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The form of intelligence, social structures,traditions, are very specifical to Africa.
Europe tried to bring its own "superior" (and IT IS superior in a certain sense) way of doing things, of organisation of the Polis, of rationale.
It could have worked.
However, much of Africa choosed to eject the Europeans and do things their own way, which we don't understand.
As long as WE, in the First World, do not have to pay the consequences of a certain African infantility in terms of aid, or a mass exodus of Afreicans to our shores, fine with me , they can be their own masters and slaughter each other, I am not going to play the neocolonialist and give them lessons in morals.
It may sounds cynical, but for me most of Africa is a lost cause...(it's a shame, with their climate-often better than most of Europe- and their mineral wealth, and sometimes the infrastructures left by the Europeans,they could have been a success story...but they choosed barbary ...)
I don't think so. I say bring technology, bring Christianity, but do not bring anything else with you. Don't bring colonialism with you. Yes there were alot of resources in Africa. The fact is, when colonists came to Africa, they didn't teach anyone how to mine the resources for the benefit of Africa, they did it to enrich their own lands which had relatively few resources. The British went to colonize India because they needed cotton. You can establish trade without colonialism. I wouldn't say that Africa rejected the technology brought to them. What they didn't want was people from other lands ruling over them. I will admit there was alot of savagery in Africa committed by Africans themselves. Which continent didn't have savagery? Europe was burning people by the stake. Asia had some of it's own cruelty. So did Africa. In short, every civilisation had some kind of savage act going on. The difference was Africa was pillaged. You say they were never going to use those resources. Well, I don't care what anyone says about "well it was just business, without them mining the resources, no one else would use them", I call it stealing. You don't go into anyone's country and take all of their resources out of there, not without permission. There was no consent. Belgian colonists just went into the Congo and started taking copper out of it and very little of the wealth went to Congo. Africa may have had some of its colonial influences left over, but very little wealth was left over. What good does technology do if most of the population can't afford it or can't use it?
When there are resources that you want that aren't on your land, you ask permission and if you are allowed to mine those resources, a big share should go to the community you mined it from. That could have helped Africa alot. Of course that didn't happen. I don't care if you call it free market economics. There is a difference between capitalism and theft. Capitalism is using the resources given to you or bargaining for resources to achieve a goal. Theft is when you go in and take from someone without consent. It doesn't matter if that person wasn't going to use it.
It is infuriating when the people whose ancestors have had a hand in the downfall of a region have the nerve to question why it isn't further ahead. That's like cutting off someone's legs and then asking why they can't run as fast as you can. No one today should feel guilty for colonialism, slavery etc. But they should not dare try to minimize the effects of it either.
Furthermore, implying that the people of Africa have low IQ's is pure racist bull$hit. Equally disgusting are comments such as the European way of life is "superior" and they don't care about Africa as long as the people don't overrun America. I bet the people making these remarks could not name even 10 African countries off the top of their head. Or locate 10 countries outside of the United States on a map period. Lack of education and a limited world-view are very ugly things. How can people make such simple-minded statements about a place they know virtually nothing about? Education is key folks.
OK, I love a challenge! Botswana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Egypt, Morroco, Senegal, Libya, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Angola, Nambia, Gabon, Mali, Guinea, Mozambique, Tanzania, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia, Zaire, whew! OK, I think that's enough. OK, here is what I do know. Many of the countries in Africa are run by unstable dictatorships or warlords. The people living in these countries are doing everything they can just to survive and keep their limbs intact, let alone challenge a government who's main purpose is lining its own pockets while exploiting the resources of the country. And let's not forget some good-old-fashioned ethnic cleansing that takes place down there. And you know what? None of those leaders were set into power by colonialism - or by whites for that matter.
Sure, my ancestors had slaves. It was legal then. But African tribes have enslaved other African tribal peoples far longer than the whites. Some of it still exists today. So don't blame the white guy - y'alls hands aren't exactly clean from the blood of slavery either.
