Once bitten, twice Europe and Africa and this time the resource in ICTs

It is on record that Europe, and the Americas (Read: Western Economies) conquered Africa the continent, exploited her human capital - call it slavery -, natural resources and that the result is that Africa was raped senseless and her earlier civilisation laid bare, laid to rest while Europe is no doubt among the super powers in the 21st Century. Europe's industries and economies developed at the expense of Africa. Africa the cradle of humanity is the laughing stock, she is being ridiculed, her underdevelopment, hoodwinked, her backwardness, confused, and hopelessly partitioned to an extent that she might never reap sense from the age that was Industrial and while still beautiful and bare, she also might consume her own.

With imperialism, neocolonialism, balkanisation, unfair terms of trade, compounded social engineering, canopies all over, yolk at her neck, hackles still at her legs and naked, will the Western Economies show mercy to this poverty stricken continent in the Information era, the Information Society, and Knowledge Economies? Should Africa still afford to be exploited in this age and era of globalization? Does somebody want to chart their way to prosperity at the expense of anothers ignorance and naivety?

Can Africa still afford to close her eyes in prayer the way she did when religions were introduced only to conclude prayers and her pride, her fertility long gone, her resources swindled, her social systems dismantled, her territories partitioned, and voiceless even by the 21^st century? Shall Africa know ICT the technology, ICT the culture, ICT the business, ICT the industry and ICT the tool, and that Internet could be a tool for futuristic conquests? Shall Africa research ICTs the way she should? Shall Africa set a research agenda for her selves and an appropriate agenda? Will ICT help Africa make up for the past loses due to imperialism and colonialism? Or might ICT and the internet cripple Africa in relation to other economies? Once bitten twice shy! Should Africa trust Europe not to exploit her again? Does Africa still trust? Is the exploitation mentality over or being dealt with? Today Africa and Europe are in another cooperation of sorts. They are going to bed over a western civilisation called ICTs: EuroAfrica-ICT'’s webportal is devoted to [Research and Development] R&D cooperation between Europe and Africa in the field of Information and Communication Technology.

The EuroAfrica-ICT initiative is ambitious but pragmatic and results oriented. It is driven by a strong determination to build on and complement existing successful programmes and projects, and to be widely open to the European and African ICT communities.

The fourth EuroAfrica-ICT awareness workshop will be held on July 26 & 27 at the Hilton Hotel (Nairobi, Kenya).

Africa has borrowed a civilization and would definitely wish to understand ICTs better. Yours truly is enjoying this civilization too. I am not attacking the organisers of the said workshop. And I wish I could attend this working shop too! What would be besides my motive? What would be besides your motive? So this is not a hard feeling to Europe but then here is a fellow and his routine exercise: Understanding the nature of the Information Society and its dynamics. I believe politics and policies in other economies might have negative and exploitive effects on Africa as a continent in my beat - Information Society for which ICTs are a key factor. Perhaps I am also an advocate of fairness and am not only playing the vanguard to Africa - if I could effectively, I would

What is at the heart of the matter when Europe - very highly developed and Africa - the lowest developed continent discusses and cooperates in an ICT research? Is it a cooperation among equals? What is the motivation for this drive? African development or alternative European markets, damping grounds and dustbins? How many successful ICT programme and projects in Africa and from whose perspective? What will be shared? What will be exchanged? What will they learn together and who will want to be the teacher to the other? Whose research agenda will it be? What and whose opportunities will be addressed? Whose culture to whom? Is a 50 / 50 deal possible?

What is happening? Isn’t Africa courting exploitation in the farce of the ICT movement? Workshops? Yes! WorkSHOPS. Shops! Africa might leak bigger wounds being naïve in the Information Society than the wound inflicted by exploitations of human and natural resources. Africa is becoming a damping ground for outdated hardware from Europe and in the long run when these gadgets become worthless, Africa will have no choice but built a grave environmental hazard in her own backyard. This pain is being outsourced as donations by other economies and yet Africa begs for them!Naivety!

Where has Africa put ICT in relation to Science and Technology? Will she then catch up when she has borrowed civilisations? What is Uganda, Southern Sudan and Africa to do? Wail and wail? No! Are we developing our own scientists or are we striving to only engineer principles of sciences - creating engineers?