Nairobi — The 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, an event that marked the beginning of the end of Communism, has been a huge story almost everywhere in the world.
For most of November, I have not been able to turn on BBC or CNN without running into a programme on how the collapse of the Wall changed the world, freed Eastern Europe from Soviet oppression, and ushered in a new era of freedom.
In Africa, however, the anniversary has been largely ignored.
Generally, there is nothing in Africa that is celebrated with passion 20 years later.
This seeming shortness of memory has fuelled prejudices that we are a people who are allergic to serious thought.
As Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni likes to say, it is one reason why our ancestors sold their fellow Africans into slavery for trinkets and mirrors!
This criticism misses the point that our amnesia is purposeful.
It means we don't have centuries-old enmities like that between the Turks and Kurds.
Unlike Europe and Asia, African societies never fought against each other for 100 years.
Had that happened, in addition to tropical diseases, the ravages of famines, and dreadful poverty, Africans would all have perished.
Seriously, though, one reason why the end of Communism is not a big deal in Africa is because the "second liberation" wave that it unleashed ended in disillusionment.
One-party dictatorships (both pro-Soviet communists/socialists and pro-Western "capitalists") were overthrown; there was a return to multiparty politics; adoption of free-market economic policies; and the generals retreated to the barracks.
However, when the dust settled, where once there was a thieving and murderous "socialist" or "capitalist" one-party tyrant, soon we had pro-free market, corrupt thugs stealing elections and doing much the same things the pre-fall-of-Berlin Wall political bandits did.
Still, the fall of the Wall and the end of the East-West Cold War impacted Africa extensively.
For one, Nelson Mandela might never have been released, and South Africa would probably still be an apartheid state.
And there would be no "civil society" as we know it today.
Muthoni Wanyeki would not be writing a column on this page. And neither would I. I would probably be a bribe-taking sweaty civil servant in the Ministry of Culture and Gender in Kampala, who knows?
Charles Onyango-Obbo is executive editor of the Nation Media Group's Africa Media Division.
Comments 1 to 1 of 1 Post a comment
[Daniel 11:14 ]] And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south(AMERICA / BABYLON ): ALSO the ROBBERS OF OUR PEOPLE shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; BUT THEY SHALL FALL !
* 16 European Nations . Met And Plotted On How They Would Rob Africa Of Its Riches.
* They met during two(2) Periods of time in two(2) places
* The General Act Of Berlin Conference (Nov, 1884 to February, 1885)
* Brussels Belgium to finalize SECRET agreements ( Nov, 1889 to July 1890)
* The Book King Leopolds Ghost (1998) by Adam Hochschild documents some of This information.
The following Nations (Households) - Planned how they would divide among themselves our AFRICAN Riches.
1) Austria-Hungary - Francis Joseph I Charles - August 18, 1830 -
2) Belgium - King Leopold II April 9, 1835
3) Denmark - Frederik VIII -June 3, 1843
4) France - Marie François Sadi Carnot August 11, 1837 -
5) Germany - Wilhelm II - January 27, 1859
6) Great Britain - Queen Victoria (Hanover) May 24, 1819 British Ruler 2nd
7) Holland William III February 19, 1817
8) Italy - Umberto I - March 14, 1844 -
9) Norway - Oscar II [Oscar Frederik] January 21, 1829 (Also Sweden)
10) Portugal - Carlos I September 28, 1863
11) Russia - Alexander III Alexandrovich March 10, 1845
12) Spain - Alfonso XIII May 17, 1886
13) Sweden - Oscar II January 21, 1829 (Also Norway)
14) Turkey - Abdülhamid II, - September 2 or September 22 - 1842 -
15) United States - Benjamin Harrison August 20, 1833 -
16) Persia (Iran) - Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar July 16, 1831
For centuries Black Africans have been exploited and exploited in the name of Islam. Then with the coming of the Portueses (so-called Christians) to Ghana around the 1440s , the so-called Christians started their exploitation.
We Black Africans are puzzling. We have a bounty of riches around us, yet we persist in allowing outsiders to steal them; while we fight each other over trivial matters.
Just in case you're wondering, here's some Black Africans who have done wondrous things to change the way we live in the world.
For example : Garrett-Augustus Morgan invented the Traffic Signal to CURB (no pun intended) TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS !!!
* Buridge & Marshman - TYPEWRITER
* George Carruthers - X-RAY MACHINE
* George Washington Carver - PEANUT BUTTER - PAINTS PAINT STAINS ETC
* W.A. Dietz - SHOE
* Charles R. Drew - BLOOD PLASMA STORAGE SYSTEM
* Michael Harney - LANTERN
* Augustus Jackson - ICE CREAM
* H.A. Jackson - KITCHEN TABLE
* Isaac R. Johnson - BICYCLE FRAME
* John A. Johnson - WRENCH
* Frederick M. Jones - DEFROSTER - REFRIGERATION CONTROLS AIR CONDITIONER
* Jones & Long - BOTTLE CAPS
* Lewis Latimer & Nichols - ELECTIC LAMP
* John L. Love - PENCIL SHARPENER
* Tony J. Marshall - FIRE EXTINGUISHER
* Alexander Miles - ELEVATOR
* W.A. Martin - LOCK
* Garrett A. Morgan - GAS MASK - Traffic Signal
* Lydia Newman - HAIR BRUSH - Nov 15, 1898
* W.B. Purvis - FOUNTAIN PEN
* L.P. Ray - DUST PAN
* W.H. Richardson - BABY BUGGY
* G.T. Sampson - CLOTHES DRYER
* .W. Smith - LAWN SPRINKLER
* J. Standard - REFRIGERATOR
* T.W. Stewart - MOP
* Maxine Snowden - RAIN HAT - 1983
* Paul E. Williams - HELICOPTER
* Granville T. Woods - Roller Coaster
* Granville T. Woods - Telegraph Transmission Devices - Dec 2, 1884 Patents # - 308, 816 (7)
Thanks to The Black Inventors Museum P.O. Box 76128 Los Angeles , Calif. (90076) Phone (310) 859-4602)
Director : Ghanaian Mr. Hamza Salifa
Contributor of Information : SEESTAH Imahkus Nzinga Okofo [http://www.oneafricaghana.com/first_and_foremost.htm ]
[Check Out :
WHO BROUGHT THE SLAVES TO AMERICA ? [ http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/42787621/Who+brought+the+slaves+to+ameri ca?tab=summary] for full length video
FRITZ SPRINGMEIER A Bold Christian Truthseeker The Top 13 Illuminati Bloodlines [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k73Q2_f4vKU ]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
[ libradio.net ]
[http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx]
[gcnlive.com]
Life Is A Game. Have Fun . Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6