I just read Ms Gutridge's article and it moved me (Pambazuka News 139: Our Sacred African Anger). I feel the same way she does about all that she has discussed.
I am 24 years old and have lived in different countries in Africa all my life including Zimbabwe and South Africa. From a young age I learned the effects that USA policies have on our continent and have had a negative impression of the US. I have made friends of people from the US but always criticised and usually disagreed with almost every stand I ever heard the US had made. A friend who is half-Namibian and half-American suggested that I should not be so quick to judge a country that I had never been to so last year I embarked on a three-month tour of the country.

I tried to be open-minded but found that most of my opinions were correct, on the whole my impression of Americans is that they are ignorantly arrogant and convinced of their own importance. At the same time, they seem ignorant of the suffering of others at the hands of their government and also unconcerned with the internal policies of that same government. It seems not to matter to them that this government of theirs that they defend so loudly is spending more money on armaments and space exploration than they do on health and education combined. It’s tragic that this should be the most powerful country in the world. Thank you Ms Gutridge for your articulate and compassionate article. And thank you Pambazuka for keeping me informed.