[aclug-L] Re: Richard Reid

[Chris Owen <owenc@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 2 Feb 2003, Tom Hull wrote:

> There have been civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia since the early
> '90s (or maybe earlier), which have basically been roving gang of
> thugs with no ideology whatsoever. Evidently this phenomenon has
> slopped over into Cote d'Ivoire, which has long been regarded as the
> most Francophile state in Africa, and has been one of the few
> relatively stable countries along the West African coast. Presumably
> the French are there to help restore order, which may be
> self-interested but may also be beneficial to most of the people in
> Cote d'Ivoire. France had a more equitable relationship with its
> African colonies than England ever had. (One telling piece of evidence
> here is that if you listen to African popular music, you will hear
> quite a bit of French from artists in formerly French colonies, but
> virtually no English [except reggae] from formerly English colonies.)

I've started about 5 different emails on ths thread and cancelled all of
them but I have to jump in here.  I would think that trying to defend that
statement "France had a more equitable relationship with its African
colonies than England ever had" would be really hard to defend.  France's
history in Africa is certainly not one of "equality".  The whole French
approach of "mission civilisatrice" was based on completely eliminating
all indigenous culture and replacing it with the Frech culture.  The
reason you hear French in West African music is because the French did
everything they could to eliminate everything else.

The reason the French are still intervening is West Africa and the British
aren't is because the English gave up their colonies in the 60s.  The
French didn't until much later and they still practice a neocolonialistic
policy to this day.

Chris

PS - It should probably be noted that the Amercians pretty much did the
same thing the French did in Cote d'Ivoire when Liberia first blew up.
Liberia is the closest thing the US ever had to an African colony and they
were mainly just protecting Americans on the ground.

--
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Chris Owen                ~ Garden City (620) 275-1900 ~  Lottery (noun):
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