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African History 7.2 Socialism: More Successful Than You Might Think, Less Successful Than You Might Hope 1 Views


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Description:

Socialism is like manure. You either think it helps things to flourish and grow, or you think it's a pile of...manure.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

We don't want to over glorify socialism here. [Arm removes a winnders medal from Socialism]

00:06

There have been many spectacular failures of socialist systems in the past.

00:11

But in some specific cases in Africa, heavy government involvement has been the manure [Man with name badge 'Government of Africa' waters crops made of dollar bills]

00:17

that budding economies needed to grow.

00:19

Yeah, some people think socialism is like manure for different reasons, but check this out...

00:24

From 1960-1990, socialism looked sweet to most Africans because it helped people out immediately.

00:32

For example, paying down national debt might get investors excited and lead to development [Africa handing over a check to a businessman]

00:37

50 years down the road.

00:39

But if you’re going to die from sickness and starvation today, it’s kinda hard to

00:43

care about what’s going to happen 50 years from now. [Sick man in a hospital bed]

00:46

Also, many Africans trusted Western companies about as much as they trusted a snake as a babysitter.

00:51

In the past, their experience with Western businessmen wasn't so much…productive industrial

00:57

development…as it was…untold human suffering. [Untold human suffering outweighs productive industrial development on a scale]

01:01

Untold Human Suffering, Inc. is not a brand that gets much support anywhere in the world.

01:06

Because of this, almost every newly independent African country was a little bit socialist,

01:10

especially at first.

01:12

Nationalization, taking private property and making it public, wasn’t seen as the government overstepping. [Man replaces private property sign with a public propert one]

01:18

Most Africans were down with the idea of taking back natural resources that Europeans had

01:23

stolen and using those resources for the good of the people.

01:27

It’s not hard to see why socialism was as easy certainly as easy as the selfie stick. [People taking selfies with Ronald Raegan]

01:33

A major challenge for socialist governments, like in Algeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Ghana,

01:39

was the shortage of experienced technicians.

01:42

Since colonial states didn't give a flip for higher education…of natives…it took a [Snowboarder doing a back flip]

01:47

while for African universities to develop after independence.

01:51

In the meantime, most engineers and machinists had to come from foreign countries.

01:55

This was no big deal for new African states that’d chosen capitalism because they could

01:59

just order up technicians on Amazon. [Man orders an engineer on Amazon]

02:02

Er well, maybe that’s not how it worked…

02:04

Instead, big corporations just brought in their own staff.

02:07

But socialist countries did not have this option.

02:09

So they had to rely on state-employed technicians lent by the Soviet Union or communist Eastern Europe. [Workers in a factory]

02:16

A lot of times, Africans weren’t all that excited about this.

02:19

Many socialist countries in Africa wanted to be neutral in the Cold War, because not

02:24

doing so meant the West might do fun stuff like rip your entire country apart with decades

02:29

of vicious civil war.

02:31

But what’s a developing nation to do? ['Algeria' crying]

02:33

Industry and infrastructure can’t be built without technicians.

02:37

So the need for this resource often put these countries in the USSR’s pocket.

02:41

And the truth is that in a lot of ways it was a really cruddy pocket. [Countries jumping out of jacket pocket labelled USSR]

02:46

Socialism in Africa had all the problems of socialism everywhere…

02:50

Inefficient industry…

02:52

Government corruption…

02:53

Artificially high employment…like, people doing jobs that didn't even need doing.

02:57

Too much of that kind of stuff can cause an economy to collapse in on itself like an old, [Pumpkin collapses]

03:02

rotten pumpkin.

03:03

When the Soviet Union did just that in 1991, many African countries decided to ease up

03:08

a bit on the whole socialism thing.

03:11

This created many mixed economy states that took the best of both worlds.

03:14

A generation of socialism had beefed up public health and education. [Man with a 'public health' shirt uses dumbbells in a gym]

03:18

And this socialist-built health and education actually encouraged corporate investment. [Man walks in with a check]

03:25

These days, many mixed economies, like Ghana and South Africa, are showing the world what

03:29

African development is all about.

03:31

The truth is that different developing countries need different strategies, depending on their

03:36

particular situation.

03:37

In economics, one size does not fit all. [Large man wearing a tight gym vest]

03:40

Just like yoga pants…

03:41

They might look great on a yoga instructor, but for a hippo, well they’re kind of a stretch. [Hippo wearing yoga pants]

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