By Yakubu Anawiyat
In the words of Karl Marx , “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight” Man is naturally insatiably involved in class struggle. A combination of power politics and economic exploitation of Africa by Europeans led to the poor state of African political and economic development evident in the late 20th Century, believes Walter Rodney in "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa"
Undoubtedly speaking, Africa is one of the richest continents of the globe both in natural and mineral resources, hence the dogfight and scramble for Africa by the colonialists who till date have refused to leave Africa to her autonomy. They have persistently continued to dictate her affairs in all manner of guise and interference, hence the 1884-85 The BERLIN CONFERENCE on AFRICA, in which the Western powers lay the rules for dividing up Africa. The African continent was virtually sliced up like a pie as European capitalist countries—England, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands and later the United States, built their capitalist economies by stealing and exploiting the lands and resources, human and natural, of Africa. Africa's growing resource wealth is invariably the reason behind this horrific experience of colonialism that began in the 15th century, intensified during the late 19th century and continuing today in a much more modern phase of neo-colonialism.
The West interference in African issues have never been for the interest of the African people but for what they stand to gain as Africa is today considered the most economically impoverished continent in the world. It is only ironical to imagine that Africa, so abundantly blessed in so many resources including oil, diamonds, cocoa, tuber, gold, uranium and other bounty, is so poor economically that millions of its children, women and men die every year of hunger, illness and diseases!
Surmise to say that after centuries of exploration and exploitation of the human and natural resources of Africa, the dire economic straits the majority of African nations find themselves in today is the legacy of colonialism, courtesy of European and U.S. and imperialism.
Modern transnational monopolies may differ fundamentally in their economic content from the colonialists’ interests of earlier centuries, but they still show the same greed and avarice, the utterly unprecedented cruelty and barbarous treatment which characterized the slave trade. In fact the rape and plunder of Africa was what lay behind the flourishing of world commerce then and today.
Though chiefly associated with political and economic matters, Neo-colonialism also operates in religious, ideological and cultural spheres. Today, it is also inextricably tangled with so many other things such as conflict resolution and peace-keeping in so many African countries. This come back is keeping the continent artificially poor. After Colonialism ended, the social phenomenon of "Neo-Colonialism" began. The continent is free from direct foreign rule but the economic infrastructure is still in the hands of the former colonial country's companies and institutions. The result of this is that, decisions by indigenous African leaders have to be meticulously made in a way that they do not infringe on the activities of the institutions that control the natural and financial resources of these countries. This results in countless number of problems which are the general reasons for the lack of integral development and the persistence of poverty in Africa.
As mentioned earlier, Africa is rich in natural resources, especially oil, natural gas, cocoa beans, and coffee yet the natural resources of this country are exploited for use in neo-colonialist countries. The means of production are owned by foreign corporations who employ various means to transfer profits out of the countries, especially Nigeria and Cote D'Ivoire rather than invest them in the local economies. While Nigeria still import fuel despite the abundance of oil due to lack of refineries, Cote D'Ivoire doesn't have factories to process or add value the raw-materials (cocoa) produced, rather they are exported and re-imported into the countries at exorbitant prices, and this process continues to shrink the continent.
One would wonder why the west is so interested in sponsoring the Libya rebels in overthrow of Gadhafi. Off course, it's for what they stand to gain on the long run just like Afganistan, so NATO officials won't give up until Gadhafi, the stumbling block to uninterrupted exploitation of the oil-rich Libya is out.
Global trade comes with its own forms of domination with IMF leading the way in the guise of debt relief to bring about structural reforms of African countries. The neo-colonialists have an unchallenging way of encouraging African leaders to get loans from the international Monetary Fund, IMF, and the World Bank in order to save the economy and reduce the drastic growing poverty rate in the continent. It's a fact that Africa today pays more money every year (in loan interest payments) to the IMF/WB than it receives in loans from them. This is depriving African countries from actual necessities as these huge debts repayment prevents investments in other sectors as education, health, food production, housing, and industry.
This dependency that most African countries maintain, allows the IMF/WB to impose Structural Adjustment Plans upon them. With the patronage of these International Monopolies, lucrative sectors such as energy, telecommunications, water supply, and banks in most African countries were sold off at knockdown prices to western companies under privatization programmes.
And off course, the increasing levels of American aid and intervention in the affairs of independent African states are designed to keep African countries within the capitalist camp as their unabashed interest in Africa is primarily fueled by economic necessities in ensuring physical and diplomatic access to African oil and gas, the desire to reap where they did not sow. Over the time, they have succeeded in proposing policies that turned out detrimental to the African economy, while our leaders constitute the instruments through which the continent is continually being impoverished
If Africa is to grow beyond its present stage, it must wisely resist all western neocolonialist ideologies, control and aids of any form; be it economic agreements, military or political. I strongly believe Africa has all the resources necessary to achieve true economic independence. The continent would best combat neocolonialism through unity and it would be best for African countries to align with each other, rather than with the various Western countries that wish to exploit them and African leaders must seize from being puppets and instruments of impoverishment of Africa!
