The Realist Idealist

This six part series by Richard Behar of Fast Company entitled “China in Africa” is the single best piece of investigative journalism I’ve read in months. Maybe years. Maybe ever.

Behar breaks down and brilliantly weaves the geo-political, business, governmental, community, historical, and personality issues that plague a handful of resource-rich countries across the sub-Saharan region of the continent, including Mozambique, Zambia, Congo, and Equatorial Guineau. I sat in my chair for a while after finishing the article and just stared off into the coffee-shop ether. It’s simply that good.

This is a brief synopsis.

“…the sub-Sahara represents nearly one-fifth of the earth’s landmass. Yet its total economy is tinier than Florida’s. Here, 300 million people get by on less than a dollar a day. Until they don’t. It is the planet’s biggest tomb…a bottomless badland where $500 billion of Western aid since World War II (more than four Marshall Plans) has barely made a dent in the poverty; a region whose market share of world trade is shrinking by the hour… a place so desperate for everything - cash trade, investment and infrastructure - and so powerless to negotiate strategically, that it’s pretty much up for sale to the highest bidder.

The region is now the scene of one of the most sweeping, bare-knuckled, and ingenious resource grabs the world has ever seen.”

Bravo, Fast Company, for supporting this piece and for having the balls to print the longest piece in your history.