Location: Los Angeles, which as I understand was once upon a time ago part of the United States of America
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abrown17
I thought the original question was why Africa is not doing well. Africa is an entire continent, filled with thousands of tribal groups who do not see themselves as related in any way.
One of the effects of colonialism was to draw country boundaries without regard for the various groups that already existed. Chaos is a natural result. So now it is expected that people who never got along in the first place (and don't even speak the same language) will all come together to turn things back around.
People keep minimizing how vast and diverse Africa is. These country comparisons don't hold water. There is simply no equivalent situation. However, I am not saying colonialism is the only cause of Africa's problems.
Italy was colonized about 50-100 times since the fall of Rome, yet it was the first country in Europe to leave the Dark Ages of Europe and bring the entire continent into the European Renaissance. So, how did Italy manage to escape the woes of colonization by Germans, Visigoths, Vikings, etc.?
Of course, but is it really our responsibility to maintain/fund the infastructure of Africa? The answer is no, but it does seem like we (the Western world) throw a lot of money, time and expertise into Africa. I guess I don't see it quite like you do. To me it seems like we really go out of our way to try to help Africa. Hell, we even let them come study in our universities.
We "Let" them come study in our universities?! Much of the wealth of this country was built on the backs of slaves stolen from Africa....Europeans and Americans have consistenlty raped Africa of the few resources for trade they had (diamonds, ermerlads, rubies, ivory, ect...) only to turn their backs on the people once they had exhausted them of any wealth.
But lets go one step further and talk about our responsibility to Africa as HUMAN BEINGS. It will forever baffle me how people in our country, so overflowing with wealth can be so grotesquely stingy towards the needy but spend billions on wars. (Particularly a war geared towards gaining more wealth through oil.)
So I suppose they wanted to be taken over, invaded, raped, colonized, stolen for slavery? I mean, if they could OBVIOUSLY defedn themselves as you say...then why didn't they. And one doesnt need to hate their ancestors in order to accept that they played a part in the demis of Africans.
We "Let" them come study in our universities?! Much of the wealth of this country was built on the backs of slaves stolen from Africa....Europeans and Americans have consistenlty raped Africa of the few resources for trade they had (diamonds, ermerlads, rubies, ivory, ect...) only to turn their backs on the people once they had exhausted them of any wealth.
But lets go one step further and talk about our responsibility to Africa as HUMAN BEINGS. It will forever baffle me how people in our country, so overflowing with wealth can be so grotesquely stingy towards the needy but spend billions on wars. (Particularly a war geared towards gaining more wealth through oil.)
Yes, we "let" them come study in our universities. Someone pages and months ago said something about how we do not train/teach Africans to run the infrastructure left by the colonial powers. Having Africans at our universities sounds a lot like educating Africans to help them run their countries, right?
Saying that much of our wealth came on the "backs of slaves stolen from Africa" is an overstatement. Call me crazy, but I have a feeling that the majority of our wealth is based upon our innovativeness as a people and not slave labor for an agricultural product.
Africa still has a ton of resources. Those resources are only good if someone can use them, which they were sitting idle. I believe I explained this in a previous post.
Are the British and French smarter and is their culture superior to that of the Africans.
Wait ... I thought we were all equal?!
But the responses I keep hearing is that the Europeans were more advanced, blah, blah, blah.
So you're telling me the Europeans are so vastly superior, that they can control territory that's 3 times the size of Western Europe with a few thousand men and a few thousand rifles? What!?
They weren't "superior". They were fortunate enough to be born in a place on earth whose natural resources allowed them to flourish and become technologically advanced, thus enabling them to conquer less fortunate peoples. (have you ever tried your hand at agriculture in Africa?)
Actually, the weather is much easier to tolerate than that found in most of Europe.
Not for agriculture
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Unbelievable
Have you BEEN to Africa?!
