Where Is The Apology For Slavery and Colonisation?

[Maxaatiri]

G Duke, nothing you said was difficult to understand,but dont you feel some de je vu? Wasnt that what African leaders wanted from the Cold war? How disastrous that was.

 

And I regret that my post insinuated that Afrikaners arent African, I wouldnt want them repatriated to Europe or anything of the sort...but having a black faces in power when so much of the finances are in white hands is a tad unfair. I dont want to drag anyone back to the days they fought hard to come out of, but let us not be short sighted.

 

 

All I am saying is that more action needs to be taken, not that there is a lack of it before and now...we just need more.

 

Nassir - It has always been a dream of mine to live in Botswana, now that is a remarkable country.

[Abtigiis]

This topic is boring for me. I read about this on a daily basis where I am. George Charamba, spokesman for Mugabe, is not short of words nor fancy sound-bites when it comes to the British. The way he talks about it, using his first hand experience, is simply breath-taking! I will try to go back and see if I can post some of his best in SOL at one point.

[General Duke]

Sister, it’s absurd to compare today’s world to that of the cold war. Today China holds a great deal of US treasury bonds, its economy is integrated into the global one and trades well with the EU, and the US. This is not the old USSR and the world is less ideologically driven as you can clearly see from all the Parada & Gucci stores in Shanghai.

 

You mentioned that the Africans, need to take action, without being specific, did I mention that we need to wish for things and the fairies will deliver the goods?

No action is being taken, and my point, simple as it is you have yet to grasp. Africa today has alternatives to the west, our commodities have new markets and this is important. The western media can never be taken seriously with all its cries of China is exploiting Africa. They are afraid that the continent they dominated so much is now coming of age. Africa does not need hand outs, or UN nonsense programs, it needs to take its commodities to world markets and get cash. It needs to sell things that are useful to the world. Look at the Gulf nations? They have developed because of the export of oil, well Angola, DRC, and even Somalia has great deal of oil, gas, natural minerals fish and strategic locations.

 

Thus my argument is simple; the emergence of India & China will help the African continent emerge from the darkness. The cries of the west can not be taken seriously, African nations need to export more of its commodities, in order to create jobs and develop their nation’s infrastructures. Playing China against the west gives the continent the perfect opportunity to do so.

[Malika]

^I have serious problem with your usage of the word 'dark or darkness' since when was africa a dark continent or in darkness? Your using the words of the colonial masters,and those ignorant of Africa and African affairs.

 

As for Indians,helping Africa..Lool,Indians have been there since day one,were there assisting the white colonial powers to milk africa of its assets and they stayed behind milking africa of its assets,actually they hold africa hostage,as they own EVERYTHING -from farms,to large business,name it an Indian owns it.

 

China,is not there to help Africa or Africans,its there for its own agenda.As an emerging 'super power' it is just doing what was done previously by the other colonial powers..making sure it has control of the raw material that Africa has to offer.

 

Oh yes,they did say 21st century was meant to be the African century..oh well!

[General Duke]

Malika, you did not make any valid points what so ever, what we are talking about here is the benefit that Africa will reap as the world moves to a multi-polar polar reality and away from the Western hegemony. Also one is not referring to the Indian community but to the nation of India and its energy requirements. The world is changing and my point here is to stop the inferiority complex and irrational fear of the Chinese, which has been the ploy of the west.

As described by Zambian Economist, Dambian Moyo in her book “Dead Aid”, Africa needs a new model of business and enterprise as opposed to foreign aid which has been a failure. This is where the opportunity lies, I have not said, lets get hand out from Indians, Chinese or anyone else. The argument is the needs and hunger for raw energy of these emerging nations should give the Africans an opportunity to rapidly develop.

 

Now adeer as for the comment about the Dark Continent, we are in darkness lets take our place at the center of the world.

[Maxaatiri]

Walaal Duke, with respect, can you please drop the patronising tone, it makes it very difficult to address you respectfully.

 

Im not concerned with ideology, at the end of the day what led to the cold war wasnt ideology alone, it was power, and power is what we are discussing today. China may hold great power, and a lot of the US's debts, but that doesnt change the fact that Africa has less power than China. We have less bargaining power, therefore unless we tackle the lack of leadership in Africa and all the structural problems that creates, we will continue to get a raw deal. Business is never altruistic or a dreamland, all Im talking about is the unfair power balance alongside our weaker position economically...even if our bargaining position is that much higher because of the fight for our rescources and China's new power.

 

Yes...we have new markets, we have new economic partners, and yes they may be better for us in the long run. The specific action which needs to be taken in Africa is tacking the brain drain and the arrested development of our education systems, steps have been taken towards this, but it would be insane to assume they are enough. So far Africa has very little in the way of original technological advances which it can sell to the rest of the world. If we continue as providers to richer nations, without building our own economies on innovation and creation rather than providing raw materials, we will continue to be further behind in the global markets.

