In a message dated 4/23/2001 12:22:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
douglassbill@hotmail.com writes:
> As he says, the point is not to imply that Somalia is a wonderful place to
> be, but only that things *are* getting better, and it's interesting to note
> that they're getting better in the absence of the "help" of foreign aid
> workers, NGOs, the UN, etc.
>
> If you write off the whole developing world as just a "third world
> backwater," as you seem to be implying, then you fail to distinguish
> between
> those where things are stagnating or getting worse, and those where things
> are actually looking up. I think it's an important distinction to make;
> after all, just thirty years ago Singapore was basically a third world
> backwater.
>
Let me know if the above quote contains HTML glop. Supposedly, AOL's
wonderboys have fixed it so that it will not copy script-glop. Apologies if
it does. I am guessing that there are several reasons why Singapore succeeded
where Somalia, seems to remain a backwater.
1) There is order in Singapore because the peoples that comprise Singapore
desire
it. Somalia hasn't gone up that hierarchy of needs yet.
2) There is a respect for learning in Singapore, in Somali-little. It's
agrarian
knowledge, at best. Agrarian knowledge in wonderful, but its not software
coding.
3) There is the same unhappy mix of politics and religion, that has slowed
many
countries.
4) Somalia is more fractionalized amongst tribes and clans.
5) The transition of powers between regimes is not clear as it is in
Singapore. Note:
with Singapore, there is still the authoritarian smell of dictatorship.
There is more
hope that as the economy develops, the hunger for self-representation
will occur.
The capitalist spirit is essential, but its comparative to growing a heart in
vitro, and claiming it as a human personality. It's important, but there
needs to be more. Is Somalia going down the road of development? I'd need
more evidence to be convinced.
Mitch
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