If some of you remember, a while ago, I wrote this on my blog:
Anyways, happy 51st independence day to Sudan and to my fellow Sudanese bloggers. It’s been 51 years already and we need to ask ourselves what have we achieved so far as a nation?
I don’t know if you could tell but I’m not really the kind of Sudanese that gets terribly excited every year on the day of Sudan’s independence. In fact, sometimes I don’t get excited at all. My reason is simple. Sudan’s Independence Day for me is a painful reminder of a sad reality. Today, I was reminded of that reality by something else. I found the following in the comments section of a post at Sudan Watch. It’s an email received by Ingrid from one of her readers:
“The Janjaweed are carrying out their orders with the same merry enthusiasm that Hitler’s executioners killed Jews, Slavs, and Gypsies in millions! That’s what humans do best, if they get half a chance. The orders they received were brutally logical, given the need at the centre to withstand rebel insurgency in the West of the country — sparked largely by the fortuitous discovery of oil there.”
And, he went on to say this:
1) The Sudan has indeed suffered, for many centuries, a bloody history of war and famine — until the arrival of Scottish engineers and British Administrators (like me) from 1911 onwards, producing a short interval between the customary brutalities. Once the Sudanese gained independence, in 1955, they rapidly squandered the riches collected for them by those damned colonialists. Then the Dictator and former Army General Nimeiry (with whom I had several meetings) set up a religious government, based on Quranic law, deeply offending the Southerners, and here we are again.
2) It doesn’t look as if things will change in future, either. Perhaps that will finally discourage people from living there.
3) Like Egypt, the Sudan is ‘the gift of the Nile’ and would collapse if anyone (for instance) sabotaged the Sennar dam, or blew up the White Nile barrage above Khartoum.
4) There are already plans to drain the Sadd marshes in the South, so that the wonderful Dinka become extinct, to the profit of the Northeners, whose threatened supply of water will be augmented throuogh a reduction in the rate of evaporation of the White Nile.
5) I say again: too many people in the wrong place.
While I don’t like the tone and don’t completely agree with everything mentioned, I have to say that in an overall sense, it’s sadly true. Even my own father who was very politically active against the British during the days of colonialism, admits the same thing. I know many Sudanese who will vehemently disagree because of this.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
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Drima-
As a former white liberal (I am black now) I always went with the knee-jerk reaction about how bad colonialism/imperialism was/is.
About 3 years ago I read “The History of the World” by Paul Johnson…who also wrote the best book about Jewish history I have ever read (he is not Jewish, for whatever that is worth).
Anyhow…he made some interesting comments about colonialism. I know my paraphrase will not do him justice but, in short, he said; yes it was morally wrong to going running into people’s country’s and slaying and enslaving natives…however…intertribal slaughter was slowed, roads built, hospitals, organized government, disease control, infrastructure etc. were part of the legacy.
Just look at Zimbawe. I have a friend who came from a farmer family there and they got booted. Now…according to recent reports, the country has gone 20 years backwards, the whites were kicked off their farms, and the farms were given to the glorious leader and his cronies and they have all gone fallow. There is out of control unemployment, violence, poverty and starvation and like what…1:5 with HIV or some crazy thing like that?
The emotional response colonialism was bad…I agree, because it was morally wrong. But if we look at the truth…it was, in many ways good for many of these countries and what many places did with their independence was a complete, chaotic, traumatic and corrupt disaster that is still unfolding. The world is a mess, but I think Africa takes the cake.
“The emotional response colonialism was bad…I agree, because it was morally wrong.”
Is it more wrong than attacking and annexing a direct neighbour?
AB-
Re-read the paragraph…and I am not comparing the two anyhow.
What does “independence” mean, actually?
I understand that if the ruler sits in London, Sudan is not independent. But if the unelected ruler sits in Sudan and slaughters people, Sudan is independent. But what is the difference for anyone but the unelected ruler?
As an African, I can say that there some plus and minus to colonialism. I think you need to put things into perspective. There are African countries like Ghana who are heading in the right direction. In Asia, you have countries like malaysia and you got countries like Burma or Laos.
