Africa Must Produce or Perish

by Philip Emeagwali

emeagwali.com 

 

Excerpted from a keynote speech delivered by Philip Emeagwali to the African community in Valencia, Spain on May 11, 2008. The entire transcript and and video are posted at emeagwali.com.

 

Imagine that it is May 25, 2063, the 100th anniversary of Africa Day, a day for reflecting on Africa’s successes and failures. The newspaper headline announces, “Last Remaining Oilfield in West Africa’s American Territory Dries Up.”

 

The article continues: “The last patch of rainforest will soon be empty land scarred by oil pipelines, pumping stations, and natural gas refineries. Wholesale pollution will be the environmental legacy for future generations.

 

Africa’s offshore oil reserves will ebb away. Abandoned oil wells could well become tourist attractions, and oil-boom settlements will be transformed into derelict ghost towns.

 

“In a world without oil, air travel will disappear, and people will voyage overseas on coal-powered ships. Farmers will use horses instead of tractors, and scythes instead of combine harvesters. As crops diminish and populations soar, famine will grip the globe. With no means to power their vehicles, parents will be housebound, without jobs, and children will walk to school.”

 

This scenario could become a reality, because we no longer have an abundant oil supply. We know oil exists in limited quantities and that most oil wells dry up after 40 years. It is as certain as death and taxes. Rather than debate the exact year when we will run out of oil, I prefer to imagine that we have already run out. It may come sooner than any of us expect. Our heirs will thank or curse us for how much oil we left for them. Instead of asking, “When will Africa run out of natural resources?” we should ask, “When will Africa be unable to export raw materials, either for lack of our own oil or because foreign markets have themselves dried up?”

 

Philip Emeagwali speaking in Valencia, Spain. (May 11, 2008)

 

A $100 bar of raw iron is worth $200 when forged into drinking cups in Africa, $65,000 when forged into needles in Asia, $5 million when forged into watch springs in Europe. How can this be? European intellectual capital – the collective knowledge of its people – allows a $100 raw iron bar to command a 50,000-fold increase! It could be said, therefore, that a lack of intellectual capital is the root cause of poverty.

 

Without African intellectual capital, iron excavated in Africa will continue to be manufactured in Europe and exported back to Africa at enormous cost. To alleviate poverty, Africa needs to cultivate creative and intellectual abilities that will allow it to increase the value of its raw materials and to break the continent’s vicious cycle of poverty. Poverty is not an absence of money, Rather, it results from an absence of knowledge.

 

In oil-exporting African nations, multinationals such as Shell (selling rigs for a 40% royalty on exported oil) are getting rich, while the oil rig workers remain poor. Instead of addressing the underlying causes of poverty – minimal productivity resulting from a lack of intellectual capital – Third World leaders have focused on giving false hope to their people.

 

We need less talk about poverty and more action to eliminate it. So how do we do this? Education has done more to reduce poverty than all the oil companies in the world. So it is disheartening to realize that few leaders believe that their people’s potential is far more valuable than what lies beneath the soil.

 

Intellectual capital, not higher wages, will eliminate poverty in Africa. If we all demand higher wages, we will end up paying the higher wages to ourselves. Intellectual capital will result in the creation of new products derived from new technologies. The end result will be not just a redistribution of wealth, but the creation and control of new wealth.

 

And Africa’s power to reduce poverty will open the floodgates of prosperity for millions of people. One catalyst for such prosperity could be telecommuting. If 300 million Africans could work for companies located in the West (just as millions of Indians do), then both regions would benefit. The strategy would be to recognize the labor needs of the global marketplace, and enable Africa to fulfill those needs.

 

For example, tax preparation experts living in Africa, where labor is cheaper, could fulfill the needs of US-based accountants. Furthermore, the time difference could allow for a fast turnaround in service. It is clear that knowledge and technology is crucial to alleviate Africa’s poverty.

 

Africa will perish if it continues to consume what it does not produce, and produce what it does not consume. The result will be a depressing cycle of increasing consumption, decreasing production, and increasing poverty. We are missing a golden opportunity by not using the trillion dollars earned by exporting natural resources to break Africa’s cycle of poverty.

 

We are at a crossroads where one signpost reads “Produce” and another reads “Perish.” We risk becoming like the driver who stops at an intersection and asks a pedestrian, “Where does this road lead?”

 

And the pedestrian replies, “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know,” the driver replies.

