Africa

[Brendan Boal]

The tragedy of Africa is that of White colonialism
compounded by Black despotism.  Western capitalism has
raped and pillaged Africa for hundreds of years.  
Nothing can mitigate that fact.  But we should not
fall into the trap (as some liberal commentators seem
to do) of focusing exclusively on the colonial element
whilst ignoring home grown abuses.  The simplistic
belief that everything can be made better by the
replacement of an externally imposed ruling class with
it’s local equivalent is exactly the kind of idiocy
parodied by George Orwell in his famous phrase: ‘four
legs good, two legs bad.   
Robert Mugabe is merely the latest in a long line of
little Napoleons to inflict themselves on the African
working class.  To claim that oligarchs of this kind
are working for ordinary people, is rather like
suggesting that the House of Lords (old or new style -
take your pick) is there to protect the interests of
the British working class.  After all they don’t like
elections either, and they’re the same race as us so
they must be on our side, mustn’t they?
The real solution for Africans (as for ourselves) lies
in recognising that those who oppress and steal from
you are the enemy, whoever they may be.  



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