The Pill vs. Devils on Horseback

I just saw The Devil Came on Horseback, a chilling documentary about the genocide in Darfur that will soon be released as a feature film. The final part of the film displays the apparent apathy of Western governments toward African genocides - something that was also a theme of Hotel Rwanda.

Should we intervene in places like Darfur and Rwanda? I believe we should. It wouldn't take very much effort on our part to turn back the antiquated army of Sudan or to drive off crazed Rwandan militias. And this kind of intervention, unlike Iraq, wouldn't involve long-term occupation of a permanently hostile country.

But that said, I don't think Western intervention is going to solve the problem of African genocide. This is because African people have way, way, way too many kids. Check out the above map - African countries typically have fertility rates of 4-6 children per woman, while the rest of the world has more like 1-3. More kids means more competition for resources. It means more young men, more unemployed young men with no resources to get a wife and family, more angry young men for whom rape and pillage seems like a good alternative to celibacy and poverty. Basically, it means war. Note that, besides Africa, the other high-fertility regions are the Middle East and Afghanistan/Pakistan - i.e., the world's other hotbeds of war.

Military intervention can help put out fires in Africa, but it won't take away the fuel for the next fire. Only the Pill can do that. Birth control will make Africa both richer and more stable, so it's high time we made universal family planning the cornerstone of our Africa policy.