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Ed Webb

End voluntourism and the white saviour industrial complex - The Mail & Guardian - 0 views

mg.co.za/...ite-saviour-industrial-complex

Africa politics BLM colonialism decolonization white supremacy tourism missionaries

shared by Ed Webb on 08 Jul 20 - No Cached
  • The existence of these missionaries might not concern an unconscious mind, after all, we are socialised to respect religion, to need religion as it was deftly packaged and violently honed into our psyche by colonialists. But when one asks the question: “What does Africa need to thrive in the 21st century?”, voluntourism should not be the answers. 
  • At her NGO, Serving His Children, Bach, relying only on her missionary righteousness of her calling to save black babies, specifically black babies in Africa, would be involved in what was effectively a medical experiment in which at least 105 children died in Eastern Uganda.
  • the decolonisation movement that is gaining momentum on the heels of Black Lives Matter is long overdue
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • It’s time to divest from voluntourism. The push to overhaul the very systems that allow violent experimenting on black bodies in black countries should be amplified. New approaches to our work among our people should centre on dismantling both local and global unequal systems instead of donor demands and visions of Africa.
  • Voluntourism is rooted in unequal power, unequal wealth that is built on the exploitation of generations of people in the Global South. It is sustained by the belief in white supremacy, white intentions are all that matters and often requires infantilisation of the people. How else do we get all those images of Africa being represented by abandoned children? 
  • African volunteers in African countries are less likely to be taken on because, on the whole, Africans still face many barriers to safe and regular human mobility. In 2020, it is easier for an American volunteer to go to 65% of African countries visa-free while Africans can travel to about 53% of Africa without a visa. The work on our hands remains enormous.
  • The Black Lives Matter movement and anti-racism protests are an African struggle, too. Yes, the manifestations of racism and racialised power might be different but the root is the same: white supremacy, patriarchal capitalism.
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