Blog #34 - Red Rubber, White King, Black Death

So far throughout World History A and B, you have studied how Africa had grown as a multi-ethnic continent with different tribes and thousands of languages before the Europeans came to become the crossroads for trade and commerce like it is today.


The northern African countries, the ones that have had the most interaction with Europe (good and bad) like Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt are more economically advanced than their sub-Saharan brethren. Those countries that lie South of the Equator are the ones that we will focus on for most of our imperialism unit in Chapter 24 and revisit before the end of the semester.


The British and the French were the two biggest colonizers of sub-Saharan Africa, but the Belgians, Germans, Dutch and Portuguese also carved up the continent after 1800. This period is known as the "new imperialism" - as if the time period of slavery when up to possibly 20 million Africans were stolen from the continent and shipped over to the Americas was somehow "old" imperialism and this was more "enlightened" because the Euros didn't sell humans and instead sold the resources? Yeah, right.


Some of the worst abuses of Africans were done by the Belgians in the resource-rich Congo. The Belgians extracted tons of rubber (this is where the title of our blog comes from), copper and ivory. Those villages who didn't harvest enough rubber would have children or sometimes women lose a hand. This was when the king himself, Leopold II, owned the Congo, until 1908 when the outrages over such treatment forced him to give it up. To quote a BBC documentary with the same name as our blog, "Until Adolf Hitler arrived on the scene, the European standard cruelty was set by a king."

Link to King Leopold's genocide: http://www.enotes.com/genocide-encyclopedia/king-leopold-ii-congo
A BBC news link that traces the current state of the region to the mess from the 19th Century: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3516965.stm

One thing that is included in your history book that was never included in the stuff that I learned was info from the Africans' points of view. The best examples are in Ch. 24, sec. 2, on p. 754-5 and p. 759-761. I had seen a movie about Shaka Zulu but it really was more about the brave whites who had to take on the Zulus in the scary war in southern Africans. I never got to learn the "other side" of the story or the Africans' side of the story unless I watched Roots which came out when I was 9 (in 1977, I think) or read stuff on my own.

As Americans, we can't claim any kind of moral superiority over the Europeans because of the U.S.'s genocidal policies enacted towards our Native Americans between the 1600s - 1800s. 

Your questions:
1. Can you think of an instance in history that we have studied where one person has had so much power over so many people and abused it so consistently?  Explain.
2. Give at least three examples of abuses that King Leopold's agents forced upon the Congolese people (as mentioned in the people).
3. How were the abuses of King Leopold's Free State exposed in 1904 - 1906?  What eventually happened to his ownership of the Congo?

300 words total.  Blog due Friday, May 29 by class.  

Blog #21 - Did capitalism destroy Africa?

We just got done studying capitalism and how the drive to compete and win made the British and Germans the top European countries in the late 1800s.  America, during this time period, also strove to be the #1 steel maker and financial capitol center in the world, but unlike Britain, Germany and France, the U.S. didn't have to search too far for resources b/c they were right in our own backyard. 

The Europeans looked to Africa for valuable mineral resources, timber, rubber and other resources in the 1800s which then spurred a huge land grab and a race for colonies which the British and French won by 1914.  Even before this new age of industry, Africa had been stripped of its human resources during the slave trade - potentially 20 million people either killed or enslaved during the kidnapping to the New World. 

"Capitalism fuelled the slave trade, the profits from which were used to fuel the industrial revolution, which halved the population of Africa (leading to between 40-100 million people being killed or enslaved and taken out of Africa), it also fuelled the imperialism and conquest which left millions of dead and left a legacy of poverty, suffering and misery" 1 http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Argument:_Capitalism_has_fostered_imperialism,_exploitation,_and_suffering

Africans grew cash crops like coffee and cotton and mined gold, salt and silver that had no nutritional value for their own families' food needs.  Therefore, African families starved in many different imperialized nations.  Also, there was the "soft power" of imperialism - the non-hard factors of imperialism like culture, religion, and economic influences like movies, TV and music (in today's life). 

