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Part of the centuries old ongoing theft of the wealth of Africa.
by smadge 8y ago
Part of the centuries old ongoing theft of the wealth of Africa.
- toasterlovin 8y agoYou realize that Africans are on one side of these transactions, right?
- smadge 8y agoYes.
- danans 8y agoBut that doesn't disprove the parent comment at all. Economic exploitation of regions always has local parties that assist in the process. It's not like those parties represent the interests or desires of most Africans in their actions.
- pm90 8y agoHow else would you have it though? We can’t force democracy on these nations. Apparently they can’t create functioning legal institutions. There just doesn’t seem to be a way to accurately represent the will of the people without also being actively involved in the geopolitics of the region.
- adamsea 8y agoWhich nations, specifically?
- danans 8y agoI never claimed to have a solution to that problem. I was just pointing out the flaw in the idea that just because some native Africans participated in the foreign colonial exploitation of Africa, it somehow lessens the degree of culpability for the exploitation itself.
- toasterlovin 8y agoFine. As long as you also agree that the people on the non-African side of the transaction do not incur some kind of collective guilt for non-Africans or The West or whatever. Because that’s very much what the OP was getting at.
- journalswrit 8y agoThat's nice. The OP is right. We can also agree that your suggestion that non-Africans and The West aren't guilty as hell for raping Africa for centuries is either outright racism, or outright stupidity. Care to tell us more about which it is?
- toasterlovin 8y agoI’m an American. As far as I’m aware, America never had a colony in Africa. And, even if it did, it doesn’t now. And even if it did have one now, why should I, personally, be held responsible for actions that my government takes which I disagree with and vote against (to the extant that I can)?
- dang 8y agoYou can't post this aggressively to HN, regardless of how right you are or how wrong another commenter is. I've banned this account. Please don't make accounts to break the site guidelines, or we will ban your main account as well. I personally think you have a good point. But if you can't make it in a kind spirit, a spirit of teaching others—if not the other commenter, then certainly your fellow community members—please refrain from posting until you can. Yes, atrocities have happened. And the online raging-shaming-attacking style is something we're trying not to fall into here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- smadge 8y agoWhy shouldn’t the wealthy nations feel collective guilt over being the primary beneficiaries of Africa’s vast mineral wealth?
- 8y ago
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- licebmi__at__ 8y agoAnd you realize that western countries had a history of getting rid of those who objected being on that side of the transactions, right?
- sgift 8y agoHad being the correct word. History is history. It has to be evaluated and we should learn from it. Attributing all the bad things happening in Africa today to the West is not part of that. Freedom means responsibility.
- oblio 8y agoI'm not saying that Gadaffi was some sort of angel, but you do know that the "liberation" of Libya happened just a few years ago, right? Libya was not amazing but the numbers tell a sad story: https://tradingeconomics.com/libya/gdp-per-capita https://tradingeconomics.com/libya/gdp-per-capita
- mijamo 8y agoThe alternative to what happened in Libya was what happened in Syria basically, and it went much much worse. So all in all I wouldn't blame the Libyan situation on the intervention. Gadaffi should have just gone by itself like they did in Egypt and Tunisia. His choice to remain, just like Syria, sentenced his country and the population.
- tenpies 8y agoIt's all relative. That wealth is still in the planet.
- sumedh 8y agoExcept some people live a good life while some have to live in abject poverty.