 

“Then it obviously doesn’t matter which road you take!” replies the pedestrian.

 

If we adopt the same attitude as the driver, Africa will have lost its chance to “choose” its future.

 

For decades, power in post-colonial Africa rested in the hands of those with guns, not those with brains. We were not always at war with our neighbors, but we were always at war with poverty. And we spent more on guns than on books and bread.

 

Africa’s choice is clear: produce or perish. However, it is important that we do not blindly choose the lesser of two evils – producing what we cannot consume or consuming what we cannot produce. We can avoid this. My wish is that by the end of the 21st century high-end products in New York City will sport the label: “Made in Africa.”

 

We cannot look forward to our future until we learn from our past. Five thousand years of recorded history reveal that technology was ancient Africa’s gift to the modern world. Forty and a half centuries ago, geometers in Africa’s Nile Valley region designed the Great Pyramid of Giza, the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. That man-made mountain remains the largest stone building on Earth. It is an icon of engineering, and testifies that Africa was once the world’s most technologically advanced region.

 

It is absolutely imperative that Africa regain its technological prominence, which will enable it to produce what the world can consume. When we do that, Africa will finally be eating the fruits of its own labor. When Africa has regained its technological prominence, the world’s leaders will seek it out. And, like a rainforest renewed, Africa will flourish again.

 

Philip Emeagwali has been called “a father of the Internet” by CNN and TIME , and extolled as “one of the great minds of the Information Age” by former U.S. President Bill Clinton . He won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, the Nobel prize of supercomputing.

 

 

Amparo Ideh (left) and Francis Chukwuma Ideh (right) welcome Philip Emeagwali to Africa Day at Palacio de Congresos in  Valencia, Spain. (May 11, 2008)

 

@ EMEAGWALI.COM 2008

General permission is granted for the publication of the above

transcript.

 

LETTERS

 

Sir ,i have heard about you vaguely before this time but your article about the africa day is the first i have read of your works.I read it on one of the newsboards on my campus at oau ife nigeria.

 

The article was very touching and aptly describes the problems we face in Africa.Inever even knew that africa day is being celebrated and even if the majority of africans knew ,i am sure it will just be a day for a sorrowful reminder of  the tragedy which the continent has become.

On a melancholic note however may i say that the problem with africa is not identifying the problem or the solutions but actually implementing them with sincerity.Iwould not be surprised if in the year 2063 which you predicted africa is not only still dilly dallying but actually worse off than it is.I disagree with you that lack of intellectual capital is the major problem confronting africa.There are a lot of great intellectual giants from africa or of african extraction all over the world.Of course you are a living example.What we ,i think ,seem to lack is the sincerity of purpose to do what is right ,and being ready to die for the cause of democratic ideals ,a virtue which has liberated many european and other western countries from the shackles of feudalism and fascism.In one of the rare cases ,it actually lliberated South Africa.Until then ,we would only be begging the question as we  would continue to have selfish leaders who continue to impoverish their people while preventing the right atmosphere for the germination of the intellectual capital you talked about. Why, in God's name should africa continue to tolerate a man like Mugabe who has ruled his country even before i was born?

I could go on and on with the problems of africa but let me stop here and hope people like you will continue to open our eyes and minds to what need be done to get us back into the mainstream of current civilization.Ipray you will one day come to deliver one of your lectures on our campus. It will indeed be a great day for me personally.Meanwhile ,i beg you to make your articles to the newsboard more regular.I was informed  by one of the executives that they have a direct relationship with you.Is that true?If so ,perhaps you could even get to come to Ife through them one day.We are a generation in dire need of motivators like you.

 

Wishing you the best ,

AKOLADE JAMIU ,

Faculty of Law ,

Obafemi Awolowo University ,

ile ife ,Nigeria.

 

 

A RESPONSE TO:

AFRICA MUST PRODUCE OR PERISH BY PHILIP EMEAGWALI

 

Dear Sir, we have never met, and I’m only now becoming aware of the great accomplishments you have achieved during your lifetime. So, Sir, it is with great respect that I’ve decided to respond to the article your wrote, “Africa Must Produce or Perish.” It is my hope that your call for Africans, and by extension, I hope, those who are also of African descent to return to knowledge; was a sincere request on your part. It is one thing Sir, to wish for change, and another to cause change. To wish for change just for change sake; produces the results we have experienced, as a people, for the last two thousand years. Which, have only resulted with us remaining a confused and lost people.

