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
