OLPC Controversy ? Something to chew on.

The coverage of the OLPC project in the USA is
seen from the African continent, South Africa to
be precise and as European staying here 5 years
i can only say, "come on guys, wake up"

The last 40 years or so, developing aid, charity,
philantropy, cheap credit, debt relieve and whatever else has made it painfully clear how much progress is made compared to what was invested.A few countries a little progress, a few in total anarchy and the rest about the same.

The caucasian footprint has permanently disrupted the tribally based social structures
and the civil conflicts, war, corruption, lack
of infrastructure, droughts,fludding, no healthcare,aids, education, housing just to mention a few show the level of complexity and
how difficult it is to tackle the problems.

The OLPC shows what the sort of quality and seriousness and quality of coverage initiate
a discussion which is about a non issue and opinions more often that not based on in which
camp someone vacates.Linux, Microsoft, AMD, Intel
who wins, who looses, Digital Divide and IT seen
as a relevant tool and solution, a self declared
medicine man who conveniently abuses the dignity
of the poor and "would it not be nice if these poor kids bla bla bla"

So people and some companies chip in and, the
100 dollar OLPC is borne.Edorsement of the UN
shows how useless they are.Where is the World Bank ?
Wolfowitz was dead right to make corruption a
permanent point on the agenda and should have
been addressed 25 years ago.

Africa has no choice other than to go Global as
well and starts to see in real life the impact
for instance in the textile industry and wants
to re introduce importduties on several products
but knows that in the end it is no solution and
luckily for the textile industry the Chinese
voluntarily capped the export for a few years.

Perhaps a small victory for the specific Labour
Union who is supposed to cater for their members
but overall it only increases retailprices and
inflation.Other importduties will ultimately be
handled by the WTO and is the way to go.

Free trade offers opportunities and is the one and only way to go.
That is easier said than done as a few 100 year
without or hardly any education and self initiative surpressed, they did what they were told to do and not what they thought they had to do and this you can see on a day to day basis
in every discipline, people are afraid to make
misstakes and still do as they are told and the
same in the education system, it is completely
outdated.

Skill shortage is becoming a problem and the 25
to 35 % unemployed can't fill these positions
and the same for the school leavers, 50 % does not find a job and this is a time bomb.

Geographically quite isolated and trade sanctions
untill the 1994 elections gives that most people
have absolutely no clue what goes on in the rest
of the world and the optimism and promises made
not really realistic.Mr.Mandela started with
an inheritated national debt, no service infrastructure for 90 % of the population and
the optimism about the future reflected in the
new constitution which is modern and progressive
and the independent justice system for instance
in evidence handling about the same as in the USA, procedural misstakes are not tolerated.

The change of power created an enormous change
in management positions and there are too much
people sitting on seats where they have not even the basic skills to run it and this slowly
starts to surface together with corruption.
Positive is the excellent Minister of Finance
Trevor Manual which has the budget well under
controle and even surplusses last year and this year and lower interest and inflation and a strong Rand the result.

My understanding of the Global Economy is on the
long term a level playing field with subsidies
phased out, and equal opportunities to compete
fairly and disruptions adressed and that is
difficult enough as it is for Africa.
In spite of relative stability on the continent
still allows for Dafour and Zimbabwe, melting down as speak.
5-6 % growth seems quite acceptable but overall
Africa is falling further behind in stead of
hanging in or catching up and this is a serious
problems as the coming decades the global warming
will hit Africa inevitable and needs to be adressed.
A growing population, 1 out of 8 HIV positive,
poor education, the unemployment and China and
India penetgrating the continent which they
see a key supplier for raw materials and oil and
a good learning enviroment to gain experience
in the global trade.

The new outsourcing salary benchmark based
on the Chinese prison labour level of salaries
and lack of freedom of speech, religion,indepedent justice nowhere in sight and
80 % of the intellectual properties revenues
stolen costing billions per month for the owners
and a currency policy which does not allow a fair value mechanism makes it for Africa quite
difficult to compete with.
THe government here is dealing with strong Labour Unions and is ofcourse trying to pay
fair salaries , strong Labour Unions and developed countries sourcing educated labour for
financial, banking, healthcare, education and
has to stop the braindrain with salaries and on the lower end has to deal with the low Chinese and Indian salaries.

