Nice excuses do you have more concocted for the next 100 years or so? I mean its been over 50 years and using the same excuse does not attract pity anymore. I mean take the case of India for example, their population alone is greater than that of the African continent, colonized for more than 300 years,Gained independance [sic] 60 years ago and you can see substantial development. How come this is not the case in many African countries? English is not their mother tongue either.

Comment by Reid — 28 March 2008 @ 10:53 pm

The above comment was in response to my 20 June 2006 post called, “Why is Africa poor?” And I just wanted to react to the comment. I know full well that the commenter, Reid, won’t listen to me because his/her mind’s made up already, but what the heck, I’ll give it a shot. I wish Reid would come out so we could talk things over (my email is at the top of http://sotho.blogsome.com, in case you’re reading this, Reid).

Nice excuses do you have more concocted for the next 100 years or so?
As a matter of fact, yes, I do. Except they aren’t excuses per se but what I believe to be the truth. Much as you have accusations and insults stocked up for the next one hundred years, your side of the story, I have what I believe in stocked up, too, my side of the story. And what I believe is that a series of events have contributed to stunting the economic development of many African countries. And, yes, slavery and colonialism are part of that series.

The same thing happened to the American Indian and the Australian Aborigine. It is no surprise that these peoples, who were subjected to the same conditions Africans endured, have been marginalised and are actually struggling to survive in the land of their birth. Only a very short-sighted brain will fail to see this, and choose to label it something else. And skin colour has no bearing on intelligence or stupidity, Reid. None whatsoever.

Skin colour is the organism’s reaction to the intensity of sun rays. The stronger the rays, the more pigmentation cells in the epidermis, called melanocytes, become active, producing melanin, the dye that gives dark people their tan.

I mean its been over 50 years and using the same excuse does not attract pity anymore.
Today we’re still going on about the facts of Alexander the Great’s life, which did not occur 50 years ago but more than 20 000 years ago! What grounds could you possibly stand on to suggest we should not speak about historical facts of half a decade ago? And what historical facts would those be?

By 1905, African soil was almost completely controlled by European governments, with the only exceptions being Liberia (which had been settled by African-American former slaves) and Ethiopia (which had successfully resisted colonization by Italy). Britain and France had the largest holdings, but Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Portugal also had colonies. As a result of colonialism and imperialism, Africa suffered long term effects, such as the loss of important natural resources like gold and rubber, economic devastation, cultural confusion, geopolitical division, and political subjugation. Europeans often justified this using the concept of the White Man’s Burden, an obligation to “civilize” the peoples of Africa.
[source…]

Colonialism came after slavery, mind you. Slavery devastated the continent, depleting it of its healthiest, most viable, strongest citizens. Then colonialism came in to finish the job. When I bring these facts up, it is neither to attract pity nor to seek revenge. It is to bring them up in order to respond to comments such as the one you left on my blog.

And why in the world would the African seek pity? From whom? As far as I know, the African wants the European and the American off the continent. But there’s just too many raw materials and minerals in Africa, aren’t there? And the Occident ain’t getting out unless it has to, is it?

I mean take the case of India for example, their population alone is greater than that of the African continent, colonized for more than 300 years,Gained independance [sic] 60 years ago and you can see substantial development. How come this is not the case in many African countries? English is not their mother tongue either.
It seems to me you might be making an error made by many, which is taking Africa to be a country. For the sake of clarity, Africa is a continent, a continent with many countries; India is a country, and is equivalent to one among the 53 states on the African continent. Due to this, India could not have undergone the same fate under colonialism as Africa. Let me explain.

In the nineteenth century Europe scrambled for Africa, and proceeded to carve it up like pie to suit its strategic needs. No concern was given to how the pie was carved, nor to what toppings were on each piece. In fact, “some 10,000 African polities were amalgamated into 40 European colonies and protectorates [source…].” Imagine that. 10 000 boiled down to 40!

Traditional foes were placed within the same borders, and villages were divided by new boundaries. Take a look at the map of Africa and see how many straight lines there are. India is one country and did not suffer this fate.

