GuinéTopia: Today's inspiration by Idriss Aberkane

Daiana TABORDA GOMES
Jun 10, 2023
6 min read

Friday, June 9, 2023 begins a weekend without my son, but with Cana (local rum), mangoes and pinha (soursop). So we are good!

And in my super-cocktail preparations, I listen to my second mentor who is none other than Idriss Aberkane. For those who don't know him... I'm sorry for you, but I recommend everyone to listen to and see his videos (English subtitles available) on any subject: he will light the lamps on your ceiling!

I put it in the preamble, but make the effort to listen to the entire video everytime. The first few minutes may not be directly related to the title of the video, but that's what makes its content so high quality! He makes links and bridges that are amazing as the other would say!

In my way of thinking GuinéTopia, I believe that it is in the salvation of Guinea-Bissau to look at what is done best elsewhere and adapt it (the important word is of course adapt) to the reality of the country. So when I hear in a video "France could... China/Brazil should..." I replace it with Guinea-Bissau and I imagine what it could look like!

So I share with you the lamps that have been lit thanks to Mr. Aberkane's videos today! I'll try to catch up on what I haven't written from the old videos and in the future have the reflex to write on it as long as it's hot after watching it.

Algae production for gas production

Every civilization is based on the transformation of energy and its ingenuity.

Far be it from me to transform the GB into a Civilization, but it must be admitted that one of the main nodes of the problems we have is this dependence on foreign energy! The boat that supplies electricity to Bissau is Turkish and I don't know where the super expensive gas that I use myself in my cooking comes from. And it would be known if there was a methane/butane production plant in the country!

You may say to me, "Daïana, you don't know everything" and it's true! That's why I ask to who know better to always leave me a comment on erroneous information!

Injecting knowledge, innovation and ingenuity into the earth makes it possible to meet the needs of a larger population.

When you read this article, referenced in Aberkane's video, you will see that algae is used for the production of biofuels and methane. When I hear Biofuel, I think of the millions of hectares of Amazonian forest (or other) destroyed to grow soybeans, corn or rapeseed, which leads to a rise in the prices of these foodstuffs, which weakens autonomy and food diversity in the world.

Seaweed does not compete with any of our cereals and is not even in dietary habits (although one should think of it in terms of protein).

The most extraordinary thing is that they are cultivable everywhere (city centers) and especially in the open sea, something with which GB has been blessed. Algae also help develop the biodiversity of the environment they occupy!

When we attach this idea to Guinea-Bissau, I am sure that the elders and researchers can tell us what algae to produce locally and not to import spirulina which can screw up the local ecosystem in a few years (simple example of illustration, I have no evidence against the Spiru).

Moreover, when we know how hot the subject of oil exploitation is between Guinea-Bissau and Senegal, but also hot in terms of its impact on the environment and geopolitics (terrorism among our Mozambican or Angolan cousins), the production of seaweed is more than interesting! Our cars will run on refined ON-SITE biofuel (and therefore jobs for the population), the cleanest and least impacting in every sense of the word!

The same article tells us that algae capture CO², fine particles and nitrogen dioxide (NO²) and we know that pollution is one of the main causes of death in the country, so even before producing algae for biofuels, installing carbon sinks in cities should be a low-cost priority. Idriss Aberkane tells us in the video that algae cleans up the sea of heavy metals and even some microplastics! What else do people want?!

Last little use, plastics! I have other examples to replace oil-bearing plastic like the sugar cane we have in GB, but again it would compete with the production of much needed sugar (and cana lol). So, we might look at algae in this area as well.

With all this, I ask: seaweed in Guinea-Bissau, what are we waiting for??

A sovereign wealth fund

There, I admit that I would have to study the question in depth, because our links (our chains) with the BCEAO and the CFA franc deserve a separate analysis, but in being to have a sovereign (investment) fund is useful to generate income for the country! This is obviously a long-term solution, after having put in place infrastructures that will support the viability of the fund, but I see this as a way of reducing our external debts.

Hemp

I hope I can write an article in the Business Ideas category on hemp, but there is a way to develop an industry and make money as a country with all the uses of this plant!!

Algeria, a country without external debt

I must (correction, we all must) study the case of Algeria, even if at first glance, they have achieved this feat thanks to the exploitation of their oil / gas. As seen above, GB can find sources of income without necessarily touching oil even if it is something that I advocated in the manifesto.

Doing better with less

In the same Algeria video, Aberkane mentions Jaime Lerner. Jaime Lerner is the former mayor of Curitiba, a Brazilian city. I didn't know him 24 hours ago but the quote activated my "Guinétopia" antennas:

"If you want creativity, take a zero out of your budget. If you want sustainability, take two zeros out."

This sentence clicked! With Guinétopia, I want to start from scratch. Before thinking about a mega waste treatment plant project (absolutely necessary!!), let's ask ourselves and think about what we can do "for free".

Cleaning our neighborhoods requires "only" the effort of the population once a week then once a month like in Rwanda! With the coordination of municipal cleaning services, after one year, you will see that the population will throw less garbage everywhere and a public consultation will highlight practical solutions in the emergency in each district.

So, I went looking for other quotes from this gentleman:

"After working in cities for nearly 40 years, I tell you that every city can improve its quality of life in less than three years, no matter the scale or the financial terms."

This is encouraging for terms of 4 or 5 years!

"Lack of resources is no longer an excuse not to act. The idea that one should act only after one has found all the answers and resources is a sure recipe for paralysis. Urban planning is a process that allows for corrections; it is extremely arrogant to believe that planning can only be done after all possible variables have been controlled."

Yeah baby! Let's start, the next generation will take over!

"The secret of the city is integration. Every district of the city must combine work, leisure and culture. Separate these functions and parts of the city die."

This is deeply what I believe after so much reading on the town planning of the future! I'll do a separate post on that.

Mega-projects made with brain juice

I close the Jaime Lerner parenthesis to return to Aberkane's video on Algeria. I guess we don't need 'mega projects' as such in GB. On the other hand, we have the absolute need to create innovative infrastructures "of tomorrow" today and nothing prevents the country from daring to use the technologies of the future being developed elsewhere (it will not have cost us in R&D and in-situ testing will be beneficial to the budget). I said "nothing", but I'm not fooled, we will have to fight against the neocolonialist puppets and the interests of the mafiosi in place...

Keeping your enemies close... very close!

Without transitions, another video that lit a lamp in the ceiling for me was the one on the CIA... It goes without saying that the proposed solution is astonishing and yet full of meaning... I'll let you listen to the whole video, but from 11min55, it's "Wow".