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The Forum > Article Comments > Back to Africa > Comments

Back to Africa : Comments

By Bashir Goth, published 13/1/2006

Bashir Goth rues the day that white man settled in Africa.

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What a dispiriting article.

There are so many points to debate here but one question I have is that the author states

"...European-brought plagues like Aids"

What does this mean? It did not arrive there, it came out of Africa and spread around the world I thought, is this not the case?
Posted by Ro, Friday, 13 January 2006 9:03:23 AM
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Yes Europeans do owe Africa and did contribute greatly to many of the problems that exist today. There is no doubt that colonial times were immoral, barbaric and exploited the cultures of indigenous people from Peru to Australia to Africa.

However is now not the time to cease blaming Europe for Africa's problems and for Africans to take control of their own destiny instead of wallowing in the wrongs of yesteryear? The HIV virus is widely thought to have originated in Africa but despite this the African continent is the furthest behind in combatting it. This cannot be solely attributed to a lack of resources- until very recent times the ANC officially considered HIV a European ploy to stop Africans breeding and treatable by herbal medicine.

In addition there is greater Africa's inability or perhaps unwillingness to deal with despot after despot. Take Mugabe for example. Thabo Mbeki cannot bring himself to condemn him despite the fact that 5million starving refuges have flowed into SA from a country that was once regarded as the 'bread basket of Africa'. The Chinese find the situation hysterical because while everybody blames Europe they sit back and reap the substantial trade benefits of having backed Mugabe's ZANLA terrorists.

Where was Africa during the genocides in Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan etc? Once again commentators were so fixated on blaming the west for these tradgedies that they overlooked the fact that Zimbabwe, Angola and the DRC had tens of thousands of troops fighting diamond wars just hours away from potentially intervening.

Yes Europeans helped stuff Africa. But more certain than that is the fact that Africans aren't helping to fix it!
Posted by wre, Friday, 13 January 2006 11:00:26 AM
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Africa is a continent, not a nation and it can't all be lumped in and treated as one. There are 53 nations in Africa, with a total population of 900 million. The history of those nations is diverse as is where they are now and where they will go in the future.
The September 2005 edition of National Geographic magazine is devoted to Africa (the continent) and is well worth a read.
Posted by rossco, Friday, 13 January 2006 1:01:41 PM
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“We will remove all the white man’s vestiges such as borders and land ownership…” and implicitly, remove white man himself completely. Bashir, this sounds an awful lot like Robert Mugabe.

I thoroughly appreciate your passionately expressed potted history of the Europeanisation of Africa, but expelling the white man is not going to happen.

“…and just like the old days, we will move around the continent and let our animals graze wherever the rain falls and pastures abound.”

No chance. Nor anything remotely like it.

It is unfortunate that you place totally negative connotations on everything that Europeans have done in Africa. While I agree that many attempts to help have had adverse consequences, some of them of extraordinary scale such as medicines leading to population explosion, I think you need to acknowledge that a lot of genuine effort has gone into helping Africa.

Regarding the initial waves of ‘invasion’, Jared Diamond’s book and current TV series, ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ explains why this came out of Europe, and not only into Africa but around the world. But if it hadn’t been Europeans, it would have been some other group, sooner or later. The fact is, this sort of human movement, resulting in the suppression of aboriginal peoples was going to happen in Africa, as it did in Australia, North America and the rest. This has happened throughout the history of humanity. For that matter it has happened throughout the history of life on earth.

So as hard as it might be, I think we need to just accept what has happened…. and stop thinking of it in, quite frankly, very strong racial terms.
Posted by Ludwig, Friday, 13 January 2006 1:09:17 PM
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...indeed other commenters, the CURRENT genocidal overthrow of the Africans by Arabians in the Sudan is not merely horrific and illegal but it illustrates a sordid and revolting alternative to European colonialism.

African women must just love all these alternatives. If they were ever consulted, that is. They may 'choose' a traditional, superstitious lifestyle of utter subjugation and hard work OR perhaps another foreign-imposed but 6th century religious lifestyle of utter subjugation and hard work. Ripper.

Returning to the past is a bizarre approach to tackling the future. Not only is it idiotic (exactly which historical period do you choose and why?)but it's not what a lot of people there want, it seems.

For example, traditional lives and regimes could never even begin to encompass the 2005 election of female Liberian leader, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Upon her rise, some said...

"Marie-Madeleine Kalala, Human Rights Minister in the transitional government of the Congo, another country gripped by civil war, said Johnson-Sirleaf's victory is a cause of joy and pride to the women of Africa.

Asha Ahmed Abdalla, a woman who vied for power in another war-torn country, Somalia, said: "The world is a better place when run by a woman.

"The presidency in Liberia and the first woman chancellor in Germany are glorious moments for the whole female community in the world," she said in reference to Germany's first woman government leader, Angel Merkel.

"If I were elected president, I'd have promoted peace and democracy rather than supporting civil strife like the male leaders in Somalia," Abdalla added.

"Margaret Thatcher, Benazir Bhutto and Mary Robinson contributed to the advancement of civilisation in their country as well as in the world," she said referring to past women leaders of Britain, Pakistan and Ireland, respectively.

"Women are less corrupted than their male counterparts," Abdalla said."

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=256376&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/

Notwithstanding the over-optimistic, hyperbolic description of women and their leadership examples, the fact remains that Africa is DESPERATE for help and you can't turn back the clock, you can't stop people from learning, trying,doing and evolving. And why, why on earth, would you?
Posted by Ro, Friday, 13 January 2006 2:49:13 PM
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To rid Africa of all white trace would be a mammoth task. All the cities,hospitals,schools, transport road sea and air,electricity etc etc. It took a long time to build up ,it will take time to tear down. And then Africa can revert to tribalism, slavery and all the delights of a primitive society.
The ganja weed will show the way.
Posted by mickijo, Friday, 13 January 2006 3:02:50 PM
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