The continent’s elites have to reject the notion that being ‘modern’ and ‘civilised’ means aping the westOne of the greatest ironies in the history of the collapse of any civilisation must be the initial interaction between Africans and Europeans. The Igbos in the east of Nigeria,for instance, initially saw the Europeans as madmen of outlandish appearance and ill-formed ideologies. On banking, or the Igbos wondered how an adult in his good intellect could hand over his possessions for others to keep for him. By the finish of the 19th century,the “madman” had overturned their civilisation, and they had adopted his.
The irony is especially relevant in these times when, and given the relative failures of most former western colonies,there have been renewed calls for recolonialisation. In September, American professor Bruce Gilley wrote an essay arguing for a recolonialisation of some states, and replicating colonial governance of the past “as far as possible” and even building unusual colonies from scratch.
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Source: guardian.co.uk