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| Islam can Make Poverty History |
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Productivity can only increase if there is a circulation of wealth - an effective distribution of wealth - which the capitalist economic system fails to achieve. Consequently the philosophy that the market will naturally distribute wealth throughout society as a result of the relationship between production and price is erroneous from its basis and has never been achieved in reality. It has always required foreign intervention to alleviate poverty through increased aid; an occurrence which only exacerbates the debt problem. As a result the gulf between rich and poor countries has increased exponentially with disastrous consequences. In five decades more than $500 billion in aid has been invested in Africa and yet Africans are poorer on average than they were 30 years ago to the extent that 70% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa live on $2 a day and 200 million go hungry every day. Shockingly Africa owes $293 billion even though it has paid back $550 billion of the $540 billion it received in loans between 1970 and 2002. It is evident that development aid has not alleviated the problems in Africa and yet the British and other leading powers propose more financial aid!
Central to the problem of development aid in the capitalist context is the interest-based system, which has crippled the developing world. Islam's prohibition of interest prevents these types of scenarios developing. The multilateral debt burden of the poorest countries has grown exponentially rising to 800%, which means that, on average, African countries are paying $27 million a day in debt. Therefore if poverty is to be eliminated then interest has to be abolished, which means a moratorium on all debts and not just upon the poorest countries as advocated by Blair's Africa Commission. The Islamic economic system prohibits interest according to the following Quranic evidence:
"O you who believe! Fear Allah and give up what remains of your demand for usury if you are indeed believers. If you don't, take notice of war from Allah and His messenger. But if you turn back, you shall have your capital sums. Deal not unjustly and you shall not be dealt with unjustly" [TMQ 2: 278-279].
Therefore in an Islamic economy loans would be free from interest, allowing African countries to spend more on developing infrastructure, health and education than on servicing debt. Only then could Africa bring itself out of poverty by having the ability to develop its industries that can compete in the global economy.
Africa is rich in resources with vast amounts of oil and gas; minerals such as cobalt, uranium, copper, and gold, which is why the west are so interested in developing Africa. Therefore financial aid from the west is designed to integrate Africa's economies with the west in order to maintain control and ensure the exploitation of the continent's resources. This is evidenced in the conditions imposed upon debtor governments when receiving financial aid. Policy conditions, also called conditionalities force developing countries to reform their systems according to the interests of the capitalist nations. The IMF and World Bank loan agreements have conditions which include the imposition of privatisation of natural resources thereby opening up the resources to western transnational companies (TNC) and debt relief depends on achieving privatisation targets.
In South Africa Britain used financial aid to persuade the government to privatise its public services with British company Northumbrian Water and its French parent Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux taking a significant share of South Africa's water resource. The IMF also negotiated loans with countries such as Angola and Tanzania upon the condition of water privatisation such that French multinationals, Saur, Suez, and Vivendi have been the main companies involved in the water business in Africa. Further privatisations are in progress in Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, among others. Oil is another area where the west seeks to exploit Africa's resources. Shell own oil resources in Nigeria, Sudan, and other African countries and use this leverage to strengthen their influence in the political medium. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 85 western companies were accused of systematic looting of $5 billion worth of assets that included gold, diamonds, timber and coltan (a metal used in mobile phones) in the years up to and including 2002, 18 of which were British companies.
With all these resources it is clear that Africa could become an independent economic power and challenge the developed world. Rather than aiding Africa the western nations through their multilateral institutions are choking Africa's progress. If Africa is to progress then it has to remove the artificial borders imposed upon it by the colonialists, especially when future wars will be over vital resources such as water, which is a scenario played out between Egypt and Sudan. Cooperation between peoples is the future; problems cannot be solved according to 20th century paradigms of the nation state. Africa should sever its relationships with multilateral institutions and unilaterally stop paying off its debts especially when they are paying off the interest. The west needs to stop interfering in Africa's internal affairs since they facilitate corrupt governments to guarantee their exploitation of the continent. Natural resources which nations depend upon for their survival should not be privately owned especially by TNCs. In the Islamic economic system, the people would own the continent's natural resources, and revenues generated would be used to build infrastructure and facilitate economic growth.
Africa has such a vast amount of resources that it can self-finance its own development without international aid. Royal Dutch Shell alone has extracted an estimated $30 billion worth of oil from Nigeria since 1958 while Nigeria's communities lack access to water, electricity, hospitals and schools. More than $250 billion in oil revenues have been generated since Nigeria's independence in1960 and yet a fifth of its children die before the age of 5, according to the World Bank. Consequently, western governments need to stop installing and supporting these corrupt regimes so that people can choose and work for their own political future.
In Algeria the people voted for an Islamic future and yet the west supported the oppression of the people despite over 70% of people voting for Islam. The west seeks to impose its systems and values upon Africa by imposing conditions on financial aid that include mass privatisation, as well as democratic and secular reform. This is a pernicious style of imperialism and it is irrational for the developing world to adopt the ideas and systems which, in origin, have created the problems not only in Africa but also across the entire world. The Islamic economic system has a defined set of guidelines on economic policy which are not subject to pernicious materialistic influences. It would have better used that $250 billion to invest in education, health and infrastructure such that it became more economically powerful and independent. Unlike capitalist economics, which does not make a distinction between basic and luxurious needs when distributing wealth. The Islamic economy not only makes a distinction but also prioritises in solving the needs of the people by ensuring all the basic needs of the people are met. The Prophet Muhammad said:
"The son of Adam has no better right than that he would have a house wherein he may live and a piece of cloth whereby he may cover his nakedness and a piece of bread and some water."
If this were central to economic thinking then millions of Africans would not be dieing of chronic hunger. The free market does not distinguish between the needs of the people and neither does it ensure that the basic needs of people are satisfied rather it hopes that the 'invisible hand' will solve the problem which is rather curious considering the west's perceived rejection of supernatural forces.
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