In the words of Karl Marx , “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight” Man is naturally insatiably involved in class struggle. A combination of power politics and economic exploitation of Africa by Europeans led to the poor state of African political and economic development evident in the late 20th Century, believes Walter Rodney in "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" Undoubtedly speaking, Africa is one of the richest continents of the globe both in natural and mineral resources, hence the dogfight and scramble for Africa by the colonialists who till date have refused to leave Africa to her autonomy. They have persistently continued to dictate her affairs in all manner of guise and interference, hence the 1884-85 The BERLIN CONFERENCE on AFRICA, in which the Western powers lay the rules for dividing up Africa. The African continent was virtually sliced up like a pie as European capitalist countries—England, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands and later the United States, built their capitalist economies by stealing and exploiting the lands and resources, human and natural, of Africa. Africa's growing resource wealth is invariably the reason behind this horrific experience of colonialism that began in the 15th century, intensified during the late 19th century and continuing today in a much more modern phase of neo-colonialism.
The West interference in African issues have never been for the interest of the African people but for what they stand to gain as Africa is today considered the most economically impoverished continent in the world. It is only ironical to imagine that Africa, so abundantly blessed in so many resources including oil, diamonds, cocoa, tuber, gold, uranium and other bounty, is so poor economically that millions of its children, women and men die every year of hunger, illness and diseases!
Surmise to say that after centuries of exploration and exploitation of the human and natural resources of Africa, the dire economic straits the majority of African nations find themselves in today is the legacy of colonialism, courtesy of European and U.S. and imperialism.
Modern transnational monopolies may differ fundamentally in their economic content from the colonialists’ interests of earlier centuries, but they still show the same greed and avarice, the utterly unprecedented cruelty and barbarous treatment which characterized the slave trade. In fact the rape and plunder of Africa was what lay behind the flourishing of world commerce then and today.
Though chiefly associated with political and economic matters, Neo-colonialism also operates in religious, ideological and cultural spheres. Today, it is also inextricably tangled with so many other things such as conflict resolution and peace-keeping in so many African countries. This come back is keeping the continent artificially poor. After Colonialism ended, the social phenomenon of "Neo-Colonialism" began. The continent is free from direct foreign rule but the economic infrastructure is still in the hands of the former colonial country's companies and institutions. The result of this is that, decisions by indigenous African leaders have to be meticulously made in a way that they do not infringe on the activities of the institutions that control the natural and financial resources of these countries. This results in countless number of problems which are the general reasons for the lack of integral development and the persistence of poverty in Africa.
As mentioned earlier, Africa is rich in natural resources, especially oil, natural gas, cocoa beans, and coffee yet the natural resources of this country are exploited for use in neo-colonialist countries. The means of production are owned by foreign corporations who employ various means to transfer profits out of the countries, especially Nigeria and Cote D'Ivoire rather than invest them in the local economies. While Nigeria still import fuel despite the abundance of oil due to lack of refineries, Cote D'Ivoire doesn't have factories to process or add value the raw-materials (cocoa) produced, rather they are exported and re-imported into the countries at exorbitant prices, and this process continues to shrink the continent.
One would wonder why the west is so interested in sponsoring the Libya rebels in overthrow of Gadhafi. Off course, it's for what they stand to gain on the long run just like Afganistan, so NATO officials won't give up until Gadhafi, the stumbling block to uninterrupted exploitation of the oil-rich Libya is out.
Global trade comes with its own forms of domination with IMF leading the way in the guise of debt relief to bring about structural reforms of African countries. The neo-colonialists have an unchallenging way of encouraging African leaders to get loans from the international Monetary Fund, IMF, and the World Bank in order to save the economy and reduce the drastic growing poverty rate in the continent. It's a fact that Africa today pays more money every year (in loan interest payments) to the IMF/WB than it receives in loans from them. This is depriving African countries from actual necessities as these huge debts repayment prevents investments in other sectors as education, health, food production, housing, and industry.
This dependency that most African countries maintain, allows the IMF/WB to impose Structural Adjustment Plans upon them. With the patronage of these International Monopolies, lucrative sectors such as energy, telecommunications, water supply, and banks in most African countries were sold off at knockdown prices to western companies under privatization programmes.
And off course, the increasing levels of American aid and intervention in the affairs of independent African states are designed to keep African countries within the capitalist camp as their unabashed interest in Africa is primarily fueled by economic necessities in ensuring physical and diplomatic access to African oil and gas, the desire to reap where they did not sow. Over the time, they have succeeded in proposing policies that turned out detrimental to the African economy, while our leaders constitute the instruments through which the continent is continually being impoverished
If Africa is to grow beyond its present stage, it must wisely resist all western neocolonialist ideologies, control and aids of any form; be it economic agreements, military or political. I strongly believe Africa has all the resources necessary to achieve true economic independence. The continent would best combat neocolonialism through unity and it would be best for African countries to align with each other, rather than with the various Western countries that wish to exploit them and African leaders must seize from being puppets and instruments of impoverishment of Africa!
Thanks 4 helping 2 generate awareness about this issue, it's time we say no 2 d west n their underground manipulation n exploitation of d african continent in general.
ReplyDeleteWe shall overcome if we stand as one n say no to d west, enough of dem taking advantage of us.we will b victorous.Raphy momodu
ReplyDeleteour leaders are those trading our future to these people, we need to come up with a common front to combat the insiders first!
ReplyDelete