Maravi

(HERALD) Neo colonialism swarms Africa?

Neo colonialism swarms Africa?
Monday, 14 May 2012 00:00
Herald Correspondents

The goal of Pan-Africanism was to liberate Africa and create a wholly independent continent. It was meant to emancipate Africa in all spheres, and enhance Africans to be determiners of their own destiny. The unitary support endowed by African countries during the liberation of Africa was a symbol of the true spirit of African brotherhood devoid of any connotations or hidden agendas.

Westerners are pretending to be philanthropic in order to shift the blame to leaders whom they see as dictators and bad governors. As a show of their ‘façade’ benevolence they have undertaken to sponsor dubious aid and security programmes via specific NGOs for the sole purpose of regime change.

Western atrocities have continued unabated when one recounts what has happened in Libya and all other disturbances and killings in North Africa. All these incidences are testimony that the westerners are simply shedding crocodile tears. The West cannot afford the luxury of leaving Africa alone and it explains why there was a lot of resistance from the colonisers for Africa to attain political independence.
Dear reader, the crux of the matter is the hypocrisy of the West. The West has reconstructed their approach and strategies by influencing Africa’s elite responsible for economic and political issues.

They have simply refined methods for attaining the same old interests or what some can refer to as covert colonialism. Visionary leaders like Kwame Nkrumah predicted that Africa would be overtaken by new forms of colonialism. Neo-colonialism is aided by a complex web of influences and is a complicated process.

The master plan was drafted in such a way that any country that does not comply is liable to punishment. An example is the current Western induced Zimbabwe crisis. The Western countries are taking advantage of globalisation and thus use international institutions such as the World Bank and IMF as political tools to pursue their own national interests by providing policies and conditions which are not compatible to the African problem.

Africa cannot afford to continue taking the same medicine prescribed for different patients and different ailments, what a doctor? Through their Western oriented NGO’s, the EU and the US are trying to influence neo-liberal policies. This is evidenced by their pressure over petty issues of dual citizenship and homosexuality (cheap politics) whilst there are more vital issues of state and governance.

They always speak of African politics, African development, economics, human rights . . . poking their noses in African affairs without the consent of the African masses, as if Africans do not have the brains to solve their own problems. Africa should wake up and smell the coffee. The West is sponsoring neo-liberal political parties to dethrone revolutionary governments and establish their own puppet systems.

If we follow the events in Cote d’ Ivoire, Tunisia and recently Libya, they further expose how the West is using human rights issues as a strategic weapon meant for national gain. They have simply adopted new methods to attain the same strategic interests, they now use pseudo political players whilst they are the major forces of influence behind the scenes.

They bomb to reconstruct!, supply weapons for brother to fight brother. They cause turmoil and confusion to only come in as rescuers, killing more people! They use NATO, and test its new weapons on African soil in promotion of human rights!

With much exception from the Hobbesian theory (Thomas Hobbes) which says that states are bound by national interests, one can possibly notice that the US, UK, EU have engaged in new ways of recolonising Africa through their neo-liberal principles. Hans Morgenthau one of the founding fathers of realism defined politics in as the continuous struggle for power and dominance over scarce resources.

The writers Givemore Mugadzaweta, Tichaedza Chipinda and Vimbikayi Mafika are students of Peace and Governance at Bindura University of Science Education.

Labels: NEOCOLONIALISM, PANAFRICANISM

posted by MrK @ 4:01 PM