 

The change that we must achieve is not rooted in ignorance and superstitions. We continue to call for action while we are living in a fog. We grope through the darkness without direction and without purpose. Each time, we hope (not know) that this change will be the one that will give us our true direction and our true purpose.  We can’t yet comprehend that we are operating on false assumptions. If your point of origin for change is false; then you must conclude that any result caused by this change will also be false. This is the dilemma we face as a people. We must return to that knowledge which is true for us. Not continue to expect the knowledge that has been given to us by those who are now responsible for bringing the earth to near destruction; to deliver us and return us to our once greatness.

 

It is in this point Sir, that I hope your sincerity will rise to the surface. True change begins with true knowledge. We must know what is the true knowledge that our ancestors discovered and applied to create the great people you mentioned in your article. We desperately need to have someone speak the truth to us. Not the words we want to hear! Not the words that make us feel good, while our people are suffering all over the planet! But, words that will convict our hearts, minds, and souls to affect a real and lasting change!

II Tim. 4:1-5: In the presence of God (YHWH) and the Savior, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

In an effort Sir, to be this voice crying out in the wilderness of confusion we find ourselves today: I summit for your review an excerpt of a letter I posted to a concerned grope on the Internet. In this letter, I included an excerpt from the letter series I wrote, LETTERS TO THE BLACK MAN AND WOMAN! The complete letter series can be found on the website, nukeyofknowledge.com  

I've decided not to delay on commenting on the state of the condition the world find's itself in as a result of the religion the Europeans have given (forced) on the rest of the world. Perhaps this insight will help to bring clarity to the reasons their leaders conduct themselves in the manner that they do. Africa was the original seat of all the collective knowledge of humanity. It was this knowledge that was responsible for first bringing the original man out of darkness into the glorious light of civilization. It was the African man, the first Hue-man who observed his environment and the heavens above; by this observation he learned that there was a harmony between man and nature. By observing this balance between man and nature, it was discovered that the universe operated with natural laws. These natural laws, when observed, revealed all the secrets of the universe to mankind. These natural laws also revealed to the African man the laws of creation. The first Hue-man, by living in harmony with his environment and nature actually discovered the laws that proved creation. Our ancestors developed these laws into a calendar to live by. This calendar, when observed, continuously reminded our ancestors of their Creators. It was this calendar that was once understood by every man, woman, and child of this great ancient African civilization. This ancient African civilization used the knowledge this calendar provided to construct the great pyramids in Egypt, and to civilize and colonize every continent of the ancient world. Today this civilization is only known as the Nubian Civilization, but the truth is: It is this civilization that is being spoken about in the Bible the Europeans have translated into their language. Only after the fall of this great civilization, did the truth of this calendar become lost. A new calendar came into existence. This calendar would be used to keep the people in ignorance of the truth. This calendar would not operate in harmony with nature, but would operate against nature and common sense. For the first time the African man would have two paths to chose from. He could operate with the light of truth provided with the knowledge of a Holy Calendar that revealed the truth of the Creators, or he could operate under a false form of knowledge that leads to ignorance provided by this new calendar invented by evil men who wanted to keep the people in ignorance and deceived. Today the religion that is responsible for giving this false calendar to the entire planet is the same religion that has cause the most suffering of mankind on the planet. This calendar has had many names, and has undergone many transformations until its final resurrection as the Gregorian calendar; supposedly name after Pope Gregory XIII.  Most of mankind has followed the teachings of this religion and the many daughters this great whore has bore on the earth.  And today, almost the whole world follows the calendar of this religion. This religion's leader and its ministers masquerade as men of light, but inside of them is all the darkness of Hades. Only if the truth of the Holy Calendar returns to the earth, will the suffering of the Hue-man come to its final conclusion. I will leave off here so an excerpt of the eight letter ("Three, Four, Five") of the, "LETTERS TO THE BLACK MAN AND WOMAN," can help shed light on this subject. The complete letter series can be found on the web site, nukeyofknowledge.com

 

How much thought have you given to the things you believe? How much time, have we as a people, spent on investigating the beliefs, practices and costumes that we've been taught to observe? Do we really know whether or not what we've been taught is the truth? Is there a way to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that all we've come to accept as truth is actually false? Now is the time to begin to use our hearts for understanding. How did the world come to observe the practices and costumes it has today? How many people for example realize that our society celebrates the beginning of the year at the end of the natural cycle? It was not always this way. The ancient African civilizations understood that there was a harmony between man and his environment. These ancient cultures observed the New Year when nature itself began the process of renewal.  They understood the cycle of life. In the spring the cycle of life begins again. The grass begins to grow anew, the trees begin to bud new leaves, and the flowers bloom with all their glory. The animals return from their hibernation and life begins again. We can visibly see, with our eyes, a new cycle beginning. In the spring new life is occurring all around us. The ancient African people understood that by beginning their new year at this time they would be in harmony with nature and with their environment. The spring is the start of the cycle of life. The spring is the start of the New Year!

