Course on
Anti-Imperialism, War and Peace, Part 8a
Neo-Colonialism,
Last Stage of Imperialism
The second linked document is included here because of
Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah’s correct and insistent concern with the continuing
threat to Africa (now materialising again militarily as “Africom”) posed by
Imperialism in its last stage of neo-colonialism.
Nkrumah believed that Africa
must unite, for the sole reason that if it did not unite, then it would not
have sufficient strength to resist the Imperialists - and so it has turned out.
Nkrumah defined neo-colonialism as follows:
“The essence of
neo-colonialism is that the State which is subject to it is, in theory,
independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty. In
reality its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from
outside.”
He goes on to add:
“Neo-colonialism is
also the worst form of imperialism. For those who practise it, it means power
without responsibility and for those who suffer from it, it means exploitation
without redress. In the days of old-fashioned colonialism, the imperial power
had at least to explain and justify at home the actions it was taking abroad.”
And in his Conclusion Nkrumah says:
“In the earlier chapters of this book I have
set out the argument for African unity and have explained how this unity would
destroy neo-colonialism in Africa. In later chapters I have explained how
strong is the world position of those who profit from neo-colonialism.
Nevertheless, African unity is something which is within the grasp of the
African people. The foreign firms who exploit our resources long ago saw the
strength to be gained from acting on a Pan-African scale. By means of
interlocking directorships, cross-shareholdings and other devices, groups of
apparently different companies have formed, in fact, one enormous capitalist
monopoly. The only effective way to challenge this economic empire and to
recover possession of our heritage, is for us also to act on a Pan¬-African
basis, through a Union Government.”
Please download and read the text via the following
link:
Further
reading:
First They
Came For The Communists, Niemoeller (1873 words)
Beyond Vietnam, Time to
Break Silence, 1967, King (6687 words)
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