Modern Sudanese history has been rough and that is due to lack of a true stateman in that country. I do not think it has anything with the need to be ruled from London. Remember also all these colonialist are not or were not coming to Africa to help the people or develop the people, most of the insfrastructure was built to take the resources. Of course, when they were stealing resources, they need to have decent roads and law and order.
I think we African should be glad that the European did not wipe us out like they did with the Native American or Australians and we have survived to design our destiny.
Yeah! in 50 years Sudan has not shined and road has been rough but I find the attitude that European or any foreigner is better qualified to rule African countries distasteful and weak… I think we need to have more dignity, self-belief, and stop this inferiority complex. A nation’s history or people’s history can’t be measured in that 50 years, if you think about it Eygptians were the one of the most advanced civilizations on earth for nearly 3000years… but what have they done in that last 50 years.
I believe the Janjaweed are ignorant uneducated nomadic pastoralist.. misguided…. but situation is little more complex than some classification or comparison of with Hitler’s crew or holocaust…
For one both people in Darfur are black, mostly african and muslim—
I think the western media might not be using the right comparison.
I think the story about zimbabwe is one side… one thing that is missing in the story in the big media outlets is that when Zimbabwe got its indepedence- Britain agreed to pay compensation to White farmers to vacate the land, remember 2%(white pop) owned 66% of the good land… and the land was acquired by forceful removal or should I say colonizing. Britain chose not compensate farmers recently… check out the story below..
http://www.blackcommentator.com/10_zimbabwe.html
Hey Drima - You know what? It’s not just Sudan, it’s Egypt as well!!
When one takes a look at Egypt over the past century one can EASILY deduce that the British/French control over Egypt were here BEST years: tolerance, minority rights, women’s rights, liberal media, movies, music. Egypt was a TOTALLY different country and really quite cosmopolitan relative to the other countries in the region.
At the behest of Egyptians the evil “occupiers” left and gave the country back to Egyptians - who promptly went on to destroy it. And, sadly, here we are today.
Reg: They bled us white, the bastards. They’ve taken everything we had. And not just from us! From our fathers,and from our father’s fathers.
Loretta: And from our father’s father’s fathers.
Reg: Yeah.
Loretta: And from our father’s father’s father’s fathers.
Reg: Yeah, all right Stan, don’t delay with the point. And what have they ever given us in return?
Revolutionary I: The aqueduct?
Reg: What?
Revolutionary I: The aqueduct.
Reg: Oh. Yeah, yeah, they did give us that, ah, that’s true,yeah.
Revolutionary II: And the sanitation.
Loretta: Oh, yeah, the sanitation, Reg. Remember what the city used to be like.
Reg: Yeah, all right, I’ll grant you the aqueduct and sanitation, the two things the Romans have done.
Matthias: And the roads.
Reg: Oh, yeah, obviously the roads. I mean the roads go without saying, don’t they? But apart from the sanitation,the aqueduct, and the roads…
Revolutionary III: Irrigation.
Revolutionary I: Medicine.
Revolutionary IV: Education.
Reg: Yeah, yeah, all right, fair enough.
Revolutionary V: And the wine.
All revolutionaries except Reg: Oh, yeah! Right!
Rogers: Yeah! Yeah, that’s something we’d really miss Reg, if the Romans left. Huh.
Revolutionary VI: Public bathes.
Loretta: And it’s safe to walk in the streets at night now,Reg.
Rogers: Yeah, they certainly know how to keep order. Let’s face it; they’re the only ones who could in a place like this.
All revolutionaries except Reg: Hahaha…all right…
Reg: All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Revolutionary I: Brought peace?
Reg: Oh, peace! Shut up!
Monty Python Life of Brian
Jonah84…
Again…I am not talking about their morality (I already said it was immoral) nor their motivation…
My point is;
Colonialism brought many good things to many parts of the world
Colonialism brought horrible things to many parts of the world
The problems that many colonized countries experience today are too often blamed on “our colonial past”
I think Zimbawe is a prime example. Horrible, corrupt rip-off leadership…can’t blame that on colonials.
Why so many countries in Africa have not gotten their act together? Well…that would be a long and complex debate…but across the board…few African countries have done a terribly good job…though Ghana seems like a good, bright spot…
You are also right about Darfur…there is really no philosophical or doctrinal comparsion between what Hitler was up to and the Janajeweed…But again…I am not as excited about their motivation as I am about their behavior…which still adds up to torture, murder and genocide…so they are less racist than Nazis…so what?
