa looked
like Germany, it could support a population many
times higher than its
current pathetic level. But for Africa to do
that, the IMF and the
Malthusian ideology it enforces must be expunged
from any positions of
power.