[aclug-L] Re: Richard Reid

[Michael Moore <mrmoore@xxxxxxx>]

Chris Owen wrote:

>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. 
>

Oh, heck......let them fly.   I can take it, Chris.




> 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.
>
>--
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Chris Owen                ~ Garden City (620) 275-1900 ~  Lottery (noun):
>President                 ~ Wichita     (316) 858-3000 ~    A stupidity tax
>Hubris Communications Inc ~       www.hubris.net       ~
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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>
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>  
>



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