{"id":328393,"date":"2010-02-16T19:55:43","date_gmt":"2010-02-17T00:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalvoicesonline.org\/?p=123098"},"modified":"2010-02-16T19:55:43","modified_gmt":"2010-02-17T00:55:43","slug":"africa-colonialism-alive-and-well-after-50-years-of-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/328393","title":{"rendered":"Africa: Colonialism alive and well after 50 years of independence"},"content":{"rendered":"

2010 will mark the fiftieth year of francophone African countries' independence from Belgium and France. \u00a0While official celebrations are under way, debate is simmering on blogs in North, Central and Western Africa.<\/p>\n

A Moroccan blog,\u00a0Plan\u00e8te Non Violence<\/em>,\u00a0links the colonial past to the current state of affairs<\/a> [fr ]:<\/p>\n

\n

Le constat de ces 50 ans est accablant. D\u2019abord, pour les anciennes puissances coloniales, elles n\u2019ont fait que reculer pour mieux perp\u00e9tuer leur domination. Comme l\u2019avait exprim\u00e9, autrefois, Ahmed Ben Bella : \u00ab\u00a0le colonialisme est sorti par la porte, pour revenir par la fen\u00eatre\u00a0\u00bb. Pour continuer \u00e0 garantir des b\u00e9n\u00e9fices juteux \u00e0 leurs entreprises, les anciennes puissances coloniales nous maintiennent sous tutelle, et soutiennent des r\u00e9gimes anti-d\u00e9mocratiques, pourvu qu\u2019ils soient serviles. Pass\u00e9 sous silence les centaines de milliers de morts et de familles d\u00e9truites, le pillage en r\u00e8gle des ressources, le renforcement du pouvoir arbitraire de la f\u00e9odalit\u00e9 au d\u00e9triment des pouvoirs de la jama\u2019a (communaut\u00e9) ; oubli\u00e9e la longue nuit coloniale, dont nous continuons, \u00e0 ce jour, \u00e0 en subir les affres.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The findings of these 50 years are appaling. First, for the former colonial powers, they have pulled out only better perpetuate their rule. As\u00a0Ahmed Ben Bella<\/a> once said: “Colonialism went out by the door only to come back through the window.” To continue to ensure juicy profits for their companies, the former colonial powers maintain and support autocratic regimes, provided they are servile. Ignoring hundreds of thousands of deaths and destroyed families, the systematic looting of resources, strengthening the arbitrary power of the feudal powers at the expense of the jama'a (community); forget the long colonial night, we continue to this day to suffer its agony.<\/div>\n
From the Democratic Republic of Congo, Freddy Mulongo, in a post titled\u00a0Anticolonial 50th Anniversary: Belgian Congo<\/a><\/em>, gives an overview of the history of Belgian colonial rule in his country [fr] :<\/div>\n
\n

Avec le Congo, la Belgique obtient des mati\u00e8res premi\u00e8res peu ch\u00e8res.<\/p>\n

L\u2019Europe est d\u00e9vast\u00e9e […], c\u2019est donc les \u00c9tats-unis qui dirigent. Oppos\u00e9s au colonialisme les am\u00e9ricains auraient pu donner l\u2019ind\u00e9pendance aux populations congolaises, n\u00e9anmoins Washington est farouchement oppos\u00e9 \u00e0 tout r\u00e9gime communiste et sait que la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 priv\u00e9e n\u2019existe pas dans la culture africaine. Ainsi Washington pr\u00e9f\u00e8re garder un pouvoir colonial belge, le temps qu\u2019un mouvement africain lib\u00e9ral apparaisse \u2026Suivront l\u2019abolition du fouet, pour le clerg\u00e9, les grad\u00e9s de la force publique et les auxiliaires de l\u2019administration\u2026Face \u00e0 ces mouvements nationalistes l\u2019administration belge commence \u00e0 comprendre qu\u2019elle va perdre leur colonie.
\nLa Belgique avait ratifi\u00e9 l\u2019article 73 de la Charte des Nations unies, qui pr\u00f4nait l\u2019autod\u00e9termination des peuples.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

