Word: africas
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American leaders usually speak of Africa in the abstract, as a problem in need of solution: a place of epidemic, hunger, genocide or coup d'etat. On Saturday, Barack Obama, the first U.S. president of African descent, came to Ghana to speak about the continent in the personal and the particular, as his own ancestral homeland for which he now offered a vision. (See TIME's photos of Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf...
...have the blood of Africa within me," he declared to cheers before the Ghanaian parliament. "My family's own story encompasses both the tragedies and triumphs of the larger African story...
...story, repurposing the "Yes We Can" mantra of his own presidential campaign as a call to action for the African continent to embrace. "You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people," he said, in a message to Africa's youth. "You can serve in your communities, and harness your energy and education to create new wealth...
...Obama described a future anchored in institutions of governance and international agreement, where tribal identities would be subsumed by a common sense of humanity and international economics would turn old national competitions into alliances. He portrayed the peaceful transfer of power in competitive democracies as the next step in Africa's century-long emergence from the shackles of colonial rule. "This progress may lack the drama of the 20th century's liberation struggles," he said. "But make no mistake: it will ultimately be more significant. For just as it is important to emerge from the control of another nation...
...This rhetorical praise of human rights and justice has remained a core tenet of Obama's foreign policy, though his arrival in Africa is marked by mixed signs of political progress. Recent years have brought coups to Mauritania, Madagascar and Guinea, and distorted or disputed elections in Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe. It was to this continued unrest that Obama seemed to direct his message, which was clearly scripted more for an African audience than an American one. The U.S. State Department arranged for listening events in several countries on the continent to get the message out. "Africa's future...