Varför blogga om Afrika?

En av de mest betydelsefulla bloggarna i/om Zambia heter "Zambian Economist" och följs - och framför allt kommenteras - av en hel massa människor. Med flera stora regeringstrogna tidningar och EN oberoende dagstidning som främsta nyhetskanaler tillsammans med halvtaskig radio och tv är bloggar som Zambian Economist viktiga. Det finns ett tydligt behov av plattformar för diskussion och ifrågasättande av dagsaktuella frågor, liksom mer strategiska frågor. Signaturen Cho som skriver bloggen publicerade igår ett inlägg som är så belysande att jag återger det i sin helhet här:

Why I blog about Africa

The short version : I suppose I blog about Africa because if we don't blog about Africa for ourselves, others would do it for us.

The long version : As Zambian Economist is essentially about Zambia, rather than Africa per se, I would say I blog for three fundamental reasons:

1. It is part of learning - life is about learning lessons. Blogging about Zambia allows me to be challenged by our many contributors. Often as an economist and citizen, one builds up "priors" or preconceived ideas. It is good to see those tested and refined so that my perspective on life continues to improve. It also gives me an opportunity to research areas I know nothing about. I like that the fact that with blogging, I can ask a question and know for certain that an answer will come from somewhere.

2. It is about influencing - I want to see Zambia become better than it is. There's no reason why after 44 years of independence many of our people live in abject poverty. I am frustrated that many times, the politics get in the way of intelligent and effective dialogue on life and death issues. Many Zambians just want to see things get done, regardless of the chitenge you wear. More importantly, many many Zambians have the solutions to make our nation better, but have no avenue for communicating their thoughts or debate them with other people. They simply wonder, why is it that something so simple cannot be fixed? or why has that never been tried? or where can I know more about X? This blog really is a small step towards offering a platform to ask and debate such questions. It exists to try and encourage positive dialogue on the many pressing challenges facing the nation. Its strength is drawn from the many contributors who sacrifice their time to understand the pressing issues and offer meaningful exchanges on many areas.

3. It is about sharing experiences - I suppose I could still do the above two things simply by sitting down and writing long papers and lobby government, from a closed room! But blogging allows me to interact with other Zambians (and non Zambians who care about Zambia) thinking about the same issues and share experiences. I believe there's much to be gained not just in reading what people write, but also understanding why people write the way they write. Its my goal therefore to ensure that at all times, Zambian Economist remains a friendly site.