With Congo<\/span><\/span><\/a>, Belgium gets natural resources at the cheapest price.
\n<\/span>Europe is devastated [… ] therefore the United States administrates Europe and their colonies as well.<\/span> Opposed to colonialism, Americans could have given independence to the Congolese people, but Washington is adamantly opposed to any Communist regime, knowing that private property does not exist in African traditions. Thus Washington opts for maintaining a Belgium colonial power, waiting for a liberal African movement to appear. … Then comes the abolition of whipping for the clergy, police officers and administration\u2019 auxiliaries. \u2026
\nFaced with these nationalist movements the Belgian government begins to understand that it is going to lose its colony.
\nBelgium had ratified article 73 of the UN Charter, which advocated self-determination of peoples…..<\/div>\n

Belgium's plan was actually to decolonize over a time frame of… 30 years :<\/p>\n

\n

… Le professeur belge Antoine Van Bilsen publia, en 1955, un document intitul\u00e9 Plan de trente ans pour l\u2019\u00e9mancipation politique pour l\u2019Afrique belge.<\/p>\n

L\u2019ind\u00e9pendance du Congo n\u2019est pas un cadeau des Belges !<\/p>\n

Les souverainistes congolais sont clairs, pour le cinquantenaire de l\u2019ind\u00e9pendance du Congo au 30 juin 2010: le discours de Patrice Emery Lumumba ou rien !<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2026 In 1955, Belgian professor Antoine Van Bilsen published a document entitled “Thirty years Plan for the political emancipation of Belgian Africa”.
\nThe independence of Congo is not a gift from the Belgians!
\nCongolese supporting sovereignty are clear, on the fiftieth anniversary of the independence of Congo, on June 30, 2010, we do not want any thing but Patrice Emery Lumumba<\/a> speech<\/a>!<\/div>\n

Going further, award-wining writer Alain Mabanckou<\/a>, a French citizen born in the Republic of Congo, links France colonial past <\/a> to the current and raging debate on “national identity”\u00a0 in France:<\/p>\n

\n

De toute \u00e9vidence le d\u00e9bat, sans le nommer, ne cesse de tourner aussi \u2026 autour du th\u00e8me de l\u2019immigration (en particulier postcoloniale) et de ses cons\u00e9quences sur l\u2019\u00ab\u00a0identit\u00e9 nationale\u00a0\u00bb, \u2026.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Clearly the debate, without naming it, also revolves \u2026 around the theme of immigration (especially postcolonial immigration) and its impact on [French] “national identity”\u2026.<\/div>\n

Leopold Chendjou from Cameroon nails it in his public letter to French Pr\u00e9sident Sarkozy (to be continued): 50 years of independence, a Cameroonian writes to Nicolas Sarkozy <\/a><\/em>[Fr]:<\/p>\n

\n

\u2026 Le racisme au c\u0153ur de la R\u00e9publique \u2026Tout comme vous, Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, les Noirs de nationalit\u00e9 fran\u00e7aise sont issus de l\u2019immigration.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

… Racism at the heart of the Republic … Just like you, Mr. President, blacks are French citizens born to migrants.<\/div>\n

From Chad, Juliette<\/a> is calling for a boycott <\/a>of France\u2019s project to have all its former colonies parading the Champs Elys\u00e9es in Paris during Bastille Day military parade on July 14, 2010 [fr] :<\/p>\n

\n

Boycottons le projet francafricain du cinquantenaire des ind\u00e9pendances !\u2026Nous avons donc besoin d'un groupe de personnes opposantes (ou d'organisations), originaires des pays souffrant des m\u00e9faits de la Fran\u00e7afrique\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Let\u2019s boycott the francafrican project for the fiftieth anniversary of independence!\u2026 We seek a group of opponents (or organizations) from countries suffering from the evils of Fran\u00e7afrique<\/a> \u2026<\/div>\n

In Africa, people are also showing their opposition. On Saturday, February 13, President Wade of Senegal spoke at the opening ceremony launching several weeks of celebrations ending on April 4th (Independance Day) in an almost empty stadium:<\/p>\n

\"On<\/p>\n

On Saturday, February 13, President Wade of Senegal addressed a nearly empty stadium at an independence celebration \/ Picture posted by @rignese on Twitter (http:\/\/twitpic.com\/12zxbe)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2010 will mark the fiftieth year of francophone African countries' independence from Belgium and France. \u00a0While official celebrations are under way, debate is simmering on blogs in North, Central and Western Africa. A Moroccan blog,\u00a0Plan\u00e8te Non Violence,\u00a0links the colonial past to the current state of affairs [fr ]: Le constat de ces 50 ans est […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5779,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5779"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}