No African country is truly free or independent; all of them are still being destabilized and manipulated so that their former European colonizers can still make profit, argues Kalidou Diouf. Education is the only way Africa can free itself from the oppression of the first world, he posits.
Africa is the richest continent in the world. The surface of the cradle of humanity has been blessed with infinite beauty and abundance of flora and fauna. Africa is producing the most exquisite harvest of cocoa, coffee fruit, and vegetables. It is home to an incredibly diverse wildlife and vast marine resources.
Even today, 14 African countries are still being economically oppressed by France through a colonial pact that forces them to put 85% of their foreign reserves in France’s central bank under the French Minister of Finance control. Togo, Senegal and about 12 other African countries still have to pay colonial debt to France. African leaders who refuse to pay are killed or become victims of coup. Those who obey are supported and rewarded by France with lavish lifestyle while their people have to endure extreme poverty and desperation.

But France is not the only culprit on this continent: they are just the most obvious ones. Other European countries like Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Portugal use the same or similar strategies to retain control of their “former” colonies.

The reality is that no African country is truly free or independent; all of them are still being destabilized and manipulated so that their former European colonizers can still make profit. This type of colonization is called “Neo-colonialism”.

The strategies of the neo-colonisers to maintain control include colonial debt, automatic confiscation of national reserves, the right of first refusal on any raw or natural resource, the exclusive right to supply military equipment and train the country’s military officers, the right to pre-deploy troops and intervene militarily in the country to defend its interests, obligation to use colonial money, the obligation to make the colonial language the official language of the country and the language for education and money; and much more.

Like I mentioned earlier, Africa is the richest continent in the world. The first world needs Africa and its natural resources desperately since alternative resources are almost non-existent outside of Africa. They need Africa for their mobile phones, airplanes, cars, jewellery, construction technology etc. And Africa really does not need them at all. Africa has by far the biggest gold reserves in the world, so how is it possible that 5000 units of every given African currency are worth less than 1 unit of any given first world currency? If Africans are the ones who own all the diamonds and gold in the world how come they are not claiming their property?

The answer is education. Africa is the worst educated continent on the planet. According to UNECO, only about 50% of all Africans have ever visited a school. About half of all Africans can’t even write or read and most of the Africans who did go to school only learned elementary educational skills. While the rest of the world gets presented an image of Africa that is poor and dying and merely surviving at the mercy of the West, backed up by huge PR-companies (e.g. UNICEF, Red Cross, Life Aid) that continuously run multimillion dollar advertisement campaigns to sustain this image of Africa globally, paid for by millions of innocent people who think they can help with their donations.

Most Africans do not even have the education to understand what is happening in their countries and why they have to live under these degrading conditions. Education is the only way Africa can free itself from the oppression of the first world. If the African peoples understand their situation and the reason why nothing is changing for the better, they will be able to fight for true independence.

Over the last couple of million years of evolution it appeared that whenever a predator became so greedy that he was overhunting and overexploiting the resources, natural selection would take the predator out; and the Black man has been suffering for way too long now…

Very insightful and provocative, but the other truth is that the ruling class in all Africa countries are selfish and self-centered set of humans that's why they would rather keep their citizens in ignorance by providing substandard education while sending their wards abroad.They are the real enemy of the people BUT ARE THESE PEOPLE NOT THE REFLECTION OF THE SOCIETIES (in this case COUNTRIES) THEY REPRESENT?.

hidee20:
Very insightful and provocative, but the other truth is that the ruling class in all Africa countries are selfish and self-centered set of humans that's why they would rather keep their citizens in ignorance by providing substandard education while sending their wards abroad.They are the real enemy of the people BUT ARE THESE PEOPLE NOT THE REFLECTION OF THE SOCIETIES (in this case COUNTRIES) THEY REPRESENT?.

I tot I was the only one reasoning this way, now it is so tough that if you are not very close to the ruling class in Nigeria, you can hardly survive. It is that bad.

VeeVeeMyLuv:

I tot I was the only one reasoning this way, now it is so tough that if you are not very close to the ruling class in Nigeria, you can hardly survive. It is that bad.

Absolute truth,now the middle class is almost non-existence it's either you are stupendously rich or poor but the challenge is to first educate the masses about how we made it so easy for them to continue to enslave us by raising religion,ethnicity and geopolitical zones above the common basic amenities that's our fundamental rights cause they know if these are provided we and our generation will challenge them for that position they occupy and not forgetting the reorientation of the societies about how they see the government issues and properties as "their" problems rather than "our" problems.

Africa As A Continent Is Not Beyond Redemption.
Africans Just Need To Look Inwards. The Beauty, Wealth And People Of This Continent Are The Greatest Yet Inferiority And Greediness Robs Us Of Our Shine Continuosly.
We Can Rise Above The Singular Picture Of Poverty And The Mirage Of A Better Tomorrow As Opined By The "first World".
Shun The Get Rich Syndrome And Begin To See Ourselves As One Man.


#powerofone