 

Melanin is influenced by the electro-magnetic field of the Earth, by light waves and sound vibrations. Because of its magnetic properties, people with higher concentrations of melanin in their bodies are more in tune with NATURE... FROM THE BROWDER FILE by Anthony T. Browder pg. 117 (emphasis mine)

 

The spring in the ancient African cultures was the start of a new year. But, in the European’s civilization that now leads the world, their new year falls in the dead of winter. There’s no life occurring at the time of their new year.  In fact, all nature has ceased. There is no grass, there is no life in the trees, the flowers have all withered and died.  Most animals have either migrated to warmer climates or are hibernating for the winter. Winter is the end of the cycle of life! If the yearly cycle were also a representation of the life cycle, then the spring season would represent birth and the newness of life. The summer season would represent youth and vigor. The fall season would represent adulthood and maturity. The winter season, then, would represent old age and death, and this cycle, like the cycle of life, would continue to repeat itself. So, why would the Europeans want to begin their new year at the end of the natural cycle for all life: And, how have they convince almost the entire world that the start of the new year actually occurs doing the time of death in the natural cycle? Today in our modern world, we don't understand all that transpired to bring into existence this present civilization. We can no longer comprehend the degree to which the peoples of the different nations had to suffer in order for this present European civilization to become established on the earth. As was stated in the second letter (“Abraham, Abraham”) of this series:

 

“MANY WHO UNDERSTOOD THAT THERE WERE FALSEHOODS BEING PROPAGATED ON THE PEOPLE, HAD TO PAY WITH THEIR LIVES.”

 

In a coming letter, we are going to see just to what degree the world has suffered as a result of this empire the Europeans have created. If you think these letters have surprised you before, wait until you see what that discussion will reveal! Believe it or not these two choices for the start of the New Year also define the choice between good and evil. Ask yourself this question and try to put aside your feelings for a moment: Which of the two, the spring or the winter really makes more sense as the start of the New Year? Of course the spring! Particularly for us as black people because we come from the part of the world where we are accustom to warm climates. It is the Europeans whose origin is that of the harsher colder climates that changed the time the New Year began. Is it any wonder they would begin their new year in the climate they were most accustom? It was also stated in the second letter (“Abraham, Abraham”) that:

 

“IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH THIS FEAT, TIME ITSELF HAD TO BE CHANGED.”

 

The people who would give the world their English translation of the Bible would actually change the way time was to be viewed.  This occurred during the time of Emperor Constantine I.

 

...The official introduction of the seven-day week by Emperor Constantine I in the fourth Century AD disrupted this arrangement. It appears, from the day of insertion of the intercalary month in the Roman republican calendar and the habit of designating years by the name for the consuls, that the calendar had originally commenced in March, which was the date when the new consul took office. In 222 BC the date of assuming duties was fixed as March 15, but in 153 BC it was transfer to the kalendae of January, and there it remained. January therefore, became the first month of the year... Encyclopedia Britannica Vol. 15, pg. 473

 

The Encyclopedia makes it clear with irrefutable evidence that it was, in fact, the Europeans who changed the start of the year from March (Spring) to January (Winter).

 

It is now your move Sir, If you truly want to see knowledge return to our people, then you now have access to this true knowledge. I will wait to hear your response.

 

Ralph Nathanial Wells,

Managing Director





L'AFRICA DEVE PRODURRE O PERIRA'

di Philip Emeagwali

emeagwali.com 

 

Excerpted from a keynote speech delivered by Philip Emeagwali to the African community in Valencia, Spain on May 11, 2008. The entire transcript and and video are posted at emeagwali.com.

 

Immaginate che sia il 25 Maggio del 2063, il 100° anniversario dell’Africa Day, una giornata per riflettere sui successi e i fallimenti dell’Africa. Il titolo sul giornale annuncia: “L’ultimo giacimento petrolifero nel territorio americano dell’Africa Occidentale si è esaurito.”

