#18 1986 "Africa is a rich continent. But who benefits from the gold of Central Africa, the oil and tin of Nigeria, the iron ore of Liberia, the cobalt of the Congo, the diamonds, copper and tine of Zaire, the copper and cobalt of Zambia, the gold, diamonds, platinum and chromium of South Africa? "Not the African people, that's for sure. The big fortunes, the big houses, the great wealth is almost all concentrated in New York, London and Paris, that is, in the hands of those criminals who ripped off a whole continent. "This does not prevent George Shultz from claiming that capitalism will bring'liberation' to the Arfrican people. "Capitalism could start by liberating the African nations from their $175 billion debt burden to the big commercial banks. These countries are expected to fork over $24.5 billion a year from 1986 to 1990 in debt repayment, which is more money that they earn from their entire export earnings! "And all the time, these export earnings are plummeting, as the prices on the international capitalist market continues to drop for Zambia's copper, Chad's cotton, Nigeria's oil. That's another way the imperialists rob Africa.... "The causes of Africa's troubles lie mostly outside the continent, in the capitals, banks and croporate board rooms of the nations which met last month in Tokyo. They do not owe the African people 'aid'. They owe billions of dollars, pounds and francs in reparations to pay back for all that they have stolen and the suffering they havce caused." --Andy Stapp, WORKERS WORLD, 5 June 1986 "Each minute, 24 people (18 of whom are children) die of hunger. Starvation claims 35,000 lives a day, between 13 and 18 million lives a year. One billion of us are chronically, painfully malnourished. "So, those are the facts, with numbers topping Holocaust proportions. More people have dies from hunger in the past two years than were killed during World War I and II combined." --CREATIVE LOAFING, 30 November 1985 KULTCHA c 1986 Kerry W. Thornley Available from: Illumi-Net (404) 377-1141