mchambawima1
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 16, 2014
- 2,487
- 738
United States President Barack Obama is the most admired foreign leader in Africa because he has ancestral roots in our continent. This is partly the reason his ill-informed and stereotypical admonitions of our leaders attracted cheers from a large section of our elite class.
But it is also because we African elites have internalised the ideology of our conquerors that presents us as inferior, inadequate, and incapable of self- government.
Bob Marley's words that we must liberate ourselves from mental slavery are important here. In his speech to the African Union in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, Obama acted like a colonial headman lecturing the natives on how to behave as good subjects.
Yet behind Obama's seeming concern for our good lies the social contempt he holds us in.
Flagrant hypocrisy
Why doesn't Obama openly admonish leaders of Western Europe whenever he visits their countries? Is it because they govern better? Who has the right to make this judgement and by what criteria?
There is a lot of corruption and widespread human rights abuses (especially of migrant minorities) in Western Europe- not to mention the brutality, genocides, forced labour, and racism that characterised their governance of Africa during colonial rule.
The difference between Africa and these nations is that we are poorer in material possessions. But does their present wealth imply better government?
Source: aljazeera.com
But it is also because we African elites have internalised the ideology of our conquerors that presents us as inferior, inadequate, and incapable of self- government.
Bob Marley's words that we must liberate ourselves from mental slavery are important here. In his speech to the African Union in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, Obama acted like a colonial headman lecturing the natives on how to behave as good subjects.
Yet behind Obama's seeming concern for our good lies the social contempt he holds us in.
Flagrant hypocrisy
Why doesn't Obama openly admonish leaders of Western Europe whenever he visits their countries? Is it because they govern better? Who has the right to make this judgement and by what criteria?
There is a lot of corruption and widespread human rights abuses (especially of migrant minorities) in Western Europe- not to mention the brutality, genocides, forced labour, and racism that characterised their governance of Africa during colonial rule.
The difference between Africa and these nations is that we are poorer in material possessions. But does their present wealth imply better government?
Source: aljazeera.com
