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"Africa has had about a trillion dollars in aid in the past 50 years,
roughly $5,000 for every African living if distributed at today's prices.
If aid were the solution to Africa's problems, it would be a rich continent
by now." Richard Dowden - Director of the Royal African Society.
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There is a massive debate which rages almost unheard about the future
of Africa.
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Serious thinkers like Richard Dowden are proposing that charity is killing
Africa: that aid is creating a culture of dependency and lining the pockets
of dictators.
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It is a means by which Western countries exert their post-colonial power.
Charity ruins economies and destroys independence.
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For thinkers like Richard Dowden, the only solution is to stop giving
hand outs.
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If...We Stop Giving Aid to Africa tackles head-on the assumption that
charity is good.
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Live Aid - Against All Odds and Live
Aid - Rockin' All Over the World
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Against the background of Margaret Thatcher's Britain, one scruffy, fading rock
star tried to pull off the impossible - a global televised concert to
save the lives of the starving millions in Africa.
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This two-part special traces the story of the biggest televised event
ever staged on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Elton John, Queen, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, U2 and
a host of stars remember the day music brought the world to a standstill,
while those who watched it - including Tony Blair, J K Rowling
and Helen Fielding - recall how they didn't miss a minute
of this extraordinary event.
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The Real Number One Ladies' Detective Agency
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The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency books have sold more than nine
million copies worldwide.
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The books detail the investigations of Precious Ramotswe and Ma Makutsi,
Botswana's first ever female sleuths, and have won the hearts and minds
of readers around the globe with their gentle, funny and touching portrait
of life in Africa.
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No real life model exists for The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency
in Botswana, but across the border in Zambia is a thriving agency which
employs seven female detectives, investigating everything from marital
infidelity to missing secret service agents.
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This film records the adventures of The Real Number One Ladies' Detective
Agency in an upbeat take on life on the African continent.
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The Universal Private Investigations Service (UPIS) was set up three
years ago by a former Zambian Commissioner of Police who did his police
training in Essex.
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They say the majority of their detectives are women because they are
trying to redress the traditional gender imbalance in Zambian society
- but they also admit that women are simply better at the job.
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Academy Award winner Hilary Swank
and acclaimed actor Chiwetel Ejiofor
lead a stellar cast in Red Dust - an intense thriller, set during South
Africa's Truth and Reconciliation hearings, which follows the country's
decisive struggle to heal the wounds of apartheid atrocities.
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Set in Smitsriver, the film tells the story of a young, black politician
(Ejiofor) who suffered in the struggle against apartheid. He now opposes
the application by his former torturers - the TRC - for amnesty, because
he is afraid of what the trail may reveal, under cross examination, about
his own behaviour.
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A human rights attorney, Sarah Baracant (Swank), now a New York City
prosecutor, returns home to assist Alex, at the request of her former
teacher, in a case that will change their lives forever.
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Jamie Bartlett, Marius Weyers and Ian Roberts
also star.
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Red Dust is a 91Èȱ¬ Films and Videovision Entertainment production, with
support from South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation. It is
written by Troy Kennedy-Martin and directed by Tom Hooper.
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This World: Blood and Soil
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It's been ten years since the end of apartheid. The dream of the Rainbow
Nation has become a reality. But a South African is violently murdered
every 30 minutes.
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The country has the highest number of murders, rapes,
hijackings and violent robberies in the world.
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In one Rainbow Nation community the death toll appears even higher:
that of the white farmers.
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While the government pushes on with its Land Reform programme, the black
claimants say too little is being done too slowly. White farmers live
in fear and point towards Zimbabwe.
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Captain Manie van Zyl runs the Serious Violent Crime unit in South Africa's
bloodiest province. Against the background of a beautiful landscape, the
atmosphere of distrust and anger fuels half-truths and conspiracies on
both sides of the land divide.
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This World: Bad Medicine
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The use of fake and counterfeit drugs in Africa has led to predictably
tragic consequences.
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Babies have died on the operating table as baffled doctors fail to realise
that the drugs they are giving them during surgery are useless - because
they are fake.
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Dr Dora Akunyili, director of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and
Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), is fighting an enormous battle
to contain the industry, which sees drugs from China and India pouring
into Nigeria, and now the UK.
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The charismatic Dora and her team of scientists are - despite the many
hurdles - starting to crack down on this deadly business.
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Out Of Africa: Heroes and Icons
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In a major new programme presented by actor Adrian Lester (Hustle),
Out Of Africa celebrates the achievements of today's black role models
by connecting them with those black icons that have gone before them.
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If global black history were drawn like a tube map, how would Condoleeza
Rice and Nelson Mandela be associated, and what
would link Mike Tyson with Richard Pryor?
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By exploring this idea, Out of Africa constructs an iconic black history
map.
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The programme features contributors including Nelson Mandela, Desmond
Tutu, Maya Angelou, Morgan Freeman, Damon Albarn, Linford Christie, Lulu,
Rio Ferdinand, Lenny Henry and James Brown.
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