WILLIAMS: Ebola crisis is a test case for enlightened self-interest

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

There is always a lesson in a crisis if you’re humble enough to look for it. As the Ebola crisis spreads throughout West Africa, both the on-the-ground struggles and the international response have been enlightening to say the least.

First, the U.S. military is the best in the world at leading and mobilizing resources in response to a humanitarian crisis. The president’s plan to send 3,000 American troops to Liberia and Sierra Leone to build hospitals and provide logistics and supplies for on-the-ground relief workers demonstrates a capability of U.S. international power that has rarely been displayed in recent years. Our adventures in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, on the other hand, were seen by many citizens as primarily self-serving.

Second, helping other nations recover from natural disasters and plagues helps bolster American power. If you don’t know it already, Africa is the next development frontier. As a continent, Africa’s gross domestic product has sustained over 7 percent growth for the past decade, the fastest real GDP growth of any economic bloc in the world. This trend is predicted to continue through the middle of the century. As African societies become increasingly wealthy, the U.S. needs to be poised to engage with Africa on a constructive basis. Whereas Europe (because of colonial ties) and Asia (due to rapid trade expansion in recent times) have built a strong presence in African trade and business, the U.S. has been slow to catch up. The U.S. presence in Africa has until now largely centered on food aid, HIV/AIDS relief, famine and other humanitarian issues. We have yet to fully capitalize on the good will we have engendered in Africa and the humanitarian infrastructure we have built in various African nations.

Third, a humanitarian crisis overseas is not just something that affects others. The U.S. started out as a nation in “splendid isolation” from the turbulence in Europe and Asia. However, World Wars I and II put a rest to the belief that America could just swim along aloof from the problems of the rest of the world. Today, global interconnectedness is an absolute fact. This latest outbreak of Ebola became real to many of us when American doctors were struck with the disease and had to be evacuated from Africa to U.S. hospitals for treatment. For those of us who are thinking ahead, we understand that medical doctors aren’t the only people who could get on a plane with Ebola and come to the United States. Unless the U.S. is prepared to screen every visitor for Ebola, there is no stopping it from entering the country. So, in addition to a moral imperative to help our African neighbors, it is in our direct self-interest to stop the disease from spreading further.

Fourth, we need to focus as a country on doing much more in the way of prevention and less in the way of crisis management. Although the U.S. military is plainly the world’s best fighting organization, it is ill-suited to deal with thorny political and sectarian issues. To put it in the words of a U.S. fighter pilot in the early days of the Iraq War, the new wars do not really present a target-rich environment. The work that needs to be done is primarily nation-building. That means building robust state institutions of governance and service so that people feel they have a say in how they are governed, and in turn increasing the capacity of weakened governments to provide essential goods and services to their people.

Fifth, do not romanticize or fetishize the trauma of others. The reaction in the U.S. media has revealed some curious attitudes about the disease, ranging from grotesque fascination to bemused romanticism about a time when European exploration of the tropics in the late 18th century exposed them to cholera and other tropical viruses. In an article headlined “The Most Feared People in Liberia,” Time magazine tracks the emergency Red Cross Body Management Team as it goes around and collects dead bodies. Along the way, we learn that almost all deaths caused by illness in the country are presumed to be Ebola-related, and in many cases loved ones are no longer allowed to bury their dead relatives for fear of contracting the virus themselves. Another article appeared in The Washington Post recently, “Love in the Time of Ebola,” a vapid chronicle of the long-distance love affair between two American humanitarian workers whose lives and careers were upset when the organizations they worked for closed shop and left the disease-ravaged region.

We are a human race. The notion that nationality, race, religion and ethnicity should be real divisions stands in stark contrast to the reality of the global challenges we are facing. The principle of helping thy neighbor exists not just for your neighbor’s sake, but for your own. A healthy neighbor is often the only thing standing between us and certain disaster.

• Armstrong Williams is sole owner/manager of Howard Stirk Holdings and executive editor of American CurrentSee Online Magazine.