Africa’s post-Colonial-Mentality.
Some Africans love to do everything after, or for the “MAN.” They will even go as far as killing their brothers/sisters to please “the man.” The effects of the “post-Colonial-Mentality” are affecting the growth of Africa and the liberation of Africans or people of African descent. I say this to say that I am a realist, under the pretext of being a person of “African descent,” myself without being prejudice toward my people but stating simple facts.
After experiencing many periods of subjugation and Western control, based on the “superiority complex.” Why would some “Africans” come to change the O.A.U? (Organization of African Unity) to the A.U (African Union); when there’s by far no “UNITY” on the continent but post-Colonial-Mentality? Well, one would then argue that the world has indeed changed during the 39 years the OAU was in existence. Another global organization, the European Economic Community (EEC) did modify its appellation and became the “European Union” (EU).
But it cannot be refuted that in the event of the EEC, the variety of appellations were thoroughly justified. The ends were that the “European Economic Community” did become a misnomer when the organization’s aspirations resulted with time to become fundamentally reconstructed from a system of insignificant economic co-operation into an adequately integrated unit that couples economic co-operation with a full socio-political alliance as well.
For some, in Africa, the transformation of the appellation from the “OAU” to “AU” was the end of the African states being induced to emulate the European model without first determining any of the structural systems that connect the members of the “European Union.” So, the changed of the O.A.U weren’t based on reason. The reason as in “common human understanding.” Immanuel Kant once said, “reason is the arbiter of truth.” “Reason,” here, in African leaders’ approach is not demystified. The “maxims of common human understanding” = reason which = Africa’s post-Colonial-Mentality.
The African Union is an idea, but it is not an African “ONE” but derived from the “European Union”( the colonizers). Before the modern-day puppets of Africa, who some of us now called “leaders,” the forefathers of African nations that were oppressed by the oppressors spoke up, and some even took up arms and restored their liberty and ownership of their lands and destiny. Nowadays, some modern-day leaders of Africa ownership of their future and land are to exploit their people with the Masters, fatten their pockets and oppressed the very people who they are supposed to liberate.
The struggle for liberation by great African men like Nelson Mandela, Bantu Steven Biko, Chris Hani, Thomas Sankara, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, etc., was to create an “IDENTITY” of the entire continent being self-reliant, away from the “MASTERS.” This form of liberation wasn’t for us to come and have puppet leadership on the continent, but for us to be just as “EQUAL” as anyone else. Great men of the continent didn’t pay the ultimate price, for modern-day “GREEDY” African leaders to sell their countries’ resources to the WEST, but was done for us to compete. Not remain a servant.
After carefully studying the history of the continent. I can come to attest that, some, or, perhaps, most Africans have never been “decolonized.” You can see this in places like Liberia, where the Congaus or quote on quote people of Americo-Liberian descent still think that they are masters of those who they called “illiterates” (the natives). Can you imagine, that these ills behaviors still goes on in 2018? This mentality shows you that Africa has got a problem and, unless we recognized this issue, we could not blame anyone for it, but ourselves.
While it would be naïve to presume that some “Africans” could have gone back to several of their unique traditions after autonomy, it’s nauseous to see many of them acting like they are still under colonial power or are “HOUSE NEGROES” better than the field “NEGROES.” There’s no lie that some, if not, most Africans continue to choose Western practices and policies over their traditions, and perhaps, some still view themselves as inferior and inept, as to the White man or those from the East.
Some even come to beg the “White Man” or the East for everything. Instead of discovering how to fish, they want the West or East to continue to feed them fish, even when they are just as competent in getting their own. The late young revolutionary, Sankara once said: “He who feeds you, controls you.” This is true; the West still controls African states. Today, this truth is seen in almost every part of the “continent.”
With that being said, everyone has rights, in whom, or what they want to be. The world is a global village; I respect that. The right to choose is the right to live, without obstructions. My analysis is in no stretch of being “ANTI-WHITE” or “ANTI-EUROPEANS” but of a “PAN-AFRICANIST” approach. That Africans are just as good as anyone else, they must come to accept their” realities” and try bettering it, without looking at others to better it for them. We are just as capable and are better, but we must face our “truths.”
Facing our “truths,” without beating around the bush; if one feels inadequate, improper or inferior, one will come to disvalue one’s humanity. With that being said, you begin to see people from Africa or of “African” descent wanting to fit in; they become masters’ doers, etc. Those who come to feel that the “Europeans” has always been superior to them need to start a journey to “emancipation.” The disease = a post-colonial-mentality.
Because of this colonial mentality, we come to become our own natural disaster. For example, months back, “darker” skin African was being sold in Libya as slaves. This, indeed, the effects of the post-Colonial-Mentality. Well, one might say that North Africans of Berbers descent are not “Africans,” but they have managed to coexist with us for centuries. Indeed, they are. This colonial mentality has put us against our brothers, nieces, nephews, sisters, aunties, and related tribes across the scramble for Europeans-Africa’s borders. This makes it hard for the liberation of this post-diseases. Sometimes instead of protecting Africa’s interest and, with neighbors coming to trade with each other; we seem to want approval from the ‘Almighty’ (WEST) — not the one up there.
Due to this colonial mentality, there’s no doubt that the continent is divided, the A.U. exist for existence sake, and there is rampant discrimination in every part. Sometimes not even due to “SKIN” color, but the “MENTALITY” of one being “Liberian” and the other being “Ivorian” but both fly different flags. Africans or people of African descent, we are our own “natural disaster.” When we come to kill this “Colonial” mentality, Africa will come to be for “Africans,” run by patriotic men and women, who put her interests first, before that of the Colonial Masters.
