BRAND NEW CIVILISATION
The facts are expressed aggressively like this, the continent is there but Africa is not yet a concrete reality, fixed in granite, steel and glass. For the progressive individual, Africa is simply a state of mind only. Africa creators are hard at work with this truth at forefront of their mind. We accept ourselves as Africans in an identity to be, even though not yet real.
There is no actual African passport, no state called Africa, no citizenship, no language called African, no unified political reality, etc. Apart from the small area registered as Africa South, there is no other region with the actual name, Africa.
AFRICA
What is the meaning and where is the root of its origin, when and how did the word Africa come into use and by whom? I use the word Africa, like everyone else, to convey an overview of the gigantic continent.
The European historical quest for the continent of Africa began with ‘Alexander the Great’ in North Africa. The final chapter in the saga to completely and finally destroy the African civilization, were contained in the agreements signed at the Berlin conference in 1894, titled ‘The Scramble for Africa’ and chaired by German prince Otto Van (iron man) Bismarck. The complete landmass of the continent (except one country) became the colonies and property of European governments. The poor hopeless Africa we are witnessing today, if the truth is to be known, is the product of Arabic and European exploration, colonisation, exploitation, neo’colonisation. Including the perverse forms and variety of bondage, subjected on the whole nation for over two thousand years.
LIFE & LOVE
Resistance and severe full-scale bloody warfare for freedom in the nineteenth century, took place at the battle of Adwa, led by Emperor Menelik the Second. War continued in the twentieth century, between Emperor Haile Selassie1 and the fascist regime led by dictator Benito Mussolini.
UNITED WE STAND
The final and total claw back of all the African Landmass from European machinations, was achieved towards the end of the twentieth century, in the struggles led by Nelson Mandela and the death of ‘Apartheid.’
The continent drained, sucked out bone dry, was morally, materially and physically bankrupt. Locked in tribal mindsets, petty megalomania, nepotism and continual warfare. The latter end of colonisation, and the aftermath of neo-colonisation were more horrific and devastating than what the imperial foreign power brokers were able to achieve.
No recovery was predicted for a continent, prepared as the home and domain of perpetual servitude.
The borders and drawn lines of divisions into separated fragmented parts or countries, were not created by the making of its own indigenous people or due to random circumstances, representing the construction of communities and nations. They were all foreign generated and maintained.
ONE DESTINITY
The artificial borders continue to describe a colonial past. The divisions into patchwork states are the symbols of a long-term reductionist ideology, and plot to keep the continent weak, divided, vulnerable, and dysfunctional. Competing with self, and not working for each other.
It is ironic! Especially so, when the African Union celebrates ‘unity through diversity’ within the auspices of fifty-four separate states, all with their own different agendas. It is regrettable and unfortunate that all areas of our everyday social living, are now embroiled and integrated into politically toxic, destructive warfare. At regular intervals the professional politicians, are being driven into the violent games, of gripping the balance of power by any means. The Modern Griot.