Abstract
The tyranny of statistics puts the African continent in a bad light: it is home to the highest number of "poor" people. Dealing with this shameful ranking is proving difficult for many intellectuals. In their desire to refute any rhetoric that might give the impression of chronicling failure, some fail to recognize the legitimacy of economics, hastily lumped together with economism. Others constantly try to embellish African reality, denying its very real demands and cultivating a false otherness. In their obsession with proclaiming the advent of new hopes while ignoring the truths of empiricism, both camps end up forgetting that material poverty is a major obstacle to the assertion of human dignity, especially in times of globalization.
