Looking to Africa - long read

As I sit here on an island just off the coast of North-West Africa I can't help pondering the future of that vast and seemingly unknowable continent, so near and yet so far.

I'm writing this in Tenerife, one of the eight Canary Islands forming an archipelago off the coast of Morocco and Western Sahara - tantilisingly close and yet a world away from the 'mainland' of continental Africa.

As an Autonomous Community of Spain, the Canaries form an outpost of the European Union (EU). Yet, despite their proximity to Africa, their outlook, politically, culturally and economically, is resolutely European. Africa may as well be Mars, though only a narrow gulf of the Atlantic Ocean separates these offshore islands from their continent.

I say resolutely European but that resolve may, little by little, be weakening. There is a growing sentiment, especially, though not exclusively, amongst young Canarians, that they have been sold a pup. True, the economy is superficially buoyant, due largely to tourism and the support of subventions from the EU via Spain (plus, allegedly, Mafia money-laundering) but these very factors may yet be the islands' undoing. 

The complacent status quo is now being openly challenged as the triple-whammy of climate change, overtourism and overdevelopment starts to make itself felt. Many Canarians are now beginning to see for themselves the dire predictions of collapse coming true. This feels to them like a betrayal by politicians and they are rightly aggrieved.

Materially, most Canarians are better-off than their parents, and dramatically more so than their grandparents. And yet, as elsewhere in the world, the young are finding it increasingly difficult to get on the career ladder without leaving their homeland. Better housing, education, healthcare and all the trappings of modern Western civilisation have not necessarily brought greater happiness or contentment and have certainly not been evenly spread throughout society.

One only has to look at the ceaseless flow of cars along the autopista (motorway) running down the eastern coast from Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife in the north, to the tourist honeypots of Los Cristianos, Playa de Las Américas and Costa de Adeje in the south, to sense something seriously amiss. This relentless tide of traffic seems to represent the frenetic, energy-sapping, life-consuming pursuit of the chimera of capitalism. But the consumerist dream is rapidly turning into a living nightmare.

At many times of day the autopista is, without exaggeration, reminiscent of downtown LA - or is that Lagos? - and is being constantly widened and extended in the forlorn hope of accommodating ever more cars (currently estimated at one million on an island one quarter the size of North Yorkshire). Once the road tunnel through the mountain at Santiago del Teide - which will continue the autopista in an unbroken loop round the island - is complete, the last vestiges of a tranquil existence on the island will be all but extinguished. 

The English poet, William Wordsworth warned, in his sonnet of 1802, The World is Too Much With Us, "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers". He witnessed the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution and predicted some of its worst consequences, for humankind and nature. Of course, harking back to some imagined golden age is a Utopian fantasy, but the warnings should be heeded nonetheless. 

Life on these islands up to fairly recent times was pretty harsh, certainly throughout the Franco era, and one can't blame Canarians for wanting to put that behind them. And yet Franco's rule (1937-1975) delivered the aforementioned autopista, an island-wide hydraulics system delivering fresh water to all communities, schools and hospitals, the development of an airport at Los Rodeos and, with it, the beginnings of international mass-tourism. 

I apologise if this sounds like the old trope of Mussolini at least making the Italian trains run on time but, like Mussolini's, Franco's regime began a project of material advancement and modernisation which today presents a dilemma. Do the people carry this problematic legacy forward to its logical, but destructive, conclusion or row back on it before it's too late?

 

In his pursuit of material improvements for his people Franco seems to have forgotten about their souls. If he thought the Catholic Church would take care of that it seems he was expecting too much of it. The Christian warning against reliance on material things seems to have got lost somewhere. After his death in 1975 there was an uneasy period of transition but during the 1980s there appeared to be rapid social and economic advancement. it was not to last.

The economic crash of 2008 brought most developments to a sudden halt and for years afterwards the islands were blighted by half-finished buildings and infrastructure projects. The Covid-19 pandemic prolonged the hiatus but, suddenly, in 2024, there is a flurry of activity, as if to make up for lost time. But the situation appears to be running dangerously out of control (not that there was much control to begin with) and the ecological and social damage is immense and irreparable.

A few Canarians - I wouldn't want to overstate the numbers - are looking again towards Africa in search of a different future. This is not a new phenomenon; a nascent independence movement founded by Antonio Cubillo in 1963 while in exile in Algiers from the Francoist regime, advocated and worked for closer ties to Africa but he disbanded his organisation in 1982 on the attainment of Autonomous Community status. 

