Giant_and_Dwarf-FIN

From Diagnosing the Problems to Remediationthat would follow God’s Ten Commandments. Boys who are kidnapped have the option ofjoining to spread the gospel of eternal salvation or be shot on the spot in order to achievesuch salvation there and then. If the boys decide to live, the first task they receive is tocommit a major crime, for example raping an old woman in the family village. After thereis no way they can return home. Collier notes that such violent recruitment of soldiers isnot some excess of African barbarianism. According to historians, Chinese farmers wererecruited into Mao’s Communist army during the Long March and Russian and Ukrainianfarmers were recruited into the Red and White Armies during the civil war in Russia inmuch the same manner; despite the threat of being shot for the offense, 4 million menstill managed to desert, in particular during the summer when there was work to be donein the fields.Of course, not all participants in politically-motivated violence are forced into participation,a specific portion are there voluntarily. Collier cites research into rebel groups from theNiger River delta in Nigeria, which identified three primary characteristics among thosewho partake in armed rebellion: they are young and uneducated and have no dependents.“Try as you might, any association of these characteristics of recruits with the image of Avantguardfighters for social justice is difficult”, states Collier. Again these are not characteristicsthat strictly apply to rebels and rebellions in sub-Saharan Africa: in 2011 and 2012 a muchmore typical media image was that of an Arab rebel in Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Syria: young,uneducated and unemployed men, incapable of earning a living and therefore with littleprospect of finding a wife or starting a family for whom he could bear such responsibility.Collier completed economic calculations in order to determine the typical cost of a civilwar for the country involved and its neighbours, which are forced to bear the costs of refugeesor other losses from limits placed on cross-border trade. He reached an astronomicalnumber of $64 billion per war. Given that around two civil wars have occurred every year inrecent history, their global costs have more than doubled the amount the wealthier worldhas provided as development aid. Given this information, it’s a simple step towards a logicalargument that the West’s attempts to avoid civil war or intervene in the interests ofquickly ending such a conflict could be one of the most effective strategies for supportingdevelopment in impoverished countries.Civil wars also leave behind a sinister legacy that is extremely difficult to eradicate.This is the legacy of organized killing, violence and exploitation, which are very profitablefor those who commit them. Masses of boys who simply don’t know anything other thanshooting and violence and the easy access to ever-present and cheap Kalashnikovs simplydoesn’t disappear.Rebellions and civil wars are not the only way to forcibly grab power in the countriesof the bottom billion. Another endemic form is military coups. The post-colonial historyof Africa is rife with examples, as we have seen in the chapter on Nigeria as one example.Overthrows of the government led by colonels or higher and lower ranked soldiers areso common that many African governments are afraid of their own armies. The famous137