Europe and the conquered world

EVERY TIME I think about what has led to the poverty one sees in some black states, or the situation of the black and brown races of the world - I wonder.

For years the iniquitous apartheid regime in South Africa prospered because the powerful countries of the West accepted it. Finally, it was forced to free the leader of the black movement, Nelson Mandela.

Then came the machinations. Winnie Mandela, during her husband's incarceration, had become the de facto leader of the struggle. She had strong views on the swift transition of the commanding heights of the economy into black hands. So it became important for England and the United States (US) to remove her from the negotiating table when the future of the country was mapped out. Using 'Truth and Reconciliation', Ms Mandela was made into a pariah and moved away from the corridors of power. What has resulted from the negotiations that did follow was a South Africa in which, years later, much of the economic power in the country still lies in the hands of the whites and very many blacks are still abjectly poor.

And there was Zimbabwe. The situation in that country was probably worse than South Africa. The vast majority of the arable land was held by a tiny minority of whites who had control of all of the country's wealth. Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo led the blacks in a long and bitter struggle for their rights.

When it became clear that the white rulers were on the verge of being wiped out, then, and only then, did Britain step in, assisted by the American Robert Kissinger, to broker a peace that would prevent the shedding of the blood of the white minority. More importantly, they negotiated a settlement that would lead to the gradual takeover of the land by the blacks.

No sooner had the ink dried, President Reagan reneged on the promise, and so did the government in England. So, having put down their weapons, the blacks found themselves not much better off than they were at the beginning of their struggle. Ironically, when years later the blacks 'revolted' again and began to forcefully reclaim the land that by now should have been in their hands, they were painted in the international media as ignorant, greedy men who simply wanted to take what was not theirs.

One also remembers the Kenyan uprising which led to blacks seizing power in their homeland and the way in which the great Kenyatta and his Mau-Mau fighters were depicted in the international media and by Western leaders as vicious and barbaric, with hints being made that they were actually cannibalistic.

And it has not only been in Africa. When Haiti, the first black state to free itself of European domination, drove out the French, every obstacle that Europe and the US could put in the way of that nation's success was employed. They ensured it remained poor and badly governed. The fairly recent overthrow of the elected government by heavily armed rebels hardly raised an eyebrow. Few people questioned how the rebel forces in this poor country could acquire so many high-powered modern guns. Yet, it is a fairly open secret that powerful interest groups in the US had a real desire to oust the elected leader.

Devaluing culture

I remember the chagrin I felt when John Howard, former prime minister of Australia, in stating his attitude to Muslims and to Sharia law, issued a statement in which he insisted that "Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation," and went on to say that Australia, being Christian, invited anyone who did not like their customs to leave the country. He ignored the fact that included in the numbers of people who did not approve of some Australian customs were the Aborigines whose country it originally was, and from whom it had been violently and sometimes murderously wrenched by his 'Christian' ancestors, and who were now second-class citizens in their homeland.

But that is the story of much of the world, isn't it? Europe invades, pillages and then conquers and rules. In doing so, it devalues the culture of the conquered and then organises that the conquered can never ever really have full power again.

Keith Noel is an educator. Send comments to columns @ gleanerjm.com