The dark past of colonists in Africa

The socialist worker, a London based publication, revisit the realities of colonialism in Africa. In a commentary, “Africa Independence: A Dream of Freedom Derailed”, they argue that the reality of colonialism was “brutality, rapacious exploitation and savage racism”.

The colonists to our dismay believed that colonialism was the best thing that could happened to the “dark” continent. For instance, in 1897, the British governor for Kenya argued that, “These people must learn submission by bullets—it’s the only school; after that you may begin more modern and humane methods of education”.

You often wonder whether the west has recovered from this sort of thinking. If not, what needs to happen in order to achieve a shift in thinking, whereby Africans are accorded the humanity they deserve?

Etienne