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INTERNATIONAL DESK
Second Thoughts
About the
ThirdWorld
T
shower head fell into the
bathtub again this morning. It always does
when I try to adjust it. Not that it really
matters-the hotel doesn't have any
running water today anyway. Or electricity.
The cleaner (if that is what you call
the man who comes in twice a day
to rearrange the dust) says both
might be back on tomorrow, or the
day after ... or sometime.
The restaurant has run out of tea and
coffee, and they can't remember when
they last had sugar. The brewery hasn't
got any bottles, so there is no beer
either. This is, incidentally, the best
hotel in town.
And so this little place becamé a sovereign state.
There were celebrations and dancing in the streets.
At last, the people were told, they could breathe
fre.e. (Most weren't aware they hadn't been.)
Centuries of humiliation and exploitation were
behind them, it was explained. They had a smart
new flag, a stirring new anthem and a seat in the
United Nations.
Enthroned in the old governor's palace was their
president- the national hero who had led them in their
"fight for freedom." Unfortunately the national hero
turned out to be a megalomaniac, an incompetent and a
crook. His severa! years of misrule led the new nation
to the brink of bankruptcy.
Eventually, his people tired of bis empty promises
and grandiose schemes, and they applauded when a
coup d'etat sent him into exile. But a succession of
military dictators drove things further and further
down the road to ruin, until today, in the
exaggerated words of a weary expatriate, "The place
is becoming uninhabitable."
lt is in the capital city of one of the
poorer nations that we optimistically cal!
"developing." Once, this country was a
colony of a European power. It was
considered to be fairly prosperous, although
that prosperity did not significantly filter
down to the native people. But on the whole
they were content, and at least they lived
without fear of famine or revolution.
Self-rule and independence were not a
burning issue back then. There was a sort
Althougb poor in material possessions, many developing nat ions bave not
lost joys of family life.
of understanding between the colonial authorities
and the local leadership that eventually- in a
hundred years- two hundred maybe--the country
would be ready to govern itself.
Then carne the Second World War, and in its
aftermath colonialism became unfashionable. The
European powers began to divest themselves of their
overseas possessions.
May 1984
There are other nations like this. One can only
look at them with compassion. They don't know
what to do anymore. The exaltation over nationhood
has long since given way to a grim struggle for
survival. Successive leaders become more desperate,
and consequently more repressive, causing the people
to become ever more sullen and rebellious. The
economy is a shambles, and the inflation rate has
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