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| Pic:Answersafrica.com |
“You can see that there is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and
many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow (of
death) again and again before we reach the mountain tops of our
desires…
Teach children that Africans are not one iota inferior to Europeans.”
(Address at the ANC Congress, 21 September 1953)
-Nelson Mandela.
For worse
Children have enjoyed Humpty Dumpty but Africa hasn't enjoyed the systematic colonisation and enslavement of its people.
Jan Van Riebeeck landed in the Cape on 6
April 1652. His arrival established a permanent Dutch settlement on the tip of Southern Africa. For over three centuries, black South Africans have groaned under the oppression of white settlers. One by one African nations fell to colonists--European and Muslim empires alike.
Foreign slave masters came and killed and enslaved. The rest were left under colonial rule and divided. Evil men like Leopold II of Belgium were responsible for the rape, torture, maiming and genocides. They used old techniques of demoralising Africans. The best way of doing that was to separate them and put false divisions in place: They would measure their lips and noses and conduct pseudoscientific studies to further separate them from each other claiming that one group was superior because they had more desirable ( "Caucasian" ) features which created embedded hate.
In Rwanda, European colonists, persuaded the Tutsi had migrated to Rwanda from Ethiopia, believed the Tutsi were
more "Caucasian" than the Hutu and were therefore racially superior
and better suited to carry out colonial administrative tasks.
As a result the people of various African nations and ethnic groups are constantly warring with each other while European powers fund all sides to keep the fight raging. They put in puppetry figures in power to do what they want them to do that they can constantly exploit the people of those lands of their natural resources by keeping them poor, uneducated, sick and living in a cycle of violence and poverty. Diamonds, gold, oil and tons of other minerals needed for jewelery, computers, machinery, petroleum products etc. , are in Africa. Thus Western nations with powerful companies who profit from the inhumane practices in exchange for these resources refuse to let the African people gain control of their lands because the European powers would lose access to billions upon billions of dollars. And they can't let that happen, so they secretly fund rebel factions in order to keep the continent and the people in constant turmoil.
Africa remains a colonial region constructed by colonial masters for political and trade interests. Hundreds of different tribes are amalgamated together to become one country – Tribes who do
not have anything in common.
Furthermore, we have been plagued by parasitic, two-sided leadership that seek to please both sides. Butlers who do the bidding for their masters.
Picking up the pieces
After centuries of exploitation, colonial governments made a terrible mess and left it behind for future generations to clean it up. Then our leaders used their influence to further exploit their people. However, Africans have not been utterly powerless. We have won some victories, but there is a lot that still needs to be done in order to realise the aspirations of so many people who paid for by their lives and sacrificed everything for a dream. A dream of freedom.
Colonisation might have brought some advantages like education, health care and advanced economic systems. But that has not translated into a best life for all. It begs the question: why can't Africans solve their own problems? Most of these problems are things we can solve ourselves. The current evils in Africa point out to the work that still needs to be done. Africans need to reassert themselves and take what is theirs.
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