Upon independence, when colonial armies were no longer present to keep foe from foe, wars broke out in many places on the continent. And this has nothing to do with skin colour. Take the former Soviet Union, or Yugoslavia. These places, like Africa, had artificial frontiers held together by an ideology backed by a well-trained army. Take away the army, and the rest is history, among black people as among white ones (actually brown and pink respectively. Sort of). Like I’ve said, if you’d like to talk, you’ve got the comments section, and you’ve got e-mail.

A group of us including Marian of Marian’s Blog have re-named the March 17th Irish holiday “Billie Holi-DAY” to celebrate the forgotten Black people with Irish ancestry wherever they may be.

Most people do not know but jazz vocalist Billie Holiday, writer Alex Haley, Muhammed Ali and many other Black people in the Diaspora have Irish ancestry. As well as immigrants to the USA, a large number of Irish settled in the Caribbean, some as indentured servants used by the British to settle islands such as Montserrat which had the largest Irish population. Others went as merchants, plantation owners and missionaries to Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haiti. The islands were also used by the British as penal colonies similar to Australia.

Tags:
Billie Holiday
St Patrick’s Day
Irish

The NYT publishes a story that highlights the low status of Black people in the Middle East and one of the least discussed histories of Africa and the Arab speaking world, Arab-led slavery. This particularly report is about the Black Yemenis locally referred to as “Al Akhdam” [the root khadama to serve] a derogatory name which means servant. Black Yemenis are thought to have been soldiers originally from modern day Ethiopia and Eritrea during 600AD and settled after a failed invasion and have been slaves and servants ever since.

Set apart by their African features, they form a kind of hereditary caste at the very bottom of Yemen’s social ladder.

Degrading myths pursue them: they eat their own dead, and their women are all prostitutes. Worst of all, they are reviled as outsiders in their own country, descendants of an Ethiopian army that is said to have crossed the Red Sea to oppress Yemen before the arrival of Islam.

The Black Yemenis face discrimination on the basis of their African descent and are subject to massive human rights abuses, forced to live in segregated areas and only able to work in certain jobs.

I intend to return to the subject of Arab-led slavery particularly as it still exists today in Mauritania and the Sudan. Secondly Arab-led slavery and it’s present day legacy, is one of those discussions which is uncomfortable for some Africans and Arabs and one that has largely resulted in an unwritten conspiracy of silence. The discussion in Africa on whether to name the violence in Darfur as genocide has to some extent it’s origins in the historical relations between Arabs and Africans and how these are viewed by each group. A number of articles in Pambazuka News last year exemplified these relations - Professor Mahood Mamdani’s “The politics of naming: genocide, civil war, insurgency”, the response by Professor Kwesi Prah “The politics of apologetics: genocide denial, Darfur version” and “Dafur again“….. by Eva Dadrian and also on Black Looks, Andile Mngxitama’s article (also in response to Mamdani) “There is no genocide in Darfur“. One comment accused Mamdani and the responses to his piece as a “distraction from the real issue” as if African and Arab relations and the naming of the violence are not part of the “real issue” in Darfur and Sudan.

Links:
Yemen Observer

Tags:
Slavery
Yemen
Darfur
Genocid

Santa Anastacia, Anastácia Escrava, an Angolian princess, kidnapped and forced to become the mistress of her white master in Brazil. Anastacia resisted her capture, her rape and abuse and for that she was forced to wear a metal muzzle - common practice in Brazil and the Caribbean. Muzzles were used to prevent slaves from eating the sugar cane and as a general punishment for acts of resistance. Anastacia contracted gangrene from the muzzle and eventually it killed her. Below is a sculpture by a friend, Matt Branson, of Anastacia muzzled.

Ancestors

A wounded body is one who turns day into night
one who returns to the womb
A wounded body is one who turns laughter into tears
one who weeps under blue skies
A wounded body is one who faces the wall
one who no longer smiles
A wounded body is one who bleeds from inside
one who can no longer dream
A wounded body is one who reaches out
but finds only silence and nothingness
A wounded body is one who cannot smell the roses
one who only feels the pain of thorns.

