Thursday, December 24, 2015

On the Claim Made by Marxist Academics and Others that Colonial Britain (and, Believe Me, I Am No Fan of the British) "Plundered" Africa and Refused to Reinvest There

Objectively bullshit. As Harrison, Huntington, Mercer, and others have pointed out, practically the entire infrastructure of Africa (as it pertains to agriculture, mining, commerce, finance, industry, etc.) was built by colonial powers (most of Sub-Saharan Africa didn't even possess the wheel prior to European contact) with the lion-share of that being built by THE BRITISH!! An, while, yes, the period of colonization itself was often less than ideal (horrible in the case of the Belgians), even that period has been characterized by no less than Moeletsi Mbeki (brother of former South African President, Thabo Mbeki) as better than what exists today. So, yeah, maybe we all need to stop beating ourselves up and realize that the troubles in Africa have a hell of a lot more to do with tribalism, racism, horrible economic models, and a variety of repressive regimes that would have made Joe Stalin proud and much less to do with colonialism. Just a thought, folks. 

2 comments:

BB-Idaho said...

"Take up the White Man's burden, The savage wars of peace—
Fill full the mouth of Famine And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly Bring all your hopes to nought." Kipling 1899
"Pile on the Black Man’s Burden.

'Tis nearest at your door;
Why heed long bleeding Cuba,
or dark Hawaii’s shore?
Hail ye your fearless armies,
Which menace feeble folksWho fight with clubs and arrows
and brook your rifle’s smoke." Johnson 1899 (US Negro Clergyman)

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Those feeble folks with clubs and arrows (Bantu) committed a mass genocide in the 19th Century and if it wasn't for that rifle smoke the Trek Boers would have been a part of that carnage.