Cubillo saw the Canaries' natural alignment as North African but the geopolitical situation at that time was very different. Much of North Africa in the 'sixties was in the sphere of influence of the communist Soviet Union (USSR) and this appealed to his socialist principles. However, the USSR was dissolved in 1991 and Cubillo died in 2012 aged 82, his wider aim unfulfilled.

But his torch still burns and recent developments, both globally and in the African continent, have prompted a reappraisal of Cubillo's philosophical aims. Climate change is one of the prime movers, along with a growing disenchantment at the way Spanish and EU policies have exacerbated its effects on the islands. 

There is a growing sense that, without dramatic intervention, the archipelago could be largely uninhabitable by 2030. Relentless temperature rises along with severe water shortages, collapsing agriculture, air and sea pollution, homelessness, unemployment and irregular migration, coupled with a seemingly inexorable rise in tourism adding to these problems, is driving a rethink of priorities. Except, unfortunately, where it really matters - politically.

Local, Spanish and EU politicians are a long way behind the curve and this shows little sign of changing. They are like rabbits caught in headlights, transfixed and immobilised. Many of them are also in thrall to developers and Mafia interests, often inextricably linked. Corruption, while not necessarily systemic, is rife. Given such a toxic mix of political apathy, complicity and incompetence it is hardly surprising that a swelling cohort of Canarians is protesting for change. 

Sadly, some of this protest is directed at migrants who have made the perilous sea crossing from West African countries such as Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Gambia, Guinea Bissau and even further afield, desperately seeking refuge in the EU. Most of these have no wish to stay in the Canaries, their hope is to gain access, as it were via the back door, into Peninsular Spain and onwards into the rest of Europe, including the UK.

And this is where closer ties between Canarians and Africans might be timely. Independence, such as that achieved by Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) from Portugal in 1975, could close that door permanently. But that should not be seen as an end in itself, rather a means to a greater end; political integration with the continent of which it is geographically a part, hopefully leading to a marked improvement in living standards obviating the pressure on Africans to flee their homelands.

Tackling 'root causes' of irregular migration from Central America to the US was a task given by President Joe Biden to his Vice-president, Kamala Harris, in 2021; exploring forces driving migration to the US from three Central American countries — Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala — with the aim of easing the economic pressures and political strife that was prompting so many people to flee. This sets a precedent which the EU, Spain and the Canaries could follow.

Cabo Verde, 1500 kilometres south of the Canaries, is now a member of the African Union (AU) and, whilst undeniably much poorer than the Canaries (annual average salary being €2,175 and €22,466 respectively) arguably enjoys a simpler, calmer way of life. Having never been to Cabo Verde I can't vouch for this but I suspect their way of life is likely to be much more sustainable going forward than the current Canarian one. In any event, it is one we may all have to adjust to globally in coming years. That being so, there is no time like the present to start the transition while we still have some control over the process.

I'm frankly surprised that so few present-day Canarian politicians or activists seem to have sought meetings with their North or West African counterparts. This is not to say that there has been no outreach. For example, on June 12 and 13, representatives of the Frente Polisario (Polisario Front) in Spain, carried out an institutional visit to Tenerife. On 14 June the Canarian Federation of Municipalities welcomed Sahrawi children from the Holidays in Peace Programme to Gran Canaria, a visit organised by The Canary Islands Association of Solidarity with the Sahrawi People (ACASPS). 

Whilst humanitarian initiatives of this kind are undoubtedly welcome, the underlying root causes of conflict in the region remain unresolved. In April the UN envoy for the Moroccan Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, threatened to resign after failing to make headway in the longstanding dispute between Morocco, Algeria, and the Polisario Front. As reported by Assahifa English, de Mistura had expressed his frustration to Secretary-General, António Guterres, citing the "complexity" of the issue and his inability to secure concessions from any of the involved parties.

This is deeply disappointing and strengthens the case for early intervention wherever possible. The Sahrawi conflict originated in rebellion against Spanish colonial rule between 1973-75, making it almost impossible to resolve after so long. Still, Truth and Reconciliation worked in South Africa after decades of the Apartheid regime and the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement immeasurably improved the longstanding conflict in Northern Ireland. There is good precedent for never giving up.

