Defined as an unfavourable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought or reason, prejudice has been used for many centuries to bring down faiths, societies and much more. Karen Armstrong, a writer on comparative religion once wrote that ever since the crusades, when Christians from Western Europe were fighting holy wars against Muslims in the Near East, Western people have often perceived Islam as a violent and intolerant faith. This is despite the fact that when this prejudice took root, Islam had a better record of tolerance than Christianity. In other words, used maliciously with tools such as the media, prejudice is a weapon capable of manipulating the thought process of countless minds particularly those that are unlearned, intent on superiority, and or not well travelled. Either way, people can find themselves dancing to the tune of the conductor’s chosen beat. Of course, some will argue that the founding of Al Jazeera was in many ways Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani’s response to regional media criticism of the way he took power in Qatar in 1995. Critics argue that Sheikh Hamad only founded Al Jazeera so he could maintain influence in the Middle East. Granted, somehow I see the point in this argument; however, I maintain that in my opinion Al Jazeera has done a great deal to change the way in which many of us perceive those in the Arab world. It is undisputed that before Al Jazeera, viewers in the Middle East were subjected to two alternatives; they could either avoid media altogether, or they could view lengthy footage of their royal families walking shoulder to shoulder with foreign dignitaries cutting ribbons and whatnot. For the rest of us outside the Middle East, the mainstream media constantly fed us images of bloodshed involving the Arabs with so little about their cultures, religious facts, and economic opportunities from that part of the world. We were led to believe that the only good thing to come out of the Arab world was their oil, period. Then came Al Jazeera – millions of viewers both within and outside the Middle East were exposed to programming that mattered, including opposing opinions that had never seen the light of day, such as the unwavering criticism of the Israeli government by Arab members of the Israel parliament like Azmy Bishara. Since its founding, Al Jazeera continues to be a force to be reckoned with. For example, within the first five years of its founding, the Qatar based broadcaster had succeeded in becoming the most watched Arab television station for news, and later identified as the go-to-news channel for more than three-quarters of Arabs. Today, Al Jazeera does not only operate in the Arab world, it reaches over 270 million households in over 140 countries across the world. This is not to say that the media network hasn’t attracted criticism, it has. But one thing is for sure, Al Jazeera has reshaped global media particularly the way in which the Arab world is viewed from outside and from within it. Which brings me to the ultimate question; if the media provides us with ways of imagining how particular societies can be understood both from within and outside, where is Africa’s Al Jazeera? It has long been understood that one of the main and for that matter influential mediums through which meanings are produced, is the media. In fact, O’Sullivan et al, maintain that the concept of representation embodies the theme that the media construct meanings about the world - they represent it, and in doing so, help audiences to make sense of it. Africa has for many centuries been spoken for; remember the Berlin Conference of 1884 when Europeans sat down and partitioned the African continent into pieces as if it were a piece of cake to share around with little or no opposition to this concept? The fact is, among many other tools needed to counter any type of prejudice levelled on Africa today; our continent needs now more than ever, to be spoken for by Africans themselves – voices that can help curtail negative stereotypes of Africa as always being an underachieving continent. Yes, in Africa we have flaws; Africa is one of, if not, the poorest continent. And for many decades now, Africa has witnessed countless wars, disease, and whatever evil thing you may think of. But wars, poverty, corruption, and disease are not unique to Africa and nor should they become our only identity. Historians will tell you that no other place in the world has seen wars waged than Western Europe. Equally, famine that has come to characterise much of Africa in the media once robbed Ireland of over a million Irish lives during the Irish potato famine between 1845 and 1852. Indeed, since time immemorial, Africa has been portrayed by world media as a basket case - as a perennial problem that requires London, Paris, or Washington to come to the rescue. Africa has been dubbed a continent with a democratic deficit; a continent ruled by dictators and mercenaries; a continent with little or no intellectuals at all; a continent with so many resources but also with the inability or knowhow to make good use of them. In short, Africa has been dubbed a hopeless continent (remember the cover of The Economist?). But, why must we not change this narrative? Why can’t African venture capitalists establish tools that can help explain that perhaps it is time to look within our traditional heritage and draw out some of the methods that served us so well long before the arrival of the ‘master’? Likewise, why is it that those with the means undermine the importance of explaining, for instance, that although in many ways Africa’s governance problems are perpetrated by Africans themselves, the power structures in which they operate in were exported from the West after ‘independence’ without regard to century old existing systems? Or that as much as our leaders are guilty of embezzling public funds, Western banking systems are equally guilty of facilitating such habits? Where are these programmes? I am not craving for a voice to place blame somewhere, far from it. I am longing for voices that represent in equal measure, the good, the bad, and the ugly of the African continent. junior.mutabazi@yahoo.co.uk
