SPEAKING OF COLONIALISM

Sir,

The subject of colonialism often stirs up very different emotions in people, depending on where you are from. In most African countries, colonialism touches on a raw nerve as it is often associated with oppression, racism and the theft of land and resources by ‘white’ occupiers from Europe, while in some European countries , colonialism is still often associated with the military prowess and the heroic exploits of their empire building ancestors, as can be attested by some social media comments on the subject.

We Africans have developed a tendency of blaming colonialism for most of our problems, including self-inflicted ones.
Unfortunately, the lack of written historic records seems to have given us a ‘victim mentality’ whereby we see ourselves as the innocent victims of the bad behavior of others but never the other way round.
The fact that colonialism began in Africa before it began in Europe is a case in point.

There is a lot of evidence which suggests that Southern India (and other parts of Asia) was colonised by Africans in the past, and that the early Dravidian people of Southern India, such as Siddhis, were their descendents.

It is also a known fact that Spain, Portugal and parts of Italy were also once colonized by Islamic invaders from North Africa. Interestingly, Portugal, which as the first country to expel the Muslim occupiers, also became the first European colonial power soon after by attacking and occupying the North African territory of Ceuta.

This would eventually culminate in the end of the Ottoman empire’s dominance over the lucrative slave and spice trade with the arrival of Vasco da Gama’s fleet in India, something which soon attracted the attention of Europe’s larger nations.
But is colonialism even a thing of the past, as we are made to believe. Well not according to a group of Australians and Canadians whose website ‘massive fraud’ would seem to suggest otherwise.

After all, the continued occupation of territories by the descendents of the people who conquered and occupied them in the past, such as North and South America, Australia, New Zealand and even Southern Africa, hasn’t come to an end.

The world is yet to see a native American president or prime minister of Canada, the US, Mexico or Brazil; an Aboriginal president of Australia or a Nama (San) president of South Africa or Botswana.

These are historic facts which the world chooses to ignore but just simply ignoring the facts won’t make them go away.
The fact is that colonialism has always existed. It is simply part of the human condition – the tendency of the powerful to seek to impose their dominance over the weak.

Swazi Citizen

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