Today, Africa is still stripmined for diamonds and coal, Nigeria is drilled for oil, and the Chinese look to seize Africa as the next world market for its cheap place in the world for everything from toys to shoes (Nike) to computers (Sony).  However, Africa has become the dumping and testing ground for almost every single kind of weapon imaginable.  Arms dealers have supplied countless numbers of weapons for many of the civil wars around the continent.  In fact, the Chinese are pumping billions of light arms into Sudan fueling their civil war against the Christians in the Darfur region.  Potentially, 20% of all light weapons in the world are in Africa. 2

Also, Joseph Kony recruits children soldiers from nrothern Uganda and the surrounding region for his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) so that he can try to topple the Ugandan government - a fight only he continues to wage with little to no support from the Ugandan people.  He is currently hiding out in the Congolese National Rain Forest Parks where he is untouched and encourages / forces the local people to burn protected trees for charcoal.  These actions damage the rain forest and encroach upon protected gorilla habitats too.  See http://www.invisiblechildren.com/ for more info on the LRA and Joseph Kony. 

Watch the Frontline World video on Gunrunners from Sierra Leone - http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/sierraleone/ 


Question:
Was it capitalism that made Africa such a mess?  If so, how did it destroy this beautiful place? 
 - If it wasn't capitalism, what was it that has caused all of this turmoil? 

Due Thursday, May 13. 150 words.
Sources:
2. African Union: http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/AUC/Departments/PSC/Small_Arms.htm
3. China makes Africa its business, The New York Times.  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/world/asia/18iht-africa.2528892.html

Blog #11 - Four Feathers - Reaction / Question

Pick one of the following questions and answer it by Friday, 1/15/10.

150 words minimum.

1. Who was the more genuine friend to Harry: Abou, Vicar or Jack? Before you answer, consider:

- Abou saved Jack in the desert when he lost his camel and ran out of water, and he also got him out of the Omdurman prison.

- Vicar was the only one of Harry's mates who recognized him (2x!) when Harry had come to Sudan, plus he didn't send Harry a feather and is an all-around good guy.

- Jack was the only friend who defended Harry when the charges of cowardice started flying around at the beginning of the movie, and I think he gave up his chance to marry the love of his life (Ethne) so that his friend would be happy.

2. What do you think is the greater fear as a soldier in war - the fear of dying or the fear of having to kill another person? Why? Which do you think was what Harry suffered from? Why?

3. How would this story have been different if it was told from Abou's point of view? We don't know much about his background, family, or life before "God put Harry in his path." Make some backstory up for Abou.

4. "You British walk the land too proudly." Give a few examples from the film where the characters acted just a bit too proud. Why do you think they have this swagger?

###There may be more questions later tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks.

Blog #10 - White King, Red Rubber, Black Death

So far, you guys have studied how Africa had grown as a multi-ethnic continent with different tribes and thousands of languages before the Europeans came to become the crossroads for trade and commerce like it is today.


The northern African countries, the ones that have had the most interaction with Europe (good and bad) like Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt are more economically advanced than their sub-Saharan brethren. Those countries that lie South of the Equator are the ones that we will focus on for most of our imperialism unit in Chapter 24 and revisit before the end of the semester.


The British and the French were the two biggest colonizers of sub-Saharan Africa, but the Belgians, Germans, Dutch and Portuguese also carved up the continent after 1800. This period is known as the "new imperialism" - as if the time period of slavery when up to possibly 20 million Africans were stolen from the continent and shipped over to the Americas was somehow "old" imperialism and this was more "enlightened" because the Euros didn't sell humans and instead sold the resources? Yeah, right.


Some of the worst abuses of Africans were done by the Belgians in the resource-rich Congo. The Belgians extracted tons of rubber (this is where the title of our blog comes from), copper and ivory. Those villages who didn't harvest enough rubber would have children or sometimes women lose a hand. This was when the king himself, Leopold II, owned the Congo, until 1908 when the outrages over such treatment forced him to give it up. To quote a BBC documentary with the same name as our blog, "Until Adolf Hitler arrived on the scene, the European standard cruelty was set by a king."

