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Why Afrikan (Black) people are still an enslaved people

Kwame Osei | 14.12.2005 11:01 | Anti-racism | Globalisation

Even though the enslavement of Afrikan people was abolished by the European powers over 100 years ago, a new 'relationship' now exists between Afrika and the Western world which is a new form of enslavement which is probably more damaging to Afrikan people than it was 150, 200, 250, 300,350 years ago.

The following is an article I wrote 5 years ago warning Afrikan (Black) people why we should rid ourselves of European/Western influence/dominance on our mother countries and that the only real solution to our plight is to emancipate ourselves and unite as a people.

In the eyes of many people the enslavement of Afrikan people was abolished in 1865 in America and in 1833 in what was then known as the British Empire. Back then with the help of abolitionists such as Fredrick Douglas NOT William Wilberforce, the founder of 'North Star' the antislavery newspaper in 1847 the concept of enslavement and black/Afrikan oppression where slowly beginning to fade away and become a distant memory of the past.

However if I were to say that the enslavement of Afrikan people by Caucasian/European people and their cohorts existed today, would you laugh in disbelief? Or would you sit back and listen? Have I got your attention? Well I hope so, because I don't like to repeat myself. Now as Afrikan people we are already slaves in the Western environment to our own selfish desires, living lives where alcohol, material possessions, money, drugs, guns, sex and even power dictate our lives.

There is however a deeper problem then these social implications of mental enslavement. This problem being the enslavement that exists is due to the system that has been set up by powerful and racist Western/Caucasian governments, and for countries like Jamaica and many other countries in the Afrikan World the harsh reality of European/Caucasian enslavement/domination still continues.

Jamaica was given its 'independence' in 1962 by the British (God save the Queen), however when Jamaica joined the Western owned and run IMF in 1963 the notion of moving closer to truly being independent slowly but surely fell apart.

When the price of oil rose in 1973, Jamaica found itself in financial turmoil - this resulted in then Prime Minister, the late Michael Manley excepting a loan from the IMF. A 'short-term' loan that had a long-term effect on Jamaica's financial problems, and with this lack of financial power, due to the restraints that the IMF had placed over the heads of Jamaica's people, the way of life for Jamaican people was an uphill struggle.

What wasn't known to Jamaica and it's people was when it became independent in 1962 the economy was still being controlled by America, not by direct ownership but by the implications of this overwhelming debt.

With trading restrictions on Jamaica's farming trade as well as the introduction of cheaper imported goods and the removal of tariffs on imports, the power of America and Europe plagued Jamaica's Independence and financial growth.

Jamaica was exploited by richer countries and with America and Europe leeching off Jamaica's trade, Jamaica's people were clearly working under what you would call an enforced enslavement. Much like a high interest-rate loan that a local bank offers a cash-strapped student, the loan provided by the IMF to Jamaica also could not be repaid. All it merely did was enslave Jamaica and it's people to a life of debt and the immense problems especially the social ones we see manifest in Jamaica today.

A similar problem resides in Ghana, a country that by all rights should be one of the richest countries in Afrika and possibly in the world, due to the fact that Ghana sits on a huge amount of gold, with the potential I've been told by elders to last for another 600 years! However in reality the people and the land have been enslaved by the new global economy perpetuated by Westerners/Caucasians, an economy which has restricted its growth, just like that of Jamaica.

Ideally such a natural resource as gold should benefit the Ghanaian people and their land not the big European and American companies. Such a rich commodity should be acting as a way to provide for the future of Ghanaian people and the futures of their children. Their land and commodities, such as gold have been looted and the people and land exploited by Westerners and their cohorts. Much like the problems that plagued Jamaica, the ever-present influences of the IMF and the World Bank have restricted the growth and way of life in Ghana. The system that is set up by a predominately 'white' world clearly states the struggles that we as Afrikan people face.

As we look around the world we see Afrikan/Black people being held back by a system that is designed to solely stop our progression as human beings in a world that we are lead to believe strives with equal opportunities. Now answer me this is, it fair that black/Afrikan people don't have the right to trade and live freely in the own countries without the influence of 'richer' countries? Is it fair that our natural commodities are being looted from our countries by Westerners abd their cohorts? Is it fair that the future for black/Afrikan people looks so bleak, due to the system of White Supremacy and those who advocate it? We have to ask ourselves if this is how life is now, is their truly any hope for the future, our future? (Think about it) Now remember that saying?

'The rich get richer and the poor get poorer'

Being Black/Afrikan that saying is more of a reality now then it has ever been. I strongly believe that this saying should be rephrased; it should sound more like this: 'The whites get richer and the blacks get poorer' especially when one reads books like Black Labor, White Wealth by Dr Claud Anderson.

Now such a statement could get me in a fair bit of trouble, but if we live in a world that claims to be as democratic as what we are lead to believe then my views shouldn't be restricted, restricted in the same way that the lives of my brothers and sister have been, by the powers that govern them.

One thing that I have learnt is the knowledge is a gift to be passed on. The knowledge regarding the truth behind our culture and the struggles that we have faced and are currently facing, as Black/Afrikan people are all examples of the knowledge that need to be passed on, gradually from generation to generation. The problem that we face, apart from all of the above is that we are not truly aware of these problems, blinded by our own ignorance we either begin to except and eventually conform to this way of life or we merely give up as the future looks to bleak. The sooner we wake up and become aware of these problems the sooner we can break free from the lives that we as Black/Afrikan people have been forced to live by the advocates of GLOBAL WHITE SUPREMACY - I MAKE NO APOLOGY.

Kwame Osei
- e-mail: theafrikafoundation@hotmail.co.uk

Comments

Display the following 4 comments

  1. Down with greed — I hate coppers
  2. Legacy of Colonialism Forum - contributions welcomed — Mark
  3. "and even power dictate our lives." — Danny
  4. Spelling mistake — Daniel Rhodes