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I can't stand that argument. It ignores history and millions that died under colonial rule, or episodes like in China when the economy was ruined because the we
by fbailey 17y ago
I can't stand that argument. It ignores history and millions that died under colonial rule, or episodes like in China when the economy was ruined because the western powers wanted to pay for goods with drugs. Or india where british rule deindustrialized india and forced it to buy salt from a monopoly. Or southeast asia where rich kingdoms where plundered and basically forced to become agrarian exporters.
It also ignores the real growth that happended in the last 10 years in parts of africa.
The argument is basically racist, they don't know what's good for them, let's show them. It ignores that the western world has a 300 years development advantage concerning democratic institutions and the economy.
- cousin_it 17y agoMost African countries actually were better off under colonialism.
- andrewcooke 17y agotry reading achebe - one of his books (it's in the african trilogy collection) describes quite well, if i remember correctly, how the colonial system created this problem in the first place. or just read this article again and consider how close it is to living under foreign rule - colonialism replaced whatever working, local solutions existed with a system that meant that the logical thing to do was screw over others. colonialism and dictators are very similar. you can argue that things only collapsed terribly when the colonists left, but that ignores the fact that it would have been so much better if they had never been there...
- pbhjpbhj 17y ago>how the colonial system created this problem in the first place This reminds me of how in the UK parliament the political parties bicker about who's fault something is. Most of the ex-colonies have been autonomous more than long enough to establish their own stable governance if the combined will of the people were for it.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- coolnewtoy 17y agoIt would be safer to be an Afghan woman under the communists than the Taliban or current US occupation.
- pbhjpbhj 17y agoIn what way does US occupation threaten women?