For some the wounds are timeless, stretching back in history
for others they are but moments in the present
Listen to my wounds, feel my wounds
taste the wounds of my ancestors, if you dare
Do not deny my wounded body
do not mistake my wounds for weakness
on the contrary, my wounds are my strength

© Sokari Ekine

Links: Quilombo Country

Tags:
Anatacia
Brazil
Slavery + Bahia

The US Africa Command, AFRICOM is reportedly on it’s way to the Gulf of Guinea. I am beginning to feel as if we’ve been projected back in a time machine to the day the Portuguese emissary, Diego de Azambuja landed in what was to become El Mina with the intention of building a “a storehouse” for all the gold and slaves they hoped to acquire in the name of the King of Portugal . The place which would become known as El Mina and which was later to become the infamous slave dungeon witnessed an event some* describe as “The Beginning” of slavery and it’s afterlife which continues today. On that day, January 19th, 1482, Diego de Azambuja landed with six hundred men on the shores of present day Ghana to meet King Caramansa. The Akan King was not happy about the idea of a permanent Portuguese presence but somehow he was persuaded. However it is not difficult to imagine what would have happened if he had refused and thus the trade in slaves began, a few hundreds at first and eventually thousands passed through Elmina.

And so 500 years later, another emissary from the West lands on the Gulf of Guinea ready to stake out their claim to the waters and lands of Africa in the name of the King of America and oil. Although Nigeria’s President, Yar’adua has given his support to AFRICOM he is now playing both sides by saying yes he supports it but not in his back yard. Well sorry Mr President, it doesn’t work like that and do not expect us to believe that you are so naive to think you can have your cake and eat it at the same time.

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, during his visit to US President George W. Bush, late last year, said that the Federal Government was in support of AFRICOM.
The Special Assistant to the President (Communications), Mr. Segun Adeniyi, had clarified the President’s statement, which had generated controversy.
He had explained that President Yar’Adua’s statement negated what people thought he meant, adding that his support for AFRICOM did not mean that he wanted its headquarters sited in the country.

If as This Day reports, Africa is united in it’s rejection of AFRICOM then we need to ask why the US Navy about to set anchor off the Guinea coast (covering the waters of two oil producing nations - Gabon and Nigeria, whilst they and the rest of the continent’s leaders are doing nothing? Either because they are weak and simply lackey’s of the United States or they are liars and in fact have made the deal with the US and the rest is a pretence. As I reported a few days ago, part of the “brief of AFRICOM is to integrate the environment and other development issues and human security” in other words ARICOM will become a means to the militarisation of development and environmental issues from “natural” disasters to managing opposition to environmental destruction such as gas flaring in the Niger Delta. Despite the huge fan fare around Nigeria’s announcement that gas flaring would end in 2007 and any company not complying would be shut down. Nigeria shut down Shell and Exxon? Not surprisingly the multinationals have arrogantly ignored the ruling and the deadline has now been extended by a further 12 months to December 2008. Unless you have seen a gas flare especially those on the ground it is difficult to imagine the force, the intensity and heat emanating from flared gas and the soot and smoke that spreads far and wide over agricultural land, fishing creeks and villages.

It is no coincidence that AFRICOM’s naval forces are sailing towards the Bright of Bonny and the waters off both Gabon and the Niger Delta after all it is here to protect the multinationals and their interest and I do not for one minute believe that this is being done without the full cooperation of President Yar’adua. The militants are getting stronger and are more well armed that two years ago - we wait and watch as the end game begins.

It is also timely that Ike Okonta’s long awaited book “When Citizens Revolt: Nigerian Elites, Big Oil and the Ogoni Struggle for Self-Determination” has just been published.

Okonta examines the Ogoni struggle for Self-Determination, which has since been replicated by other nationalities in the Niger Delta. The book considers the “origins and implications of the emergence and persistence of ethnic identities and the communal politics they engender in postcolonial Africa.”

* Saidiya Harman “Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route”

Tags:
Nigeria
Niger Delta
AFRICOM
Shell
MEND
Okonta