But, for example, the recent election of President Faye in Senegal should have prompted proactive diplomatic contact not just from the Spanish government but from Canarian politicians and NGOs too. If this has not yet happened I hope it soon will. Time is of the essence, not least because so many irregular migrants make the dangerous crossing from his country.*

This would seem to provide an opportune moment to seek collaboration and make common cause with Africa. The aim should be not just to end a humanitarian tragedy but to forge closer economic, cultural and political ties that could render such irregular migration unnecessary. As far as I'm aware, no such contact has been initiated and, meanwhile, the boats keep coming and desperate men, women and children keep drowning.

Africa could potentially become the world's next superpower but in order to do so it needs to repudiate the neo-colonialist overtures of nations such as China and the Russian Federation. If - and it's a big if - it can also tackle the climate crisis by reversing the worst impacts of fossil fuel and mineral extraction, the cutting down of forests and the overuse of water to grow cash crops for export, whilst also curbing the rampant corruption of kleptocrats and their Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) then Africa's vast natural wealth might begin to benefit its own people.

Currently only a quarter of the continent has access to electricity, clean water is a luxury, roads and railways are hopelessly inadequate, or largely for the benefit of foreign companies to enable their rapacious capitalist extraction and export of raw materials and natural resources. In this melee African citizens are largely ignored and left to fend for themselves. It is their energy, skills and entrepreneurialism that need to be harnessed to remake Africa for Africans. The brightest and best should not be forced to work abroad while Africa needs them.

So why, in an increasingly uncertain world, would Canarians choose this particular moment to sever their centuries-long ties to Europe and join the AU? They don't necessarily have to do either. Leaving Spain and the EU does not mean that European trade, tourism, religious, linguistic and cultural links will cease, nor should it entail leaving the NATO alliance that assures its security given the archipelago's strategic Atlantic location. 

Joining the AU is presumably optional, although all fifty-five recognised countries of Africa are currently in membership. The parlous state of the world might be precisely the right moment to participate in creating a new sphere of influence and forging new alliances. But for this to be successful Africa needs to get its house in order.

The European colonial hegemony in Africa essentially ended sixty years ago and yet still no African consensus has emerged on the decolonisation of its borders. Redrawing the entirely arbitrary lines on imperialist maps created in the 19th century land grab known as 'the Scramble for Africa' remains a purely intellectual rather than a practical exercise.

This outcome needs to be achieved in order to better reflect geography and accommodate modern day ethnic, tribal, religious and linguistic realities in order to create more viable states in the 21st century. Until this nettle is grasped by the AU Africa will remain in thrall to its toxic colonial past. 

The aboriginal population of the Canary Islands, the Guanches, Canarii and others, had a long and painful experience of colonialism. Coming from North African Berber stock, they made their original crossings from around 100 CE and lived in relative seclusion until the coming of the Spanish in the 14th century, followed by conquest in the late-15th, though apparently trading with the Romans, Phoenicians and even Normans before that. 

A Canarian application to join the African club might give a much-needed boost to the process of erradicating the lingering remnants of colonialism from the continent. Unfortunately, there is a growing illiberal, religiously-inspired, movement in several African nations, which includes the criminalisation of homosexuality (or further criminalisation by imposing the death penalty) and the overturning of anti-FGM legislation. Continuing human rights abuses and a widespread disregard for the rule of law and a rules-based order is also gravely concerning.

Whether, under these circumstances, this is a club Canarians would want to join, having sloughed off the shackles of repressive Catholicism and Francoism, is doubtful. But their involvement might be instrumental in helping reshape the club by bolstering the more liberal outlook already existing in South Africa and providing a North African complement to it.

Their accession talks could create a new North-South equilibrium, forging a compact that would add energy and dynamism to a process of modernisation that could galvanise the continent by enabling a nexus of liberalism between its top and its tip. Canarian membership could boost a pan-continental process of healing and reconciliation after centuries of damaging colonialism. But unless and until it's tried, we'll never know.

Now is the time for Canarians to reach out to Africa.

*Update 18/07/24: Canarian Weekly reports a boat arriving this morning with 191 people on board, including 22 minors (13 unaccompanied) and a baby. "This latest arrival is just one of many as migratory numbers from Africa to the Canary Islands increase due to the calmer waters in summer". Luckily, on this occasion, no one died, but it is estimated that some 5,000 have drowned so far this year.