Link to King Leopold's genocide: http://www.enotes.com/genocide-encyclopedia/king-leopold-ii-congo
A BBC news link that traces the current state of the region to the mess from the 19th Century: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3516965.stm

One thing that is included in your history book that was never included in the stuff that I learned was info from the Africans' points of view. The best examples are in Ch. 24, sec. 2, on p. 754-5 and p. 759-761. I had seen a movie about Shaka Zulu but it really was more about the brave whites who had to take on the Zulus in the scary war in southern Africans. I never got to learn the "other side" of the story or the Africans' side of the story unless I watched Roots which came out when I was 9 (in 1977, I think) or read stuff on my own.

As Americans, we can't claim any kind of moral superiority over the Europeans because of the U.S.'s genocidal policies enacted towards our Native Americans.

Your questions:
1. Why did Europeans colonize Africa in the 1800s?
2. Why do you think America stayed away from Africa and Asia during the 19th Century?
3. Do you think that the current economic and political state that many sub-Saharan countries are in today might have anything to do with their previous colonization? Why or why not?

200 words minimum. Due Wednesday, January 13.

Blog #2 - Child Soldiers in African Conflicts

Imagine yourself at the age of 12 or 13 being forcibly drafted into a conflict in your country to fight in a civil war or against another country. The men that have kidnapped you take you far away from home, give you guns, and test your courage by asking to kill unarmed prisoners. You can't run away b/c you don't know where to go. You might have your brothers with you, so they'll have to come too. The people who hold you captive are armed and very dangerous and do not want to let you go, and may have even threatened to kill some of the boys from your village if any one of you runs away.

Here's a quote from an article about child soldiers in Sierra Leone:

"In fact, Sierra Leone has one of the worst records for using child soldiers in its civil war. Since the war began in 1991, it has been estimated that at least 4,500 children were used as soldiers to fight for either side, the government or the rebel group- the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The war caused many orphans as well as separations, which therefore made children more vulnerable for recruitment. Children who joined out of their own free will were usually enticed with material possession, such as shoes and clothes, as well as the basic essentials as food and shelter. The rebel group, the RUF, also provided a form of education whereas the government had not been able to provide any kind of education to children. Whilst other children were abducted and forced to torture and murder their own family members as part of their recruitment process. Once recruited these children were trained and militarised in captured villages, youth military camps were set up, where training usually took place in schools. Since the war began, it was estimated that half of the RUF soldiers were under the age of 14.[21] The majority of the children that freely joined the government military forces did so because they wished to avenge the death of their loved ones, whereas others who were orphaned and living on the streets saw it as a guarantee in food, shelter, clothes and acceptance in a kind of ‘family’ environment with their comrades.[22]"

This situation is very similar to the one described in the book, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. The RUF tore through his home town while he and his brother were away and then they were captured soon afterwards. Ishmael was only 12 when he was forced to be a soldier.

The questions for you vary: PICK ONE

1. If one of these young men were rescued or escaped and brought to America, what kinds of issues might he have with adjusting to American life? Why?

2. Imagine yourself an African child (boy or girl) and kidnapped into a rebel army at your current age; try to describe the emotions, thoughts, and images going through your mind as you underwent this traumatic experience.

3. What can you do as an American teenager to highlight or raise the awareness of child soldiers?

Your blog is due by Tuesday, December 16th. 150 words minimum.

Article by Sandra Rocha quoted - http://socsci.flinders.edu.au/global/africa/sandrarocha/childsoldiers/ChildSoldiers.htm

International Rescue Committee - http://www.theirc.org/index2.html

Update on Zimbabwe - http://theelders-news.blogspot.com/2008/11/elders-zimbabwe-is-failing-its-people.html This press release goes into more detail about how Mugabe's policies have just made the country's problems get even worse.