L’articolo continua: “L’ultimo pezzetto di foresta pluviale sarà presto terra desolata, segnata da oleodotti, stazioni di pompaggio e raffinerie di gas naturale. L’inquinamento su vasta scala sarà l’eredità ambientale per le future generazioni.

“Le riserve di petrolio al largo delle coste dell’Africa si andranno esaurendo. I pozzi di petrolio abbandonati potrebbero di certo diventare attrazioni turistiche, e gli insediamenti
del boom del petrolio trasformarsi in derelitte città fantasma.”

“In un mondo senza più petrolio spariranno gli aerei, e la gente viaggerà oltremare su navi alimentate a carbone. Gli agricoltori useranno i cavalli invece dei trattori, e le falci al posto delle mieti-trebbiatrici.
Col diminuire dei raccolti e l’incremento demografico, il mondo sarà stretto dalla morsa della fame. Senza mezzi per alimentare i propri veicoli, i genitori saranno costretti in casa, senza lavoro, e i bambini andranno a scuola a piedi.”

Questo scenario potrebbe diventare realtà, dato che non abbiamo più un’abbondante riserva di petrolio. Sappiamo che questo esiste in quantità limitate, e che la maggior parte dei pozzi si esaurisce dopo 40 anni. E’ sicuro, come la morte e le tasse. Piuttosto che discutere in che anno esattamente avremo finito il petrolio, preferisco immaginare che non ne abbiamo già più. Potrebbe accadere più presto di quanto immaginiamo. I nostri eredi ci ringrazieranno o ci malediranno per la quantità di petrolio che lasceremo loro. Piuttosto che chiederci “Quando l’Africa esaurirà le sue risorse naturali?” dovremmo domandarci “Quando l’Africa non sarà più in grado di esportare materiali grezzi, o per mancanza
del nostro stesso petrolio o perché i mercati stranieri si saranno esauriti?”

Una barra di ferro grezzo da 100 dollari ne vale 200 quando viene trasformata in calici in Africa, 65.000 negli aghi fatti in Asia, 5 milioni nei meccanismi per orologi in Europa. Come può essere? Il capitale intellettuale europeo – la conoscenza collettiva della sua popolazione - fa sì che una barra di ferro grezzo da $100 aumenti di 50.000 volte il suo valore? Si potrebbe allora affermare che una mancanza intellettuale è la causa alla base della povertà.

Philip Emeagwali speaking in Valencia, Spain. (May 11, 2008)

 

Senza un patrimonio di conoscenza, in Africa, il ferro estratto continuerà ad essere lavorato in Europa ed esportato di nuovo in Africa ad un costo enorme. Per alleviare la povertà l’Africa ha bisogno di coltivare abilità creative e intellettuali che consentano di aumentare il valore delle sue materie prime, e interrompere il circolo vizioso della povertà del continente. La povertà non è l’assenza di denaro, piuttosto il risultato dell’assenza di conoscenza.

Negli stati africani esportatori di petrolio, multinazionali come la Shell (che vende impianti di trivellazione per il 40 per cento di royalty sul greggio esportato) si stanno arricchendo, mentre chi lavora a questi impianti rimane povero. Invece di occuparsi della causa basilare della povertà, la produttività minima dovuta alla mancanza intellettuale, i leader del Terzo Mondo si sono impegnati nel dare false speranze alla loro gente.

Abbiamo bisogno di meno chiacchiere sulla povertà e di più azione per eliminarla. Allora, come possiamo farlo? L’istruzione ha fatto più di tutte le compagnie petrolifere
del mondo per ridurre la povertà. Ed è sconfortante rendersi conto che un pugno di leader considera il potenziale della propria gente di valore assai inferiore rispetto a quello che vi è nel sottosuolo.

Il capitale intellettuale, non salari più alti, elimineranno la povertà in
Africa. Se tutti noi chiedessimo salari più alti, finiremmo col rimetterci noi stessi. Il capitale intellettuale avrà come risultato la creazione di nuovi prodotti derivati da nuove tecnologie. Il risultato finale sarebbe non solo una ridistribuzione del benessere, ma la creazione e il controllo di nuovo benessere.

