Africa..what a mess

[Sam Slater]

You miss my point SB.

He blamed the 'White Man' for Africa's plight. He didn't say 'certain white men', or 'the European nobility that opened up plantations in the new world'. He lumped all white men as at fault, and generalised. Violent crime is mostly committed by young black men, but I'd be hung out to dry if I stated "Violent crime is caused by the Black Man."

To be honest, white men weren't always at fault for imprisoning black slaves -like they were the slave labour-. If you look into it deeper, it was mostly certain black tribes that enslaved other tribes to trade with the Europeans, who were willing to trade weapons, alcohol & tobacco for these slaves. In other words: It was a joint effort.

You see, black tribes had enslaved other black tribes for thousands of years. The Egyptians & Mesopotamians were frequent raiders into deep Africa for slaves. Peoples living on the outskirts of the Egyptian world were in constant threat of capture by black tribes too. Japanese raided most of the Orient for slaves, as did the Chinese raid Thailand & Malaysia. I guess Maori tribes may have raided Aboriginal tribes, or Samoan tribes raided Maori tribes in the same way throughout the past? It's what humans did at that time.

Like I said previously: There are millions of black academics, teachers, doctors, surgeons, politicians etc etc that could help rebuild Africa. My cousin -who teaches music & mathematics- takes time out to visit Africa 3 months of every year, doing volunteer work to build schools. 95% of European/American volunteers are white.

The African helpers get paid to help build the schools -though very little- and they have to be on constant watch because as soon as their bosses back is turned they sit down and smoke weed. They're famous for doing fuck all and would rather join a militant gang, than get paid for a hard days labour.

So there you have it. Africa is Africa because of certain white raiders, and certain black traders. It's a complicated issue that shouldn't be blamed on one particular race. I wonder how many white 'Finnish' guys are to blame for Africa's problems?

[Sam Slater]

I'm Sam.........you're replying to 'SB' though !confused!

[c.j.jaxxon]

Once again you're right Sam. Africans did enslave and sold off other Africans to white enslavers. I can't prove it but if Africa weren't touched by white hands, or in other words if Africans were left alone to deal with itself from the biblical days up until the first African left on the slave ship I wonder if Africa would be in the shape that it's in today because if you read about the history of Egypt (and a beautiful history it is) just think about what it could've been today!

[strictlybroadband]

I've heard your propaganda endlessly before. FYI civiliation (and the wheel) both began in Africa, thousands of years before the Romans finally them both it to this backward little island.

As for mass rape, murder and genocide, these have happened everywhere, but Europeans, Americans and Japanese hold the record by a long way.

All Europe has to do is pay back (with interest) the money stolen in various forms from Africa for the past 500 years. Not a penny more, just what was robbed in the first place. Never heard of the "scramble for Africa"?

[strictlybroadband]

It is interesting and useful to generalise tribal behaviour. If you look at what "white" people have done compared to any other group, as a whole, you'll find that white people (European and American) are responsible for many of the problems today gripping Africa, the Middle East and near Asia. Japan is responsible for many of the problems facing East Asia. More generally, imperialism is responsible for the shape of the world today, and the chief imperialists in recent centuries can be broken down to Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain, America and Japan. This handful of nations have brutalised the world, and continue to do so, in their own selfish interests. The worst imperialist behaviour pre-WW2 was European and Japanese, post-WW2 it has been American (and Russian, before the USSR collapsed). Soon, China will want to play the game.

I think the "white man" term is emotive and I wouldn't use it - it represents the language of American politics rather than the way we talk here, but CJ is American and I know what he means.

[strictlybroadband]

It's true CJ, but what was meant by slavery on the African continent, and what Europeans did were different: the American slave trade was far bigger, and more brutal, than anything being done anywhere else on earth. By some estimates, 85% of people taken as slaves to the Americas died in the process, and were dumped in the Atlantic. This represents tens of millions of people, a scale of atrocity far beyond anything that was happening in Africa at that time.

Parts of Britain (such as Bristol and Liveropool) became rich by selling slaves to America. This is now acknowledged, but people are still silent on how we can repay this wealth to where it belongs.

[strictlybroadband]

Yeah, how dare you confuse me with Sam? !wink!

I don't know of any country that has turned itself around quickly *without help* after being the victim of war and imperialism. Note that Germany needed many billions of dollars to recover after WW2 (the Marshal Plan). If a similar approach was made to Africa, it would recover just as rapidly.

Besides which, my main point is this: racists deliberately play up Africa's problems and play down success stories, to create the false impression that Africa is nothing but a poverty-ridden basket case. The truth is very different. Several of my African friends, from South Africa, Nigeria, Gambia and Ghana, are considering moving back to where their parents originally emigrated from, because those places, and others, have a better standard of living than is available here in Britain.

Just this week, the BBC ran a radio documentary on Ghana's recent economic success, and how other African countries are following their model. Anyone who thinks that Africa is beyond repair should book themselves a ticket to Accra and see for yourself what Africa is really like.