Hi Jonah, I hope you’re not misunderstanding the point I’m trying to make. I’m absolutely against the notion of us getting ruled by Europeans again so that things improve. Moreover I agree with your points about the colonizers’ general motives/intentions.
I’m simply trying to point what Howie mentioned:
“The problems that many colonized countries experience today are too often blamed on “our colonial past”:
That’s my main point. This post is related to the previous one “Westerners Are Wealthy Because They’re Thieves”.
I know so many Sudanese and Africans who blame almost all our problems on colonialism. I vehemently oppose that useless attitude.
Just like you pointed out, Malaysia and various other countries have come far since the days of colonialism. Malaysians are doing well and part of the reason is that they don’t whine and blame their problems on colonialism. It’s been 50 years since we Sudanese gained our independence. 50 years is a long time and we could have moved forward on our own. Instead we moved backwards (and best of all many blame it all or mostly on colonialism).
We have the ability to excel and we will if we stopped whinning too much.
I understand what you are saying but I do not think romancing the colonial period is also not the answer.
Yeah! it would be great if Sudan did better and I am sure it will…
I am also completely against people who just dwell in the injustice of colonialism and claim it is a major factor in our predicament. These types of people can not be taken seriously and even if their poin view is valid, what does it mean? Acknowledge it and find a solution to improve your condition and never rely on handouts…
I believe soon most of these people will not be taken seriously as we head toward the East Asian century with China and India dominating the world economy. Indian was colonized fabout 100 years and it is moving in the right direction…
Howie.. in terms of zimbabwe, I am not an expert on Mugabe but Zimbabwe just its indepedence in 1980- and for 15+ year he was not too much in wester media… What happend? Mugabe become one of the most hated African leaders in western media because he took the land back from white farmers…suddenly he became a mad men…. homophobic…– nobody in the western media ever mentions that Britain was supposed to pay compensation to white farmers to give the land? No body ever says Britain chose not fulfill its part of obligation?
Again, I am not Mugabe supporter or backer, but I am also skeptical about the main western media outlets who in same cases just tell us how bad a leader is only when that leader goes against their interests..
I do remember at one time Nelson Mandela was labeled a terrorist and the ANC a terrorist organization..
On Darfur, I hate what my african brothers doing to each but is situation
is more of ugly competition over resources with mixture of rebels and unstable or ineffective central government. In Sudan,, regions that get ignored by central government use rebellion in order to get attention. I hope the central government has learned its lesson and start distributing the wealth everywhere. There were recently rebels in the Eastern sudan who made an agreements without any major bloodshed.
If the western countries want to help Darfur, the best way to assist the AU and work within the african context to solve the problem. Some west african problems have been solved by assisting regional african organization like ecowas.
i am still waiting for the ICC to go after Bush and Blair for unleashing aggressive war in Iraq which is a war crime! I am not joking! This is what it says…well western media bring this up at least for suffering of Iraqi people…
“The crime of a war of aggression is listed in Article 5.1 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (RSICC) as one of the four most serious crimes of concern to the international community, and that it falls within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). “
With Mugabee…the issue is much more than him taking the land. These were successful enterprises and according to all I know…he passed the land around to cronnies and family and it has been destroyed, along with Zimbawe’s economy.
Yes…Darfur is more than racism…much more…you are correct. However, again, there is putting down a rebellion and then there is genocide. We all agree they don’t need to rape kids and burn people alive…
I am not an expert on Africa, but what I know of the history..there has been enormous tragedy…if we want to do the blame thing…well I think it starts with corrupt leadership…first black, then white and now back to black.
I don’t know why so much of Africa has been mired in self-defeating behavior…I don’t even have a theory on it. I lean towards maybe too much emphasis on local tribalism and weak, corrupt central government?
Don’t know.
Jonah… My personal view on Iraq aside (in brief “if you plan to fight a dictator for whatever reason, at least put *some* planning into it”, and “Iraq is a mess, but hardly due to the US alone”), the ICC has no jurisdiction unless a country accepts it. Which means that if you want to sue Bush, for example, the US government would have to turn him in to the ICC.