Corporate USA starts to find out that the distance and time difference and language are
issues to take into account and could offer
opportunities.
The OLPC initiative is a schoolbook example of
misplaced perception of what is needed and where
others decide what is good or not good for Africa.
The 100 dollar image is a misrepresenting the
costprice and long after it became evident that
the price probably ex factory (im not sure) is
somewhere between 176 - 200 usd and you can bet your bum some option basic extras will increase
the price.Transport, possible importduties,
Value Added Tax which most countries have makes
the price more realistic around 225 - 250 usd.
That we all can go on a holliday and Moore's Law
stays behind and continues to do his work, one day indeed somewhere in time the 100 dollar level will be reached.In India they think they can produce an educational tool for 47.- usd and
in 2 years usd 10,- , hard to imagine but if they
achieve in 2 years a 50 usd level would be quite
an achievement.
The OLPC 100 dollar story has stopped initiatives
in Africa to assemble locally and not a screw
comes from Africa.

The NGO's and "Not For Profit" whatever that may be are more and more emerging and are starting to
compete against local producers and this is in every aspect against what the Doha Treaty is
trying to achieve : Fair Trade. There are 100.000
products and services which could be offered at costprice or less to developing countries and is not the way to go, charity and philantropy and a
popconcert and is pampering Africa to nowhere and
we must stop to assume what is good or not good
and also confront the corruption and bad governance because they are seriously hindering.
The AID image the other week in a meeting between an USA Rep, i think for the American Chambres of Commerce, discussed why so few USA
companies invested and Venture Capital hardly
found its way,so they decided to study it and the
second half of next year publish a report.
That exercise should cost a 15 Minutes or so and
apart from perhaps 10 other (mis) conceptions most certainly the link with Africa asd the new
FLASH destinastion for retired billionaires and
donations.

What really pissed me off whas how Intel was treated, dirty,sleazy, tasteless.
Intel is spending an arm and a leg on developing countries and has hired a professional team to
deal with it and the task to educate a million or so teachers is not sexy, not flashy, no cute kids and to sdpend a billion usd is a serious
commitment.Statements that he could do it so cheap was because he is "non profit" is an insult to individuals and corporate America and the rest of tghe world, making profit is the name
of the game and along these lines purchases for
educational equipment must take place and OLPC
has no place nor business with his product which was developed with the money of corporate USA.
The promise not to sell it in the USA was from one day to the other gone and the Taiwanese producer who got a free design will also market it with some adaptions in Europe.

That Intel joins the board might be because they
are tired of this backstabbing or opt for a
frontrow seat at the funeral

The problem with charity is that it has no
quality benchmark, not measured in results
and everyone free to join.So people fly into Cape Town to help building houses for the poor
and whether you are a dentist, doctor, lawyer
and bvring your own bread and bricks your wellcome to build whether you can place one stome on the other no one will correct you, just the idea someone thinks you are unthankfull.

Second hand PC's were according to OLPC not good
enough,don't take it from me but according to the
CEO of Dell it is perhaps an option as well
and i promise you whatever will be shipped
to South Africa will be handled in compliance
with enviromental laws and perhaps 1 or 2 features added and be used at home for browsing,
banking, voip, iptv.
To let children walk around with laptops is asking for serious trouble.

COMING UP NEXT

TODAY IN THE CAPE ARGUS, A LOCAL NEWSPAPER

"BLACKBOARDS OUT, TOUCHSCREENS IN"

MR.KOBUS VAN WIJK HEAD OF THE WESTERN CAPE
EDUCATIONALK DEPARTMENT KHANYA COMPUTER PROGRAMME

"ALTHOUGH THE PROJECT WAS IN EARLY STAGES, VAN WIJK SAID THEY WERE POSITIVE ALL SCHOOLS WOULD
EVENTUALLY BE ASBLE TO IMPLEMENT THE NEW TECHNOLOGY.THIS IS THE WAY TO GO FOR ALL SCHOOLS."'

Perhaps a little place left next to Hip Hop ?

Coming up :

- TELECOMMUNICATION IN AFRICA HINDERING GROW

- FUNDRAISER WANTED - 1 BILLION TO RELEASE
FALSELY CONVICTED US CITIZENS FOR DISTRIBUTING
RADIATION POLLUTED INNOCENT LOOKING SHINY GREEN
PLASTIC TOYS.ANYONE ?

- OLPC OUTSHINED BY BIG BROTHER OTPC ?

- HELP TO BRAND AND LET YOUR LITE SHINE WHICH
BRANDNAME IS BETTER zzzz:

- OTPC : ONE TOUCHSCREEN PER CLASS

- NTOPC : NON TOXIC ONE TOUCHSCREEN PER CLASS

Peter