 

You mention the high growth rates of a couple of countries and Im assuming you mention this as as some sort of development. Growth which is lacking in the creation of better infrastructure especially that of education and healthcare is not development. We have to wait and see how the situation turns out in a few years, but for now we have to focus on encouraging better governmental institutions, transparency, leadership and much more.

 

I for one do not endorse the idea that Africa is a land barren of achievements, however, I do believe that we cannot be complacent just because we have made these developments. The ANC have made the first of many steps, they did not envisage that having black men in power was the be all and end all to gaining freedom. There have been steps taken by the SA governments to give more economic freedom in the form of shares to Black South Africans, but its still not comparable yet to those of the minority whites. In terms of education, housing etc there is still a lot of disparity between the two, therefore there needs to be more done. Again, Im not against recognising the achievements so far, but its futile denying that there is a lot more to be done.

 

You mention rapid development, development shouldnt have to be rapid, but its should be sustainable and open to further growth in a number of areas, rather than following the lead the oil rich nations you mentioned, we should be focused on using these resources as a mere base to build our economies on. Without well lead strategic mission towards peacekeeping, addressing inequality and targeted education campaigns...all that oil wealth will mean diddly squat and can and will be squandered away.

[Chimera]

Maxaatiri, WAKE UP, this is not your damn fight, we don't have a slave heritage, and unlike our African brothers across the continent we seek to destroy the badly drawn colonial borders not preserve it.

 

Instead of asking for an apology about events that did not include your people, or did not happen in your lifetime, why not ask the South Africans to stop killing Somali entrepreneurs, since it was us as a people who welcomed their refugees and their leaders in Somalia while they were still under a brutal Apartheid regime.

 

This is happening today, not Cecil Rhodesian times. Wake up!

 

btw On the China issue, why is it when the Chinese invest in African economies and award big sum loans it is called 'neo-colonialism' or 'exploitation', but when the United States did the same thing 60 years ago in a wartorn and famine stricken Europe it was called the Marshall plan?

[Maxaatiri]

Adam..I agree with you on the colonial border issue, I have never endorsed them, and support the struggle to gain freedom for Somali Galbeed and NFD.

 

Somalis are being mistreated the world over, not just in South Africa, I myself have experienced immense xenophobia in Kenya and Tanzania.

 

However, I fail to see why I cannot support development and justice for all of Africa. At the end of the day, the reason why the South Africans in the townships are attacking not just Somalis, but other migrants of African descent, is precisely because of the unfair economic position which apartheid placed South African Blacks in. The two issues are not mutually exclusive, in fact they are intrinsically linked.

 

On the slavery issue...It was an atrocity committed by my country, and I am eating the fruits of slave labour every day that goes by. It is my issue, and I would like to see justice done for my brothers and sisters of African descent who are the products of arguably the single greatest act of genocide and exploitation to have ever happened. The effects of it are still visible in my community today, so yes, its definitely my issue.

 

Love the rhetorical question

[Chimera]

Well sister Max, it was exactly our African brothers who sided with the Emperor when President Aden adressed them on this issue.

 

Every group of people were and are mistreated the world over, name me an ethnic group and i can find you dozens of examples, this however does not mean one can justify it.

 

There are plenty of wealthy black South Africans who could invest in these townships, but they prefer their victorian neighbourhoods. They have a non-white president and a majority non-white cabinet and armed forces, they have the power to balance the inequality in that country out, there is no need to look for an apology from Queen Elizabeth II or Queen Beatrice, because the former monarch's country colonized S.A and the latter monarch's country was the origin of the settlers. Its South Africans and Africans in general who have the power to change.

 

You are not eating the fruits of slave labour, modern Britain was build by ordinary folk who worked 18 + hours a day in coal, copper and other unsafe factories, these workers included underage British children performing back breaking child labour, these famine plagued and disease ridden people were the backbone of Britain's industrial revolution. The slave trade only contributed 5% to the British Economy.

 

Remember it was the British navy that abolished slavery wherever they went, and they went everywhere! Many other minor countries at the time like the US and Spain followed suit. If this British redemption of their bloody slavery past had not occured who knows when this disgusting practice would have ended, maybe the West like Saudi Arabia would have only outlawed it 40 years ago?

[ailamos]

Originally posted by Adam.:

maybe the West like Saudi Arabia would have only outlawed it 40 years ago?

They outlawed it only 40 years ago? really? I hadn't known that... this further adds to my dislike of everything Saudi.

[General Duke]

btw On the China issue, why is it when the Chinese invest in African economies and award big sum loans it is called 'neo-colonialism' or 'exploitation', but when the United States did the same thing 60 years ago in a wartorn and famine stricken Europe it was called the Marshall plan?

Spot on..