SSP Diaries | Imperialism driving colonial inversion

OUR WORLD has always been characterised by power, whether through aggression, coercion, or corruption. In the colonial era, England, Spain, Belgium, the Dutch and German reigned supreme at various intervals in the Americas, Africa, and as far east as India. The colonists fought one another for countries and the riches that accrued from plundering or enslaving.

Jamaica, for example, was the possession of Spain before England drove them out and subjected the nation to their colonial rule for hundreds of years. Africa suffered under the English, Belgians and Germans, to name a few.

UNIMAGINABLE VIOLENCE

In all cases, colonial rule took the form of the imposition of a foreign form of governance/control over a people, against their will. Resistance was met with unimaginable violence, cruelty and enforced indoctrination geared to ensure subservience. The divide-and-rule principle worked well for colonial powers such as the British and Belgians, who successfully turned elements of their colonial populations against one another. The strategy worked well in Africa, where history tells us that some of our own ancestors, as black people, sold their ‘brothers and sisters’ into the slave trade for the exchange of trivialities and status.

Pitting tribes against tribes, religious groupings against one another, and the arbitrary establishment of land boundaries to denote countries, destroying tribal traditions, was the order of the day and are still sources of contention today. An example of this is evident in the current Israeli-Gaza conflict, the history of which clearly demonstrates the unjustified and callous actions of the British colonists.

The world has lived through this era, developed countries have reaped the spoils of those dark days and have much to show for it today, to the detriment of those that continue to suffer psychologically and socially. Even today, the colonist still has control over Guadeloupe and Curacao in the Caribbean, for example, which are still departments/protectorates of France and Holland, respectively.

NEW WORLD ORDER

France, however, as a colonist, is being unceremoniously chased out of West Africa, which has at the very least signalled a rebirth of positive thinking to address their future. The era of colonial power seems to be drawing to a permanent end, as those subjected to its controlling influences are suddenly seeing the light in what might evolve into a ‘new world order’.

The recent actions of the new Trump administration in the USA have created shock waves in the bowels of the old colonists. Again, this comes from a country that was a former colony of the British, and from the way things are materialising, there isn’t any love lost between the two. Call it what you may – bullyism, backstabbing, undercutting or even a lack of diplomacy – the USA siding with Russia and North Korea in a UN vote, against their staunch allies in Europe, to include the UK, must have sent earthquakes throughout their political structures, the likes of which they are now trying to recover.

This came about at a time when Germany was having its general elections, which resulted in the emergence of a new chancellor who barely had time to come to grips with what he had inherited before he was forced to issue a statement, warning of the possible end to the NATO alliance. The US negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, separately, with the non-inclusion of the EU, UK or Ukraine, sends a clear signal to these states as to what the US thinks of them.

Its negotiations to control a very large portion of Ukraine’s mineral deposits further cements the arrival of an imperialist regime in the form of the Trump administration. Careful analysis of the US’s foreign policy in Europe indicates an aggressive divide-and-rule concept, very much reminiscent of the old colonial regimes that benefited so much from Africa and the Caribbean, in particular.

Europe finds itself in a position where it has lost the leadership role on things Ukraine, is trying very hard to hold itself together politically, and at the same time is forced to make increased budgetary allocations for its individual and collective existence, all because of the US threatening to pull the proverbial plug. Worst of all, the minerals and other resources it obviously had sight on, when peace is achieved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, have suddenly flown out the window and might be eventually ‘accommodated’ quite nicely in Washington. They have been left holding the proverbial bag.

THERE ARE NO FRIENDS, ONLY INTERESTS

The Trump presidency had signalled its approach to the conflict long before his second term commenced. The problem is that no one seems to take him seriously or to understand that he is a person with self-interests only, and therefore identifies fully with US foreign policy which thrives off the same principle. There are no friends here, only interests, and such a focus allows one to make so-called ‘deals’ across traditional boundaries with ease.

The tables have now turned. The imperialist has used the tried-and-tested colonial principles upon those that were once the masters, to great and perhaps a lasting effect. The victor is now taking the spoils, much to the dismay of those who thought they ruled the roost. It is a bitter pill to swallow, but one that is indicative of what is to come as far as US foreign policy is concerned. How far will the US administration go? For now, one sees no bounds; many are content to hide behind their shadows and watch for the time being.

As history has shown, there is a limit to unjust tolerance, and there is no empire that will outlast civilisation; they all fall after a time. The question is, how will the world weather this storm? From a logical perspective, isolation will be followed by the implosion of the ‘empire’, but it will only be a matter of time before the new dispensation rises from the ashes, and the cycle continues...that’s the nature of man.

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