It is a joke, in a nutshell. It is there for show trials.
Howie,
When you say it started off black, then white then black again… you do realise that blacks had their own civilization like other people on this planet… I think generally when it comes to western media and “Africa” (and it really gets to me how Africa is the only continent constantly spoken of as a country!!), there’s this constant need to always portray Africa as a land of jungles and/or deserts, where people always lived in mudhuts, speaking their weird ooga booga language and never had any sense of civilization, when the truth is that civilized empires existed in sub-Saharan Africa whether it be in Mali, Ghana, Congo, Ethiopia or Sudan.
The local tribalism you speak of was, especially in the case of Sudan, something that was exacerbated and made problematic as a result of colonialism. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of blaming our problems on colonialists, as far as I’m concerned it’s been half a century since colonialism and so we’ve had more than enough time to fix whatever pending problematic crap they left us with, however, to speak as if the only period of enlightenment Africans knew was under colonialism is wrong and is a great injustice to African history, which is too often overlooked, ignored and neglected by all.
I completely agree with jonah84, yes, Africans should take the initiative and stop depending on others to solve their problems. We need to stop accepting this, to be honest, degrading status of being the world’s basket for spare change. We’ve become so accustomed to this implicit message that we need charity that we’ve started to believe it, and so started to believe that we are somehow innately incapable of fending for ourselves.
Rehab-
You misunderstood…when I said it started “black” that means exactly what you said…the locals had their own thing going…with good and bad (including assisting the Europeans in the slave trade later on)…then the whites came and did some good stuff and bad stuff…got kicked out…as they should have…and now it is the blacks turn to screw up again.
Too me…too often the locals, when booting out the whites, tended to throw out the baby with the bath water and also rarely got good, decent leaders in place
Rehab-
I re-read your post…you have read a whole bunch into my statement that just ain’t there…
There is no genetic predispostion for Africans to not be able to get things right (except for my Tunisian sister-in-law)…but, overall, they haven’t. Africa is a disaster overall. As I have noted, the reasons behind that are very complex…but have nothing to do with race…
Can Africans take care of themsevles…of course they can…
Have they done a very good job of it…no.
Rehab- I am also in complete agreement with you. I do not think we need to be doom and gloom about Africa- there 53+ countries and not all them are having major problems similar to Sudan. Also, we have too put things in historical perspective- we are just talking about 30-50 years.
Yes, I will admit most countries had post-independence headaches and problems but to a large extent most the nationalities are a product of colonial experience and boundaries. I mean before colonization, nationalities with labels like Kenyan, Nigeria, etc did not exist. So, it required real leadership or genuine statesmanship to unity different ethnicities and tribes after independence.
For example, in Ghana Kwame Nkrumah, one of the fathers of Pan-Africanism helped forge a strong Ghanaian identity. If he was someone like Zaire’s Mobutu, I am sure Ghana would not be in its current situation. Remember also that United States and Beligium worked to together with corrupt Mobutu to eliminate the Nkrumah-like Zairian leader Patrice Lumumba.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba
and look at how disastrous Zaire modern history has been.. So, after “independence” the former colonial master did not just disappear…they still had influence to make sure their interests were intact by any means.
I do not believe hiding problems or conflicts from media, we need to acknowledge them, find the root problem, and develop solutions. I have never seen a strong family that looks or relies outside sources to resolve its issue or problems.
The Darfur problem is a Sudanese and African problem first. We need to strength the AU and involve the AU in solving the problem. Just like NATO and EU were involved in the Bosnia conflict and worked to resolve issue.
There is nothing wrong with United Nation working thru the AU. Ecowas- the regional West Africa organization has been effective. It is also good to see African organization playing part in resolving African issues or as Rihab said we are becoming “accustomed to implicit message” that we unable to resolve our issues like a toddler.
Howie:
Just because people have a different point view or look at things from a different light, it does mean we “misunderstood” or have “read a whole bunch into my statement”.
Rihab,
Exactly.
Rihab, nicely said. You’re so right about our rich history. Africa had some of the greatest and earliest civilizations known to mankind. What’s really sad is that many Africans and Sudanese fail to remember that and are still stuck with the blaming attitude.
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