E il potere dell’Africa di ridurre la povertà aprirebbe le porte della prosperità a milioni di persone. Un catalizzatore di tale prosperità potrebbe essere il telelavoro. Se 300 milioni di africani potessero lavorare per compagnie che hanno sede in Occidente (proprio come fanno milioni di indiani), entrambe le regioni ne beneficerebbero. La strategia sarebbe il riconoscere il bisogno di lavoratori del mercato globale, e permetterebbe all’Africa di soddisfare questo bisogno.

Per esempio, esperti in dichiarazione delle tasse che vivono in
Africa, dove la manodopera costa meno, potrebbero rispondere al bisogno di contabili negli Stati Uniti. Per di più, il diverso fuso orario permetterebbe un più veloce cambio di turni nel servizio. E’ chiaro che conoscenza e tecnologia sono cruciali per alleviare la povertà in Africa.

L’Africa perirà se continua a consumare quello che non produce, e a produrre quello che non consuma. Il risultato sarà un deprimente ciclo di aumento
del consumo, decrescita della produzione, e aumento della povertà. Stiamo perdendo un’opportunità d’oro non usando i trilioni di dollari guadagnati esportando risorse naturali per interrompere il ciclo della povertà in Africa.

Siamo ad un incrocio dove un’insegna dice “Produci” e un’altra “Perisci”. Rischiamo di fare come il guidatore che si ferma ad un incrocio e domanda ad un pedone: “Dove porta questa strada?”

E il pedone risponde: “Lei dove vuole andare?”

“Non lo so”, dice il guidatore.

“Allora è ovvio che non importa quale strada prende!”, replica il pedone.

Se ci comportiamo come il guidatore, l’Africa perderà la chance di “scegliere” il suo futuro.

Per decenni, nell’Africa post-coloniale il potere è rimasto nelle mani di quelli con le armi, e non di quelli dotati di cervello. Non siamo stati sempre in guerra coi nostri vicini, ma siamo sempre stati in guerra con la povertà. E abbiamo speso di più nelle armi che in libri e pane.

La scelta dell’Africa è chiara: produrre o perire. Comunque sia, l’importante è che noi non scegliamo ciecamente il minore tra i due
mali – produrre quello che non possiamo consumare o consumare quello che non possiamo produrre. Noi possiamo evitare questo. Il mio desiderio è che per la fine del 21° secolo, nella “City” di New York, dei prodotti di alta fattura sfoggino l’etichetta: “Made in Africa”.

Noi non possiamo guardare avanti al nostro futuro finché non impariamo dal nostro passato. Cinquemila anni di storia documentata rivelano che la tecnologia è stata un dono dell’antica
Africa al mondo moderno. Quaranta secoli e mezzo fa, nella regione africana della Valle del Nilo, geometri disegnavano la Grande Piramide di Giza, l’ultima delle Sette Meraviglie del mondo antico. Quella montagna fatta dall’uomo resta la più grande costruzione in pietra sulla Terra. E’ un’icona dell’ingegneria, e testimonia come una volta l’Africa fosse la regione più tecnologicamente avanzata del mondo.

E’ assolutamente necessario che l’Africa riacquisti la sua rilevanza tecnologica, cosa che le consentirà di produrre quello che il mondo può consumare. Una volta fatto questo, l’Africa potrà raccogliere i frutti
del proprio lavoro. Quando l’Africa avrà riconquistato il suo prestigio tecnologico, i leader mondiali la ricercheranno. E come una rinnovata foresta pluviale, l’Africa rifiorirà.

Estratto da un discorso tenuto da Philip Emeagwali alla comunità africana a Valencia, Spagna, l’11 Maggio 2008. L’intera trascrizione e il video sono pubblicati su emeagwali.com.

Philip Emeagwali è stato chiamato “un padre di internet” dalla CNN e dal TIME, e decantato come “una delle più grandi menti dell’era informatica” dall’ex presidente degli Stati Uniti Bill Clinton. Nel 1989 ha vinto il Gordon Bell Prize, il premio Nobel per il supercomputing.


Titolo originale: "
Africa must produce or perish"

Fonte: http://onlinejournal.com/
Link
16.05.2008

Traduzione per www.comedonchisciotte.org a cura di CINZIAB

 

 

 

Amparo Ideh (left) and Francis Chukwuma Ideh (right) welcome Philip Emeagwali to Africa Day at Palacio de Congresos in  Valencia, Spain. (May 11, 2008)

 

@ EMEAGWALI.COM 2008

General permission is granted for the publication of the above

transcript.