Okay I'm going to do a little clip thread on a semi famous documentary called 'Empire of Dust' that shows what the Chinese are dealing with trying to industrialize Africa. In the Intro here you are seeing a 20 km stretch of road the Chinese are trying to repair.... Our 2 main characters here are the head of logistics Lao Yang and his interpreter Eddy.show more

We start of Eddy Here explaining what the project is and what their goals are. This is in the Democratic Republic.

So the Mission for today is to get 2 truckloads of gravel from one of the many 'suppliers' in the area. Something you quickly find out watching this is resource acquisition is hard, and getting people who can deliver what they promise is even harder. The new supplier they went to promised 2 truckloads, had 1, and come to find out their machinery is broken and they need a new battery. They burned half a day on a lie.

During the ride there Eddy and his boss have a conversation about the history of the Congo and the infrastructure. Lao quickly points out that Eddy knows nothing about the history of his country or the infrastructure. They were left everything to be a first world nation and they didn't maintain any of it.

A common theme in this documentary is how much the local labor force steals. Everything is checked and accounted for because otherwise it would all just be gone. This is them checking fuel levels on equipment.

The Chinese literally employ people to watch over the laborers to make sure they are actually working. This guy is in charge of making sure laborers just don't stand around all day.

Here a foreman goes over the issues he has with his crew. He goes over what he wishes he could do to the thieves to make an example.

I think this is the general difference between the east and west. The East know their position on the food chain. In the west we pretend we're all equal.

Obese female Congolese mayor throws a fit because a radio host reported the news and made him apologize and blame chinese and indian plastic, lol.

Here they are discussing the punishment for a stolen truck mirror. The joke about what they would have to do if he stole the entire truck.

So its now been an entire 24 hours and the Gravel guy is ghosting them because they ripped off the Chinese on the first truckload. Still can't get gravel, lol.

So they finally track down the big boss man over gravel and rocks. The Chinese want to buy the rocks whole and he doesn't want to sell them because he fears the chinese will just start cutting all africans out of jobs. Fascinating.

The laborers talking about race relations between the Chinese and Africans is pretty funny.

They have finally located some Gravel and are paying well above normal price for it and their 2 year old trucks are falling apart. Here the Yao goes over how the laborers don't maintain anything.

In short I'll leave you with this last clip. Africa isn't where empires go to get rich, its where they go to die. It's an elephant graveyard for empires.

@frogNscorpion You do start to feel bad for them because they can't get anything done. They can't get rocks. Rocks. The earth is made of rocks.

If mutuals find this subject interesting, I highly recommend the @kunley_drukpa masterthread on The African Mindset. Detailed references to Empire of Dust and many, maaaany other illustrative stories.

Take up the Yellow Man’s burden.

Yet our ruling class thinks Africa is a vast resource of untapped human talent.

Can't beat a bit of Lao Yang posting

A handful of guys to monitor the robots and machinery, some mercs to handle the two-legged wildlife, and maybe a small bribe to whatever 'authority' exists there to keep everything quiet. No way to accomplish anything otherwise.

@frogNscorpion Sub Saharans are a different species.

I got fatigue just by watching

Perhaps the insurmountable retardation of Africans will be to the Chinese Empire what the rugged terrain of Afghanistan was to both Alexander and the Soviet Union

I am forever grateful to Borzoi for introducing Empire of Dust to me through the Poz Button all those years ago.

is this the same as Africa Addio?

They're learning what Europe learned a few centuries ago. Africa is a money pit.

@frogNscorpion This gives me PTSD from working in Papua New Guinea. Same exact stuff there

I lived in China for seven years to startup and operate a company. I spent over $1,000,000 building out a factory, training. I needed to avoid IP theft and bad quality. Now others manufacture through us. DM me if you need help.