- This topic has 7 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 1 year, 7 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Here’s a powerful lady saying some remarkably serious things –
“Why is Africa turning away from the United States?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfLxnIqi4Uc&ab_channel=AlJazeeraEnglish
‘Officials in the United States look upon Africans as people “in need of help” or people who “need to be told what to do”, and this is destroying relations between Africa and Washington, according to the former African Union representative to the US, Arikana Chihombori-Quao.’
thanks for another interesting topic, cimarrón.
Once, by a stupid chance, in one of the African-themed Facebook groups, I was mistaken for a white-skinned American. It was an experience of living in that reality, live show. + a super-happy chance to get clarification from my black friends. So I unwittingly became both a guinea pig and an experimenter, with the support of the experts in this “study”. It was surreal, but very educational and outstandingly visual.
I want to warn you that I’ll now write things that may be taken as offensive. So I warn you in advance – as a person who faced existential threats in childhood and survived it, I have this protective mental mechanism that allows me to quickly turn off emotions and connect naked abstract thinking to find the most optimal way out of the conflict. I’m also able to encapsulate my emotional trauma and dispassionately analyze my painful experience.
With this preface, please take my next words right, without speculating about my motives, this is just an observation. All of the following is purely my opinion:
The words of this lady are correct in essence, but still they will not solve a bigger problem. In my view, asking the US to respect Africans and treat them as equals is not a demand for equality, but a request for equity. The difference between equality and equity is easier to demonstrate with such a picture
https://achievebrowncounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/EYz4uj8UwAAeAtJ.jpgThis lady’s words “we demand respect” mean “we demand that you pretend to respect us, our younger generation needs a stand to be equal to yours.” Smart people who write narratives for American politics have seen this long ago and are pushing this kind of fake equalization in form of protecting minorities, undermining the true turn in consciousness. It’s like giving alms to the homeless; although it’s a nice gesture, it doesn’t solve the problem of homelessness.
A few words of respect and some respectful gestures in certain settings will not solve the problem that the woman herself describes “we feel inferior to the whites.” Because actually they are asking for mercy and charity. The real equality of partners is if one can say fuck you, and the second will not wander in uncertainty “oh, he said so because I am Black / Jewish / Gay / Muslim / etc.” In reality, when feeling equal, you’d answer “ok, so I solve this problem myself”.
I think, that this is what makes the ‘superior’ party respect the ‘inferior’ party, naturally. As a bonus, the feeling of respect will be sincere, for both participants in the dialogue.Thanks for your comment, Tatyana.
The title concerns US behaviour in Africa, and I think most people are aware of the attitude of America to the rest of the world – based on its belief in its ‘superiority’, ‘exceptionalism’, and ‘manifest destiny’, seen by others as hubris.
I agree with you that respect cannot be demanded, but it is reasonable to ask that Americans should treat the Africans fairly, respectfully, and as equal partners – and not arrogantly set the agenda and policies without consultation.
On your point concerning “we demand that you pretend to respect us”, and the “fake equalization in form of protecting minorities”. We have seen in recent years the demanded inclusion of more women, more black people, and more handicapped people in entertainment, industry, and positions in society. Personally, I think it is a good thing, because it corrects an injustice and causes us to accept, and become used to, something which might not have come about as soon. And as time moves on we forget the demand and come to see the result as naturally occurring – producing an environment in which mutual respect can develop.
But to me, the great strength of the Ambassador’s words is in her call to the African diaspora to return and help build the continent, as she says: “the Jews do it, the Chinese do it, the Indians do it, the Irish do it.” This call for inclusion could restore an individual’s pride and help offset “the brainwashing that the African has been put through”.
Thank you, Cimarron, you have clarified the position.
Yes, I talked about feelings, it’s pointless to demand to feel respect, it doesn’t work that way. I am glad that you describe concrete steps to overcome injustice, I agree that inclusiveness is the right action. But in my opinion this is not enough.It is difficult for me to draw parallels, remotely I can only compare with the Communist Revolution, when the oppressed poor rebelled en masse against the privileged rich. Of course, this is completely different, but something similar is still there.
Here in this country, the rebellious oppressed took power into their own hands and distributed access to privileges to the whole society. Education, medicine, positions in power structures.The rebels saw the main institutions that maintained inequality and privilege were the church, the monarchy, and the system of inheritance of wealth. Such institutions are based on the inequality of members of society and support the existence of each other. Like, the idea of a monarchy is that certain families are privileged to be rulers of a country by birth. The church supports the idea of monarchy as a power given to people by God and also teaches the population to be humble and endure injustice, for the sake of reward in the afterlife. The privileged rich and officials hold fast to their property and position, supporting the monarchy, with its exclusive right to command the power structures. And all of them form and support the system of “higher” and “lower” strata in society.
The emerging Soviet power removed the monarchy, separated the church from the state, nationalized property and redistributed it more evenly. This gave a strong impetus to the development of the country. Before that Russia was an agrarian country with a majority of the illiterate peasant population. After such events Russia became an industrial country and already in 1961 a man flew into space. In the United States at that time there was still segregation.
I can’t say that revolution and civil war is a good way, no, it’s a lot of blood, devastation.
I hope that inclusiveness will help achieve results in the foreseeable future. Perhaps this will work. I hope the churchmen, monarchists and the wealthy privileged will not resist the planned changes, as it was here with us. Their vicious murmurs over lost property and loss of privileges are heard from time to time even today.What the Ambassador says about the return of the Daispora to build his own continent, I also find very true. This is the correct position.
I also want to add why I compare it with the Revolution in Russia. I saw that the movement for equality and in particular the BLM movement receives the same criticism as the criticism of the Soviets, even in those very terms.
“If they were worthy, they would not be poor, they would not be uneducated, they are criminals, drunkards, etc.” That is, the consequences of a disadvantaged position are used as an argument in defense of this very system of inequality.Hi Tatyana,
I cannot imagine what further steps than encouraged inclusiveness could be taken, without causing blowback from the reactionary elements of society.
As you say, “The privileged rich and officials hold fast to their property and position”. So, it may be that significant change is not possible without revolution; and I doubt if that is possible today without some major catastrophic event.
Your discussion of the rebels taking over from the privileged reminds me of the coming of the civil war in Spain. Except that, there, it was the other way round. The socialists had won the vote, but the privileged, which included the church, would not countenance this and, under Franco, fought to take them out and won, bringing 36 years of dictatorship to the country.
You write, the church “also teaches the population to be humble and endure injustice, for the sake of reward in the afterlife.” Not just the afterlife: in the UK, and probably everywhere else where the church was in cahoots with the rich, the local vicar from his pulpit would instruct the peasants to accept their lot. The vicar was effectively under the power of the owner of the land, and therefore mindful of his own continuing employment.
There would be more possibility of change, of course, if more people cared, but the greed for power and money dominates all and seems boundless, as we can witness alarmingly in today’s events and their relentless pursuit, with the rich slavering over the thought of the trillions they can make if they can get their hands on Russia’s and Ukraine’s resources; and the hundreds of thousands who will die or be displaced can go hang – the rich don’t care.
Hello, cimarrón
I agree, that would need a catastrophe, moreover, to achieve the result and to make it last, the movement must also make some absolutely cruel things. Like execution of royals, killing rich, churchmen etc. And that is why I made that reservation in italic font, I don’t advertise violence, but it is optimal quick way out.Some real help for African nations –
Shocking: Putin Cancels Africa’s Debt To Russia Worth $20 Billion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4w41_c_cKQ&list=LL&index=18&ab_channel=TheNewTourist
